Learning from the Emerging Church: being missional

For many in the emerging churches, their presence, or witness, is much more important than their worship events. They know that “nonchurched people can pick up the gospel from us as we form relationships, as the gospel is a holy virus that is spread from person to person (the most effective means of transmitting anything). We are carriers of Christ. In our very bodies we are carrying the life, death and resurrection of Christ both in and for our world” (Karen Ward (Church of the Apostles, Seattle, USA) quoted by Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.109). And they claim that, “if we are not bringing justice and transformation to the world, we should ask if we have a right to exist … Our mission defines us more than our worship” (Andrew Jones (Boaz) quoted by Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.58).

Those in emerging churches have long realised that “some of [our] most cherished church forms may be more a hindrance than a help in regard to creating space for God” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.91), and that “nineteenth-century (or older) forms of church do not communicate clearly to twenty-first-century cultures” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.17). But they believe that worship should not be foreign to their friends. Indeed, they have realised that, often, “witness [can take] the form of overheard praise” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.184). Therefore, the emerging churches seek to include outsiders in their worship and their way of life. They do their best to create safe places where anyone can worship and connect with God, offering sanctuaries and sacred places where healing and reconnection can take place. Some would argue that one of the key missions of today’s church is “to be a playful space, providing the images, the spiritual ‘colored pencils’, and the space for people to make connection between God, themselves, others, and God’s world” (Taylor, The Out of Bounds Church?, p.72).

However, the ‘whole life’ spirituality of emerging churches leads them to more than simply including others in their worship events. They realise that the church’s mission is far more holistic than that. Yes, the “church gathers to praise God, to enjoy fellowship and to receive spiritual sustenance” (Bosch, Transforming Mission, p.386), but then it “disperses to serve God wherever its members are” (Bosch, Transforming Mission, p.386).

So, emerging churches seek to “empower [their] members to engage more effectively in the ministry and mission that God has already entrusted to them in the world” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.142). They encourage members to “serve the world through their vocations rather than through church-administered programs” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.142). They do not “want to pull people away from their life but push them farther into it, [challenging them to consider] if they, through their work, are participating with what God is doing in the world” (Gibbs & Bolger, Emerging Churches, p.152).

If, in this way, the church becomes a network of Christians who serve the world through their vocations and everyday lives, then the church service / worship event will effectively be de-emphasised as the primary expression of church!