Trinitarian-based values Gibbs and Bolger 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; emphasise
communal living; welcome outsiders; be generous and creative; and lead without control. Ian Mobsby suggests
Trinitarian ecclesiology is the basis of these shared international values. Mobsby also suggests that the emerging church is centred on a combination of models of church and of contextual theology that draw on this Trinitarian base: the Mystical Communion and Sacramental models of church, and the Synthetic and Transcendent models of
contextual theology. According to Mobsby, the emerging church has reacted to the
missional needs of postmodern culture and re-acquired a Trinitarian basis to its understanding of church as worship, mission and community. He argues this movement is over and against some forms of conservative evangelicalism and other reformed ecclesiologies since the enlightenment that have neglected the Trinity, which has caused problems with certainty, judgementalism and
fundamentalism and the increasing gap between the church and contemporary culture.
Post-Christendom mission and evangelism According to Stuart Murray,
Christendom is the creation and maintenance of a Christian nation by ensuring a close relationship of power between the Christian church and its host culture. Today, churches may still attempt to use this power in mission and evangelism. The emerging church considers this to be unhelpful. Murray summarizes Christendom values as: a commitment to hierarchy and the status quo; the loss of lay involvement; institutional values rather than community focus; church at the centre of society rather than the margins; the use of
political power to bring in the
Kingdom; religious compulsion; punitive rather than
restorative justice;
marginalisation of women, the poor, and dissident movements; inattentiveness to the criticisms of those outraged by the historic association of Christianity with patriarchy, warfare, injustice and patronage; partiality for respectability and top-down mission; attractional evangelism; assuming the Christian story is known; and a preoccupation with the rich and powerful. The emerging church seeks a post-Christendom approach to being church and mission through: renouncing imperialistic approaches to language and cultural imposition; making 'truth claims' with humility and respect; overcoming the public/private dichotomy; moving church from the center to the margins; moving from a place of privilege in society to one voice amongst many; a transition from control to witness, maintenance to mission and institution to movement. While some Evangelicals emphasize
eternal salvation, many in the emerging church emphasize the here and now. In the face of criticism, some in the emerging church respond that it is important to attempt a "both and" approach to redemptive and
incarnational theologies. Some
Evangelicals and
Fundamentalists are perceived as "overly redemptive" and therefore in danger of condemning people by communicating
the gospel in aggressive and angry ways. A more loving and affirming approach is proposed in the context of post-modernity where distrust may occur in response to power claims. It is suggested that this can form the basis of a constructive engagement with 21st-century post-industrial western cultures. According to Ian Mobsby, the suggestion that the emerging church is mainly focused on deconstruction and the rejection of current forms of church should itself be rejected.
Postmodernism and hermeneutics The emerging church is a response to the perceived influence of
modernism in
Western Christianity. As some sociologists commented on a cultural shift that they believed to correspond to
postmodern ways of perceiving reality in the late 20th century, some Christians began to advocate changes within the church in response. These Christians saw the contemporary church as being culturally bound to modernism. They changed their practices to relate to the new cultural situation. 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 ("
Christianese"). 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 leads people to Jesus through the Holy Spirit on their own terms. Many in the movement embrace the missiology that drives the movement in an effort to be like Christ and make disciples by being a good example. 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. 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 such as
Jacques Derrida and
Stanley Fish. Therefore a
narrative approach to Scripture, and history are emphasized in some emerging churches over exegetical and dogmatic approaches (such as that found in
systematic theology and systematic exegesis), which are often viewed as
reductionist. Others embrace a multiplicity of approaches.
Generous orthodoxy Some emerging church leaders see
interfaith dialogue a means to share their narratives as they learn from the narratives of others. Some Emerging Church Christians believe there are radically diverse perspectives within Christianity that are valuable for humanity to progress toward truth and a better resulting relationship with God, and that these different perspectives deserve Christian charity rather than condemnation.
Centered set The movement appropriates
set theory as a means of understanding a basic change in the way the Christian church thinks about itself as a group.
Set theory is a concept in mathematics that allows an understanding of what numbers belong to a group, or set. A bounded set would describe a group with clear "in" and "out" definitions of membership. The Christian church has largely organized itself as a bounded set, those who share the same beliefs and values are in the set and those who disagree are outside. The centered set does not limit membership to pre-conceived boundaries. Instead, a centered set is conditioned on a centered point. Membership is contingent on those who are moving toward that point. Elements moving toward a particular point are part of the set, but elements moving away from that point are not. As a centered-set Christian membership would be dependent on moving toward the central point of Jesus. A Christian is then defined by their focus and movement toward Christ rather than a limited set of shared beliefs and values.
Authenticity and conversation The movement favors the sharing of experiences via testimonies, prayer, group recitation, sharing meals and other communal practices, which they believe are more personal and sincere than propositional presentations of the Gospel. 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. 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. Story and narrative replaces the dogmatic: 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.
Missional living Participants in this movement assert that the incarnation of Christ informs their theology. They believe that as God entered the world in human form, adherents enter (individually and communally) into the context around them and aim to transform that culture through local involvement. This holistic involvement may take many forms, including social activism, hospitality and acts of kindness. This beneficent involvement in culture is part of what is called missional living. Missional living leads to a focus on temporal and social issues, in contrast with a perceived evangelical overemphasis on salvation. This focus on missional living and practicing radical hospitality has led many emerging churches to deepen what they are doing by developing a rhythm of life, and a vision of missional loving engagement with the world.
Communitarian or egalitarian ecclesiology Proponents of the movement communicate and interact through fluid and open networks because the movement is decentralized with little institutional coordination. Because of the participation values named earlier, being community through participation affects the governance of most emerging churches. Participants avoid power relationships, attempting to gather in ways specific to their local context. In this way some in the movement share with the
house church movements a willingness to challenge traditional church structures/organizations though they also respect the different expressions of traditional Christian denominations. International research suggests that some emerging churches are utilizing a Trinitarian basis to being church through what
Avery Dulles calls 'The Mystical Communion Model of Church'. • Not an institution but a sorority. • Church as interpersonal community. • Church as a sisterhood of individual congregations (unified bride of Christ), and as a fellowship of people in family with God and with one another (brothers and sisters) in Christ. • Connects strongly with the mystical 'body of Christ' as a communion of the spiritual life of faith, hope and charity. • Resonates with
Aquinas' notion of the Church as the principle of unity that dwells in Christ and in us, binding us together and in him. • All the external
means of grace, (
sacraments, scripture, laws etc.) are secondary and subordinate; their role is simply to dispose people for an interior union with God effected by grace. Dulles sees the strength in this approach being acceptable to both Protestant and Catholic:
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. Emerging church practitioners are happy to take elements of worship from a wide variety of historic traditions, including traditions of the
Catholic,
Anglican and
Eastern 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 . The emerging church is also sometimes called the "Ancient-Future" church. One of the key social drives in Western post-industrialised countries, is the rise in new-"old" forms of mysticism. This rise in spirituality appears to be driven by the effects of consumerism, globalisation and advances in information technology. Therefore, the emerging church is operating in a new context of postmodern spirituality, as a new form of mysticism. This capitalizes on the social shift in starting assumptions from the situation that most are regarded as materialist/atheist (the modern position), to the fact that many people now believe in and are searching for something more spiritual (postmodern view). This has been characterised as a major shift from religion to spirituality. In the new world of 'spiritual tourism', the 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. 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'.
Morality and justice Drawing on a more 'missional morality' that again turns to the synoptic gospels of Christ, many emerging-church groups draw on an understanding of God seeking to restore all things back into restored relationship. This emphasises God's graceful love approach to discipleship, in following Christ who identified with the socially excluded and ill, in opposition to the
Pharisees and
Sadducees and their purity rules. Under this movement, traditional Christians' emphasis on either individual salvation, end-times theology or the
prosperity gospel have been challenged. Many people in the movement express concern for what they consider to be the practical manifestation of God's kingdom on earth, by which they mean
social justice. This concern manifests itself in a variety of ways depending on the local community and in ways they believe transcend "modernist" labels of "conservative" and "liberal." This concern for justice is expressed in such things as feeding the poor, visiting the sick and prisoners, stopping contemporary slavery, critiquing systemic and coercive power structures with "
postcolonial hermeneutics," and working for environmental causes. ==See also==