01 the emerging church and the one project part 1

THE EMERGING CHURCH &

THE ONE PROJECT?PART 1

“DEFINITIONS”

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My study into the emerging church started when a pastor back East asked if I knew anything about “The One Project”. When I began to study into the history of the Project and those who started the

movement, I was led to enquire about the Emerging Church and its teachings and history. I found that it deals with much more than just

“spiritual formation” and “centering prayer.”

Definitions

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The Emerging church is described in Wikipedia, taking 10 pages with 71 references. It is a good summary based on many of the books written by those in the movement itself. All of the following quotes from this web site are taken form quotes of those in the Emerging Church movement, or those who have studied into the movement in an academic research setting. There is much more to the Emerging Church movement than Contemplative Prayer and Spiritual Formation.

Definitions¨ Emerging Church: “is a Christian movement of the late 20th and

early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as Protestant, post-Protestant, catholic, evangelical,[1] post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, conservative, post-conservative, anabaptist, adventist,[2] reformed, charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic. “

¨ “In the US, some Roman Catholics have also begun to describe themselves as being part of the emergent conversation.[1]”

“While emerging is a wider, informal, church-‐based, global movement, Emergent refers to an official organization, the Emergent Village, associated with Brian McLaren, and has also been called the ‘Emergent stream.’” Adventist here refers to Seventh-‐day Adventist. The reference is taken form Ryan Bell’s blog, pastor of the Hollywood Church who is very much a part of the Emerging Church movement.

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Definitions

¨ “Stuart Murray states: ‘Emerging churches are so disparate there are exceptions to any generalisations. Most are too new and too fluid to clarify, let alone assess their significance. There is no consensus yet about what language to use: 'new ways of being church'; 'emerging church'; 'fresh expressions of church'; 'future church'; 'church next'; or ‘the coming church’.”

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Definitions and Terminology¨ “Proponents believe the movement transcends such ‘modernist’

labels of ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal,’ calling the movement a ‘conversation’ to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints [beliefs], and its commitment to dialogue.”

¨ “What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.”

¨ “The emerging church favors the use of simple story and narrative.”

Conversation, simple story, narrative and missional, are all catch phrases of the Emerging Church. Some of the things they stand for are not wrong in and of themselves, like feeding the poor, helping the orphans, standing up for the underdog, etc. But for true Christianity, these activities are not an end in themselves. We will see later how Ellen White says “The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless.”

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Values and Characteristics¨ “Members of the movement often place a high

value on good works or social activism, including missional living.[3] While some Evangelicals emphasize eternal salvation, many in the emerging church emphasize the here and now.”[4]

Conversation, simple story, narrative and missional, are all catch phrases of the Emerging Church. Some of the things they stand for are not wrong in and of themselves, like feeding the poor, helping the orphans, standing up for the underdog, etc. But for true Christianity, these activities are not an end in themselves. We will see later how Ellen White says “The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless.”

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Values and characteristics¨ “Gibbs and Bolger[24] interviewed a number of people

involved in leading emerging churches and from this research have identified some core values in the emerging church, including desires to imitate the life of Jesus; transform secular society; emphasize communal living; welcome outsiders; be generous and creative; and lead without control.”

On the surface this sounds good, perhaps like the French revolution. Much of the sentiment behind it was rebelling against false forms of religion in Europe during the period of the dark ages. But there were also elements of rebelling against God and any restraint against human passion.

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Postmodern worldview and hermeneutics

¨ “Emerging Christians began to challenge the modern church on issues such as: institutional structures, systematic theology, propositional teaching methods, a perceived preoccupation with buildings, an attractional understanding of mission, professional clergy, and a perceived preoccupation with the political process and unhelpful jargon (‘Christian-ese’).[35]”

Propositional teaching methods would be preaching with the assumption that you had truth to share or knew the meaning of a certain passage and where presenting it as such. “Attractional understanding of mission” means seeking to attract others to Jesus by telling them that we are sinners and in need of a savior and that Christ is the only way.

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¨ “As a result, some in the emerging church believe it is necessary to deconstruct modern Christian dogma. One way this happens is by engaging in dialogue, rather than proclaiming a predigested message, believing that this [dialogue] leads people to Jesus through the Holy Spirit on their own terms.”

This is Key. SO you hold a weekend gathering. Have some general presentation, and then facilitate dialogue. So Bible truth is not proclaimed but dialogue encouraged and “holy spirit” leads people to “Jesus” on “their own terms.” Yes, God wants us to come and reason together, but based on His truth not our “terms”. Those in the emerging church movement have their own “Dogma.”

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¨ “The emerging church movement contains a great diversity in beliefs and practices, although some have adopted a preoccupation with sacred rituals, good works, and political and social activism. Much of the Emerging Church movement has also adopted the approach to evangelism which stressed peer-to-peer dialogue rather than dogmatic proclamation and proselytizing.[36]”

Evangelism as required by the third angel’s message would be considered “proselytizing.”

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¨ “A plurality of Scriptural interpretations is acknowledged in the emerging church movement. Participants in the movement exhibit a particular concern for the effect of the modern reader's cultural context on the act of interpretation echoing the ideas of postmodern thinkers. …”

¨ “Some emerging church leaders see interfaith dialogue a means to share their narratives as they learn from the narratives of others.”

Not only does each individual interpret the Bible based on his own culture but then these ideas are shared with others. Very ecumenical in nature. “Let none cherish the idea that special providences or miraculous manifestations are to be the proof of the genuineness of their work or of the ideas they advocate. When persons will speak lightly of the word of God, and set their impressions, feelings, and exercises above the divine standard, we may know that they have no light in them.” (MB 146)

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Authenticity and conversation¨ “A Christian is then defined by their focus and

movement toward Christ rather than a limited set of shared beliefs and values.[39]”

¨ “Teachers in the Emerging Church tend to view the Bible and its stories through a lens which they believe finds significance and meaning for their community's social and personal stories rather than for the purpose of finding cross-cultural, propositional absolutes regarding salvation and conduct.[41]”

Who defines “movement toward Christ” and which “Christ” are we talking about?

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Authenticity and conversation¨ “The emerging church claims they are creating a

safe environment for those with opinions ordinarily rejected within modern conservative evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Non-critical, interfaith dialog is preferred over dogmatically-driven evangelism in the movement.[42] Story and narrative replaces the dogmatic:”

What do they mean by non-‐critical. Then people can gather and dialog and have a “conversation” in a safe environment and no one can disagree.

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Authenticity and conversation¨ “The bible is no longer a principal source of

morality, functioning as a rulebook. The gradualism of postmodernity has transformed the text into a guide, a source of spirituality, in which the power of the story as a moral reference point has superseded the didactic [instruction or teaching].”

The quote above continues: “Thus the meaning of the Good Samaritan is more important than the Ten Commandments -‐ even assuming that the latter could be remembered in any detail by anyone.”

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Authenticity and conversation

¨ “Those in the movement do not engage in aggressive apologetics or confrontational evangelism in the traditional sense, preferring to encourage the freedom to discover truth through conversation and relationships with the Christian community.[44]”

Presenting the idea that there is a broad way and a strait way would be classified as “confrontational evangelism”.

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Creative and rediscovered spirituality

¨ “This can involve everything from expressive, neocharismatic style of worship and the use of contemporary music and films to more ancient liturgical customs and eclectic expressions of spirituality, with the goal of making the church gathering reflect the local community's tastes.”

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¨ “Emerging church practitioners are happy to take elements of worship from a wide variety of historic traditions, including traditions of the Catholic Church, the Anglican churches, the Orthodox churches, and Celtic Christianity. From these and other religious traditions emerging church groups take, adapt and blend various historic church practices including liturgy, prayer beads, icons, spiritual direction, the labyrinth, and lectio divina. The Emerging Church is also sometimes called the ‘Ancient-Future’ church.[61]”

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Creative and rediscovered spirituality¨ “One of the key social drives in Western Post-

industrialized countries, is the rise in new/old forms of mysticism. … Therefore, the Emerging Church is operating in a new context of postmodern spirituality, as a new form of mysticism. … many people now believe in and are searching for something more spiritual (postmodern view). This has been characterized as a major shift from religion to spirituality.”

Religion being a creed or set beliefs, spirituality more of an experience not necessarily based on doctrine.

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¨ “[T]he Emerging Church Movement is seeking to missionally assist people to shift from being spiritual tourists to Christian pilgrims. Many are drawing on ancient Christian resources recontextualised into the contemporary such as contemplation and contemplative forms of prayer, symbolic multi-sensory worship, story telling and many others.[66] This again has required a change in focus as the majority of unchurched and dechurched people are seeking 'something that works' rather than something that is ‘true’. [67]”

¨ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church#cite_note-15)

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Summary: Emerging Church is❖ World wide movement ❖ Involves all of Christendom and other religions ❖ Includes some in Seventh-day Adventist Church ❖ Has many good sounding stated values and goals ❖ Represents those with vast difference in beliefs ❖ Seeks to find agreement on key points ❖ Moving from authority of Scripture to narratives ❖ Culture and experience rather than absolute truth ❖ Moves from Biblical organization to individualism ❖ Worship combines old & new forms of mysticism ❖ Brings about change through “Conversations” etc. ❖ Involves much more than Contemplative Prayer, etc. ❖ Separates mission work from gospel message

Read Great Controversy chapter 27 “Modern Revivals”, and Chapters 29 -‐34: “The Origin of Evil,” “Enmity Between Man and Satan,” “Agency of Evil Spirits,” “Snares of Satan,” “The First Great Deception,” “Can the Dead Speak to Us? (Spiritualism).” These chapters give us insight into what is taking place today in the world and in our church.

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Jesus Method of Evangelism

¨ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, ¨ because he hath anointed me to preach the

gospel to the poor; ¨ he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, ¨ to preach deliverance to the captives, ¨ and recovering of sight to the blind, ¨ to set at liberty them that are bruised, ¨ to preach the acceptable year of the

Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

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We will look at just one contrast between Emerging Church ideas and Jesus’ Methods. Contrast what Bible teaches with Emerging Church idea of mission/Evangelism Luke 4:18-‐19 Jesus was preaching at Nazareth, quoted from Isa. 61:1-‐2. [1]Didn’t say Lord sent me to have “conversations”. Jesus did have conversations. Read John 3 and 4, women at the well and Nichodimas. Didn’t talk about the weather and the latest Greek games (Olympics). The mission was blended to meet both physical and spiritual needs. All these phrases can apply to both. [2] (2097) Greek= to announce good news (“evangelize”) especially the gospel: -‐ declare, bring (declare, show) glad (good) tidings, preach (the gospel). Jesus preached good news of salvation which is the fact that He will save people from sin. What’s sin, who’s a sinner, what are the wages, how do we escape the wages. [3] Heal or make whole: the emotions, the body physically, and the mind spiritually. [4] (2784) to herald (as a public crier), especially divine truth (the gospel): -‐ preach (-‐er), proclaim, publish. [5] Word for “blind” can be mean both physical or spiritual. [6] (2784) Used the word Preach 3 times. [7] Acceptable year denotes a prophetic message announcing arrival of Messiah, the 70 weeks prophecy, also hints at Jubilee year when captives set free.

Jesus Method of Evangelism¨ “Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the

people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’“

¨ “There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.” (Ministry of Healing, p. 143)

Sermonizing speaks more of one who talks about Christianity/religion but doesn't live it.

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(May-Ellen Colón, “Once a Month Jesus Comes and Holds my Hand,” Elders Digest, Dec. 2011, pp. 26-27; http://www.eldersdigest.org/assets/archives/ED%20Q4%202011.pdf)

EGW’s statement broken down.

Emerging Church Method of Evangelism

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“The Dichotomous Model (below),” based on Greek Dualistic thinking, presents the steps in MH 143 as two competing Gospels: The “Social Gospel” and the “Everlasting Gospel” (not evangelical gospel). A mathematician would call this graph between the secular and the spiritual “inversely proportional.” This means that the closer you get to the everlasting gospel—spiritual end—the further you get from the social end, and vice versa.


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Jesus method was that all aspects of his ministry where centered around leading people to the cross. If people came to Him and asked outright what they must do to be saved (number 4) Jesus would tell them. If people where not open to His teachings right away He would spend time socializing, sympathizing and serving, with the purpose of opening up opportunities to lead them to salvation. In our next presentation we will look at a leading spokesman for the Emerging Church movement—Leonard Sweet.

Education

01 the emerging church and the one project part 1