the emergent church

Saturday night, I checked out Sonicfest with RockclimberGrrrl and bumped into FunkyArchitect (from that dinner initiated by M) and his cell group. We had a fun time going out for supper - again, like the time I met M, I found myself among a group of strangers who were kindred thinkers/feelers, on fire about their Christianity. Around me was an architect, a voluntary school dropout turned freelance theatre practitioner, a motion graphics artist and a former hearing aid sales guy.

It was really encouraging and fun to hear them spout endlessly, fervently and effortlessly about God. It was a fascinatingly varied discussion: the impact of unconscious racial/cultural segregation on Singaporean Christian thinking; the effectiveness of God's choice of metaphors in the Bible; using design thinking processes to drive the way we think about evangelism etc.

The interesting thing about this cell group is that it is an interdenominational, informal gathering of creatives, fringe people and curious non-Christians. They are committed to their own mainline churches but have got together in this alternative cell group to discuss questions and issues that may not see the light of day in conventional churches.

It's a pretty cool thought: that the Body of the Church is operating on so many levels. There are those who specialise in holding the fort, expounding on theology, holding onto the Word in the Mind; then there are those who specialise in communicating the Word through fervour, Heart and emotion; then there are those who specialise in communicating the Word through the Strength of their actions...cool stuff.

It may be too easy for conservative churches to jump at judging these emergent churches as renegades, non-conformists, who just want to defy traditions and question truths. But that would be doing many of these emergent churches a great injustice. Their desire to rethink and reassess the integrity of their Christian walk within their communities is very genuine and heartening. The people from the emergent churches I have come across are as serious about making their walk right with God as any sober Bible-believing stoic. The difference seems to be expression?

The Emergent Mystique
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/12.36.html

"Yet recently McLaren has started to sketch the outlines of his vision of a postmodern church. He sketches a big circle labeled "self," a smaller circle next to it labeled "church," and a tiny circle off to the side labeled "world."

"This has been evangelicalism's model," he says. "Fundamentally it's about getting yourself 'saved'—in old-style evangelicalism—or improving your life in the new style. Either way, the Christian life is really about you and your needs. Once your needs are met, then we think about how you can serve the church. And then, if there's anything left over, we ask how the church might serve the world."

He starts drawing again. "But what if it went the other way? This big circle is the world—the world God loved so much that he sent his Son. Inside that circle is another one, the church, God's people chosen to demonstrate his love to the world. And inside that is a small circle, which is your self. It's not about the church meeting your needs, it's about you joining the mission of God's people to meet the world's needs."
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The Emerging Church, Part One
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week845/cover.html

"It can't be simply defined; it can't be simply categorized. And it's causing no end of frustration for people who'd like to have tidier boxes. This is the way they want it because they believe the gospel should have a local expression."