The Emerging Church ...

... graces the pages of The Oregonian today.

On the front page of the O section, there is this headline:

"Unchurched? Dechurched? Rechurched? Your prayers may be answered"

Featured are Rick McKinley and his church Imago Dei; The Pearl; and Southgate Chapel. Rick is the author of "Jesus in the Margins" and the new "This Beautiful Mess", which he co-authored with Donald Miller and David Kopp.

Rick is quoted in the article as saying:

"The definition of church in the Bible is a simple one. The church needs to go into every culture, and it doesn't matter what day you worship, the time, the kind of music that you have."

Awesome quote.

More from the article...

"The definition of emerging church is emerging", says Paul Metzger, a seminary professor who doesn't mean to be funny. He teaches theology of culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, where many young people who are founding and attending emerging churches have been students. Metzger has found that traditional labels - conservative and liberal, for example - don't apply to the emerging church.

"These communities span the theological spectrum", he says, "drawing from ancient as well as contemporary sources of spirituality." They emphasize what theologians call "praxis", the art of living out one's religious faith.

"For many of them, it's not primarily about right-thinking or right-teaching," Metzger says. "It's more about right-living".

It seems people are finally beginning to get the picture. The article continues...

"Generally, the emerging church springs from grassroots movements, puts little emphasis on structure or hierarchy, focuses on a strong sense of community and a deep belief in being "missional". To be missional, members say is to reach out to each other and to the broader culture in which they live, breath, work and worship."

The article is interesting; however, conspicuously missing is Bob Hyatt's church The Evergreen Community. No idea why this is, but I was disappointed they were not featured.

This article is not the Oregonian's first foray into the "alternative" church scene. In April, the Oregonian published an article about tattooed Pastors that my friend Pam wrote.

I am excited about the notice those who are "doing church" differently are getting here in the Rose City. I hope these pioneers continue to grow and gain respect here in the most unchurched state in the nation (source: Glenmary Research Center). We are big on counter-culture here, and I would love to see church begin to dip it's feet more seriously into this personality which makes Portland unique.

[Sidenote: I will say I'm a bit frustrated that this article seemed to focus on the more mainstream "emerging" churches in the area. At the end of this post I will include links to other emerging or alternative churches in the area. ]

In the end, there is no one way to "do" church, as far as I'm concerned. I think the reason church attendance is declining and youth and other less conservative folks (including myself) are missing from our church pews is simple: we have failed to respect the right to individuality, treating it as a disease rather than an example of God's amazing creativity. We have a very Borg-ian mentality in mainstream Christianity - that we are all one collective, we are all exactly alike, and those who get too close to us must "prepare to be assimilated."

We also err in in the Borg-ian fashion by making it our mission to "improve" people who have beliefs or lifestyles that are in conflict with our Mission - Biblical truth.

It's God's job to "fix" people; it's our responsibility, as partners with God, only to love people gently into His embrace.

Over and out.





These are some of the "other" type churches in the Portland area. I say "other" because many churches don't want to be classified as "postmodern" or "emerging" due to the confusion such labels elicit. These have been brought to my attention either by friends, The Ooze, Sites Unseen or Mission Portland. I haven't personally been to any of them, so I can't guarantee their "otherness". But all in all, I trust my sources.

The Bridge

Ethnos

Red Sea Church

The Well

The Table

The Vibrant Community

Our Place

Skate Church