Emerging

As far as I can tell, the “Emergent Church” is to evangelicalism what the “postliberal” church is to mainline Protestantism, i.e. an attempt to come to grips with postmodernity through a recovery of a more robust sense of what it means to be the church, often drawing on pre-modern and pre-Reformation sources for inspiration.

The Christian Century has two articles up on the Emergent Church movement. First is The Emergent matrix: A New Kind of Church?

If “contemporary worship” and “seeker services” looked like Christian versions of rock concerts, emerging worship looks more like a Christian version of Starbucks. Small spaces, comfortable seating (preferably couches) and interactivity are prized. But here, alongside the accouterments of café culture, are the very signs of Christian identity that had been purged by the iconoclasm of Willow Creek and its descendants. Candles and crosses, bread and wine, incense and altars create an eclectic, ancient-future blend with the video projection screens, electric guitars, and televisions rolling looped images like postmodern icons. The ambiance evokes more the art gallery than the arena, and the technological elements are intentionally subdued, made subservient to personal connection and spiritual reflection.

Second is an article on Brian McLaren, one of the leaders of the movement.