Dr Ken Meeks has been examining the Emergent church movement in light of the accusations from Calvary Chapel. He is not speaking from an emerging church standpoint but from a Bible College teacher. He explores these issues: Is Emergent Heretical?, what is heresy according to Calvary Chapel, and does Emergent promote pluralism, Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
His conclusion? According to Kenneth, “What Dr. Deeks is doing is basically evaluating the statements that Chuck Smith (Sr) and co. have made condemning the Emerging position, and he’s coming to the conclusion that not only are the claims unfair, but that he is agreeing with the traditional (albeit hard to pin down) Emerging position on the issue.” Ubuntu
Related: The Chuck Smiths on Emergent Church and How your Emerging Church can stay in the Calvary Chapel
Technorati Tags: calvary chapel, chuck smith, emergent, emerging church
I just read the excellent Christianity Today article, Five Streams of the Emerging Church by Scot McKnight in the latest issue. Very fair and should be helpful to many as there are so many misunderstandings about emerging faith.
thanks so much for the shout-out!
(but it’s “Deeks” 😉
Southern Baptists, United Methodists, and the EmergingChurch
Here is an interesting blog post about a Southern Baptist layperson from Missouri who wants to introduce a statement against the emerging church (h/t Tall Skinny Kiwi). This sort of debate pushes my thinking that the United Methodist Church could be …
Traditional emerging position? Sort of like peace keeping missile and jumbo shrimp?
🙂
Hey Andrew,
Firstly – big Hey from your fellow Kiwis in Wellington bro! When you gonna be back in Aotearoa?
Secondly – I was just reading the post from May last year on a similar topic, and noting how heating this conversation was back then. I’m desperately hoping that “EC” or the “Emerging movement” or whatever peeps want to call it is not as mis-understood now than it seems to have been back then . . I guess we shall see.
Thanks for the info and links Andrew.
I first heard the word “emergent” used in relation to Xianity from Bishop Spong, who I’m sure EVERY at Calvary Chapel would consider heretical. But when I started to see what the movement was really all about, I discovered it was nowhere near Spong’s position…or mine–not heretical enough! But it does look like there’s plenty of room under the banner of emergence for folks who just can quite say the creeds and believe every word. So yeah, heresy.
Thanks for the post. I still find it hard to believe that the critics don’t “get it” yet. Thanks for keeping up your important emergent church blog.