Part 2- The Emergent Church’s “Missional” focus

Greetings everyone!

Part 2- The Emergent Church’s “Missional” focus

To most Christians, a church or movement that is defined as “missional” would be a good thing. We equate the word with those who give their lives to spreading the Gospel and helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Our Christian faith has a rich history of helping the poor, building hospitals, tending to the sick, and being a force for social good as a testimony to the Savior we serve.

However, in the Emergent philosophy, missional has an entirely different meaning. Today we will look at both how they define their mission, and how they put it into practice.

The Emergent Church’s beliefs- Defining the Mission-

Last week we mentioned the eschatological (end-times) belief of the emergent church- they do not believe in a final judgment. Their belief, in varying forms, is that the church through social action and influencing the culture will change the world into heaven on earth. That is the mission of the emergent church. On the surface, it may seem like an admirable thing- bringing “Christian” principles to the forefront of society. However, even a brief look beneath the surface reveals the truth of how they go about being missional.

Emergent Church leader Brian McLaren in his book “The Secret Message of Jesus” defines this mission. McLaren writes, “What if Jesus’ secret message reveals a secret plan? What if he didn’t come to start a new religion, but rather came to start a Political, Social, Religious, Artistic, Economic, Intellectual, and Spiritual Revolution that would give birth to a whole new world?” [The Secret Message of Jesus, McLaren, Brian, pg 4]

Anyone with just a basic understanding of Christian Doctrine can see a huge problem with that. One of the key beliefs revealed to us in the bible is that God is both knowable and wants to be known. The primary way we learn about Him is through the scriptures as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. To suggest that the “secret message of Jesus” has been hidden for 2000 years until the Emergent Church leaders discovered it exposes them for what they are, neo-gnostics. Gnostism (meaning knowledge) was a heresy confronted and defeated by the early church, and has lately been gaining prominence in both books and (later) movies like “The Da-Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons”. In its most basic form, Gnostism is the belief that only through “secret knowledge” you may discover the true will of god (little “g” intentional) and experience him and/or salvation.

On a personal note, I have to say it is an incredibly egotistical belief to think that you have discovered something in the bible that centuries of brilliant theologians have not seen. This is especially true when what you think you have discovered goes against centuries of accepted Christian doctrine.

The Emergent Church in practice-

We looked at the emergent church’s beliefs first because on both a personal and corporate level, your core beliefs will always govern your actions, and this is clearly seen in the way the emergent church practices their mission.

To accomplish this mission in reaching and influencing as many people as they can, they have a “big tent” philosophy. Last week, I used the example of an emergent church in Haiti incorporating various aspects of voodoo into their service to relate with their community. Admittedly, that may be an extreme example, but it was chosen to clearly illustrate their philosophy of ministry. It all would fit under their “big tent” way of doing ministry- everyone and every belief is included, as they believe that God can be experienced in all things and in all ways. That is the belief of a Unitarian Universalist, not a biblical Christian.

The emergent church places a high value on the subjective religious experiences of its members. If a person who was previously a Buddhist came to their meeting, they would have no problem bringing those teachings into their fellowship, as they would believe “that is how God is revealing himself to that person”. As previously seen, they interpret scripture (and other religious teaching) in ways that make sense to them at the time. They reject any sort of systematic theology or objective truth. They believe god (little “g” intentional) is still in the process of creation and is continually revealing himself to them in new and different ways. Since “god” is doing that, this movement in general accepts every belief in him that is helpful to humanity.

These beliefs and practices are flawed at many levels. For the sake of brevity, I will list just three primary ones here-

1. They violate the 1st and 2nd commandment- you are creating a god that makes sense to you- essentially elevating your understanding above God’s revealed truth found in the bible
2. In incorporating other belief systems into their “church”, they are denying the wider biblical and direct Gospel message of humankind’s sin, God’s love for the sinner and His providing a way through the Lord Jesus Christ to be forgiven of that sin. In doing that, they deny Jesus’ own teaching- “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”(John 14:6)
3. In raising and supporting whatever belief is “helpful to humanity”, no matter what the source of that “help” may be, they shift the object of worship from God to humanity. Again, a violation of the first two commandments.

I will close with one last warning from scripture. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes-, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The apostle Paul fought against this heresy his entire life in ministry and placed this warning in the bible for us even today-

Gal 1:6-9 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. NKJV

I hope this brief expose’ of the emergent church has been helpful to your understanding of this movement. If you would like more information, I recommend Pastor Ron’s Auch's book “The Jesus Sensitive Church” (purchase by clicking here) to see how the church is supposed to be, and then Pastor Bob DeWaay’s book “The Emergent Church, Undefining Christianity” which can be purchased by clicking here. As always, I invite any questions you may have.

Many blessings,
Pastor John
pastorjohn@prayerhouseag.org
www.prayerhouseag.org
http://pastorjohnsview.blogspot.com/