If you've done any reading on the emerging church, you'll probably know the name Mark Driscoll. He has distanced himself from "Emergent", the voice of emerging church in the USA. But he nevertheless still considers himself as "emerging", although he prefers the label "Reformed Missional" or "Emerging Reformers".

The video can be found at YouTube (click here). Or see below.

I think he is overly critical of the "fourth lane", which he labels the "Emerging Liberals". He is incorrect about Rob Bell, for example, who does NOT say that we can get rid of the virgin birth. It's interesting. Driscoll says in this video below that "they are asking questions that no pastors should be asking". Maybe that's the big difference here. Reformed guys think that some issues should not be discussed, and that all Truth (with a capital T) has already been discovered (i.e. we are not wrong on any major issues right now in the history of the church). Anyone who is open to having conversations about this is labelled a liberal, and is seen as dangerous.

You decide.

But, here, at least is Driscoll's video. I don't buy into his analysis of the "emerging liberals", but it probably fairly represents the concern most people have with the "emerging church". Read more

I am getting quite tired, bored and depressed (probably in that order) by Christian pastors, authors and magazines responding to the "emerging church".  Fuelled by books by Carson and MacArthur (which have been reviewed many times on this blog) and by a few itinerant presenters, like Gary Gilley (also reviewed at this blog) and some pastors who have taken it upon themselves to make opposition to the emerging church a personal crusade (Tim Cantrell of Honeyridge Baptist is a prime example - see a review of his writings here), South African Christians are being presented with a very one-sided view of the emerging church.  In fact, no, let me call it what it is - normal church-going Christians who want to do what is right and Godly are being told Lies about the Truth.

Now, we also have journalists joining the fray.  The July Joy magazine for example has a cover story on the issue.  This article on the emerging church (EC) is so badly written, so incorrect in it's approach, so lacking in journalistic integrity and so wrong, that I cannot believe that Joy magazine have made it a cover story.

In his book, The Truth Wars, MacArthur called for Christians to stand and fight for the truth.  Most people within the emerging church are wonderful saints of God, trying desperately to understand what God is calling His people to do in the world and trying to understand some of the cultural, gender and historical bias that has for many years blinded us to the truth found in God's Word.  And most of them are trying to live out their faith specifically in the way they respond to criticism and critique.  The upside of this is that most of the leaders of the emerging church around the world are more Christ-like than any of the so-called Christian leaders who attack them.  The downside is that their silence or reticence to get into an old-style evangelical theological wrestling match is taken for consent or defeat.  This could not be further from the truth.  There is part of me that really agrees with MacArthur - we need to fight for the Truth. 

The Truth will indeed set us all free.  And it is becoming more and more obvious that the only way the opponents of the emerging church can succeed in breaking down the emerging Christian approach is to tell lies about it.  Here are a few examples: Read more

Over the past few years, my father has moved from being a critic of the Emerging Church, to a friend. Not an outright fan, but someone who understands what the EC is trying to achieve. A few months ago, he read Carson's horrific book on the emerging church, and he has now written a response. I think it's great, and give it to you here, with Dr Reg Codrington's permission.

Some thoughts on
The Emerging Church Movement
after reading D A Carson’s “Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church”.

INTRODUCTION


I have spent the past several months reading various works by writers from the Emerging Church Movement. These have included Brian McLaren’s “A Generous Orthodoxy”, Leonard Sweet’s “Carpe Manana” (which I am re-reading for the 2^nd time), McLaren’s “The last word and the word after that”, Reggie McNeal’s, “The Present Future”, and Shane Claiborne’s mind-blowing book, “The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an ordinary radical”. I have also surfed the Web and been the recipient of several “blogs” and related emails on the subject.

With certain reservations, I enjoyed “A Generous Orthodoxy”, since I believe it raised some important issues about failures in the contemporary evangelical church, even though McLaren tended to slide over a number of issues I could have wished he had dealt with in more detail. He also introduced what I see as side-issues which diminished the effect of his bigger questions.

Read more

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A good (and lifelong) pastor friend of mine, who is both a sharp theologian and a wonderful preacher has written an article on the topic of this post.  You need to know that David Lock comes from a strong Reformed tradition, and studied preaching at Cornhill in the UK under very conservative and Reformed (with a capital R) teachers.  I say this because he's not a liberal flaky.  He has no axe to grind.  He is a pastor of a small town Baptist church.

But, over the years he has found an attraction to the Emerging church thinkers and authors.  As many people in his circle of colleagues have expressed concern about the emerging church, he has been forced to evaluate why he does not share their fears.  In fact, he finds a lot to be excited about.

But, let him explain in his own words... Read more

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Two weeks ago, I attended the Biblical Worldview Conference at Honeyridge Baptist church in Joburg.  I had been invited to attend a "bonus session" on a Response to the Emerging Church by Gary Gilley.  I didn't blog about it at the time because I was concerned that my anger would cause me to say something I'd regret. A fortnight has removed the emotion, but the anger remains. I wish I was spiritual enough to claim that the anger was a righteous anger. I pray it is.

The reason for my anger is that the session was disgraceful. There is no other fitting adjective - his session was disgraceful. Disgusting even - on many levels. Read more

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