Articles for tag: Emerging Church

April 11, 2012

Christian Standard

Gen X Rising (Part 2)

By Rick Chromey Gen X is rising. From the Tea Party to the emerging church movement, a new breed of leader is operating. Unlike previous generations in recent history, Americans born between 1961 and 1981 don”t feel a need to work within institutional frames. In the 1990s they pioneered dot-com companies to launch a World Wide Web. During the past decade they”ve revolutionized dig- ital learning, wireless communications, reality television, and thousands of “third place” cultural experiences from coffee shops to fantasy sports to “emerging” churches. Now in their 30s and 40s, this generation rides the leading edge of unemployment, foreclosure,

April 10, 2012

Christian Standard

Gen X Rising (Part 1)

By Rick Chromey The next two decades will produce unimaginable change. By 2040, much of what we now call “modernity” will be history as the digital revolution finalizes its reinvention of commerce, communication, and education. In 2010, Amazon e-books outsold print books, and in 2011, Borders booksellers filed bankruptcy, signaling an end of the age of Gutenberg. The iPad and Kindle are changing how we read. The CD and DVD are dead media (and books are next), while Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter continue to flex digital muscles. In the midst of this cyber revolution stands a generation waiting to

March 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Is Seminary Worth It?

By Josh Tandy I am a statistical anomaly. I am a young minister who went to seminary almost immediately after receiving my undergraduate degree. More and more, people like me are opting to bypass seminary and go directly into full-time ministry. Some of these individuals have been spectacularly successful. The incredible stories of new churches being planted and existing ones becoming vibrant again make me think about the time, effort, and resources spent on a seminary degree, and I wonder: Was it worth it? Has a world of blogs, conferences, and books made a seminary degree obsolete? It doesn”t take

January 8, 2012

Christian Standard

In Just One Year: Momentous Change and Possibility

Nothing challenges us to think about changing times more than the transition from one year to the next. On this first day of 2012, we asked six Christian leaders to think about the church a year from now and to draw a picture of our progress””and our problems””then.  * * * By Douglas A. Foster First, I think the church as a whole will continue moving toward an outward focus that seeks out and cares for the marginalized, powerless, homeless, dirty, and helpless. We, the church, will increasingly see the “least of these” as the impelling reason for our very

June 9, 2011

Christian Standard

Our Decision, Our Opportunity

By Mark A. Taylor Some in Christian churches and churches of Christ are worried about the future of our movement. Others aren”t thinking about our movement much at all””its past or its future. But regardless of whether we”re fretting or forgetting about our future, it is still before us, and we ignore it at our peril. “The future doesn”t care if you believe in it,” says marketing guru and entrepreneur Seth Godin. Godin tells his audiences they can invent their own future. Part of that process involves looking carefully at what”s happening now. Some trends to consider: Denominationalism is dead.

December 10, 2010

Christian Standard

Emerging for the Rest of Us

By Josh Tandy In 2003 I was in college and reading Brian McLaren”s A New Kind of Christian. It was unlike anything I had ever read in Christian literature. The book simultaneously bothered and encouraged me. I thought I understood about half of the issues discussed, but I actually grasped far less. Despite my ignorance, I was hooked””even though I didn”t fully know why. To varying degrees I think many church leaders, whether paid or unpaid, have had a similar experience with their first contact with the emerging church movement. Perhaps you were like me and had no context to

February 7, 2010

Christian Standard

What I Have Learned in 50 Years as a Theologian (Part 1)

By Jack Cottrell Since receiving my AB degree from Cincinnati Bible Seminary in 1959, I have been either preparing to teach or teaching theology (Bible doctrine) in CBS”s (now Cincinnati Christian University”s) graduate school. I was recently challenged to sum up what I have learned during this lifetime of study. Here are my thoughts. FADS vs. FUNDAMENTALS First, I have learned that theological fads come and go, but the “fundamentals” are still fundamental. A fad is a seemingly new idea that bursts on the scene and receives lots of attention, especially by authors and publishers. Once the latter have milked

October 4, 2009

Christian Standard

A Document for Today

  by Joni Sullivan Baker A lot can happen in 200 years. That”s plenty of time for a family to launch, prosper, and stretch out around the world. But it”s also plenty of time for punches to be thrown, hearts to break, and feuds to start and then to fester through many generations. And although most are too polite to say it, those outside the family puzzle or scoff at cousins who share the same name and same family mottoes but still can”t figure out a way to get along. It”s especially strange when a lot of those mottoes are

May 3, 2009

Christian Standard

The Good Life of a Campus Minister

  By Ward Patterson I”ve got a friend who keeps me humble. He thinks campus work is a breeze. He is always telling me that anybody looking from the outside would think a campus minister has it pretty soft.  I keep telling him he ought to look on the inside. THE PROBLEM OF TIME “You really have it good,” he says. “But there is this problem of time,” I respond. “The kids are tied up with something pretty awful””class, I think they call it. The only time they can get together seems to be after supper, at 7:00 say, or

November 23, 2008

Christian Standard

The Emerging Church and the Stone-Campbell Movement: Some Striking Similarities (Part 1)

By William R. Baker See the Sidebar: “The Emerging Church: A Brief History and Helpful Resources”     "Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures," say Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger.1 We might wonder, From what are these churches emerging? Simply stated, they are emerging from a modern world to a postmodern world.2    Yet, thinkers about the emerging church also want to place this mantra of “emerging” on the church generally in the past, present, and future.3 Thus, in the New Testament writings of Paul, we see the Greco-Roman church “emerge” from the

September 16, 2007

Christian Standard

The Emerging Church Phenomenon

By Gary Zustiak A new church movement is sweeping across the country. In many ways it is much like the beginnings of the Restoration Movement. It freely crosses racial and economic boundaries and knows no denominational ties. It has no headquarters or officials who make binding decisions about doctrine or church polity. Its advocates rabidly insist they are not a new denomination, preferring the terms movement or conversation. Some have observed a likeness to the old Jesus People movement of the “60s and “70s. What am I referring to? The emerging church movement. The Beginnings The emerging church movement informally

September 16, 2007

Christian Standard

Emerging, Emergent, Missional: What’s the Difference?

By Gary Zustiak Confused by the terms emerging, emergent, and missional? That would be normal, because many people use the words interchangeably in discussing the current church scene. I apologize if I unfairly portray any group, but we must do some generalizing if we are to provide definitions for these movements to help guide the average church member through the blogs, magazines, and books that focus on them. “¢ An emerging church is an evangelical church that seeks to engage postmodern people, especially the unchurched and postchurched, with the story of the gospel and to challenge them to a radical

September 16, 2007

Christian Standard

5 Books About Emerging/Emergent Churches

By Gary Zustiak EXILES: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture By Michael Frost Hendrickson Publishers, 2006 Frost is professor of evangelism and missions at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. His book is scholarly, yet very practical. It carefully lays out what the church must do to effectively communicate the gospel to a postmodern world and retain those Christians “who find themselves falling into the cracks between contemporary secular Western culture and a quaint, old-fashioned church culture of respectability and conservatism” (p. 3). Exiles acknowledges the yearnings of those in the emerging church movement who long for church that is more

September 12, 2007

Christian Standard

Let”s Add Our Voices to the Conversation

By Mark A. Taylor If you wish all this talk about emerging churches was just a fad, I can relate. It”s not that I”m against change. I”ve lived through a lot of change in my life””work, family, my house, my diet. All of these are completely different now than when I entered adulthood 35 years ago. And most of these changes have been for the better. It”s true at church too. For example, the explosion of contemporary Christian music in the last four decades has led me closer to God. Like most of my fellow Boomers, I”ve welcomed new worship

January 7, 2007

Christian Standard

Embracing the Possibilities in Postmodernism

By Mark A. Taylor Frankly, I’d have been happier not to know so much about postmodernism. A year or so ago, I chose to reprint in CHRISTIAN STANDARD an article by Chuck Colson proclaiming the death of postmodernism. With a sigh of relief, I assured myself Colson must be right: postmodernism was passing; soon everything would return to “normal,” and we could get back to life and church the way we’d always known them. But then I read Dan Kimball’s book, The Emerging Church , and Stuart Burke’s, Making Sense of Church , and I began to believe otherwise. As

May 28, 2006

Christian Standard

Reaching Immigrants

By Ken Gosnell A December 12 USA Today article carried the headline, “More immigrants than ever flow into the USA.” The article said the nation”s immigrant population hit a record 35.2 million in March 2005, more than double the number at the peak of the last great immigration wave of 1910. Immigrants now make up 12.1 percent of the U.S. population. Further studies show that 31 percent of adult immigrants have not completed high school. I have been reading through the book of Revelation. One thought has stood out about what Heaven will be like. The book of Revelation makes

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