Book Review on Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger

I have often heard the term, “Emerging Church” thrown around as a buzz word in the Christian sector. However, when you ask the name-dropper exactly what they mean when they say “emerging church”, one gets a myriad of answers, and never the same one twice. That is what lead me to this book. I wanted once and for all to know what an emergent church is, what it looks like in the postmodern world, and what cultural context does it fit into?

The book begins with the authors give a brief overview of the culture in which they find the emergent church, primarily being in the United States and the United Kingdom. They cite specific reasons for having churches that are culturally relevant, and give multitudes of examples of churches that are not. They state specifically, “The church must recognize that we are in the midst of a cultural revolution and that nineteenth-century (or older) forms of church do not communicate clearly to the twenty-first century cultures” (Loc 133-36).

Soon after that, we find the authors definition of an emergent church. “Emerging churches are missional communities arising from within postmodern culture and consisting of followers of Jesus who are seeing to be faithful in their place and time” (Loc 264-68). They also refine their definition to include nine basic practices that they have observed as occurring within the emergent church. The remainder of the book will focus on these stated patterns.

We begin looking at the patterns with how emerging church leaders strive to identify with the life of Jesus Christ, as opposed to being tied down to methodology. They quote an emerging church leader from Seattle who identifies the problem of church itself being the thing keeping people out of the church, because a poll stated that 95 percent of the non-churched have a favorable view of Jesus. Using Christ as the example, churches are following the way of life he created with his followers. The authors also highlight some of the challenges facing emerging churches, such as changing the entire structure of the modern church.

In learning about some of the patterns of the emerging church, we see how leaders are done trying to keep the separation between the sacred and the secular. They are tearing down the walls between them and believe that all can be reclaimed for God. In doing so, they are also utilizing different forms of media to fit in with the image-based culture. We also recognize how participants in emerging churches are taking intentional steps in participating in community unlike anything the church has seen before. The movement is steering away from a typical “Sunday Service” model to more of a daily interaction with the members of the church. We also see how the emergent church feels about the outsider, as well as how they treat them. They place a strong value on caring for the orphaned and widowed in their community.

Overall, this book has shed some light on the issue of emergent churches. Their values have been made plain, and their models of church are now more understood. While I think their way of living is exemplary, I am not sure that it is practical for all people. However, that seems to have been made clear from the book. I am interested to learn more about the emergent church, as well as hear criticisms from both sides.