Sector or Reformation?
The notion of an “emerging church” has been around for a long time. This makes sense, given that the Church is a living, growing entity that should morph the way living things do. A book called The Emergent Church by Johan Baptist Metz and dates from 1981. Amazon says it is has 4 copies still available, with a sales rank today of 1,648,340, and a price tag of $29.68. A paperback version appears in 1986 for just 9 bucks and a sales rank of 1, 068,751. Another one, by Larson and Osborne, dating from the 1970 is refusing to upload right now. Amazon will sell you one of its 15 copies for a dollar achieving a sales rank today of 621,696. A…
ContinueResponse to yestreday's blog
My friendAdam Long is a sociologist of religion working on a PhD and an alum of AGTS. I asked him to respond to yestreday’s blog, but he ran into some tech troubles so I’m posting his thoughts here: 1) We need better empirical research on the movement. The problem is designing a research tool to measure its impact. Perhaps someday I will convince Mark Chaves to include a question or two about the emerging church in his National Congregations Study. Until then, we can only track things like book sales, convention attendance, etc. All ideas are welcome! 2) As much as the EmChurch leaders stress racial and ethnic inclusiveness, full-scale integration remains to be seen. This reminds me of the problem that Marxists…
ContinueCan we be Pentecostal and Emergent?
The question of the relationship between Pentecostalism and the Emerging Church seems to be gaining some traction. This is interesting to me as one who remembers the days when Mark Miller and I tried to meet with all the AG folk at an early Soularize event. The meeting turned out to be just the two of us. That was almost 5 years ago now. Searching the EmChurch literature, boards, and blogs pretty extensively, I find references to the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement are present, but infrequent and tangential in the main. There could be several reasons for this, including (I’m going to make a lot of generalizations here, so just hold your nose for a moment): 1. Origins: Early and influential EmChurch authors, webbers, and…
ContinueOff-Road Disciplines
In Off-Road Disciplines, Earl Creps reveals that the on-road practices of prayer and Bible reading should be bolstered by the other kinds of encounters with God that occur unexpectedly—complete with the bumps and bruises that happen when you go “off-road.”
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Earl Creps—a popular speaker and leader—is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS) in Springfield, Missouri. He has been a pastor, ministries consultant, and university professor. Along the way, Creps earned a Ph.D. in communication at Northwestern University and a doctor of ministry degree in leadership at AGTS.
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