During the past two years I have been really concerned about where we are going as a church. I have spent hours researching a new movement that has been emerging in our denomination and maybe that is where they get their name the “Emergent church.” Why my concern?
Tracking the path of the local church you will see that every decade brings change so the church must stay relevant to the culture. In the 60′s it was door-to-door evangelism; in the 70′s bus ministries and so on and so on.
In the late 90′s we saw churches that were “emerging” from the church culture and hosting their own seminars. Many of the leaders felt like church had become irrelevant to the culture of the day. Many of these emerging churches were lead by youth ministers who felt they were old enough to pastor, so they began meeting in homes, theaters, school auditoriums, etc.
Most of these emerging leaders do not refer to the group they minister to as a “church” but as a “community.” Their meetings are designed to be “seeker sensitive” or modern evangelistic approach to the un-churched community.
No visitor cards are passed out, no altar calls are given, no prayer for the sick in most of the genuine emergent communities.
Everything in each of the emergent meetings seem to be in order and very much on a schedule. The average sermon is approximately 15 minutes long, lighting is key and media presentations are at an all-time high.
The truth is I am for all of these things! (However, I’ve never been able to preach 15 minutes) But I do believe the church must change it’s methods of reaching people in order to stay relevant to our culture. I have been in some of our churches in my own organization and I feel like I have went into a time warp of 1950!
I also began to evaluate my own methods of reaching my community and the church that I lead. I realized that I am contemporary, seeker sensitive (evangelistic approach), somewhat orthodox, and even a little traditional. Our services are very modern and media driven while hosting an atmosphere that most unchurched people could come and feel welcome and safe.
Yet, I have refused to stop having altar calls, prayer lines, and allowing the Holy Spirit to move at will in our gatherings.
If you take away the purpose of having church, are you really having church or do you have a social club where you are simply entertained and coffee is served?
So the question I have is “What flag to fly?” I can’t be considered “Emergent” and not a “traditionalist” so what am I?
I have come to the conclusion I must be more “progressive” than anything else. Meaning that we are constantly progressing towards new innovative ideas while we have not forgotten our heritage. It is my goal to continue to change our methods while keeping the Gospel message pure; that we continue to disciple men and women with the pure, unchangeable message with Christ’s ministry as our model.
That we use every opportunity to reach out into our community to share this pure Gospel message of Jesus Christ and His redemptive power.
My final conclusion, the methods of the church will change again and again and again with each decade that may come and go but the banner of Jesus Christ must be raised to the highest level and His message must not change!
