Hypothetical Interview on Emerging Churches

I was asked by our Fuller publicists to ponder what an interview on Emerging Churches with Eddie Gibbs and I might look like and here is a brief sketch of a hypothetical interview (with my apologies to Larry King):

This is Larry King and I have two professors from Southern California who say the church has undergone a very dramatic change in the last ten years. I'm talking about their new book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Communities in Postmodern Cultures. Eddie Gibbs, tell me a little about yourself and your good looking assistant there, Ryan Bolger.
We are two Fuller Seminary professors in Southern California, our disciplines cover church growth and contemporary cultures...blah, blah, blah...

Eddie and Ryan: Is this all about adding coffee and candles to church??
That is what we first thought -- but we were very surprised to see it is about much much more -- a fundamental shift in the understanding and practice of church itself...

You say these communities retrieved Jesus -- don't all churches do this?
Most churches do recognize Jesus as Christ, but ignore the way he lived. These traditional churches see Jesus as unique, that he was the son of God, and so they wonder what they can learn about themselves from him. But we must remember he was human and he shows us how to be human. Emerging churches adopt his encounter with culture as their own...

When the church looks like the surrounding culture, doesn't it lose its identity?
Actually the church loses its identity when it doesn't look like the culture. Let us explain a big word -- incarnation....the church fails in its mission when the people in the culture need to change cultures to be a part of the church. Now, the church will always be different, but hopefully for other reasons than because it is culturally out of synch...

Some of those you interviewed described themselves as post-Christian. Can you explain that?
They want Jesus but they do not 'own' all of church history as their own. They abandon the religion of Christianity, much of which does not seem like Jesus to them....

Some of these commmunities do not have a meeting. This seems like the Jesus people movement of the sixties. Back to communes?
Well, yes, and no. As we mentioned earlier, they do not see church as a meeting but simply as the people of God. This de-centers the church service. The critical activity is participating in community together. Of secondary importance is a particular corporate gathering.

Gone are the days of arguing against those other faiths who disagree? These churches will put to death a cottage industry of culture wars, why the others are wrong, etc. Will Josh McDowell be out of work?
We've seen some really good listeners as leaders of these churches. They admit that Christians have been wrong at times. While not rejecting their own faith tradition, they seek to embrace what they can from others.

You say serving the poor is central. Is this just the social gospel in another guise?
No, it really isn't. Emerging Churches are not seeking specifically political solutions. They desire that their community embodies a caring apologetic. They would see the social-gospellers as equally guilty with the fundamentalists -- objectifying the recipients. They want to invite the poor into their community.

You describe the transition from leader as CEO to leader as spiritual director. That is a pretty profound change.
Yes, it really is. The business model that runs the large corporation does not work inside a family. And that is the difference. These communities are more like families than they are large seeker churches.

You describe churches that meet in houses praying the Anglican Book of Prayer, while Anglican churches meet in pubs. Can you make any sense out of this?
There is a deep desire for spirituality to extend to all of life. Those who already embody a way of life outside church structures seek to create a historic spiritual rhythm. Those in high churches want to express their spiritual life in the physical world, as those divides no longer seem to make sense. It is really quite interesting...

Parting shots?
This is the most significant shift in church practice in at least fifty years, maybe much longer. We experienced a significant change in culture since the 1960s and the American church has lost numbers in droves. Emerging Churches are the first post-sixties Western church movement to address the entire cultural shift with the gospel of Jesus Christ -- not looking to fight the culture, but to embrace it and transform it from within...

Thanks Eddie and Ryan for your insights...Once again, that is Emerging Churches: Creating Christianity in Postmodern Cultures...get it at your bookstore now...
Eddie, Ryan, thanks for leaving your brand new yacht (paid for by royalties I presume) to talk with us....
Our pleasure, we had to dock it eventually --

Next up, we’ll take your calls and address the rumors of the Men of Emergent Pinup Calendar...Once again, this is Larry King...

Technorati Tags: Emerging_Church

Comments

[ryan]

both good and funny. I can't wait to dive into the book.

[bob c]

blue on black
agh...my eyes...my eyes

[Existential Punk]

This is so funny! Great interview. So, when will you actually be on Larry King Live? Brian McLaren can probably help you out! LOL!!!

[John W. Morehead]

Ryan, thank for the hypothetical interview, and the book which I am just finishing up. It changed my perspective on the emerging church. Previously I was largely inclined to see the U.S. versions of it as largely focused on questions of epistemology and ecclesiology, and less so on missiology in a Western context, as opposed to U.K. and Australian expressions. Your research has given me new hope that at least some segments of the emerging church are thinking through missional issues in the Western world. I especially appreciated one of the initial statements you made in the book that the church in the West desperately needs missiologists. A hearty Amen!

[James Paul]

I thought Larry asked some great questions, as always. Great job, Larry. You're the man!