Learning from the Emerging Church: being faithful

As we move into a new era the established, inherited churches are facing a number of huge challenges! It is not even slightly far-fetched to suggest that the Christian church in the West has never before faced a context and a missional challenge like that of the early 21st Century. However, we are surrounded by some pioneering practitioners of a new Christianity. They are too often ignored or even maligned by the rest of us. And even they would recognise that they do not have all the answers. But they are asking some of the right questions, questions many of us in the established churches fear to ask. And there is much we can (and must) learn from them if our faith is to continue to be relevant for a new generation.

For a start, we must learn to push the boundaries of our church traditions. Much of what we do in church, and many of the ways we do it, are simply one form, one expression of our faith. We have been conditioned by Christian-subcultures which can trace their roots back hundreds and hundreds of years, and there are things that are worth holding on to. But we must begin to discern which elements of our church lives are unneeded clutter, and which are necessary for the faithful continuation of our religious faith. We must ask ourselves to what we will remain faithful.

Faithfulness to outdated, centuries old church traditions may well simply keep us locked in the past. But true Christian faithfulness is to the person and way of Jesus Christ. It is true that Jesus continued to go to the synagogue and temple, as did His followers in the early church. But it was Jesus’ whole life that witnessed to the love of His heavenly Father. One hour a week is simply not enough; Christianity is more about a lifestyle than a worship event.

Those in the emerging church
“have come to see that it is all about Jesus and not just a methodology. It s not about mission, not about church, but it’s about Jesus and His glory, His life. To know Jesus is not an event, a ritual, a creed or a religion. It is a journey of trust and adventure. [They] don’t believe in any religion anymore – including Christianity – but [they] do believe in following Jesus. [They] no longer need religion with its special buildings, dogmas, programs, clergy, or any other human inventions that displace genuine spirituality. Why do [they] need a name and address to be church? [They’ve] come out of religion and back to God.” (Jonathan Campbell (Seattle, USA) quoted by Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.47)

We in the established church, too, must learn again to be faithful to Jesus, rather than to church structures or traditions. We must recognise (to borrow some words from one of Brian McLaren’s books) that Jesus is the Saviour. Christianity isn’t. The church isn’t. Jesus is.