The Emergence Of The Emerging Church -- By: Derwin L. Gray, A
Journal: Christian Apologetics Journal
Volume: CAJ 07:1 (Spring 2008)
Article: The Emergence Of The Emerging Church
Author: Derwin L. Gray, A
CAJ 7:1 (Spring 2008) p. 27
The Emergence Of The Emerging Church
Derwin Gray is pastor of Preaching and Discipleship at the Gathering in Charlotte, NC and President of One Heart at a Time Ministries. He is a graduate of Southern Evangelical Seminary.
Why is that hippie-looking female twenty-something painting a picture of Jesus while the Cultural Architect (that is code for “Pastor” of an emerging church) is sharing a story from the Bible and the latest M. Knight Shyamalan movie? Where have all the 18 to 32 year-olds gone? They do not come to our churches anymore. When our youth group graduates from high school, they must graduate from the church as well because they seem to disappear. What is drawing them to the emerging churches?
As the Pastor of Preaching and Discipleship of a young, vibrant multi-ethnic community of faith in Charlotte, North Carolina, whom some would consider an emerging church, this is a complex, emerging question (no pun intended). What is the “Emerging Church”? The dictionary briefly defines “emerging” as an adjective, newly formed or just becoming into prominence; verb, to come to light, being dis-
CAJ 7:1 (Spring 2008) p. 28
covered.1 A seemingly endless supply of articles, web sites, sarcasm-soaked discussion groups, blogs and more blogs have something to say about the emerging church.
There is no single “emerging church”; there are instead thousands of emerging churches from a variety of denominations that have a variety of ministry models. In this article, or even in a much larger book, it is not possible to capture and tame the ever-elusive emerging church. The aim of this article is to give an overview.
Definitions
To understand the issues involved, it is helpful to give some working definitions.
Epistemology—This is the philosophical theory of the basis we use to obtain our knowledge.
Emerging Church—The emerging church is a growing, loosely connected movement of primarily young pastors who are glad to see the end of modernity and are seeking to function as missionaries who bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to emerging and postmodern cultures. The emerging church welcomes the tension of holding in one hand the unchanging truth of evangelical Christian theology (Jude 3) and holding in an open hand the many cultural ways of showing and speaking Christian truth as a missionary to America (1 Cor. 9:21–23).2
Emergent
Click here to subscribe