What Are We Emerging To?

Posted by Jonathan Brink

September 29, 2007

Jamie, over at emergentvoyageurs.blog.com, asks a really interesting set of questions at “Am I Really An Emerging Christian? – A Pre-Mature Conclusion“. He concludes the post with,

“All this to say that I believe we see things change in the emerging church in coming years. From the outside it will look like interest is waning, conversation breaking down- which some critics will wrongly interpret as the whole thing collapsing in on itself as they predicted. In truth, this is the pattern of change. From the idylic vision of community in Acts 4 to the heated debates of Act 15. In some ways, the emerging church as we know it will die (and is already doing so), but as it’s seeds are scattered and die, so too is new life being birth in the Church in places where the “conversation” had never been.”

Which begs the question, what are we emerging to?

I consider myself part of the emerging church movement because I know that the established church isn’t working. George Barna has been saying this for ages. Unchristian, which was just released reveals the cracks in the facade. Willow Creek’s new Reveal campaign, which I wrote about here, points to the deep underlying assumptions about how we “do church” doesn’t work.

Paul Mayer says in the comments section of Jamie’s post that,

“the emerging church is that they will have to move from conversation to institution to survive.”

Brother Maynard also stated

“That said, I fully agree that an institution is likely to ‘emerge’ at some point. Many will depart from that institution and leave the ecm, but others will continue to build it. Len Hjalmarson and I have both written a fair bit on the traditional progression of a movement. I’ve described it as moment -> movement -> machine -> monument -> mausoleum. Yeah, I’m a bit dark about it! ;^) Some in the ecm will go there, others will not, preferring instead to fall into the ground and die.”

Is our only option an institution or to fall on the ground and die? Are we left with the options of returning to what we left or withering away in solitude. I don’t think so. There’s more going on here than just two options.

If the institutions that we now have don’t work, why would we return to the institutional model? In fact, isn’t this one of the central components of the modern church, a need for institutions? And isn’t one of the defining qualities of the postmodern/emerging church the lack of institutionalism. Tony Jones, who is one of the leaders in the Emergent Village leadership team got major flack for his original title, National Director, so much so that they changed his title to National Coordinator.

I do agree that if we separate ourselves form the fellowship of the believers we will die. We’re designed for community as people made in the image of God. We need fellowship. We need to see His reflection in those around us.

But why the need for credibility? Jesus wasn’t interested in credibility. He let people walk away. He didn’t answer their questions and spend time (with the exception of Nicodemus) working through their issues. If someone wasn’t interested in following he moved on. Could the need for institutions be founded in the need to validate the movement? It’s almost universal to want to know that what we are doing is right. And the more we see others doing what we’re doing, the more we feel validated in the process of what we are doing. I get this because I feel the pull too. Moving away from the institutional church feels strange. It’s moving against the established flow. You get called a heretic for it.

But Jesus did almost nothing to build a institutional model of church. He chose to move against the flow and he got called a heretic for it. Instead he built a system for followership. He created a holistic process for engaging God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation. Central control was not the issue. He assumed that God was already in control. Because in the end we don’t follow men, we follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. We want control because then we can dictate what will happen to us in the process. But it was this very control that Jesus was calling us to give up.

I would suggest that the emerging church is truly a revolution in that it is creating a full circle and coming back to the beginning. What will emerge is a more holistic discipleship process that looked much more like Jesus created. The reformation will be complete. It will look much less institutionalized and much more house church oriented. Will we lose the buildings? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how we need them to gather. The church in China is proving this out. It will not be institutionalized because we won’t need or want a central organization to tell us what and how to think. It will rely on real people to discover that we are all called to the priesthood, not pew sitters.

This type of model requires relying on the Holy Spirit to lead the church, which is what Jesus really did. Think about it. 40 days after his Resurrection, he just left. He could have stayed but he gave them the Holy Spirit to lead. He gave them everything they needed.

Will it be messy? Yes. Will some people get it wrong? Yes. But that’s already happening in the institutional model too. But it will be real. And the Chrysalis will reveal the beautiful butterfly that is His church made in His image, not our church made in ours.

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Christianity, Church, Church Leadership, Emerging Church, Jesus, discipleship, leadership, postmodern

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john shore

Love your site. Have blogrolled it on mine.

jonathanbrink

Got to you first brother. Much love.

Aaron G.

I think that the emerging church as we know it is destined to fade, but I think that the effects that the ECM will have on the Church will be as far reaching as the Reformation. I believe at least three things will happen.

1. Many traditional churches in an attempt to bring in young people will adopt the methodology of the EC with out actually embracing the mission of the EC. The churches with the most charismatic leadership, hippest facilities, coolest candles, etc will grow and others will fade. When the next fad comes along these churches will change again.

2. Many "Emerging Christians" will leave the traditional church all together for house churches or other small non-institutional settings. Some of these communites will thrive and will be very incarnational in nature and will embody the parable of the leaven that is worked through the whole dough. Others will be just as isolated from the world as the current church, their club will just be a little smaller. I am also afraid that many with out any systems in place to keep them in line will become very cultish and destructive in nature.

3. As the older leaders and teachers within the church are replaced by the next generation many traditional churches will slowly "emerge". They will still maintian much of their institutional nature, but will have a more "kingdom growth" mindset rather than the current "church growth" mindset of many churches. I believe these churches will be made up of people who aren't afraid to engage the culture, and there will a bigger emphasis on community, social action, spiritual formation, and personal responsiblity. The pew sitters will leave for churches that won't expect much more out of them than their 10% and the occasional casserole.

Sorry didnt intend for my comment to be so long, but thats what came out. In case you where wondering I plan to be part of number 3

Aaron G. (moveintothehood)

jonathanbrink

Well put Aaron. As for number 3, I had this same conversation with The Present Future author Reggie McNeal and he said the same thing.

Jamie Arpin-Ricci

"Is our only option an institution or to fall on the ground and die?"

I hope my posts didn't give you the impression that I think these are the only two options! I hope my underlying point was clearer, but if not I apologize. My intention was to communicate that the "buzz" and labeling of the emerging church will probably die out after a while. It is when people THINK it is gone that it will likely have its greatest impact. Great post.

Peace,
Jamie

jonathanbrink

Jamie, I actually was agreeing with you. No worries here.

My comments you are referring to actually were a response to Brother Maynard's comment. I appreciated your insight and thinking on the topic. We typically tend to run towards polarization, or two choices, and Jesus tended to draw us to a third option of love.

Much love brother.