Great lecture on the emerging church by Pastor Mark Driscoll: The Emerging Church (mp3)

My students came away needing a little more clarification on a session they went to on the emerging church, so I thought this would be the best place to rehash the topic a little more. If you want to ease drop on this conversation between my students and I…feel free.

Students, I didn’t sign you up for the emerging church session for any other reason than I really do think you need to have a good understanding of this because it is getting so popular, because it can be so attractive, and because it can be so dangerous. The emerging church is catching on today all over the world. We see the worldview of the emerging church in several popular books by “Christian” leaders, in several mega-churches, in many church conferences, in tons of youth ministry materials, and in a lot of youth ministries everywhere. So hopefully you’re wondering now…WHAT IS IT?!

Okay, this can be really confusing, so read slow like on a 3^rd grade level…which is basically the level I live on. I’ll type slower so you can read slower. Kidding! Anyways, the “emerging church” mindset as a whole is not overall wrong. The emerging church guys are seeking to do a better job of engaging this world’s culture in order to reach this world for Christ. For example, the emerging church can see it as helpful to lose the pipe organ, use some technology, and speak in today’s language in order to show people today how Jesus is relevant to their lives, their families, and their culture. Where the emerging church goes bad is when they use the sinful part of culture in order to try and reach the world. For example, a pastor serving beer, getting drunk, and preaching in a speedo while mid-drifting…BAD. But a pastor who spices up the music to sound more like the radio, keep the lyrics faithful and true to the Scriptures, preach in today’s lingo while keeping the Word of Christ as the center, all while upholding all of the traditions found in the Bible…GOOD. We have to use our biblical wisdom to discern bad or good.

The super dangerous sect of the emerging church is called the emergent church. Notice, while there is only 3 letters that are different, these guys are basically trying to question and reinvent all of Christianity! The emergent church leaders are guys who use a postmodern worldview (sound familiar) and apply it to their Christian faith and church. So these postmodern, emergent leaders would say that the Bible isn’t absolutely or fully true. They wouldn’t so much preach to their church, but they would have a “conversation” which their church. They wouldn’t tell their church any absolute truths, but they would just encourage their church to find what is spiritually true for them. Like I said…dangerous! These guys would focus more on a sissified view of Jesus and talk more about a relationship with Him rather than focus on Jesus as Lord and King, worship Him, believe in His death and resurrection, and obey His Word at every point.

You don’t necessarily need to know these names, but some of these emergent heretical crazy dudes are authors and pastors like Brian McLaren (wrote: “A New Kind of Christian”), Rob Bell (pastor in Michigan and wrote famously popular book “Velvet Elvis”), etc. These guys are both popular and dangerous. Beware of them!

The one emerging guy who I definitely trust today is Pastor Mark Driscoll in Seattle, WA at Mars Hill Church. He is theologically faithful to all the Scriptures, and he is culturally relevant to reach the world. He says that they hold the truth of God’s Word in a closed fist, but the methods they use to communicate God’s Word is held in an open hand. You can check him out in iTunes podcasts, at www.marshillchurch.org, and read many of his books. The dude is theologically solid in Christ! The point of all this is: we need to balance complete faithfulness to the Word of Christ and be culturally relevant.

Great lecture on the emerging church by Pastor Mark Driscoll: The Emerging Church (mp3)