Current Issues: Emerging Church

1
Current Issues Emerging Church

• Bethany Baptist Church
• Jerry Sanderson
• Spring Electives 2007

2
Background

• PBS Video part 1
• Within Protestant Churches
• Liberal Churches
• Low view of Scripture
• Evangelical Churches
• High view of Scripture

3
3 Type of Evangelical Churches

• Traditional
• Reformational
• Conservative tend to be expository
• Seeker Sensitive
• Appeal to non-churched
• Attempt to be relevant topical
• Emerging
• Sees Traditional as too certain, too legalistic
• Sees Seeker Churches as too empty
• Often a REACTION to both
• Very QUESTIONING by nature
• Attempting to reach our Post-Modern culture

4
Emerging Church is not Monolithic 3 main types

• Liberal (Emergent strain of Emerging Church)
• Syncretistic, experiential
• Spiritual, but not Bible centered
• Man-centered, social gospel
• Moderate
• More Bible focused than liberal, but Bible not
  Highest Authority
• Questions aspects of Scripture
• Waters down gospel
• Conservative
• Bible Focused
• Sin, Salvation, Atonement preached, but in
  culturally hip language
• Some theology and worship still more man centered
  than CE

5
Emerging Church is a REACTION

• Reaction to
• Legalism
• Rigid Framework
• Masks at church hiding pain, doubts, sin,
  struggles
• walled-off subculture
• Dogma which they believe led to the above
  problems
• Examples of Reactions
• Valid concerns
• Healthy Biblical Self-Evaluation is needed

6
Emerging Churches Answer

• Authentic
• Real
• Engaged
• Love
• Honest
• Conversation
• Personal Expression(Art, Facebook, Blogs, Music)

7
Why are they asking these questions and making
these challenges?

• Their personal experiences with church in their
  past
• Their desire to reach people in our culture that
  are turned-off to church (Open to Jesus, Closed
  to the Church)
• Their desire to be authentic
• Their desire to experience God

8
These seem like worthy ideals

• D.A. Carson Professor of Theology at Trinity
  Evangelic University states in his critique of
  the Emerging Church,
• This is far more commendable than a cultural
  conservatism that acts as if the culture with
  which we are most comfortable (usually the one in
  which we grew up) is the only culture acceptable
  to thinking Christians, and perhaps to God
  himself.

9
This leads to further questioning

• Scripture
• How can we really know what is true?
• Interpretation
• Culture
• Doctrine
• Categories and definitions created by men
• These categories are too confining to them
• Too absolute

10

• Emergents talk about Loving God and loving
  people Luke 1027
• We can and should ask How are we doing
  individually and corporately in these areas?
• We should take an inventory and strive to be
  Christ-like, but we should not walk away from
  holding to the truths of the gospel to do it.

11
Questions are OK, but.

• The KEY is where we go for the answers
• The BIBLE.
• The Bible HAS THE ANSWERS
• The Bible Alone accurately reflects reality
• Where we come from, why are we here?
• The fallen condition of the world around us
• Moral law, right and wrong
• Gods unchangeable character and attributes
• Gods working in the world throughout history
• The way to know God

12
D.A. Carson says..

• There are some valid criticisms of Christianity
  of the modern period, sermons more didactic than
  narrative. However, there is a danger of
  swinging the pendulum and being so focused on the
  narrative that we miss or even disdain logical
  points.

13
Next Time

• More Background
• Emerging vs Emergent
• Terms, such as
• Narrative
• Missional
• Fluid
• Deconstruct
• Conversation