Emerging Church

Understanding the

Emerging Church

Postmoderns are bringing to Christianity a new-old way of

living the Gospel.

By Chelan David

THE EMERGING CHURCH BEGAN about a decade ago in response to the dwindling numbers of young adults in their 20s and 30s attending church services. Formed by members of Generation X—roughly defined as those born between 1961 and 1979—emerging churches aim to present the message of Christ in a manner its congregants can relate to. Since bursting onto the scene in the mid 1990s, these churches have gained traction in cities across America.

Consisting of a loose network, the churches have clearly struck a chord with members of a generation who often feel alienated from traditional services. Discussions about the movement have exploded over the Internet, primarily through extensive blogs, or online journals. The network now offers resources and sponsors national conventions. Due to their relatively brief existence and autonomous nature, no one is sure just how many emerging churches are in existence, but the number is almost certainly in the thousands.

Variously defined as “emerging,” “emergent” or “ postmodern,” the movement is difficult to define. The emerging church is highly decentralized, linked primarily by Internet sites and conferences. Different elements of Christian traditions are integrated into teachings. As Scot McNight, a professor at North Park University in Chicago, noted in a 2005 PBS interview, there are no clear labels for the movement. “It can’t be simply defined; it can’t be simply categorized. And it’s causing no end of frustration for people who’d like to have tidier boxes. This is the way they want it because they believe the Gospel should have a local expression,” he explained.

THE NEXT WAVE

Traditional services thrived for nearly two centuries in America. Then baby boomers, rebelling in part against the elaborate rituals found in traditional services, established

32 | AspiringRetail | November2006

mega-churches in the 1970s and ’80s. Many members of Generation X find both traditional church settings and megachurches to be too authoritarian and stifling. Some believe traditional churches lack openness toward various styles of worship. Others find contemporary megachurches to be too focused on increasing membership size and are turned off by glossy marketing materials and production values.

Edmund Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, believes people in their 20s and 30s are drawn to emerging churches due to generational differences. “Baby boomers want entertainment, excellence, and anonymity while younger folks want community, involvement, and creativity,” he says. “Also, there’s a culture difference in that people under the age of 35 represent the product of the information age,” he adds. “Their culture is one of network and empowerment, not of hierarchy and control.”

Adds Tony Jones, national coordinator for Emergent Village: “People are looking for a church where they can be themselves. There is a certain contingent of people in Gen X and the Millennial generation that are rejecting a lot of the slickness of the megachurch movement—the high production quality, the perfect transitions between the band playing a song and the pastor getting up to speak. They’re looking for something a little more down to earth and authentic.”

Some believe that emerging churches represent the next wave of Western churches. After all, on the heels of Generation X looms Generation Y. Born between 1980 and 2000, Generation Yers (also known as Echo Boomers or Millennials) represent nearly a quarter of the U.S. population. That makes them the largest generation since the baby boomers. And while many are children of baby boomers, their beliefs and lifestyles are more in line with those of Generation X.

Growing up in an era of mass commercialization where product placements rule the airwaves, stadiums and arenas are named after corporations, and ads are splashed on bathroom stalls, Generation X and Y members typically ignore messages that aren’t targeted to them. For years, marketers

The Official Magazine of CBA