Book Review - Emerging Churches

Book Review: Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures

•   Gibbs, Eddie, and Ryan K. Bolger. 2005. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Chapter 1 - A Brief Look at Culture

This chapter addresses the need for the Western church to understand culture before examining the emerging church. Good mission practice includes understanding the culture in which one wants to serve. Understanding that the West is in a cultural shift where the church, Christendom and modernity are in decline and that modes and styles of communication have changed is important when considering the emerging church.

Chapter 2 – What is the Emerging Church?

This chapter starts off by giving a bit of history of the Gen-X church in postmodern culture and the issue of is this church evangelical or post-evangelical. Can modern and postmodern congregations exist within a local church (p. 39)?  Popular definition for emerging church is one that attracts youth and young adults, contemporary music, a Christian subculture, and promoting through websites and word of mouth (p. 41).  Johnny Baker suggests it is a catchall term that indicates the need for new forms of church that are relative to the current culture (p. 41).  Others consider it to be a type of church that has not arrived or a quest for holistic spirituality (p. 42). Even so, the emerging church is a goal or a process that contains various patterns that are constantly changing and forming and must be understood in light of the kingdom of God, least we lose focus of the primary calling of the church (p. 43) Gibbs and Bolger’s definition of the emerging church is that they are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures.  The nine practices are: identify with the life of Jesus, transform the secular realm, live highly communal lives, welcome strangers, serve generously, participatory producers, creative, lead as a body and participate in spiritual practices (p. 44-45).

Chapter 3 – Identifying with Jesus

The emerging church focuses on the kingdom of God and being representatives of Jesus in the here and now.  It is about living in community participating in activities of the kingdom through acts of service and forgiveness (p. 64).

Chapter 4 – Transforming Secular Space

 For the emerging church, all of life must be made sacred, not just secular spaces, times or activities therefore creating “whole life” spirituality (p. 66).  Dismantling and re-creating the parts of the modern church that focus on sacred space, time and activities is part of the job of the emerging church.  They have three tools to help them: the gospel, sacralization and the life of the community (p. 88)

Chapter 5 – Living as Community

This chapter focuses on the church living together everyday of the week as a movement not an institution.  It is meeting together as small groups as well as full communities (p. 109).  Church is a people, a community, a way of life, and a rhythm, connected with other followers of Jesus who are missional and participatory in all realms of culture (p. 115).

Chapter 6 – Welcoming the Stranger

This chapter shares the importance of being inclusive to those who are like us and those who are different.  Being authentically missional, a church integrates worship with welcome. This includes acts and words of kindness, creative expressions of witness, sacrificial service and intentional application of peace and justice (p.119).   Emerging churches are hospitable like Jesus and include others of different faiths, cultures and traditions without feeling like they have to defend their faith. They let their lives speak for them and hope for a life change with those they encounter, instead of a faith change (p. 134).

Chapter 7 – Serving with Generosity

Emerging churches seek to embody the core of the gospel, which is generosity as a way of life, not just a social program.  Through acts of extravagant generosity, the church commits to Jesus as Lord and Savior and makes him known (p. 152). It’s about pointing others to Christ.

Chapter 8 – Participating as Producers

Everyone has something to contribute and therefore the emerging church provides opportunities for each person to participate in worship. This happens out of an authentic response to God’s grace at work in individual lives as well as corporate experiences and the proof that God is working in both and the communities they are serving (p. 172).

Chapter 9 – Creating as Created Beings

We are beings created by God in His image.  The emerging church acknowledges this and provides space, time and encouragement to participate in creating in worship and every day life together. All are encouraged to participate in creating with the gifts that God has given each of them as a form of worship and giving back to the divine creator, God.  This process of creating is a witness to the faith community and to the wider community that God uses his creation (his people) to restore something ugly or destroyed into something beautiful and redeemed (p. 190). 

Chapter 10 – Leading as a Body

The job of a leader in the emerging church is to foster reproducible, kingdom of God on earth communities that are generous in a pluralistic society that completely embraces and participates in creativity and worship (p. 191).  Leadership in the emerging church is more like a facilitator or guide that creates space for activities to occur (p. 192).  During modernity, a hierarchical form of leadership was established but a leaderless and more collaborative type of leadership is needed for the emerging church. Leadership that always points to the kingdom of God and leads as a servant, facilitator and consensus builder is what is needed (p. 214).  This is how Jesus led and expected his followers to do the same.  We need to learn how to live in the kingdom of God on earth and be apprentices of Jesus (p. 215).

Chapter 11 – Merging Ancient and Contemporary Spiritualties

It becomes harder to define spiritual as emerging communities are not accepting the theology that sacred places and times exists and are embracing that the kingdom of God exists in all spheres of life (p. 217).  We are living in an age where interest in religion is very low however interest in spirituality is very high (p. 218). The emerging church is looking for spirituality and spiritual practices that sacralize all space as in the premodern times when all of life was holy (p. 219). Spirituality is the major emphasis of the emerging church with purpose to see lives transformed through encounters with God and learning spiritual disciplines by participation experienced in kingdom living communities (p. 234).

Leaders in their own words – appreciated this section.

My thoughts on the last class session, 11-21-11

My thoughts on the last class session, 11-21-11

Dr. Bolger’s in depth explanation for our final paper was very helpful.  I think writing it from a perspective that you could possibly hand this proposal to a particular supporter, denomination or funder helps pilot the direction for content as well as emphasizes the need for as accurate data as possible.  It’s difficult to know for certain what our church plant will look like or how it will turn out, but keeping in mind that we need to write it as if we are really going to use it and what the missiological implications of this church plant will be, helps.  I appreciated the questions from the class as well. 

My Thoughts on class today…..11-14-11

My Thoughts on class today…..11-14-11

Exploring the “collaborative” culture today, prompted me to think about ways our church is trying to move in that direction.  I can see how moving away from the “expert” culture and becoming a “collaborative” culture will definitely be an advantage as we seek to shift from a consumerism church to a participatory church.  You have some members that think it’s great and others who can’t theologically wrap their minds around people who are not ordained, appointed or trained to do certain things, such as serve the sacraments, preach, baptize, etc.  Most of the leadership, including our lead pastor agrees that the body is the ones that need to be doing the ministry.  Having a multigenerational church with people from all generations passionate and active in serving, makes this a little easier, but it is still messy and a challenge.  It’s been about two years of working towards this goal. It’s slow, it’s messy and it needs to be continually repeated that we are changing.  

Book Review: The Bridges of God: A Study in the Strategy of Missions

Book Review: The Bridges of God: A Study in the Strategy of Missions

 McGavran, Donald A. 1955. The Bridges of God: A Study in the Strategy of Missions. New York: Distributed by Friendship Press.

Chapter 1

McGavern seeks to answer the crucial question for Christian missions, “How do peoples become Christian?” in his book The Bridges of God: A Study in the Strategy of Missions. Although many have tried to answer this imperative question, most answers have been erroneous. It is not only about how individuals become Christians but rather whole people groups.  It is paramount that the overall Church understands this.

Chapter 2

Western Christianity has a very individualistic process as a result of being more homogeneous with few sub-cultures unlike the majority world.  Because the missionary movement has been largely staffed by the west, independent decision-making has been modeled.  Therefore individual decisions made for Christ were encouraged and even held at a higher regard if the decision were against family opinion.  People were thought of as aggregates of individuals where each one made a decision for Christ and the social factor in the conversions of people groups.  McGavern argues that a people is not a collection of individuals but a group of people connected together by social practices, religious beliefs and common blood (p. 9).  Therefore conversion needs to happen in a people group within their own society, not pulling out individuals to another society. So many non-Christian nations are made up of sub-societies where individualism is shunned therefore missionally we need to take in to consideration the social factor and each society’s worldview.

Chapter 3

The first Christian people movement started with the Jewish people who were race prejudice and haughty as they considered themselves the true people of God.  The Christian church grew rapidly after Pentecost and caused a people movement that grew exponentially as conversions happened simultaneously with others that were kindred, leaders that people trusted to follow, familial ties, public integrity, and corporate worship that bound them together.  The New Testament shows that the movement started with a larger group and their families and spread within a short time.  Peoples become Christian fastest when it happens within a particular race or clan without much change to the group as a whole (p.23).  The first Gentile movement was unplanned much like movements today. Barnabas was sent to disciple after conversions took place. This should be a role played by missions (p.25).  Paul’s example of missions was connectedness through familial ties and relationships that developed from them.  He did not chose the fields of labor in which to work, he followed groups of people who had living relations in the people movement of Christ (p. 31).

Chapter 4

Down Through the Centuries. Two types of growth happened in the Jewish People Movement as the gospel spread to the Gentiles. Cosmopolitan areas where interracial marriages took place and therefore converts to Christ were no longer caste-conscious or exclusive.  Secondly, the people movements of the early church found bridges to endogamous peoples where the movement became a one-people church.  Growth through individual conversions as well as people groups was happening in in the first four centuries (p. 38). Northern Europe experienced growth in Christianity through people, socio-religious and politico-religious movements and such; Christendom was birthed The Reformation brought more religious change with opening the door to purified Christianity bringing whole communities into the Protestant fold (p. 38).    Leaders made the choice for the majority of the people as was the pattern in first seen in the New Testament.

Chapter 5

The characteristic pattern of the Great Century’s method of mission and expanding Christianity has colored the view of missions for the last 150 years.  The inevitable separateness of western missionaries carrying the gospel to the east was a gap to which there were practically no bridges.  Separated by many factors, this gap kept the western missionary isolated from the people that he came to proselytize.  A new method evolved that gathered people together in what was like a colony called the mission station. This drew people out of their culture into a foreign society therefore requiring converts to come out and be separate (p.46).  This worked for a while as the people movement approach gathered people of faith and provided a place to live and work, the mission station.  Mission stages as defined: Stage 1 – Exploratory Mission Approach – desolate plain with intention of taking to the hills, Stage 2 – Mission continues on the desolate plain, but decides it is impossible to reach the hill, the gathered colony approach, Stage 3 – Mission takes the road branching off to fertile hill, people movement approach (p.50).

Chapter 6

The mission station approach has yielded small quota, static mission station churches where as people movements are yielding large numbers of discipled people groups. There are mission stations blessed with People movements where all activity is focused on conversions through families (p. 75).  People Movements five advantages are permanent Christian indigenousness churches, independent of western missions, the spontaneous expansion of the church is natural, enormous internal and external possibilities of growth and provides a sound pattern of discipleship and growth as a Christian (p. 87-91).

Chapter 7

This chapter questions the gathered colony strategy missions’ approach, which is almost never questioned verses people movements (p. 100).  A study and deliberation of both need to be considered as not to discriminate one or the other.  The mission station approach can be considered a good way to spread the gospel where you have unreached peoples who are hostile to Christianity and need to gather converts in a colony, however this is the minority of cases (p.105). 

Chapter 8

Today’s strategy of mission should support the Christian People Movements verses mission station work (p. 109).  Reinforcement of the continually growing church and winning people groups to Christ should be our mission’s strategy today (p.125).

Chapter 9

Today’s missions’ strategy should include the current missions stations but hold them lightly (p.126). We can adopt the Pauline emphasis and be content to help establish churches and let them grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Some of the valuable elements of this are: rapid success of self-government, Holy Spirit dependence, discipline from within and social improvement develop from the church itself as a product of the fruit of the Spirit.

Chapter 10

Finances must shift from the expensive gathered colony approach to People Movements that are more self-supporting and self-propagating.  This approach is a higher investment value overall (p. 148-149).

Chapter 11

Church growth research is essential to the continuation of effective kingdom work. There needs to be a method or system to define the objectives and measure the goals (p. 150).

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 is a call to march together in this new era of missions through people movements in what McGavern advocates is a winning strategy of missions and a Greater Century of the Christian Churches (p. 158).