Scot McKnight delivered a clear and helpful lecture in October 2006 at the Westminster Theological Seminary intending to answer the question, "What is the Emerging Church?" In reading through it I've extracted some bits which have helped me clear the waters (you can download the pdf here) although I don't try to unpack them. We probably can't narrow the definition of emerging church down to a single thing, but if I had to it would be "missional ecclesiology".

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- there's no such thing as the "emerging church." It's not a denomination either. It's a conversation or a movement. - it's not a "theological" movement and to force it into a theological definition is to do violence to it. The emerging movement is not known by its innovative doctrinal statement or by its confessional stances. It is a conversation about theology, with all kinds of theologies represented, with a core adhering to the classical creeds in a new key. - doesn't deny the truthfulness of the gospel or deny that there is truth in a hard postmodernist way. A key phrase is "a chastened epistemology", what Leslie Newbegin calls a "proper confidence." - the emerging movement is a protest - not the next "protestantism" as some have claimed but it is clearly an anti- and protest movement. - The centre of the movement is about ecclesiology, not epistemology. We can call this centre "missional ecclesiology."

A word on "missional". First, it comes from the great missiological thinkers who use the expression missio Dei. The emerging movement is missional in the sense that they are asking what God is doing in this world. They become missional by participating, with God, in the redemptive work God is doing in this world.

The emerging movement believes that praxis shapes theology and theology shapes praxis. How a person lives is more important than what they believe, that orthopraxy is the most important thing. And that the power of a life forms the best apologetic for the way of Jesus.

Accepted understanding (by UK and US emergent types) of what they about is from Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Baker, 2005). Goes like this:

Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses the nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives.

Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities.

- a word on postmodernity (a fairly good definition): "Let us define postmodernity, not as the denial of metanarratives or the denial of truth as it so often done at the level of urban legend, but as the collapse of metanarratives because of the impossibility of getting outside such assumptions to prove them on a rational, foundationalist, and objective method that enables us to construct from the bottom up universal knowledge."

- "Well, for some in the emerging movement, some theologians and preachers could benefit from an occasional “flash of silence” in their truth-talk."

- some speak of a "proper confidence and a chastened epistemology and the end of metanarratives and the fundamental importance of social location as shaping what we know and find to be true."

- "Flaubert once remarked, when trying to express his love for his mistress, that the “language to do so was inept.” That, my friends, is where some emerging postmodern Christians are trying to say. Language is inept to talk absolutely about God."

- "Along this line of post-evangelical, the emerging movement is suspicious of systematic theology. Why? Not because we don't read such folks, but because (1) the diversity of theologies alarms us, (2) no genuine consensus has been achieved, and most importantly, because (3) God didn't reveal a systematic theology but a Storied narrative and (4) no language is capable of capturing the Absolute Truth who alone is God. Frankly, the emerging movement loves ideas and theology; sometime sit down with its leaders and its participants and youll find that they love theology - they just don't have a theology and they don't subscribe to a theology or confess a theology. They believe the Great Traditions offer us ways of telling the truth about God's redemption in Christ, but they don't believe any one theology gets it absolutely right."

- all theology is always a conversation about the Truth who is God in Christ through the Spirit

Wrote some thoughts in response, wanted to comment, but it turned out to become to long. You can read it <a target="_blank" href="http://mycontemplations.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/re-what-is-the-emerging-church/...">here</a>.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm not sure if the "missional ecclesiology" tag is always suited for the emerging church neck. I hope that it would become more and more true for the emerging church, but for many in the emerging church I'm not yet sure how prominent the missional part features, it's still more about a new ecclesiology (post-moder ecclesiology?) in reaction against a traditional form of ecclesiology.

Posted by: cobus 24 Apr, 2007 - 21:15:21

Thanks for that, Cobus - although I can't check out your link yet - looks like you're still working on that post?

This conversation could be interesting because it's necessary for a church to have gone through a missional process <i>before</i> it emerges...otherwise nothing of lasting significance will happen. Take a look around the emerging conversation online - missional is absolutely integral to this conversation. I'd go so far to say that if "missional" is removed, then "emerging" doesn't have a long life span at all.

Take a look at Scott McKnight's post (today!) about Biblical, Missional Church.

Posted by: Roger Saner 25 Apr, 2007 - 00:54:34

Cobus, we agree that this conversation is about ecclesiology. I don't know what post-modern ecclesiology looks like but I suspect that emphasis is very similar to a missional emphasis. Have you developed that thinking at all?

Posted by: Roger Saner 25 Apr, 2007 - 01:13:16

Also see Ryan Bloger talking about the difference between emerging and missional, A new kind of ecclesiology (and the comments too) and the definitive tallskinnykiwi take on things in which he very helpfully suggests that both streams need each other:

"Without the missional, emergent is just style. Without the emergent, missional pours the new wine backwards into old containers, and often without regard to context."

Posted by: Roger Saner 25 Apr, 2007 - 01:21:50

Sorry, the last link to the tallskinnykiwi's article is http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue100/index.cfm?id=23&ref=ARTICLES%5FCULTURE%5F346...

Posted by: Roger Saner 25 Apr, 2007 - 01:23:25

The link is working now, and the correct post is there as well. This was a mess-up, sorry.
I think it's a good thing to keep the two words together, but I don't think they are sinonyms, or that being emerging neccesarily means that you are missional, or vice versa.
On post-modern ecclesiology... still need a lot of thinking on that one, maybe later.

Posted by: cobus 25 Apr, 2007 - 08:15:29

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