The emerging church (also known as the emerging church movement) is a controversial 21st-century Protestant Christian movement whose participants seek to engage postmodern people, especially the unchurched and post-churched. To accomplish this, "emerging Christians" (also known as "emergents") deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
The emerging church (also known as the emerging church movement) is a controversial 21st-century Protestant Christian movement whose participants seek to engage postmodern people, especially the unchurched and post-churched. To accomplish this, "emerging Christians" (also known as "emergents") deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods.
Oh I see, kind of like AFF.
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
I think the thing that many UPC ministers would find frightening is this part ...
To accomplish this, "emerging Christians" (also known as "emergents") deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods.
Emergers look at all the things held dear (traditions and doctrine and methods) and reexamine them and then throw away the nonessentials and keep the things that are important. Unfortunately, sometimes many things that are essential get thrown out.
They look at the way church is done, and try to make it more relevant to the culture we live in. I think that means getting rid of ritual and tradition.
Honestly, I don't think the thought behind it is all that wrong. It's what the Reformers did. They bucked the system set up by the Roman Catholic church and tried to get back to what the original church was all about. I don't want all the trappings of "traditional church" but I've been praying for God to transform my local church according to His design. The love, oneness of mind, humility, and the power that the early Christians had is my prayer for the group of Christians I fellowship with.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
Honestly, I don't think the thought behind it is all that wrong. It's what the Reformers did. They bucked the system set up by the Roman Catholic church and tried to get back to what the original church was all about. I don't want all the trappings of "traditional church" but I've been praying for God to transform my local church according to His design. The love, oneness of mind, humility, and the power that the early Christians had is my prayer for the group of Christians I fellowship with.
I think the thing that many UPC ministers would find frightening is this part ...
To accomplish this, "emerging Christians" (also known as "emergents") deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods.
Emergers look at all the things held dear (traditions and doctrine and methods) and reexamine them and then throw away the nonessentials and keep the things that are important. Unfortunately, sometimes many things that are essential get thrown out.
They look at the way church is done, and try to make it more relevant to the culture we live in. I think that means getting rid of ritual and tradition. Honestly, I don't think the thought behind it is all that wrong. It's what the Reformers did. They bucked the system set up by the Roman Catholic church and tried to get back to what the original church was all about. I don't want all the trappings of "traditional church" but I've been praying for God to transform my local church according to His design. The love, oneness of mind, humility, and the power that the early Christians had is my prayer for the group of Christians I fellowship with.
I agree w/much of your statements above, however, the bolded once isn't necessarily true. Most emergent/emerging stuff I've seen have made it a core value to try to not get rid of the old stuff but to combine it with new stuff in what Len Sweet calls 'ancient/future' worship praxis. In many cases the emerging people are going back further than the Reformation and into the Early Church and Jewish worship practice and resurrecting old worship forms and perhaps reinterpreting them and/or adapting them to current technology. Old is back again, it's the baby boomer, seeker sensitive folks that got rid of ritual and religious symbols. The emerging folks want it back again.
Interesting article by a former atheist. I read all of Mike Adams' articles. He's a bit snarky, but he does cut to the chase, which I always appreciate. This article tells his feelings about the "emergent" church.
Quote:
Monday, June 14, 2010 Who Knows Anything Anyway?
by Mike Adams
Today, I was reading a book called Blue Like Jazz by a guy named Don Miller. About 100 pages into the book I came across this quote: “I don’t believe I will ever walk away from God for intellectual reasons. Who knows anything anyway?” After hearing the author admit that he didn’t know anything I tossed his book in the trash and lit a cigar. Then I sat down to write this column.
I wish I could say that Don Miller is just another author getting wealthy peddling a watered-down version of Christianity that appeals to people who want a little religion but have no desire to change their behavior. But Don Miller isn’t an isolated case. He’s part of the so-called Emergent Church movement that is making significant inroads among young Americans.
Above all, Don Miller and his friends in the Emergent Church want us to understand that Christianity is not about rules. It’s about a relationship. We don’t really know what the rules are and there’s no way God would want to share his “absoluteness” with “words” that could be used to form “propositions” which could result in “doctrine.”
This Sunday I’ve decided to take a friend to the local Emergent Church. I plan to steal from the offering plate, rape the pastor’s wife, and then kill anyone who gets in my way. Then, I’ll remind the congregation that Christianity is not about rules. It’s about a relationship with God. And one has nothing to do with the other.
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
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