The Emerging Church - Truth or Dare

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

THE EMERGING CHURCH: TRUTH OR DARE?

A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. JAMES WOODDELL
IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE COURSE THEO 510 ONLINE

LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BY
MILTON T. MOHR (STUDENT ID#24580889)

LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
August 18, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
The Whos and What of the Emerging Church Movement-------------------------------------3
Six Major Viewpoints of the Emerging Church Movement-------------------------------4-11 1. The Bible----------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 2. Jesus Christ-------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 3. Jesus Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice-------------------------------------------------------6 4. Evangelism-------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 5. Emphasis Upon the Element of “Darkness” in Worship Services----------------7 6. The After-Life, Heaven and Hell-----------------------------------------------------8
Concluding Remarks-------------------------------------------------------------------------8-11
Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

INTRODUCTION

The emerging/emergent[1] church movement is a new church movement that developed in the 1990s in Protestant churches across the United States. At the heart of the “movement”—or as some of it leaders prefer to call it, the “conversation” lies the conviction that changes in the culture signal that a new “church” is “emerging.”[2] Don Carson is quoted as saying “the emerging church movement (ECM) arose as a protest against the institutional church, modernism, and seeker-sensitive churches…It has encouraged evangelicals to take note of cultural trends and has emphasized

Bibliography: Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2005. Carson, D. A. Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding A Movement and Its Implications. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2005. Enns, Paul. The Moody Handbook of Theology. revised and expanded. Chicago: Moody, 1989, 2008. Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. King, James. "Emerging Issues for the Emerging Church." Journal of Ministry and Theology 09, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 28. Kowalski, D. "290-emerging-church." apologetics index.org. 05 01, 2007. www.apologeticsindex.org/290-emerging-church (accessed 08 05, 2013). McLaren, Brian. a Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. —. A Generous Orthodoxy. Kindle Editon. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2004. Steven Chalke, Alan Mann. The Last Message of Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2003. Woodbridge, Noel B. "Understanding the Emerging Church Movement: An Overview of Its Strengths, Area of Concern and Implications for Today 's Evangelicals"." Conspectus 04, no. 1 (Mar 2007): 98. [2] D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding A Movement and Its Implications (Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2005), 12. [3] Noel B. Woodbridge, “Understanding the Emerging Church Movement: An Overview of Its Strengths, Areas of concern and Implications for Today’s Evangelicals in the Conspectius 04:1(Mar 2007), 98. [4] Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1989, 2008)KCRL 14678 of 17747. (KCRL = Kindle Cloud Reader Location). [5] Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, Printed edition(Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2004), 115. [6] James King, “Emerging Issue for the Emerging Church” in Journal of Ministry and Theology 09:2 (Fall, 2005), 28. [9] McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, Kindle Editon (Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2005), KCRL 3973 of 4790. [12] Dan Kimball, The Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 187. [14] D. Kowalski nd. Appropriate response to the emerging church movement. Accessed from www.apologetsindex.org/290-emerging-church, 2007-05-01. [21] Steven Chalke, Alan Mann; The Last Message of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2003), 182-183. [25] Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis (Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 2005), 148.