Emerging Church: Top 5 Books for American Reporters

A reporter in USA asked me last week about the emerging church and I have been formulating a response . . . well . . . actually . . I already posted it here as The Skinny on Emerging Church in USA (comments closed for now) but I am still tinkering with my page and editing it for other reporters and writers who need the skinny. I will post my thoughts chunk by chunk on this blog for your response.

My top five American books on the emerging church for reporters, writers and researchers:

1. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, by Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs. Top leaders interviewed, well informed conclusions, a few points of disagreement (doctrine REALLY IS important to us) but its by far the best book. See my review and some others

2. The New Conspirators, Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, by Tom Sine. Great book by a well known leader who probably has more perspective on this movement than anyone. Tom's book is crammed with examples and will widen and deepen your understanding of the EC.

3. The Emerging Church, by Dan Kimball. Widely received and appreciated. My comments here with links to Dan's history of the words "emergent" and "emerging"
By the way, dont get hung up on the difference between "emergent" and "emerging" since a lot of people use them interchangeably, despite the different slants of meaning. I have some thoughts  on emerging vs. emergent, as well as what i mean by emerging-missional church and the connection between "emergent theory" and "emergent church". And of course David Dunbar sees the lines clearly and is worth quoting if you wish. But dont worry too much about getting the terms right.

4. The Church on the Other Side, by Brian McLaren, was for many of us, the first book that said what we wanted to say or at least what we were thinking. Brian can be a controversial figure in Church circles and I dont know anyone who would agree with everything he says but he has consistently verbalized emerging church issues for the last decade with astonishingly clarity. Brian also as a newer book called Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope, which deals with social action and the thinking behind it. I had some concerns with it but Brian graciously responded and answered them.
Brian McLaren would be considered the most visible spokesperson for the movement in USA and yet he does not speak for everyone since the movement is broad and diverse. While Larry King was misinformed when he called Brian "THE leader of the emerging Christian movement" [read transcript and watch the video - Brian does great!], Brian is certainly an important leader and figurehead in this movement, having been a part of the Young Leaders Network in the 90's with me and a dozen others, and has probably published more books than any of us. Although I havent published any so that doesnt say much . . . ummm . .

Runners-up for 5th:

Technorati Tags: book, emergent, emerging church

The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, by Tony Jones tracks the theological and philosophical discussions that have characterized the more intellectual side of this movement in USA and is worth reading. Remember that "emergent" is not equivalent to "Emergent Village" despite Tony's heavy branding of the word. My thoughts.

Revolution, by George Barna, Best informed overview of emerging church with a nod to the burgeoning house church movement and online faith communities which often get left out of these books because the more traditional folk in EC are the ones most likely to publish books for the Christian market, thus the lopsidedness towards the traditional. Barna breaks this and he is a well respected researcher and writer to boot. Barna's count of emerging churches is much higher in this book and some dispute it but he draws the line more widely than others. I agree with him and checked out his numbers with house church experts in USA and they also concur. Check out Barna on house church.

The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claibourne. Expresses the heart of incarnational ministry among the poor and marginalized which is where many emerging missional ministries have their origin.

The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle: Best historical setting for emerging church but not yet released. Fantastic book.

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community: Best description of a missional, nu-monastic, organic emerging church.

Also: Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church, by Becky Garrison. A collection of thoughts [and possible quotes, hint hint] from leading practitioners in the mainline world. Becky is a hoot if you want a lively interview.

Worth a mention: It might be almost 40 years old but "The Emerging Church" by Bruce Larson and Ralph Osborne (1970) is remarkably predictive and prophetic of this movement which really is older than everyone says, esp. those who say they started it [yeah right!]. Unfortunately, its expiry date disqualifies it from being an authoritative source on this current movement.

The One Hundred Books on My Emerging Church Bookshelf is a good guide to the best literature on the movement. I will put a link to this when i write them all out. In the meantime, check out the 50 books on my Emerging Church Bookshelf. Previous posts of mine include best books on emerging church from a global perspective, the best book, and 5 books you should buy. Excuse some repetition.

The book used most in American Seminaries to train students in emerging church ministry, what from I have seen, is actually from a Australian/South African now living in USA named Alan Hirsch and Aussie Mike Frost. Their book "The Shaping of Things to Come", is one of the worlds best books on the subject and they are some of the most strategic thinkers in the emerging-missional church movement.

Next up: Best presentations and articles

Comments

[david]

thanks so much for this post. As a bookian this list is like a spring of fresh water in the desert.

seriously, andrew. you must have been offered the opportunity to publish something by now... how have you been able to abstain?

[andrew]

i have. the offer is open. i have failed to write books because i blog it out and dont have the desire to rehash it.

new media feels more natural to me and i love the web. sometimes i feel like reviewing books on the web is like Gutenburg's printing press being used to review the latest scrolls.

but i do have a book that i am publishing this year by myself and printing on my century old printing press.

[Natanael Disla]

Thanks for this list, Andrew. And yes, you are a voice that needs to be read in a book, regarding missiology, contemporary culture and EC ventures.

[david]

i thought you would say something like that ;-)
and actually.. i hoped you would.

well, until then, I think it is safe to say that this space belongs in that list.

[unorthodoxology]

Any recommendations on critiques of the EC movement? Much, too, can be learned from criticism, fair or unfair (much of what I've read seems unfair), about a movement as well.

[andrew]

oh yes, coming up soon

[becky]

Andrew - I got the hint - should we do a second edition, you're definitely in it - I have to sell all the copies from the first edition before that can happen. In the meantime, once the sorting room is up and running a bit, I definitely want to find a way to profile your work so others can see what can be done on a grassroots level.

[andrew]

becky - thats kind but the hint for actually that you have a high quality of people saying a lot of things in your book (with our without me) and that makes good fodder for a reporter to get some quotes.

but we do look forward to you visiting our social enterprise.

[db]

just wondering why Generous Orthodoxy is absent from your list? Perhaps its broader in scope than EC?

[andrew]

quite happy for you to recommend other books for my top 5

why did i choose brians "church on the other side" instead of Generous Orthodoxy? Because this list is more about the why and what of emerging church models alongside the traditional, more ecclesiology than theology and i felt brians earlier book was more influential, better received by the wider body of Christ, had less criticism, was more about the transition into emerging church and is a little safer for reporters and writers to quote without getting into theological controversies that they might not be equipped to handle.

but i have other lists coming up.

[bob c]

great list, andrew

3 that i would add, all that remind Americans (reporters & readers alike) that this is NOT exclusively or even primarily a U.S.-centered phenomenon:

The Out of Bounds Church?: Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change by Steve Taylor

The Prodigal Project by Michael Riddell, Mark Pierson, Cathy Kirkpatrick

Liquid Church by Pete Ward

[becky]

Thanks for the hint clarification - I do want to talk about what you do but feel I need to absorb it a bit so I can see it in action and have an experiential point of view here.

I'd like to second Andrew's comment why he doesn't write books. One of the challenges for any writer/journalist/blogger covering EC is that for the most part, practioners in the field like Andrew don't write books. They way they think leads them to jotting down vital thoughts via a blog or in the case of Karen, you need to hang with her to get the ethos of what she's doing. That's why events like Greenbelt are key as it brings the people who are walking the walk together. If reporters simply interview emerging pastors/speakers who have book deals as though that's EC, that's like staying at some corporate hotel chain and eating at say McDonalds and think you really experienced the area - no way, no how. You gotta hang with the locals who are lurking behind the glare of the Golden Arches - that's where the story gets really exciting.

[bob c]

i second your thots about practioners, becky