Andy Rowell

Category: Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur blog

  • What is the Emerging Church Movement?

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    I have been asked to brief a fellow professor on the Emerging Church Movement.  Here is how I responded. 

    In my opinion, "The Emerging Church Movement" is a description for the new styles of evangelical churches that are being led by younger pastors who are between the ages of 25 and 40 today (who we used to call "Generation Xers").  (There are people younger and older but I’m trying to give you a ballpark sociological description).  Most used to be youth pastors and are now senior pastors.  They are using their youth ministry experience to help create churches that better reach younger people.  Of course any changes in church structure or practice could become heretical and deserve reflection.  But, it seems to me that all of the main "emerging church" writings would easily fall within the boundaries of the National Association of Evangelicals statement of faith.  The most controversial things some emerging church writers have questioned include how to best reach out to homosexuals (see an example from Brian McLaren at Leadership Journals’ Out of Ur blog 1, 2, 3) and whether hell has been biblically taught correctly within evangelicalism (See again McLaren at Out of Ur 1, 2, 3).  In my opinion, these are standard conversations within evangelicalism.  (As you can see, they are happening on Christianity Today’s website). 

    As theological educators, I think we should view it this way:

    the emerging church proponents = innovative evangelical youth pastors

    They will make some mistakes in their enthusiasm for changes and relevance but they are trying their best to reach young adults and teens.  These are not enemies to argue with but rather people to cheer on, put your arm around, and offer guidance.  They will also challenge us in good ways and keep our churches fresh. 

    Below I have provided some resources.  Let me know if you have questions or concerns.   

    andy

    Resouces:

    The proper term is "The Emerging Church Movement" not "emergence" or "emergent."  And it does fit the sociological definition of a "movement."  The "Emergent Village" is the most organized group within the movement.  You can read their "statement of faith" which they call an "order" here.

    You can read a decent description at Wikipedia on "Emerging Church."  (Wikipedia is a user generated encyclopedia that anyone can edit and both critics and supporters of the emerging church have basically agreed upon this description). 

    The best scholarly book on the subject is:

    Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
    by Eddie Gibbs, Ryan K. Bolger

    Baker Academic (November 1, 2005)

    You will be interested to know as well that the highly respected Trinity Evangelical Divinity School New Testament professor D.A. Carson has written a book that is mostly critical of the movement. 

    Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church : Understanding a Movement and Its Implications
    by D. A. Carson

    Zondervan (May 1, 2005)

    Carson tries to analyze the movement by analyzing Brian McLaren’s epistemology.  It is a theological and philosophical analysis of what is really a practical phenomenon.   

    See especially North Park New Testament professor Scot McKnight’s review of D.A. Carson’s Becoming Emergent with the Emerging Church

    Parts: 1 2  3  4 5  6  7  8  Final issues: 1 1a 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

    Or if those links don’t work, the first eight parts are here. 

    Here is Scot McKnight’s description of the emerging church: 

    What is the Emerging Church?

    What is the Emerging Church? Protest

    What is the Emerging Church? Postmodernity

    What is the Emerging Church? Pro-Aplenty

    I have my students read a book about the emerging church in Program and Curriculum Development.  They compare it to the megachurch movement.  We look at them as both influential church models within evangelicalism.

     

  • Media and Preaching

    A fellow professor e88711_1752_2 mailed me this question:

    I’m looking for a book that can help explain the communicational importance of using electronic support during worship. Any ideas you have for me to peruse would be appreciated.

    Here is what I said:

    Check out these in this order. You can see my notes below.

    High-Tech Worship?: Using Presentational Technologies Wisely (Paperback) by Quentin J. Schultze

    Publisher: Baker Books (January 2004)

    Schultze was in my class this year because he has been a visiting scholar at Taylor. This book is short and wise and would fit your purpose I think.

    Communicating for a Change : Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication (Hardcover) by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones

    Publisher: Multnomah (June 1, 2006)

    Andy is one of the leading communicators in the nation. (He is speaking at Willow Creek’s Leadership Conference this year). This is his new book.

    The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture : How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church (Emergentys) (Paperback) by Shane Hipps

    Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties (February 1, 2006)

    Taylor communication professor and my friend Kathy Bruner is reading this book. She says it is good. He has been on Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur recently. See my blog post responding to his article about Video Venues here.

    — The rest of these books I don’t know much about. Abingdon (of United Methodist roots) has published all of them.

    · The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry (Paperback) by Len Wilson

    Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk&CD Rom edition (March 1999)

    · Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship (Paperback) by Len Wilson, Jason Moore

    Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk & DVD edition (April 2002)

    · Media Ministry Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Visual Communication (Paperback) by Tim Eason

    Publisher: Abingdon Press; Bk & DVD edition (April 2003)

    · The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Culture and the Gathered People of God (Paperback) by Tex Sample

    Publisher: Abingdon Press (September 1998)

    —I have a few other books about how to use movies in teaching here.

  • Video Venues and the Future Shrinking of the Megachurch

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    On Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur blog, they are having a discussion about video venues based on the post by Shane Hipps entitled "Video Venues and the Papacy of Celebrity: Why changing the methods always changes the message." What is a video venue?

    The best way to describe a video venue is to give you an example.

    Willow Creek McHenry County is located more than 30 minutes from Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. McHenry County campus pastor, Wayne Alguire, attends the Saturday night service at the main campus. Afterward, he is given a DVD of the sermon. On Sunday morning, he plays that DVD during the preaching portion of the service in McHenry country. "What," you ask, "they do not have live person preaching?" No, they don’t. They have "live" worship and announcements but not preaching. On occasion, there may be an exception but in general this is the basic idea. Wayne Alguire does not have to prepare a sermon each week and is thus freed to care for people. The congregation does not have to drive all the way to the main campus in South Barrington. They can get amazing preaching in their own backyard. That is the basic idea of video venues.

    Here are a few of my thoughts (pro and con) about this approach.

    PRO:

    I like the idea that megachurches are in some ways getting smaller and homier through this approach. In other words, rather than driving from McHenry Country to Willow Creek and not seeing anyone you recognize, you can hear Bill Hybels on video at the Wheaton campus with a smaller group who you will begin to get to know.

    I also dislike bad preaching. Bill Hybels says in his preaching/teaching workshop something like, “If you’re not good at teaching/preaching, save your listeners, and go do something else.” I’d choose a good sermon on video over terrible sermons in person any day.

    It is worth noting that the microphone changed church culture more than video. Before that, we were limited by the strength of the preacher’s voice, the acoustics of the room, and the youth of the audience’s ears. No wonder there weren’t many megachurches.

    CON:

    Due to overemphasis on the Eucharist/communion in the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformers put more emphasis on the sermon. I think we have swung the other direction and put too much emphasis on the sermon to the detriment of congregational life. The logical extension of the crucial nature of “good preaching” is to get it "efficiently" by playing sermons on video.

    The logical end of the VV "efficiency" argument is to pick two preachers and just have everyone listen to them. How about my favorites Rob Bell and John Ortberg as the two?

    I think there is already too much borrowing and imitating in evangelicalism. It is remarkable how much of what thousands of churches do is rooted in the actions and programs of five influential churches.  (Later note August 1, 2007: These rankings by The Church Report are probably not legitimate).
    What is really scary about that exaggerated scenario is that few of us would be studying our Bibles as studiously if we didn’t have to preach! That is human nature, right? There is something about the local pastor studying and applying the Scripture to a specific context.

    The Future of the Video Venue:

    I don’t think we need to worry about everyone going to the video venue approach. Some people will appreciate it and the approach will continue to grow through the megachurches. Others though will want a live preacher that they can interact with.

    Interestingly, this approach may be the sign of the waning of the megachurch movement. People don’t want to drive 40 minutes to go to a church. They want to get to know people who live in their community. I bet that Willow Creek will never build a bigger auditorium than the one it opened two years ago. Church planters, and other advocates of the power of the small church, should feel vindicated that even the megachurch is noticing that bigger is not necessarily better. There is power in local churches who contextualize themselves to a community.

    Calvin College professor, Quentin J. Schultze, reflects well on these issues in: High-Tech Worship?: Using Presentational Technologies Wisely. Baker, 2004.

    If you are interested in this topic, you might be interested in listening to an audio presentation on this topic from Leadership Network at
    http://www.leadnet.org/Resources_AV.asp

    Here is the description:
    Seacoast Church (www.seacoast.org) currently has 9 different campuses, and it continues to pray and plan toward the launch of more campuses. The primary teaching comes from our Mt. Pleasant campus by videocast. This model prompts questions about whether a teaching pastor in one city can effectively pastor people hundreds of miles away. The answer is no, and in the accompanying podcast lead pastor Greg Surratt explains Seacoast’s approach and rationale.

    Some photos of Saddleback’s Video Venues are here.

    There is a video venue starter kit from North Coast Church in San Diego here.