The Theology of the Emerging Church - Research Paper Example

? The Theology of the Emerging Church Thesis ment At the beginning of the 21st century, the emerging church arose characterized by a myriad of theological boundaries. Consequently, the emerging churches renamed their theological boundaries to represent their faith. Various participants came together to profess their faith, which sired Protestant, Catholic, conservatives and liberals. Other include reformed, Adventist, and post-liberal just to name few. These emerging churches spread across the globe forms the worshipping places where millions of people come to praise their deity. Since many people consider the emerging church as a movement, various issues have come out about transcends of liberalism, conservatism and even modernism. The paper discusses how various transcends within the emerging church continues to affect theology. The paper will also discuss how emerging churches have led to the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, and the role of emerging churches in the postmodern society. Introduction Over the recent years, the world has witnessed the tremendous growth of faith-based and religious movements like never before in the history of the world. Across the dry land, millions of people streams into worship centers on selected days of the week to worship their creator. The newspapers have also carried the same stories since the establishment of the emerging churches that exhibit certain trends in the religious fraternity. The bookshops are full of books that speak about different religions and the same is true over the internet1. Undoubtedly, religious movements are second to political movements that sway people to follow certain customs and practices. To many people, the emerging churches have become the save haven of protection and many believe they are doing the right thing in their places of worship. Both print and broadcast media is full of coverage that highlights church activities and some even have gone ahead to stream live performances from churches. The speed at which the emerging churches spread is notable, and we can see movements in schools, universities, villages, and towns all professing inclination towards certain church. Each church has its own dogmas that differentiate it from the rest. However, it is important to note that these churches, no matter how diverse they are, they worship the same Creator—God. The proponents of the emerging churches believe that participants should support the movement as it draws heavily from the precepts of faith and thus, this is the foundation of worship. They continue to say that the emerging churches are like a new reformation that pulls people from headlong and headstrong and brings them into spiritual growth and intellectual lightness. The participants of the emerging churches are keen followers of the Bible. However, many of them do not understand the existence of the movement, and the foundations that formed their once-sound churches, seminaries or Christian Union movements in high schools and colleges. Consequently, a litany of sincere believers has fallen prey to a number of self-confessed church leaders who are out there to exploit them. This has led to a new trend in theology that goes against the set principles of the ministry of worship and praise. Some of these participants are men and women committed to diversify their choices of worship2. Moreover, these people are always ready to propel the movements they are part of up the theological spectrum for their own benefits. Then we have a question as to whether we really have inexplicable liberals and conservatives who are ready to cling to the old conventional labels that are not only genuine, but does not change theology even a piece. If we can define “emerging” in this context, it will mean something that “is budding, generative comradeship among Christians, that is, those committed towards a certain goal—achieving the love of Jesus Christ”. Thus, any emerging church has to base its doctrines of theology on this principle; otherwise, it would be tantamount to another form of theology that goes against the will of God. Thus, the theologians should not use the Bible or any other religious teachings emerging from their own beliefs to confuse people, and create what many refer as emergent confusion. The Bible has stories on how to differentiate good teachings from bad one, and that people should search the scriptures to understand the straightforward nature of the teachings they receive. The confusion created so far in many emerging churches poses danger to theology and at times, many churches and religious institutions are falling down3. Various theological theories have emerged even from self-proclaimed individuals who call themselves the idols of Christian teachings. The Bible is not far from the truth as it wars masses to be aware of people who dress in the sheep’s skin, but in the real sense they done the regalia of ravenous wolves. Thus, it is vital that people understand the true theology and distinguishes the infallible tactics employed by some theologians that are not only fabricate lies, but also slide the scales of many emerging churches and sends them into oblivion4. The Bible is categorical as it is the only instrument, which separates truth from error without compromise. Undoubtedly, there is a thin line, which separates truth from error, and the theological teachings fixated on error not only delineate God, but also brings the battlefront of Christianity values into the doorsteps of the worshipers. Many of the emerging churches teach various dogmas that have brought mixed reactions in the world of theology. Significantly, this has affected the perception of worshippers on theology. Consequently, we now have a series of debates that dwell on the authenticity of the theology of emerging churches and the emergent confusion brought about due to either unsolicited teachings or untruthful theological tendencies. On a sad note, no place of truce is available for the chieftains of truth and error to meet and iron out the issues affecting theology. The deconstruction of the Bible by the emerging churches is on the rise. In fact, different churches have different teachings on salvation, faith, and grace thus, making theology appear “blasphemous”. In very many instances, the emergents have chosen either salvation, or grace, or faith to profess their religious inclination. Consequently, this has made the emerging church a movement that is not only narcissistic, but also one of the most controversial in the church history5. Purposes: The trend at which emerging churches are diversifying has affected theology greatly. As such, these effects have created a concern in this field hence attracting mine as well. Consequently, in this research proposal, the thesis statement ‘The Theology of the Emerging Church’ will be the guideline. The last three decades have attested to a rise in the number of new religious movements primarily because of the longing of the people to diversify. In essence, this demonstrates that there are variations in the setting and role of religion in the people. In the existing religions, the development of the New Religious Movements has trigged variations in both the structure and the principles. Consequently, this means that the new religions have to compete in the shaped market place of religions. In fact, they must effort towards the justification of their efforts exactly as other modernity institutions, the religious organizations become more business-like and bureaucratic. These issues are the reasons that have motivated me to research on this topic. Scope: I will conduct a research on the mentioned topic exploring different emerging churches so that the mentioned problems will be qualitatively evaluated. More so, the study will further narrow down to theological implications of this scenario to the society and all theology consumers. However, I expect to engage limitations because the actual number of these emerging churches is not known hence only a sample size can be scrutinized. Moreover, the period may prove to be a challenge because this is a broad topic. Methods: 1. I will conduct a literature review on emerging churches 2. I will focus on existing studies in relation to the thesis statement and evaluate their findings so that I can have a solid argument for my research. 3. Write a research report that will include my personal understanding of relevant theories as well as existing research in line with my findings. Literature review In order to understand emerging churches more, it is paramount to conducts a study aimed at forming literature review of this research study. The use of past materials, secondary sources, will guide this research study in unraveling how emerging churches have affected theology greatly. Since the creation of the world, people have chosen at least one form of worship. In ancient times, traditional forms of worship were so much common. However, at the dawn of civilization, people started adopting new forms of worship in form of denominations. Coincidentally, with very many emerging churches, the participants of these denominations laid down a framework of their services in theology, and the Bible was the focus. Fundamentally, the Bible was the epicenter of theology and its interpretation was paramount in determining the focus of an emerging church. The Bible was the primary revelator and from it, emerged theology whose precepts mainly dwelt on the revelation of God, the Creator, to man. However, different theories came in and the teaching that used the Bible as the cornerstone of theology became oculus. In fact, modernism in the emerging churches that has greatly influenced the theological principles, and changed it greatly6. Modernism introduced the issue of rationalism in differentiating truth and error. Thus, instead of using the Bible, people started using their own ideas, which eventually affected theological principles relatively. In other words, instead of people becoming subservient to the Bible, they chose otherwise. Critics of emerging churches continue to ask the role of postmodernism in the interpretation of the Bible and theology7. They point out postmodernism as the main reason why there is a great change in theology as this theory pronounces great differences between the Bible and truth. However, in order to understand this concept fully, it is imperative to single out the interrelation of story, community and inspiration. Role of community in the emerging church Religion as a social aspect involves community members. In fact, people hail from different communities and they are the members of a certain church. The history of emerging churches depicts it as a conceptual one or a goal-oriented one. In terms of goal orientation, the emerging church defines a community as a fellowship of people who have come for similar interests. Jesus Christ being the body of the church, community members should find it easy to forgive one another, celebrates together, have fun together in order to make their fellowship irreducibly communal. It is important to note that many emerging churches share this idea where they emphasize unity of purpose over disintegration. This is actually the main reason why members attend church services every Sunday or Saturday or whatever any day to promote unity, legitimacy, and mission. However, it is also important to note that people spend most of the time in the world where they also meet other people and socialize with them on matters of faith. This is one way of reaching out to fellow brothers and sisters giving them the message of hope and encouraging them to stay put8. On the other hand, the emerging church also roots for the conceptual side that primarily teaches people to deviate from the truth. In fact, as seen above, postmodernists argue that the concept of truth does not occur in anything else other than social construction. This means that the community cannot rely on theology based on the Bible to understand some things. Indeed, this is the biggest concern that is causing discomfort in theology. The emerging church advocates the use of postmodernism in explaining certain theological issues. However, this does not ogre well with the proponents of pure theology, as they believe that this will greatly affect its true meaning. The theory goes ahead to point that truth is only evident when people come together in a group and agree through a consensus9. It is evident that in the past emerging churches shared fundamentalist evangelicalism as their desired destination. However, as time went on, the emerging churches took different stances, which changed theology greatly. Additionally, instead of treating every member of the church equally, some emerging churches opted to treat the rich members differently. Consequently, some preachers expressed their reservations on ten-step discipleship programs. On the other hand, some preachers burgled out three-point sermons and instead opted for a single sermon. The views on pretribulational eschatology slowly changed even as content found its way into alter. In my research findings, I came up with various theories to explain how emerging churches changed theology greatly10. Findings Spiritual McCarthyism This theory gives the pastor enormous powers to exercise leadership skills. However, the problem with this theory is that it borrows heavily from the linear diagnostic world, and in case the model fails, then the liberalism of emerging churches comes into question, and this has greatly changed theology. Spiritual Isolationism The biggest challenge with emerging churches is that many of them emerge in towns and cities. In these places, it is paramount to note that people attend to their daily economic activities and have little time for communal activities—the basics of the emerging churches. Clearly, this has affected theology, which advocates for sharing and caring for one another11. Spiritual Darwinism Emerging churches advocated for spiritual Darwinism, which is, advocating for people to do their activities and climb the ladder of success. However, this idea has so far brought envy in the church. The shepherd congregations are busy struggling to survive even as the rich fellow shepherds continue their lavish lifestyles. Conclusion The emergent church pleas so much on postmodernism and this have had an effect on theology. It is vital to note that the tenets of postmodernism advocates approaches that are contrary to theology. Additionally, the emerging church’s critique on modernism is also a hiccup to evangelicalism and theology in general. Moreover, the emergent church deals more with cultural changes rather than biblical fidelity. Clearly, the emergent church has changed theology greatly.12 References Akin, Daniel L., David P. Nelson, and Peter R. Schemm. A Theology for the Church. Nashville, TN.: B&H Publishing Group, 2007. Drane , John. "The Emerging Church." International journal for the Study of the Christian Church. Volume 6, issue 1, 2006: 3-11. Emmons, Robert A., Chi Cheung, and Keivan Tehrani. Assessing Spirituality Through Personal Goals:Implications For Research On Religion And Subjective Well-Being. Research, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998. Harianakis, Stylianos. The Infallibility of the Church in Orthodox Theology. Redfern, Sydney: St Andrew's Orthodox Press, 2008. Harley, Kenneth. Thirty-Three Academic Reflections On The Emerging Church. New York: Lulu.com, 2006. Henard, William D., Adam W Greenway, and Thom S. Rainer. Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement. Nashville, TN.: B&H Publishing Group, 2009. Labanow, Cory E. Evangelicalism and the Emerging Church: A Congregational Study of a Vineyard Church. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2009. Meyendorff, John. The Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today. Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2004. Prokurat, Michael , Michael D. Peterson, and Alexander Golitzin. The A to Z of the Orthodox Church. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Meister, Chad V. Meister. The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity. Oxford, UK: Oxford Handbooks Online, 2010. Pettegrew, Larry D. . "Evangelicalism, Paradigms, and The Emerging Church." 2006: 158-175. Today, Christianity. "Emergent Movement." World Changers, 2013: n.p. Read More