1.1 definition

1. DEFINING THE EMERGING CHURCH

1.1 Definition
Before we can look at some of the implications of the Emerging Churches’ practical ecclesiology it is essential to have an understanding of their background and characteristics.
To come up with a definition of a movement that is so diverse in its expressions and sometimes even beliefs is a sheer impossible task. From their own literature however there are a few definitions that allow us to come up with a general idea of what the emerging movement stands for.
A definition that is seen as being a good starting point[1] is the one that can be found on wikipedia.org:
The emerging church or emergent church is a diverse movement within Christianity that arose in the late 20th century as a reaction to the influence of modernism in Western Christianity. The movement is usually called a "conversation" by its proponents to emphasize its diffuse nature with contributions from many people and no explicitly defined leadership or direction. The emerging church seeks to deconstruct and reconstruct Christianity as its mainly Western members live in a postmodern culture.[2]

Other ways of speaking about this “conversation” are “a goal or a process” [3], indicating the ongoing change in the movement. Another, much shorter definition is:

Emerging Churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures.[4]

From these definitions we can tell that the primary factor that identifies the emergent movement is their concern to be relevant to the postmodern culture. In chapter two I will take a closer look at their understanding of postmodernism for now it suffices to make this observation.

[1] McKnight, S. (2005), What is the Emerging Church?, www.jesuscreed.org/?p=510
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergent_church
[3] E. Gibbs, R.K. Bolger, Emerging Churches. Creating Christian community in postmodern cultures (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2006), p.43
[4] E. Gibbs, R.K. Bolger, Emerging Churches, pp.44,45