EMERGENT is REGURGITANT – Part Five: Emergent Church Matrix

~ By James Fire

The following article is a critique on the chapter “The Existing Church/Emergent Church Matrix” written by Emergent Leader Tim Conder.

Tim Conder is the pastor of Emmaus Way, an emergent community in Durham, North Carolina and remains a standing elder and friend of the Chapel Hill Bible Church, a fellowship he co-pastored for fifteen years. Tim is a member of the coordinating team for Emergent Village, a member of the board of directors of Mars Hill Graduate School, and the author of The Journey of Existing Churches into Emerging Culture (Zondervan, 2006). He is married to Mimi and they have two children Keenan and Kendall.

As has been consistently demonstrated in all of the articles thus far presented, the Emergent philosophy is very ‘horizontal’ in its perspective. Think about the various ‘gospels’ that are promoted today: The Green Gospel, the Social/Social Justice Gospel, the Liberal Gospel, the New Age/Spirituality Gospel, the Dominionist/Kingdom Now/Latter Day Rain Gospel . . . one thing (among others) that they all have in common is that they are all very ‘horizontal’ that is, they deal to a very large degree in focusing on change among human beings rather than change in human beings. 

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Two Kingdoms, Two Worldviews and the Waging War – Part 1

~ by A.M. Kisly "The challenge to humanity is to adopt new ways of thinking, new ways of acting, new ways of organizing itself in society, in short, new ways of living." ~ Our Creative Diversity, UNESCO, p.11

"...we are, of course, refashioning the British constitution and our system of government, decentralizing power, reinventing government, promoting a new and different partnership between public and private sector. It is indeed as Al Gore has just said to us, a Third way, not all left nor new right, but a new centre and centre left governing philosophy for the future." Transcript of a speech given by Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, at a breakfast with Vice President Gore

Global Transformation, Sustainable Development, Social Justice, Emergent, Forward Thinking…these are just a few of the ever increasing number of new terms being tossed around today, and I’m afraid that most people don’t really understand the nature of their true meaning. 

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