Andrew Jones, a long-time leader and historian of the Emerging Church Movement gives it the R.I.P. treatment in his recent post “Emerging Church Movement – (1989-2009)?“:
“2009 marks a turning point for the emerging church. Its difficult to make broad statements about a movement that hit each country at different times, in successive waves, and at different paces. But as someone who jumped into this funky controversial experimental movement in 1985 (if it could be called a movement back then) and has ridden the wave all the way through nearly 50 countries and many ups and downs, joys and sorrows, rewards and sacrifices, here is my take. For what its worth . ..
In my opinion, 2009 marks the year when the emerging church suddenly and decisively ceased to be a radical and controversial movement in global Christianity.”
Reinforcing my point in the post “Emerging – The Alternative Music of the Modern Church”, Andrew says this: “In 2009, the emerging church either grew up, stopped being offensive, switched gear from experimental to normal, became the new mainstream, or a bit of each.”
Read the whole thing here, and take a look at this follow-up post as well: “10 Types of Emerging Church That Will No Longer Upset Your Grandfather”
