There was an interesting interview with Mark Driscoll in the latest Modern Reformation magazine. Driscoll says...

Being an old guy I have no idea what this emergent stuff is all about. I recognize (especially here on PB) that there are many Godly younger people who are very knowledgeable about theology and have a sincere hunger for the Word, but I am out of touch with the emergent thing.

What do you young'ons think? Have any of you attended 'emergent churches'? Do you have friends that do? Is it a big deal? What is it like? Are there pluses and minuses? (Too bad the detective emoticon does not come with a grey beard)

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

'Emergent' is a broad term. Driscoll can be theologiocally sound in one breath and go off the deep end in the next, and that sums up the emergent movement as a whole. A key sign of 'emergent' theology is an open-mindedness towards the occult, towards mysticism, towards 'new expressions of spirituality', an extreme level of inclusiveness, extreme 'seeker-friendliness'.....in short, if you see a church doing things you'd expect of young, immature Christians (picture a church ran by ungrounded teenagers; a mixture of truth and error), there's a good chance they have an 'emergent' influence.

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Chris Latch
Corinth MS
Crossroads church - SBC
Evangelism leader

*goes to find her MR magazine*

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Traci
Lynnwood OPC
Psalm 52:8-9
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

If you don't have the moxy to attend an emergent service, it is rather easy to reproduce one in the comfort of your own home. Just go into a candle lit room by yourself, burn some nag champa, and say two words, "community" and "relational" over and over. If it pleases you, mix in a " Hari " every now and then for good measure.

When you tire of it, go have a cup of coffee; you've just experienced an emergent service.

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Joshua Wiseman
Riverview PCA
Charleston, WV

"Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings."
- Psalm 17:8

I would stay as far away from the Emergent Church as possible, but if you are interested in learning more about them follow this link.

http://www.emergingchurch.info

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Jeff Wyman
Seminarian
Little Farms Chapel OPC, Coopersville, MI
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI

"May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence." 1 Peter 1:2-3 (ESV)

Having been to several emergent church services a few years, when I was TULIP-only Reformed, that is a very accurate assement of them.

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Scott - Dallas, Texas - PCA

"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do." - Edmund Burke

I do have a soft spot for Driscoll. He may have weird views on charismatic things, but all in all I find him a fairly well grounded reformed pastor. He's mixed up with the emerging movement, but really what he says about the church and society are very Biblical.

These are things that I don't see coming from Mars Hill Church (not to be confused with Mars Hill Bible Church and Rob Bell).

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Vaughan
BTh Student, Sydney Missionary Bible College
Ashfield Presbyterian Church
Sydney, Australia
The Ransomed

I have heard it said of one of the local emergant churches that they claim the are not "based on the bible", but rather they are based on the "teachings of Jesus only".

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Matthew Glover
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia

There is a distinct difference between those who call themselves 'emerging' (Driscoll, Acts 29 Network, decidedly reformed) and 'emergent' (Bell, Generous Orthodoxy, Prayer Lamps and Labyrinths, etc).

Driscoll (emerging) is pretty vocal about the problems with the emergent church.

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Travis Graham | Member | Christ The King (PCA) | Houston, TX

"The world will bow,
and knees will be broken,
for those who don't know how"
- Woven Hand

He admits in the article that he left that *movement* when Brian McLaren came on board.

He also said his church grew by a thousand in one month because of a hunger for reformed teaching. I hope that is true.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

That was while he was doing his series on Ruth wasn't it? I remember reading something like that in the most recent MR.

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Vaughan
BTh Student, Sydney Missionary Bible College
Ashfield Presbyterian Church
Sydney, Australia
The Ransomed

That's the article I am talking about.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

I have been downloading Driscoll's podcast's on itunes for the last few months and I really like this guy. Driscoll loves Jesus and he loves people. If I lived in Seattle I would be going to Mars Hill Church.

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Scott Shahan
Member of First Evangelical Free Church, EFCA
firstfreesf.org
Sioux Falls, SD

Better is the sin which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud.
Thomas Watson

It's very clear that a bunch of you have a soft spot in your head for Mr. Driscoll. He did indeed come out of the emergent church movement. I still can't synthesize his pastor calling with his vulgar mouth. We discussed this a while back after Jenny had directed us to a review of his book. I don't understand him and have decided to steer clear. I enjoyed hearing him interviewed on Whitehorse Inn but then I read of his dark side. Ugh!

We discussed him a bit in this thread.

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Bob Vigneault (Bawb Vēēn-yo)
I just know there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!

The Heartbeat of Heaven (blog) MySpace (Music), MySpace (Personal)
Member of Christ Presbyterian Church, Janesville, WI OPC www.christ-opc.org

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I remember this thread! That is why his name sounded so familiar. Even though he says he has broken with the emergent church, does his ecclesiolgy still remain basically the same? Does worship at Mars Hill look like an emergent church?

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

Wow. Have any of you seen this site? http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/index.html

Apparently Rick Warren wrote a forward to a book called "The Emerging Church". Is Warren/Saddleback an example of an 'emergent church'?

Apparently Warren is into some interesting things. Something called 'breath prayers'. And something called 'labyrinths'. Are these things distinctive of emergent churches? Is this true of Driscoll?

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

Breath prayers and labyrinths........can you say 'contemplative spirituality'???

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Chris Latch
Corinth MS
Crossroads church - SBC
Evangelism leader

I'd classify Warren and Saddleback as "emergent", but my mind boggles at the idea of Mark Driscoll promoting a "breath prayer" or walking a labyrinth.

Driscoll can be a fair chunk earthier (though he doesn't do it all the time...I've listened and watched many of his Sunday sermons and they're fine) than most of us are comfortable with, but that very earthiness would make him recoil at the notion of anything so new-agey.

He dislikes intensely anything remotely smacking of new age junk.

He's not perfect - but then, of course, who is? - but Driscoll preaches Jesus Christ and Him crucified more boldly and forthrightly and unapologetically than darn near anyone else, bar none.

Plus he's in Seattle and preaches male headship of church and family, plus hammers home that "God hates divorce."

He's still comparatively young. Seeing as how he's showing the excellent sense in hanging around with the likes of John Piper rather than Rick Warren, I'm confidant he'll continue to mature as a pastor.

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Anne Ivy
Christ Chapel Bible Church
Fort Worth, Texas

Married to Don, mother of six, grandmother to an ever-increasing brood.

The Ivy Vine (my blog)