Emergent Church

Wikipedia says some stuff about the Emergent Church but the term ‘Emergent Church’ seems to mean anything nowadays.

One definition for Emergent Church is an Evangelical Christian movement whose participants seek to live their faith in modern society by emulating Jesus Christ irrespective of Christian religious traditions. This can not be what it is. This would make JW’s and Mormons Emergent.

It is said that proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature. This is correct in my understanding of the phrase Emergent Church but in reality a lot that is called emergent Church is in reality Church with a trendy name. Some so called Emergent Churches are as centralised as any other Church.

It is also said that its members may be disillusioned with the organized and institutional church and often support the deconstruction of modern Christian dogma. Who the hell likes dogmatism in the first place anyway?

Wikipedia also says that the movement often favours the use of simple story and narrative, occasionally incorporating mysticism. I know of a lot of things that are called emergent Church but I can’t say I have ever come across such a movement. A lot of it is repackaged tradition.

It also says that members of the emerging movement place high value on good works or social activism, sometimes including missional living or new monasticism; while Evangelicals may emphasize eternal salvation, many in the emerging movement emphasize the here and now and the need to create a kingdom of heaven on Earth.

When in fact the emphasis is on everything.

Apparently Emergent churches can be found throughout the globe, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. Some attend local independent churches or house churches labelled "emergent" while others worship in traditional Christian denominations.

This is when the whole thing becomes a joke!

It is said that proponents of this movement call it a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature. If it has a decentralized nature it can’t be like a house church or part of a traditional denomination. Such fellowships are something different to the true Emergent Church.

The true Emergent church takes elements of worship from a wide variety of historic traditions, including Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, the Orthodox church, and Celtic Christianity. liturgy, prayer beads, icons, and the labyrinth.

The Taizé Community in France parallels the emergent experience in many ways. As does The Religious Society of Friends

I do not believe that the true Emergent Church can be a house group or a group of people that meet in a building at a certain time but an active community. I believe that the true Emergent Church has been around for the last 2000 years, hence it is right to draw on a variety of historic traditions.

Within the true Emergent Church the idolatry that is Denominationalism is non-existent. The heresy card is never played.

The true Emergent Church is not into going to meetings and conferences, so people who are holding Emergent Church conferences are not truly Emergent. The true Emergent Church encourages growing together in unity and not growing by going to meetings.

In the words of Saint Patrick,


“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”