The Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now VII: The “Emergent Church”

A recurring pattern of The Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now (TECoWHaN) is to urge, for the sake of being “missional,” becoming more relevant to aspects of contemporary cultures. And there is certainly a needful place for that within limits.  But also part of the pattern is that, before long, it becomes clear that so being missional and relevant is a cloak for injecting said culture’s false teachings into the church.

A classic example of that pattern is the “Emergent Church,” which was particularly active and influential in evangelical circles just before and after the turn of the millennium. I know.  In my pre-Anglican days I was influenced by it and active in it, even contributing an article or two. (Apologies to any who spit coffee or fainted just now.)  I wrote one for The Ooze before it went full LibChurch and then disappeared. I was also active in and wrote for Youth Specialties, which was very much influenced by Emerging Church people.

Around 2000, Emergent types urged that the church become more aware of how postmodernism affected how younger generations think and adjust their ministries accordingly.  I agreed.  For example, I read Tony Jones’ Postmodern Youth Ministry, in which he argues as much, with approval.  (Again this was in my pre-Anglican days.  I suspect my opinion would be different if I reread it today.) 

But later it became more clear that many/most of the Emergent leaders not only wanted more relevant ministry to a culture affected by postmodernism; they had bought into postmodernism and accompanying liberalism.  For example, the aforesaid Tony Jones has gone full LibChurch even delaying the legal contract of his second marriage until gay marriage was legal.  He also encouraged Minnesota clergy not to perform legal marriages.

Now whether Jones’ views evolved into apostasy or whether he was an apostate all along, I do not presume to know but I would guess the former with sadness.  I do think in the more famous case of Brian McLaren, Mr. “Generous Orthodoxy” was an apostate all along and simply let that become more evident when he felt comfortable doing so. In the meantime, he had a lot of people snowed. (But I personally smelled a rat all along in his case.)

Most of the “Emergent Church” followed a similar course, of gaining influence by cloaking or delaying apostasy and letting it all hang out later.  With some, the deception surely was not intentional; becoming too influenced by the culture you are trying to reach is an occupational hazard we must all guard against.  But, whether by evolution or deception or both, the Emergent Church pretty much went full apostate. And the non-apostates, including me, walked away.

Now I am greatly oversimplifying a lot of convoluted history.  But seeing this pattern of culturally relevant mission used as a cover for false teaching sooner or later is one reason us more experienced traditional Christians tend to be skeptical of things “missional.”  Yes and again, we should be aware of the cultures of those we are trying to reach. (And I intend to say more on that at a later time.)  But buying into aspects of a culture that are flat wrong is another matter.  And those being “missional” too often do just that.

Yes, this may sound all too familiar.