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The Emergent matrix: a new kind of church?
Christian Century, Nov 30, 2004 by Scott Bader-Saye
I left the convention cautiously hopeful. I am attracted to the pragmatic ecumenism of Emergent, whose goal is not to create a unified structure at the top but to recognize that the churches are going to need an exchange of gifts at the grassroots. I am intrigued by the creative possibilities of ancient-future worship--liturgical structure overlaid with image, music and movement, technologically aware but refusing to flaunt it. I am heartened by the search for a theological "third wav"--a generous orthodoxy that may yet arise from the dialogue of postconservatives and postliberals. I am encouraged by the vision of a truly missional church, both relevant and resistant, that incarnates a real alternative to mainline "maintenance" churches and evangelical "megachurches."
So often the church is renewed "from the edges, not the center," as Rowan Williams has pointed out. As we attend to what is emerging at the edges of the American scene, we would do well to keep that lesson in mind and to heed Williams's further advice: "Be grateful for new things happening, even if they are not easily digestible."
Exploring the Emergent Church
BOOKS
A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren (Jossey-Bass)
McLaren is pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church near Washington, D.C., and one of the leading thinkers in the emerging-church conversation. This book is a reflection in the form of a story, focusing on a dialogue between a struggling pastor and his daughter's high school science teacher It is the first installment of a trilogy, continued in The Stony We Find Ourselves In and a volume slated for 2005.
More Ready Than You Realize: Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix, by Brian McLaren (Zondervan)
A helpful rethinking of evangelism that takes Christian witness seriously while refusing to turn people into projects; suggests we may need to trade in the term "evangelism" (now compromised by triumphalism and manipulation) for the more descriptive term "disciple-making."
Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism, by Nancy Murphy (Trinity Press International)
In this often-referenced book in the emergent conversation, Murphy, professor at Fuller Seminary, lays the philosophical groundwork for a theological shift beyond the modern dualism of liberal and conservative.
The Younger Evangelicals, by Robert Webber (Baker Books)
Webber, a longtime professor at Wheaton College, now at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary outside Chicago, is especially helpful in exploring the differences between emerging "younger evangelicals" (2000-present), "pragmatic evangelicals" (1975-2000) and "traditional evangelicals" (1950-1975).
Ancient-Future Faith, by Robert Webber (Baker Books)
The first in a series of "Ancient-Future" books by Webber, this one attempts to rethink evangelicalism for the postmodern world by recovering "classical" Christianity, especially patristic theology and practice.
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