Just because you asked...
Someone asked me to define, in my own words, what the emerging/postmodern church is. I hope I'm not being presumptuous by throwing my thoughts into the pot with all the many more articulate explanations. Please realize that I don't necessarily speak for all postmoderns or emergents, this is just an explanation from my experience and perspective.
Picture the church as food. In order to stay healthy, the church should consist of all kinds of consumables, and there should be a healthy balance.
Now, if you would, picture the modern evangelical church as the fruit. Imagine each different denomination and affiliation and style of traditional church as a different fruit...apples, bananas, oranges...mangoes, pineapple, even ugli and tomatoes...all are awesome and amazing and unique...but still, they are fruit.
Now imagine the emerging church as anything/everything that's not fruit. You'll have dairy, grains, meat, legumes, vegetables...then you have spices and seasonings...sweets and oils...and all different varieties of each.
Please don't draw any further analogy from the example foods I chose to name...I mean none. It's just an example. The emerging church isn't any one thing, it's everything aside from the modern or traditional styles/methods of worship/relationship. Christ's church needs each to remain balanced.
The process of emerging is the knowing that you are NOT a fruit, but not yet knowing what you ARE. Some emergents may then see themselves as granola, some as jalapenos, some as lobster, some as tofu, some as ice cream. Not that emergents are in the habit of identifying themselves with food, but with different styles of worship, meeting, mission, leadership, and relationship that may fall outside the traditional church norm. And the key is that any gathering of emergents will (hopefully) consist of some people from each category.
What we're saying is that church cannot confine itself to one way of doing things, but all ways are essential for the church to grow and thrive.
For much a more schooled and eloquent explanation, please see Andrew Jones' (aka TSK) series over at The Ooze entitled "The Skinny on Postmodernity Series", or just poke around at TallSkinnyKiwi, JordanCooper, EmergentVillage or NextReformation ...just to name a few...you'll probably find what you're looking for. If you don't find an answer, please feel free to ask me, and I'll try to point you in the right direction.
Someone asked me to define, in my own words, what the emerging/postmodern church is. I hope I'm not being presumptuous by throwing my thoughts into the pot with all the many more articulate explanations. Please realize that I don't necessarily speak for all postmoderns or emergents, this is just an explanation from my experience and perspective.
Picture the church as food. In order to stay healthy, the church should consist of all kinds of consumables, and there should be a healthy balance.
Now, if you would, picture the modern evangelical church as the fruit. Imagine each different denomination and affiliation and style of traditional church as a different fruit...apples, bananas, oranges...mangoes, pineapple, even ugli and tomatoes...all are awesome and amazing and unique...but still, they are fruit.
Now imagine the emerging church as anything/everything that's not fruit. You'll have dairy, grains, meat, legumes, vegetables...then you have spices and seasonings...sweets and oils...and all different varieties of each.
Please don't draw any further analogy from the example foods I chose to name...I mean none. It's just an example. The emerging church isn't any one thing, it's everything aside from the modern or traditional styles/methods of worship/relationship. Christ's church needs each to remain balanced.
The process of emerging is the knowing that you are NOT a fruit, but not yet knowing what you ARE. Some emergents may then see themselves as granola, some as jalapenos, some as lobster, some as tofu, some as ice cream. Not that emergents are in the habit of identifying themselves with food, but with different styles of worship, meeting, mission, leadership, and relationship that may fall outside the traditional church norm. And the key is that any gathering of emergents will (hopefully) consist of some people from each category.
What we're saying is that church cannot confine itself to one way of doing things, but all ways are essential for the church to grow and thrive.
For much a more schooled and eloquent explanation, please see Andrew Jones' (aka TSK) series over at The Ooze entitled "The Skinny on Postmodernity Series", or just poke around at TallSkinnyKiwi, JordanCooper, EmergentVillage or NextReformation ...just to name a few...you'll probably find what you're looking for. If you don't find an answer, please feel free to ask me, and I'll try to point you in the right direction.
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