The Chuck Smiths on Emergent Church

Chuck Smith the Senior just released a paper on the "emergent church". (Parson to Parson, PDF) [UPDATE: paper probably written by someone on staff at Calvary but not Chuck Smith Sr - ) Its been years since I heard him preach at Calvary Church in Costa Mesa. My wife used to attend their Saturday evening events when she was a teenager but is not old enough to remember the days of Lonnie Frisbee and the beginnings of the Jesus Movement in Southern California. Chuck is a great guy and a well respected leader. But he may have been handed some bad info on the emerging church.

He suggests the emergent church:
1. Does not believe that Jesus is the only way by which one might be saved.
2. Soft peddles hell  - traces of universalism
3. Experience of feelings become criteria of truth rather than Word of God
4. Use of icons to give them a sense of God.
5. We should not make sinners feel safe and comfortable in church.
6. They condone what God has condemned.
7. They look to Eastern religions and practices of mediation through yoga and spiritual breathing techniques or repeating a mantra.
8. The final authority of the Scripture is challenged by their confusion 

Not saying that one or two of these elements are not present in some of the churches. I have used icons (crosses, flowers, architecture, photos) in church [but so do Calvary Chapel] and when "sinners" come to my house for a meal and a talk about Jesus, I make them feel safe and comfortable. House churches globally would be guilty of Number 5. The message of the cross is still a stumbling block and an offence - no getting around that -  but our hospitality should not be such a barrier. And I believe in the authority of the Scripture and that Jesus is the only way to the Father. These are basics of the faith that are held worldwide and covered in the Lausanne Covenant, which I affirm, uphold and promote.

Technorati Tags: books, christianity, chuck smith, church, Emergent, emerging church

And if critics keep going on and on about the relationship between emerging church and breath prayers and repeating mantras . ..  then maybe i will need to actually find out how to do one just so i know what they are talking about. I feel stupid reading this stuff  - like maybe i am supposed to actually know more than I do.

Mantras? Doesn't Jesus tell the Pharisees not to repeat their prayers meaninglessly? Are emerging churches REALLY doing this? Because i haven't seen it. I do see the LORD's Prayer getting mantra-fied in some churches on a weekly basis but that would go for all churches - and emergent churches are less guilty of mindless repetition than traditional churches.

But I don't think this is all about emerging church defending themselves [again] over false accusations and i don't feel a need to put up a fight. If one looks behind the scenes, there was a recent mess-up with Chuckies book on spirituality and prayer called "When Storms Come" and Chuck is now clearing up the mess by distancing himself from anything labeled "contemplative".  More here.

Chuck Smith the Junior, who i have enjoyed meeting a number of times [and he has commented on this blog before] sees the emerging church deeply connected with worship and has written a good book on the emerging church - "The End of the World As We Know It". I am hoping relations are good between the two Chuckies. I sent an email to Chuck Smith Jr this morning to see what's up. From looking at his website, Chuck is continuing and reproducing his father ministry by running an emerging church.

"Chuck Smith jr. started Capo Beach Calvary in Capistrano Beach, California, and has served as its pastor for 30 years. His father founded Calvary Chapel, a Southern California church that developed innovative ministries in the 1970s to reach young people in the counterculture. Today, Chuck is doing the same thing for emerging generations of the postmodern age." Link

Further: Phoenix Preacher

Comments

[kwerfeldein]

Hey, Andrew... Didnt expext you on S.F. ... So. Interesting article you write about this statements. For me these are thoughts I thought 1 year ago and i am beginning to see that the emerging church is "...ok".. or"biblical" :-)

[Makeesha]

I find all this stuff so tiresome. I know I should be more aware of what others are saying and be more open to listening but I'm losing grace quickly in this area. I applaud you for being so gracious. I think I know what he's referring to in the mantra thing - probably things like embracing the practice of repeating the Jesus prayer (Eastern Orthodoxy)throughout the day to the rhythm of your breathing or if you're entering a time of contemplative prayer to repeat a word or phrase to help you focus on God. Of course, I'm not sure that I see that as a problem *shrug* Much of the church is rooted heavily in the East so the automatic connection with "eastern practices" as "anti Christian" is a little odd to me...but consistent with comments coming from western evangelicals.

As for yoga, I have to chuckle about that one. I actually enjoy yoga, but I'm not sure I would label it as a community-wide practice in the emerging churches..hehe..Sorry...funny images pop into my head if I spend too much time on that one.

Well, God bless'em. They have a role in the Body and I just have to trust the Spirit...as hard as it is sometimes ;)

[andrew]

sorry if i tire you too much with this stuff

i probably should mention it so often here but it is the easiest and quickest place to vent and say something that might help.

i probably DO give too much attention to the critics and not enough to the heros of the faith who are out there with Jesus doing the work.

[Chris C]

Great blog entry. You know though I agree with about his statements being wrong, I have to admit that most outside of the EC 'movement' have no idea what it is. Because of this ideas like those that Chuck Smith Sr. has listed are easily believed. I know that just until recently I had no idea what EC was. Much of what Chuck lists I thought was true of those 'progressive' churches. So it really falls to us to help others get over these wrongs views they have of the EC not by shouting matches or insults but by coming alongside each other and working together to advance the kingdom of God.

[Makeesha]

oh no Andrew, I'm sorry that my post sounded like I was chastising you. I wasn't at all. You go ahead and vent away, I totally understand.

What I tire of is people who have loud voices in the Church speaking of things they know not. I find it tiresome having to constantly try to reitterate what I believe and what I stand for because so many with loud voices are misrepresenting my community of faith and I don't have a loud voice to bring correction. I appreciate you posting about it and see nothing wrong with you doing so :)

[iggy]

ARRRRRRGH!!!!!!

Why do they look at the fringe and think it is the whole!!??

many of us have some of the same concerns, yet we see that to compromise our faith with "modernists" narrow view... which broken down has many for faults more worrisome than PM/E/e is going through as it crawls...

The key issue he misses is that there is a bigger problem with the view he holds, as we are here!!! It is like my son's t-shirt that says, "I am 2, and there is nothing you can do about it!" We are here because what was offered was not "real" to us. He needs to go back to his roots and remember those hippies that no one wanted to come to church.... because they dressed funny, talked funny and smelled funny...

I sould just rip his points apart one by one, but really I am bored with those who can't see beyond their own belly buttons.

My son is 2 years old. He talks funny, walks funny, sometimes smells funny, falls down too much, believes my made up stories, and loves... the Wiggles! I think one day none of this will be true... (except for the Wiggles) as he matures.

Though I do see that the scripture is fullfilled as son will be against father.

Blessings,
iggy

[Timothy Wright]

Please forgive me if I offend any one but I also have concerns about emergent in the area of Jesus is the only way of entering into the kingdom of God.

I find the writings of ????? universalist in nature. I also sense they are not too happy with the judgemnet of God in the OT when he tells them to kill all the enemies of God, even their children.

?? ?????? and his lack of acceptance of us receiving the imputation of Christ Righteousness through faith is heresy.

As to the person who wrote that his son was two and in the process of development, well if he was deormed and had a handicap when he was born, in 20 years time he would still be deformed or handicaped unless God or man intervened and help this child.

Emergent I believe has some major deformities, may blessings, many insights and encouragements. I learn lots and have changed because of Emergent.

But emergent needs to address and be honest about the false teaching that is floating about within their community.

Tim

I can hear the groans already

[jason]

Hi,

I've kind of stopped commenting on these things because I usually find out later that I don't know enough about the issues to begin with.

My only thing is that while the accusations against EC might be unwarranted, I'm not sure the confusion is.

I have finally come to understand the difference between 'emerging" and "emergent"(I think) . I understand that guys like you and Dan Kimball might be on one end of the spectrum than Tony Jones and Brian Mclaren on certain issues. I have kind of figured out that it is a conversation more than a movement, in reality, we are trained in North America to look at the figureheads as representative of the whole group. People look at Brian McLaren and his issues and questions about the doctrine of Hell, and a lot of the controversial things that Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt write and say about things like the trinity and other issues, and ascribe it to the group as a whole.

We don't or can't do the thorough job of investigating where everyone is at and generally listen to info from those we know.

I don't know exactly what Brian actually believes about Hell, or what Dougs actual problems are with the Council of Nicea and the Trinity unless I were to sit down and talk to them for a good chunk of time. So it makes it kind of hard to figure everything out. Especially when some of these guys are trying to provide tension to begin with.

But we need to be responsible as mature Christians not to spread false info. I was at a pastors luncheon, and most of the pastors had only heard so very little about EC and what they did know was the basic generic info and specualtion. I tried to explain the few basics that I knew, bit it is hard when you come from such a traditional modern mindset to wrap your head around a lot of these ideas.

So I guess this comment is getting confusing. I guess I'm saying that with all the exposure that EC is getting, then maybe they need to constantly be re-introducing and reminding people what it's purpose is. (and maybe they are..I don't know)

[Makeesha]

I guess what frustrates me the most is not when people have questions or concerns about beliefs but when they say "THIS WHOLE GROUP thinks this, and it's false teaching". What WHOLE GROUP? People involved in a conversation? That's kind of an odd association don't you think?

I think it's kind of funny how people are "raising concerns" about certain teachings that have been around since the Apostles. But now they're all of a sudden "concerned"? And seriously, what are they really concerned about? that people who love Jesus think that maybe hell isn't actually fire and brimstone? wow...scary stuff.

Ok, so I'm speaking a bit tongue in cheek here but I guess a lot of the "concerns" are really not all that scary to me. I mean, seriously, yoga? sheesh. I believe what the Apostles did, that we shouldn't judge other's hearts and we should let God sort it out in the end. I suppose maybe I believe God is bigger than some potentially wrong ideas about things that the Bible isn't implicit about in the first place.

And I have yet to hear an emerging person deny that it is through Jesus that we find redemption.

[Makeesha]

oh, I did want to add that this is why I find labels and organized groups to be a hinderance and it's also why we will not be labeling ourselves "emergent" or even "emerging"...too many presconceived notions to deal with.

[chuck (the jr.)]

Hey, Andrew, I lost your email address too and Craig forgot to forward it to me.

Anyway . . . No, my dad didn't write the CCOF letter. I think it was written by my uncle. Of course, my dad is still responsible for everything that comes out of Costa Mecca and claims to define Calvary Chapel, so we can assume that he holds to the views expressed in that document. Which is, of course, sad.

Yes, write my dad. He needs to hear from people who are in the emerging conversation. He needs to be informed that it is not what he's been told or what someone else read on someone else's blog site.

I do not believe my uncle has done any firsthand research (i.e., read McLaren, Sweet, yourself, Paggitt, Kimbal, etc.). I tried to correct his views a couple of weeks ago, but his ears were already attuned to other voices and they prevailed.

Something rather silly is behind all of this . . .

Last year I edited ten of my dad's sermons dealing with life's troubles. Since I was turning oral expository sermons into a book, I reformatted them, took out a lot of filler, filled in a lot of empty spaces, and modified statements that were unclear. I also reformatted the prayers, etc. In the process, I included quotes by Len Sweet and Anthony de Mello. When I emailed the manuscript and my edits to my dad, I included a cover email to warn him about the de Mello quote and to urge him (or his editor) to read the mss carefully and remove anything he did not like or that might be offensive to others (who, perhaps having no understanding of biblical or spiritual discernment, think that if you read an author you automatically embrace everything the author says, true or false, and therefore try to control the reading habits of all Christians, especially Christian leaders), etc.

A couple weeks later I asked my dad when I would see the mss again (having three published works I was looking forward to working with the editor at the publishing company). Well, he had sent the mss into the pipeline, which resulted in a small bit of weak editing (by someone who assumed I meant "program" when I wrote of a "pogrom" against the Jews--that type of thing). But the poor sentence structure and "offensive quotes" did not get edited out. The errors are astounding.

My dad explained that when the publisher saw "storms" in the title of the book they rushed it to pring in order to capitalize on the Katrina hurricane. And so there it is, errors and all. Quite embarrassing to say the least.

In fact, there was a note I had put in italics and bracketed for the editor, saying that I wished my dad would clarify a statement in the book that contradicted an earlier statement. That editor's note appears in the published book! Sort of like a scribal note getting inserted into the text.

But more than embarrassing for my dad. He became the target of the neo-Pharisees who believe it's their job to sniff out error and defame those men and women of God who are actually doing something for the kingdom of heaven. And so those websites that in all their history have had less than 2,000 hits began to publish their heresy reports. My dad has had to explain that the offensive parts of the book were my insertions and not original to his work.

So . . . [deleted]

Now to be perfectly honest, I haven't belonged in the Calvary Chapel community for a long time. I identify with early Calvary Chapel (the culturally relevant, rock-n-roll worship, hippie church), but not as much with the institutionalized version today. I've stayed only because of my relationship to my father, whom I love and respect.

Calvary Chapel, as I perceive it is:
Fundamentalist--I am not
Dispensationalist--I am not
Anti-intellectualist (like the warning about not anything written by emergent leaders)--I am not
Primitivist--I am not

Officially, we have withdrawn from the Calvary Chapel affiliation, and for the very amicable reason that I (we) seek a breadth of relationships that CC is not willing to accommodate. For example, my close friendship with a Roman Catholic monk who died a few weeks ago. He was a wonderful person and spiritual mentor to me.

I should add, some of the stuff written in the CCOF missive were assumptions someone made based on how they perceived our church in Capistrano Beach. For example, I don't know of any emergent church (if there is such a thing yet) that has incorporated icons into the devotional life of their spiritual community. But for a while we had beautiful icons (byzantine-style) hanging in our sanctuary. Someone assumed "That must be one of those dadgum emergent thingies!" If only they had asked. But those in my old hood have never given me credit for originality, and they're always guessing who it is that's influincing me now. I've tried to tell them, it's the Lord Jesus Christ whose teaching they taught me to trust and to follow, but for some people, that just doesn't make any sense.

Grace and peace,

chuck

[Big Guy]

Grace and peace to you, Chuck Jr.

Church history, written and unwritten, is full of examples of people who decided to put on the gloves and beat the heck out of their opponent instead of sitting down with him and "reasoning together." You're one of the people who will sit down and reason, and for that reason you are a great example to the rest of the Body. Calvary Chapel is just hurting itself by mischaracterizing and rejecting the emerging movement out of hand, instead of opening a dialogue with it.

[andrew jones]

hey Chuck Jr

thanks so much for coming here and giving us the skinny.

Really appreciate it. VERY VERY helpful to see the bigger picture.

Please know that you can always edit any part of that comment with a short email to me.

Peace and love.

[Danielle]

Wow, kudos to Chuck Jr. for being so gracious. I attend a church in SoCal which has also been the subject of Pastor Smith's criticism.

Honestly, I pray he's just Seek First The Kingdom and let this other stuff go...it feels like my "parents are arguing"...I love Chuck Smith and I love my own church. Stop the public announcements...pu-lease.

Paul writes to the Romans...

"So why do you condemn another Christian? Why do you look down on another Christian? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say,

As surely as I live, says the Lord
every knee will bow to me
and every tongue will confess allegiance to God

Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God. So don't condemn each other anymore. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not put an obstacle in another Christian's path." Romans 14:10-13 NLT

[Mathias]

It's great to see your stating your belief in the authority of the Bible and that Jesus son of God in Lord. Because, as you probably know better than I, many emerging blokes don't.

[lammert]

Mathias,
I think it would be helpful if in a conversation like this we refrain from stereotypes like "many emerging blokes don't". I follow about 35 blogs of emergent folks - basically the hall of fame uh faith :-) and all of these affirm the authority of the bible and Jesus son of God. i can give you the url's if you want. It is key to be specific and concrete rather than general and abstract.

[kent]

I continue to be amazed and grieved at how we are far more interested and competent at attacking our own - who call Christ Lord, than in dealing with the creation that is dying in front of us. It get very old.

[jason]

Bill wrote:
"Jason wrote:
guess what frustrates me the most is not when people have questions or concerns about beliefs but when they say "THIS WHOLE GROUP thinks this, and it's false teaching". What WHOLE GROUP? People involved in a conversation? That's kind of an odd association don't you think?>>>>>"

I didn't write that, Heck that's how these problems get started to begin with! Didin't you read what Chuck Jr. wrote about bad editing? ;) (Just having fun!)

[Ed Enochs]

The Dangers of the Emergent Church Movement

An Open Letter to Chuck Smith jr.

(After Visting Calvary Capo Beach Last Month)


By Ed Enochs

Chairman of the Evangelical Debate Society




“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”

(2 Timothy 3:1)


Introduction: The Reality of False Teaching in the Last Days


Near the end of his earthly life and ministry, the Apostle Paul told his protégé Timothy that in the last days, before Jesus Christ’s return, “perilous times” would come. The Apostle Paul subsequently imparted to young Timothy what the characteristics of the end times would be. Paul said that in the last days,

“Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:3-5).

According to the New Testament, which is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative and self-authenticating Word of Almighty God (2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:18-21), another conclusive sign of the end times would be the increase and rampant proliferation of false doctrine in and outside of the Christian Church.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.”

In 1 Timothy 3:1 Paul wrote, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”

In Acts 20, the Apostle Paul warned the Church at Ephesus,

“That I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”


The Apostle Peter also warned of the rise of false teachers and false doctrine in the last days when he wrote,


“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber” (2 Peter 2:1-3).

Our Lord Jesus Christ also warned us and gave us definitive signs of the end times and said that in the last days,

“Take heed that no one deceives you For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:34-5).


The false teaching that is so characteristic of the end times is the Apostle John warned us in 1 John 4:1,

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”


Thus, we are commanded by God in the Holy Scriptures to be like the nobe Bereans of Acts 17:11, “to search the Scriptures daily to see if these things be so”

We are again, exhorted by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to “test all things and to hold fast to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).



The Rise of the Emergent Church Movement


In our own day and age, at the advent of a New Millennium and the beginning of the 21st Century, false teaching and false teachers are abounding throughout the Christian Church. One such false teaching that is threatening to destroy the American Evangelical Church today, is what many are calling “The Emergent Church Movement” a pernicious and destructive heretical movement that is attempting to redefine historic New Testament Christianity.

The Emergent Church Movement and its leaders are attempting to create a new version of Christianity that is free of doctrinal and moral absolutes and
In our fast paced, technological and entertainment driven superficial Western culture where stylistic sound- bites and digitally enhanced imagery takes precedent over substance and clearly delineated thought, American Evangelicals often do not have time or conscience desire to soberly and critically analyze the secular and ecclesiastical framework in which we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Yet, make no mistake about it, there are currently ominously powerful sociological and ideological forces at work throughout Western Civilization that are working overtime to shape both the secular culture and Christian Church along postmodern lines and disseminate a secularist worldview that is bent on eviscerating the validity of the Church and is diametrically opposed to the historic Evangelical Christian faith and societal mission of world evangelization.

While most American Evangelicals are busy being lulled to sleep and unwittingly conformed into submission to secularist and Anti-Christian forces by ever improving technology and round the clock entertainment choices that communicate evil and abominable messages that are entirely antithetical to the teachings and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the devil is actively energizing the postmodern and secularist ideological forces to completely subjugate American civilization and suppress the mission of the Evangelical Church.

Bible believing Christians across America are now indulging themselves with the creature comforts of the world and are being lulled asleep by the call of the abjectly materialistic “American Dream” in pursuit of perpetual comfort and domestic ease through the quest for bigger and better material possessions.

The American Church has largely bought into the insidious lie that the essence of human existence is materialism and image and the most important goal in life is to acquire bigger and better things, be it, houses, cars, boats, vacation homes and a litany of other materialistic and entertainment driven venues.

We are told by secular forces that what matters most in life is to look good, to feel good and to live in optimum comfort for the indulgence of the self. American Evangelicals do not know they have actually bought into the philosophy of narcissism, an excessive preoccupation with self indulgence and one’s own personal importance, or with achieving one’s own chosen goals rather than bonding with others, or with associating only with others whom one chooses.


Like the fictious technological parasites known as the Borg, who incessantly and unquestionably assimilate all life-forms into their ominous robotic collective, made famous in the Star Trek: the Next Generation television series, American Evangelicals are being lulled asleep by postmodern relativism, narcissist and entertainment driven self- indulgence and are being unwittingly culturally assimilated and rendered absolutely irrelevant and ineffective agents of Gospel Change by the seductive sirens of secularism.

Contemporarily, many American Evangelicals have currently rejected the traditional Reformation emphasis on the centrality of the Bible, forensic justification and the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ and his Cross and in turn, have adopted grotesquely unbiblical patterns of belief and worship, as the mass Evangelical rush towards the Emergent and Liturgical Church movements conclusively demonstrate.

The emerging church or emergent church is a diverse movement according to a great article on the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia: within the American Christian Church that arose in the late 20th century as a reaction to the influence of modernism in Western Christianity. The movement is usually called a "conversation" by its proponents to emphasize its diffuse nature with contributions from many people and no explicitly defined leadership or direction. The emerging church seeks to deconstruct and reconstruct Christianity as its mainly Western members live in a postmodern culture. While practices and even core doctrine vary, most emergents can be recognized by the following values:
· Missional living - Christians go out into the world to serve God rather than isolate themselves within communities of like-minded individuals.

· Narrative theology - Teaching focuses on narrative presentations of faith and the Bible rather than systematic theology or biblical reductionism

· Christ-likeness - While not neglecting the study of scripture or the love of the church, Christians focus their lives on the worship and emulation of the person of Jesus Christ

· Authenticity - People in the postmodern culture seek real and authentic experiences in preference over scripted or superficial experiences. Emerging churches strive to be relevant to today's culture and daily life, whether it be through worship or service opportunities. The core Christian message is unchanged but emerging churches attempt, as the church has throughout the centuries, to find ways to reach God's people where they are to hear God's message of unconditional love.

Emergent Christians are predominantly found in Western Europe, North America and the South Pacific. Some attend local independent churches that specifically identify themselves as being "emergent", while many others contribute to the conversation from within existing mainline denominations.

Another definition of the Emergent Church Movement is as follows,

Emerging Church groups have typically contained some or all of the following elements:
· Highly creative approaches to worship and spiritual reflection, as compared to many American churches in recent years. This can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films to liturgy, as well as more ancient customs. The goal in this area is generally to make the church more attractive to the unchurched.
· A minimalist and decentralized organizational structure.
· A flexible approach to theology whereby individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason.
· A holistic view of the role of the church in society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building or Christian outreach.
· A desire to reanalyze the Bible against the context with the goal of revealing a multiplicity of valid perspectives rather than a single valid interpretation
· A continual re-examination of theology.
· A high value placed on creating communities built out of the creativity of those who are a part of each local body.
· A belief in the journey of faith, both as individual and community. Membership is often viewed as participation in the community of faith.



The Emergent Church movement has unwisely and unbiblically adopted the existential and ideological cultural hermeneutic of Postmodernism, the relativistic world-view that postulates that there are no ethical and propositional absolutes and seeks to deconstruct and overthrow traditional Western Christian doctrines and morals.

In the Emergent Church movement the doctrines of Historic Evangelical Christianity are unhealthy and unnecessary relics of a semi-modernist and medieval ethos that has been obliterated by postmodernist and postmodern influenced Biblical Scholarship such as the New Perspective and anti-traditional Evangelical theology proponents such as New Testament scholars as E.P. Sanders, James Dunn and NT Wright.

We are told by proponents of the Emergent Church movement that traditional Evangelical doctrine divides and that the contemporary Evangelical Christian Church movement within Western Civilization must immediately discard and instantaneously jettison the undue perceived dogmas of the Protestant Reformation and embrace traditionally divergent and diametrically opposed ecclesiastical movements such as Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy under the banner of one big relativistic conglomerate/ synthesis and smorgasbord of “Christian spirituality.”

We are told by the postmodern driven Emergent Church proponents that traditional Evangelical doctrine is divisive and dogmatic and hence must be avoided at all costs, to be replaced by a more tolerant and inclusive “Christian spirituality” that embraces all ecclesiastical traditions that have functioned historically under the umbrella of historic Christendom.

Essentially, the Emergent Church movement leaders and ethos are arguing that the Reformation was unnecessary and the quintessential doctrines of the Protestant Reformation such as the doctrine of the authority of the Bible alone and justification by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is wrong, irrelevant and unnecessarily obstructionist towards the Emerging Church goal of uniting all professing Christians into one united church irrespective of heresy and unbiblical teaching and practices.

The Emergent Church movement is forcefully and openly proclaiming that the traditional doctrinal differences that have historically divided Evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics and adherents of Eastern Orthodoxy are ill-founded and unnecessary. This is why many Evangelicals are now openly incorporating aspects of Roman Catholic spirituality and teaching into the spiritual disciplines and doctrinal instruction within their respective local churches. Since doctrine no longer matters to most contemporary Evangelicals and historic Reformation teaching is always anathema to many Evangelical Pastors, we are told we should openly embrace the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox teaching and practice into our fellowships.

We are also informed by many Emergent Church leaders that the traditional Evangelical opposition towards female pastors, elders and leadership in the local church are equally archaic and fallacious and that we must openly embrace the overt femmization of Christianity and allow women to lead men in the local Church despite the fact the Bible teaches that women are never to lead men in the context of the local church (1 Timothy 2).

Likewise, many within the Emergent Church movement are calling the Church to embrace homosexuality as viable lifestyle and similarly adopt pluralism, the acceptance of all religions and life-styles as being equally valid as being true.
However, despite this Postmodern and Emergent Church call to discard traditional and conservative Evangelical Doctrine and Practice, I believe this call towards complete assimilation into the postmodern ethos and the embracing of all varieties of spirituality and lifestyle __expression is unwarranted and self-defeating since the Postmodern world-view is so easily demonstrated to be illogical and self-refuting.

Just as relativism can be demonstrated to be false and self-defeating based on the fact that this view in denying there are concrete and real absolutes at once, borrows from the traditional Christian absolutist world-view and deems the traditional Evangelical view to be wrong, all the while proclaiming there are no propositional truths, thus operating in a vicious and self-defeating circle of nonsensical language.

Despite the Postmodernist Emergent Church call to disregard and discard the traditional and conservative Evangelical-Protestant doctrinal positions that clearly divided Evangelicalism from divergent forms of Ecclesiastical spirituality, doctrine, practice and engagement with secular culture, Postmodernity and the Emerging Church is self-defeating and offers the Christian Church in Western Civilization absolutely no concrete reason why we should not abandon Christianity altogether.

In counter distinction to this ill-advised and destructive pathway charted out by many Postmodern and Emerging Evangelicals, there is a better and wiser course of action: embracing the doctrines of the Historic Evangelical Church for these teachings are founded on the authority of infallible Scripture and will never fade away.

American Evangelicals must stand for the authority of the Bible alone, and the essential teachings of the Christian faith that has made Conservative Evangelicalism what it is, the most powerful force of Biblical change on the face of the Earth.

American Evangelicals should not abandon the traditions of our Biblical Christianity, to do so would be to go against the clear authority of Holy Scripture and to effect mutiny against Almighty God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to be both Savior and Lord of the earth.

Every Evangelical believer and Pastor in America should be careful to avoid the teachings of the Emergent Church movement and stand fast to the Word of God and the essential teachings of the Evangelical Christian Faith

“The grass withers, the flower fades away, but the Word of God endures forever” (Isaiah 43:10).

[John]

Wow Ed. Have you considered starting your own blog?

[Brandon]

Every Evangelical believer and Pastor in America should be careful to avoid the teachings of the Emergent Church movement and stand fast to the Word of God and the essential teachings of the Evangelical Christian Faith

How can you say "avoid the teachings of the Emergent Church" and "Stand fast to the Word of God..and..Christian Faith" when the former flows directly out of the latter?

I see no sources presented in your article; essentially you make broad sweeping generalizations with no backing scholarly support and expect people to just accept it. There are elements of concern in segments of the EC conversation. That happens anytime you have a multitude of people getting together. The same elements of concern though can be found in the traditional evangelical world as well. Why shouldn't we all avoid it?

I'm going to call you out on several points in particular:

"Bible believing Christians across America are now indulging themselves with the creature comforts of the world and are being lulled asleep by the call of the abjectly materialistic “American Dream” in pursuit of perpetual comfort and domestic ease through the quest for bigger and better material possessions."

Do you realize that it's a repulsion to your "American Dream" that is driving people like myself towards the EC movement and not the opposite (as you put it)?

"many American Evangelicals have currently rejected the traditional Reformation emphasis on the centrality of the Bible, forensic justification and the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ and his Cross and in turn, have adopted grotesquely unbiblical patterns of belief and worship, as the mass Evangelical rush towards the Emergent and Liturgical Church movements conclusively demonstrate."

Huh? What EC'r has done this? It's disengious to actually make the generalization that all EC theology is anti-reformation and not post real examples.

"The Emergent Church movement has unwisely and unbiblically adopted the existential and ideological cultural hermeneutic of Postmodernism, the relativistic world-view that postulates that there are no ethical and propositional absolutes and seeks to deconstruct and overthrow traditional Western Christian doctrines and morals."

...

"Essentially, the Emergent Church movement leaders and ethos are arguing that the Reformation was unnecessary and the quintessential doctrines of the Protestant Reformation such as the doctrine of the authority of the Bible alone and justification by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is wrong, irrelevant and unnecessarily obstructionist towards the Emerging Church goal of uniting all professing Christians into one united church irrespective of heresy and unbiblical teaching and practices."

Again, where are you getting this?

You have a whole lot of "We are told by..." but never identify who, what, when or where. As someone a part of the conversation it sounds like you are going off of second hand information at best. Please peruse around Andrew's site and some of those he links to and read some legitimate books about the EC before making wild accusations.

I, for one, really appreciate honest and open criticism and hope that you will continue to dig deeper and come to a better understanding of what the EC is and be able to offer SPECIFIC and POINTED help. I think others apart of the "conversation" would appreciate that as well.

(Andrew if I'm off base or too long, feel free to delete. I normally don't respond that often but could not help myself today.)

[Ed Enochs]

Brandon, my sources are the Word of God alone and the following:

References on the Emergent Church Movement
Burke, Spencer, et. al. "Our Response to Critics of Emergent" Emergent-US: The Blog, June 2, 2005; Gibbs, Eddie & Ryan Bolger. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Manuscript). Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005.

Grenz, Stanley. A Primer On Postmodernism. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996.

Heaton, Terry. "10 Questions for Brian McLaren." [1] last accessed July 5, 2003.

Ward, Peter. Liquid Church. Hendrickson Publishers, 2002.

Jones, Andrew. "New Media Fluency." TallSkinnyKiwi.com: The Blog, April 15, 2005.

O'Keefe, John. "The Postmodern Narrator"

Eddie & Ryan Bolger. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Manuscript).

Jones, Andrew. "Are We a Movement?" TallSkinnyKiwi.com: The Blog, June 8, 2005, quoting an email to Ryan Bolger, Ph.D. from Dr. Paul Pierson on behalf of Jones.

Bainbridge, William S. The Sociology of Religious Movements. New York, NY: Routledge, 1997, 3.

Jones, Andrew. "What is Emergent?" TallSkinnyKiwi.com: The Blog, January 4, 2005.

Hunsberger, George R., and Craig Van Gelder. The Church between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996, 1.

Guder, Missional Church, 89, quoting Norman Perrin, Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus. New York: Harper & Row, 1967, 54.

Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996, 75-83.

Seay, Chris. "Is Pomo Nomo?" Christianity Today, February 20, 2003.

Guder, Missional Church, 77-83.

O'Keefe, John. "Quantum Servanthood: knowing how to lead in chaos"

Kimball, Dan Emerging Worship (emergentYS: 2004).

Tomlinson, Dave The Post-evangelical

[ReneeM]

Ed,

You have many valid points. You have stated MUCH MUCH truth. But there are so many assumptions.

Read the "Emerging Church Values" - wouldn't that be incredible if every church embraced those? You could still have a traditional worship service... Baptist, Presbyterian, Bible Church, Calvary Chapel. "emerging" - "seeker"
... But the purpose and outlook of each member would be defined as: And I'll restate the values as I see them.

Evangelistic, to go out into (not part of) the world instead of hiding. Not disregarding those that are like-minded. Trusting in the Holy Spirit's guidance and still small voice, God's power to work through us and give us wisdom and discernment, and experiencing the power of the prayers of our "like-minded" fellow believers. Taking Christ to them instead of hoping they will walk in the door on Sunday morning. (awkward! - even as a Christian going to a new church!)

Narrative teaching... a different way of presenting theology and doctrine... not leaving it out, more like a pastor / teacher sharing their heart. I am not beat up on Sunday evening, or bored. I am given Truth (aka Scripture, God's Word), that convicts and comforts, and challenges me right out of where I am to move forward in my walk. And yes I have experience this in non-"emerging" churches. Narrative Teaching encompasses much more but iots what it makes me think of.

We can't argue with worshipping Father God, the Almighty One, and we definitely can't argue an emphasis on Christ likeness. With these two priorities, the Scriptures are free to do their work, helping to keep those of us who would pride ourselves in our head knowledge from getting stuck there... ouch. I've been there!

Authenticity. In ourselves. In our experiences. With who we are, and what living in these times has made us. A worship service will look different in various time periods, different cultures, even different age groups sometimes. Could we worship and learn in others? Absolutely. Is it Scriptural that they should "look" and offer all the same "things" - order, music, announcements, etc. Nah... it's the dressing that makes it vivid for each individual, and easier to relate to. The substance... GOD... is the SAME in each one.

creativity - from the Master Creator himself. WOW - exciting to see the talent He has given NOW to be used for the church body and to directly worship Him. Even if I don't get it (technology - doesn't do much for me! - BUT classical music doesn't do much for you, maybe :) ) But I can still appreciate how another can use their gifts to do their absolute best for God, that he might be glorified. i can see how this might be distracting to those who are not accusomed to it ( my parents :) ) however - they were still willing and able to worship. Just as maybe someone with a post modern mindset is not so comfortable / doesn't understand in our traditional services.

structure... its just that... a structure. Our structure today isn't what I'd call "Biblical" - though I don't think its wrong, its just how it has worked well. And now, its working great in a "destructured" way. There is always some kind of structure, if you look at it. just not the pyramid kind.

OK, Kids are awake, so I must go, and I have rambled on far too long anyway. But one more point. On accepting others interpretation of Scripture. I can almost guarantee I don't agree with you on every point in Scripture. But I would hope we could discuss it and still have unity in the Spirit... since there is only ONE body, ONE Spirit. One the "big" things. Well, its between them and God... and its not every person's stand. Its not a reason to condemn all the other things just stated that are incredible, and changing lives, bringing hearts to Jesus, setting people free of their sin, and changing hearts to be more like Jesus and living lives of worship. That honors and blesses God.

God Bless. ReneeM

To all of us from Paul... "I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

May we apply that to each of our hearts, and not just hope someone else reads it.

Andrew - thanks, I am becoming an avid reader :) Much to my children's dismay! (my 2 1/2 yr old says, ok, I'll be the mommy and you be Thaddeus. Now I want to play computer!"

[Brandon]

Thanks Ed. I've read many of the same books but have come to different conclusions. I appreciate you taking the time to post the references though.

[Makeesha]

ed - have you read all of the emerging references all the way through?