The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/13/07 Last Updated: 11/16/07

The Emergent Church movement has a radical focus on the priesthood of all believers and world Christianity, a leader in the Emergent Church said Nov. 9.

Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent Village, was one of four speakers at a conference on the Emergent Church Nov. 9 and 10, hosted by the Weyerhaeuser Center for Faith and Learning and the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest.

The topic "An Emergent Mainline Dialogue: Listening to Generations Past, Present and Future" was discussed in a series of lectures and small groups, where speakers described the Emergent Church as a breaking away from mainline church orthodoxy in response to postmodern culture.

A mixed audience of older and younger men and women were in attendance, including a number of Whitworth professors.

"'Emergent' has become a popular, albeit nebulous, term that many are using to describe a new way of incarnating the essential message of the Christian faith.  To some it is synonymous with the methodology of church-growth movement in North America," according to the Weyerhaeuser Center for Faith and Learning Web site.

The conference featured four lecturers, who are leaders in the Emergent Church movement: Tony Jones, national coordinator of Emergent Village; John Franke, professor of theology at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, Penn.; Doug Pagitt, pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Karen Ward, pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Seattle, Wash.  

Tony Jones

Jones gave the opening address Nov. 9 on the some of the principles of the Emergent Church.  

It is “a new, adventurous Christianity uniquely suited to America,”Jones said.

According to the Emergent Village Web site, "Emergent Village is a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

Emergent Village was formed as an organization in 2001, according to the site. 

Jones, an author and graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, introduced the audience to the idea of the Emergent Church.   

Jones used 10 "dispatches" as organizational tools to introduce the subject of the Emergent Church.

Jones' first point was that emergents embrace paradoxes.

"The very nature of Christian theology is wrestling with paradox,” Jones said.

Rather than trying to figure out concrete answers, Jones said the Emergent Church embraces these questions instead.

“We will never undo the paradoxes,” he said.

To illustrate his point, Jones referred readers to a story in Mark 9 where a man said to Jesus, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief" (NIV).

Jones' second point was that emergents are skeptical of tabernacles.

Memorials will never capture the moment they are meant to represent, Jones said. “That desire to build build build” new wings and facilities for successful churches is viewed as negative by emergents, Jones said.

Emergents find little importance among the little details that divide protestant sects, Jones said during this third point.

“It just doesn’t seem like we should have to choose,” Jones said.

Emergents believe there are many perspectives on the same truth, Jones said.

Jones' fourth point was that emergents tend toward ‘world Christianity’ rather than ‘global Christianity.’”

Global Christianity focuses on spreading Western Christianity, Jones said.

“The problem has been the ‘we take the gospel to them’ mentality,” he said.

On the other hand, when people bring the gospel into their own cultures and embrace it, that is world Christianity, rather than global Christianity Jones said. Allowing others to embrace the gospel rather than pushing preconceived notions on them is the emergent approach to spreading the gospel.

Jones' fifth point was that the theology "really really matters.”

Jones described the Emergent Church movement as “robustly theological.”

Emergents refuse to shrug off difficult questions with the “'It’s all about Jesus, man,' mentality," Jones said. "It just doesn’t jive with the theological narrative we’ve been given,” he said.

Jones' sixth point was that emergents will rearrange the furniture - metaphorically.

Jones said the Emergent Church is about adapting the faith and rearranging things. It is not a bad thing, since the church has never been static, Jones said.

“That’s why we don’t bolt the couches into the floor,” he said.

Jones' seventh point was that emergents start new churches not to evangelize, but to save the Christian faith.

Many emergents are people unsatisfied with the pat answers generated by mainline churches and the disagreements over details of an “ultimate truth” that people want to try to rationally approach, he said.

“A lot of us have been involved in that machine,” Jones said.

Jones' eighth point was that there are no ontological differences between humans.

“There is a radial focus on the priesthood of all believers,” Jones said.

Jones said Emergent Church services are very non-traditional. Instead of pews, people sit on chairs or couches. Instead of delivering a sermon, church leaders facilitate discussion, Jones said.

Jones' ninth point is that emergents reject the politics of left versus right.

Some say it is a “sinful practice to register with a political party,” Jones said.

Political parties are just another petty division between sects of followers of Christ, he said.

Jones' tenth point is that emergents are positive.

Jones displayed a picture of a chalk sidewalk drawing which said, “It’s a beautiful day! Smile.”

“This is an iconic representation of the larger Emergent Church,” Jones said. It was good news the first time Jesus came, it will be good news next time too.

John Franke

John Franke, author and professor of philosophy at Biblical Theological Seminary, gave a lecture Nov. 10 on the importance of linking the emergent church with other more traditional Christian churches.

Franke said as a professor at a mainline seminary, he gets to connect more traditional ideas with those of the Emergent Church.

“For me, participating in the emerging conversation in no way takes away from the mainline churches,” he said.

Franke said he is often asked the question, "What is the Emergent Church?"

“Some people expect a succinct, central answer,” he said. “The real story is a plurality.”

The strength of the Emergent Church lies in its openness to innovation, Franke said.

“The Bible is not so much a single book but an authorized set of texts reflecting unique points of view,” he said.

Franke said he stresses being actively and openly involved with other Christians, seeking peace among followers of Christ, speaking positively of fellow Christians – even in disagreement – and building sincere friendships with Christians in other denominations.

“No single voice or perspective can bear witness to the gospel message,” Franke said. “Each voice takes a unique perspective on the whole.”

Contact Grady Locklear at grady.locklear@whitworthian.com.

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