how would you define the emerging church?

this is something i’ve been rolling around in my head, so i figured i’d ask you…

i know its next to impossible to pinpoint exactly what the emerging church is, but in your own mind, how do you see it. when you think of the emerging church, do you think of radicals like mclaren or bell, or do you think of the church down the street from you that has an art gallery? the emerging leaders have said themselves that you can’t easily label or tag the emerging church. in fact, they say its more of a ‘conversation’ than it is a movement. ‘conversations’ will change depending on who is engaged in the conversation and what particular views they hold.

but as i’ve found myself in a few conversations lately, i’ve noticed that the way i would label the emerging church is different from others i’m conversing with. so this is a poll, a type of gather-information-from-my-blog survey, if you will. share with me your thoughts of, your views on, your perceptions about the emerging church.

oh yeah, i forgot this the first time around – happy thanksgiving!

new read (#2)

so i managed to start and finish a book without ever posting about it…

i guess its partly because i’ve been fairly busy lately, but also because i made it through the book pretty quickly. following sunday morning service, i was approached by a lady in our fellowship who asked me if i had read this book yet, which i hadn’t. she said she had an extra copy, so handed me the copy she had. you can view the book on amazon.com by clicking here. its called ‘faith undone’ by roger oakland.

i got home on sunday and started into it and didn’t put it down until i was 100 pages in. just so you don’t think i’m some kind of super-reader, i’ll tell you right now i’m not. in fact, i’m notorious for dragging books out over a month or more. somehow, though, this book really grabbed my attention. why? well, i guess this is where i should tell you one reason it took me so long to make it through the josh mcdowell book. i was two-timing josh. yes, i admit. while i was reading his book, i was also reading another book. you’ve probably heard of it. its called ‘the emerging church’ by dan kimball. sorry, josh.

but seriously, i just finished that book a week ago and immediately following was given this roger oakland book. and just to clarify, i wasn’t reading the dan kimball book because i’m thinking of entering the ‘emergent conversation.’ i’ve found myself in the past months in several conversations about the emerging church and felt that i was really lacking in my ability to speak intelligently about it, since i didn’t know exactly what it was about. reading dan’s book helped me understand a little more about the emerging approach.

alright, i digress. enough about dan’s book. back to ‘faith undone.’ i won’t get into the details here due to lack of space, but i would say if anyone is flirting with the idea of entering into the emergent conversation, they should definitely put ‘faith undone’ in their reading list. study up on the emerging church, see what they’re about and what approaches they take. maybe even read some books by dan kimball or brian mclaren, but follow them up with this book. have i stressed that enough? good.

as always, your comments are welcomed.