Introducing the ECM (Part 2)
November 29th, 2006
(By John MacArthur)
The Emerging Church Movement is made up of an admittedly broad and variegated collection of pastors and church leaders, with a common concern for Christian mission within a postmodern generation.
As one author explains:
At the heart of the “movement”—or as some of its leaders prefer to call it, the “conversation”—lies the conviction that changes in the culture signal that a new church is “emerging.” Christian leaders must therefore adapt to this emerging church. Those who fail to do so are blind to the cultural accretions that hide the gospel behind forms of thought and modes of expression that no longer communicate with the new generation, the emerging generation. (D.A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005], 12)
Mark Driscoll, an ”emerging” pastor himself, defines the movement this way:
The emerging church is a growing, loosely connected movement of primarily young pastors who are glad to see the end of modernity and are seeking to function as missionaries who bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to emerging and postmodern cultures. The emerging church welcomes the tension of holding in one closed hand the unchanging truth of evangelical Christian theology (Jude 3) and holding in one open hand the many cultural ways of showing and speaking Christian truth as a missionary to America (1 Cor. 9:19–23). Since the movement, if it can be called that, is young and is still defining its theological center, I do not want to portray the movement as ideologically unified because I myself swim in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church. (Mark Driscoll, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006], 22)
In asserting himself as a theological conservative, however, Driscoll is in the minority among ECM leaders. The neo-liberal thrust embraced by the majority of those in ECM is spearheaded by Emergent, an organization begun in 2001, which is deliberate in its desire to impact the entire movement.
By 2001, we had formed an organization around our friendship, known as Emergent, as a means of inviting more people into the conversation. Along with us, the “emerging church” movement has been growing, and we in Emergent Village endeavor to fund the theological imaginations and spiritual lives of all who consider themselves a part of this broader movement. (Online Source)
Because of the influence of Emergent, many have seen the term as synonymous with “emerging,” referring to the movement as a whole as the Emergent Church Movement. Those who are more conservative, however, differentiate between the terms. As Driscoll writes:
I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church Movement in its early days and spent a few years traveling the country to speak to emerging leaders in an effort to help build a missional movement in the United States. The wonderful upside of the emerging church is that it elevates mission in American culture to a high priority, which is a need so urgent that its importance can hardly be overstated.
I had to distance myself, however, from one of many streams in the emerging church because of theological differences. Since the late 1990s, this stream has become known as Emergent. The emergent church is part of the Emerging Church Movement but does not embrace the dominant ideology of the movement. Rather the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only differences is that the old liberalism accommodated modernity and the new liberalism accommodates postmodernity. (Driscoll, Confessions, 21)
It is this particular segment of ECM, the Emergent Church, that has most blatantly attacked the clarity and authority of the Scripture. And of all the voices that make up Emergent, the most prominent belongs to Brian D. McLaren.
McLaren has been called “the emerging church’s most influential thinker,” as well as “the de facto spiritual leader for the emerging church.” He currently serves as the chair of the board of directors for Emergent Village, and is a frequent guest on television programs and radio shows. In February 2005, he was listed as “One of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America” by Time Magazine. His books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and most-recently The Secret Message of Jesus. Though the ECM is admittedly diverse, McLaren has emerged as its most prominent spokesman.
Other ECM leaders include Spencer Burke, Eddie Gibbs, Tony Jones, Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt, Chris Seay, and Leonard Sweet.
This was well written and put together. Thanks!
My family’s faith background was Protestant and Catholic, both with a focus on salvation that involved infant baptism and subsequent confirmation and communion. Maybe someone would say my head has been in a bucket of sand or maybe it is because when God saves a person out of something that doesn’t offer life and unity in Christ He gives a different focus…but I don’t, as His workmanship, find segregating movements such as Quiverfull, Latter Reign, Discipleship, the Emerging Church or any other named movement supposedly “within the Body of Christ” to be a replacement for or a supplement to Life in Christ. His Life to be lived abundantly is found only in God and what He says and means in His written Word while anything else can be divisive and usurp and detract from His glory and authority.
I’m grateful for the “heads up” article(knew nothing about this before reading here). God is good.
Brian McLaren is doing nothing short of trying to redefine the gospel. I skimmed his book “The Secret Message of Jesus” a while back while at a Hastings book store. In that book he makes the claim that Jesus in John 3 isn’t talking about a spiritual re-birth unto eternal life, rather a willingness to be re-born in your way of thinking.
McLaren is dangerous, and if I were to take an educated guess, not a believer. He is one of those wolves we were told to watch for. If you are a shepherd, watch your sheep so that they don’t get caught up into this guy.
Thank you for posting these articles. I am looking forward to reading all of them. I find the emerging church a hard thing at times to get your hands around. I am looking forward to broadening my understanding of the “conversation.”
Another issue here is the syncretism between the emerging church movement and the seeker churches. Because the seeker churches are typically theologically weak/biblically illiterate they are embracing and incorporating much of the philosphy and teaching of the emergent group because it seems to “work”.
In reading through their “literature” it’s almost as if 60’s radicalism as repackaged itself and anything “old” is bad and everything new is subject to acceptance. It seems the so-called emergent movement doesn’t know much besides the “fact” that anyone who does not agree with them is wrong. Their postmodern addiction is indeed conducive to tossing (and open in many cases) to the tossing out of the Scriptures and replacing it with an ecclectic mix of whim dejour.
This must be done “carefully” so that they can take in as many of the unsuspecting as possible. Thank you for standing on truth, eternal and unchanging… The word of the Lord abides forever (1 Peter 1:25).
When one reads their material it indeed harkens back to the “Indeed hath God said..?” in Genesis 3.
I still struggle with the Emergent idea of having a “conversation.” It seems, and I may be wrong, that many in the movement are not interested in reaching a conclusion, rather simply having a pertpetual conversation. If this is true, then conversation is not a good description. This is rambling.
[...] From Pulpit Magazine Introducing the Emerging Church part 1 and part 2 more to follow. If you’re concerned at all about this issue this is an excellent series so far and the comments are good too. [...]
Jacob: You are not the only one who believes that about McLaren. D.A. Carson, in his “Becoming Conversant…” says, “I have to say, as kindly but as forcefully as I can, that to my mind, if words mean anything, both McLaren and Chalke have largely abandoned the Gospel…I cannot see how their own words constitute anything less than a drift toward abandoning the gospel itself” (pages 186-187). Serious business to say the least! From what I know about McLaren, I would agree that he is very dangerous.
Scott: I tend to agree with your comment. Perpetual conversations are of little help. I appreciate David Wells comment in No Place for Truth, “It is not theology alone that I am interested in, but theology driven by a passion for the truth” (12). If the conversations are not driven by a passion for truth, they are likely to continue indefinitely because they have no ultimate goal! Reaching conclusions about truth will cause a person to disagree with others-something that, McLaren (at least), tries to avoid at all costs.
Derek
[...] 2) Introducing the Emerging Church, Part II [...]
This should be very enlightening to help us understand more clearly.
What I hope is that the posts will be “current” so that we will be able to better understand how this movement is currently being ran. I know for one tht it seems that Driscoll is starting to separate himself more from this movement because of the theological differences between him and McClaren.
Although, Driscoll’s (Mars Hill) services are very much “contemporary” in a 21st century way, instead of a “seeker contemporary” which was really wrought in the 90’s. And one would find their services to be very different than a conservative service is done. The worship music is one of the ways that really made me leave Mars Hill when I was attending, very much like secular rock. Felt like I should have bought a ticket before I came.
Does anyone remember Paul Tillich, author of “The Eternal Now”? (full text here) -
http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=1630
Here’s an excellent summary of his life and beliefs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich
I think you’ll find him a precursor to the Emergent Conversation.
Thanks for this!
Caleb
[...] They are currently upto part 7, and MacArthur’s posts can be currently found in part 1 and part 2, while Phil Johnson is the author of the other posts. I’m sure MacArthur has lots more to say about the ECM, so be sure to check it out! Tags [...]
[...] Introducing the ECM (Part 2) [...]