In my experience, having observed, engaged in, and written about it, the following are some important and often misunderstood facts about the movement:
The Emerging Church is not a denomination.
It has no recognized creed or doctrinal statement.
It has no charter or by-laws.
It has no president or board of directors.
“Emerging Church” is a term used to describe a largely uncoordinated movement within the (primarily) North American church. This lack of formal organization is the reason why it is easier to explain what the “Emerging Church” IS by first explaining what it is NOT.
The “Emerging Church”, in many ways, is a phenomenon with many similarities to the “Alternative Music” phenomenon of the early 1990′s. A case for that argument is made here: “Emerging – The Alternative Music of the Modern Church”
It is also important to make a distinction between two terms that seem interchangeable but are in fact not: “Emerging” and “Emergent”.These represent the two dominant streams within the “Emerging Church”. I realize this is somewhat confusing but this is how the two streams are distinguished:
“Emerging” is generally used to describe a proper reaction that is taking place against some of the negative things going on in the church, but a reaction that doesn’t stray very far from long-held doctrines. While this stream is not doctrinally radical, it is quite willing to experiment with different ways of doing and being the local church. Since this stream has not formed a coordinated organizational entity, it is difficult to give a clearly defined list of leaders who are “Emerging”, but widely recognized leaders who fit in this stream are Dan Kimball, Andrew Jones, and Matt Chandler.
“Emergent” is a more radical reaction to the same things. Within this movement however, there is more of a willingness to question long-held doctrines of the Christian faith. In addition, “Emergent” is centered around a specific site/organization called “Emergent Village”. Because of this it is easier to list the names of those who are acknowledged as its leaders. These would be Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Doug Pagitt.
So it is important to be careful, when you’re talking “Emerging” or “Emergent”, to know which group you’re talking about.
What I have written above is a short summary of the movement. For a more extensive treatment of the subject, see Scot McKnight’s article called “Five Streams of the Emerging Church“.
