Are not all churches "emergent"?

[Cameron]

There are definitely some problems with the emergent church movement, especially when the focus goes to an author or famous person with a "new" idea.

But before we chastise our brothers and sisters from such movements, let look at our own house.

The traditional church can be racist. Whites only need apply.
The traditional church may look down on those who don't dress "right."
The traditional church also has materials authored by men that are used for studies.
The traditional church is very judgemental and often engages in "guilt" preaching, especially in the money department.
The traditional church takes flight when things don't go their way.
The traditional church bristles at any change in format.

Its not about the church. Its about Jesus!!

Emergent churches are busting at the doors and needing larger building plans, because they accept people as they are. Traditional churches sing "Just As I Am", but do they really mean it? In an emergent church, you can show up on Sunday morning in your cutoffs and pullover, get a cup of coffee and take it into the service with you and hear a message that doesn't send you into a state of depression and guilt.

Now with that said, yes, we must be alert to sound doctrine being taught and preached. But the traditional church needs to be more loving, more accepting of other's plight, and relax and be a bit more casual.

[Buzzardhut]

The Emergent churches we warn about are those that deny scripture, deny Jesus, deny salvation, and welcome eastern mysticism and ecumenical doctrines.

and it's too late for your disparage, the emergents are taking over most seeker driven churches

[Cameron]

The Emergent churches we warn about are those that deny scripture, deny Jesus, deny salvation, and welcome eastern mysticism and ecumenical doctrines.

Buzz I hate to even see the word "church" mentioned in the same breath as
those items listed above.

I too would be against anything like that. But as for format in a real church, I believe there are a lot of changes that could be made to make it better.

[goinghome]

I love the format of my church. Not everybody wants a social hour at church. I don't understand the crowds that gather at emergent and seeker churches. Why are those people so socially needy and insecure? Most of them probably have families but have chosen not to nourish those familial relationships, but rather have chosen an easier surface type group of friends at the church who require no accountability. Of course this is just speculation on my part but I've known some of these people - - and I'm leary of overly-social people. Why can't they have intimate satisfying one-on-one relationships in smaller circles. Accountability is a big stumbling block.

[Buzzardhut]

Emergent churches are busting at the doors and needing larger building plans, because they accept people as they are. Traditional churches sing "Just As I Am", but do they really mean it? In an emergent church, you can show up on Sunday morning in your cutoffs and pullover, get a cup of coffee and take it into the service with you and hear a message that doesn't send you into a state of depression and guilt.
Emergent churches are busting at the seems because no one feels any conviction there, they can worship their own god in their own way.
A perfect example of the coming One World church.

[HSmomto4]

Emergent churches are busting at the seems because no one feels any conviction there, they can worship their own god in their own way.
A perfect example of the coming One World church.

Yes and this goes with something I said in other thread. We read something in the bible but go with our feeling on it instead of sticking to Gods' word. That way we have no convictions to do what God has told us to do!

[WillieJ]

Emergent churches are busting at the seems because no one feels any conviction there, they can worship their own god in their own way.
A perfect example of the coming One World church.

Exactly!

[BlessedinHim]

The traditional church can be racist. Whites only need apply.

None of the churches I have ever went to are racist. I am sure there are some that are, but then I am not so sure they are really a part of the family of God if they are racist. That is not a biblically good thing to be. Racists have a problem.

The traditional church may look down on those who don't dress "right."

I think it is pretty well known that you shouldnt go to church dressed for the beach. I have seen this. If a person comes to church dressed for the beach, that is just total rejection of the standards churches have. A person who comes to church in beach wear should be asked to cover themselves up. we could offer them a coat or a blanket to cover up with. How people dress to go to church is not that much of a mystery. I dont think you have to be dressed in top dollar clothes for church, but at least you need to be modest.

The traditional church also has materials authored by men that are used for studies.


Yes, that is true. And we must be careful in the materials we use to teach. Not all man made materials are bad, just as they are not all good. The Holy Spirit has to lead us so we can know what is good or bad.

The traditional church is very judgemental and often engages in "guilt" preaching, especially in the money department.


They do that, and I dont agree with it. Giving out of guilt is not giving with a cheerful heart. I think it is wrong for them to put people on guilt trips to get what the pastor wants.

The traditional church takes flight when things don't go their way.

I dont know what you mean with this one.

The traditional church bristles at any change in format.


yeah, some are so stuck in their traditions they are afraid of any changes, and in this present world, I can kinda understand why with all the trickery stuff out there. All the half truths that are preached and the difference in focus.

Its not about the church. Its about Jesus!!

Amen to that!:thumb

[Anddra]

Its not about the church. Its about Jesus!!.

Actually, you cannot have one without the other (at least , not if you are talking about the real church)...

But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit down upon his throne of glory, and all the nations shall be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on [his] left. Then shall the King say to those on his right hand, Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from [the] world's foundation: for I hungered, and ye gave me to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was ill, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, and nourished thee; or thirsting, and gave thee to drink? and when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in; or naked, and clothed thee? and when saw we thee ill, or in prison, and came to thee? And the King answering shall say to them, Verily, I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me. Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I hungered, and ye gave me not to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye did not clothe me; ill, and in prison, and ye did not visit me. Then shall they also answer saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or ill, or in prison, and have not ministered to thee? Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it to one of these least, neither have ye done it to me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal. Matt 25:31-46 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt%2025:31-46&version=16) (Darby)

We need to get ourselves right before God first. If we are seeking fellowship, then it important that we are aware of the dangers of the false teachings that are prevalent today, wherever they are found. Sure, there are problems with many of the established churches. No one said there wasn't.

[fishersofmen]

Many seeker friendly emergent churches are guilty of what you described traditional churches are guilty of.
There is a 'meanness' about getting rid of the 'traditional' or mature Christian because they resist change.
Pastors are being taught by these emerging doctrines to push these people out of the churches either nicely, or not so nicely. (as done in my church).
This is not Christian, this is horrible.
We were asked to sign a contract of sorts to promise we would tithe 10 percent to become members of this type of church. We refused, because to sign would make us liars, we wouldn't always be able to fulfill that, and we didn't want to join this church on a false pretense.
This was the pastor's idea, the elders didn't want to do this, this was something the pastor has picked up from emerging church teachings.
The pastor turns the sermon into 'social' gospel, nothing but the same message over and over and over, for SEVEN YEARS, he has even come OFF the podium, into the first couple of pews in the isle and runs around constantly through the church. He includes the congretion (what is left of it) most left, in the sermon, confusing the message because he asks questions and people get them WRONG, then all you remember is, well, that was stupid and wrong and what was he trying to teach us???
When elders confronted the pastor on this, he would in turn the following Sunday, seek to humiliate the brother in church, by poking fun at him, about some unrelated issue that he would build his sermon around.
These people were humiliated, asked him not to do it, and he still did it, and does it.
These elders have since moved on when he refused to quit or apologize.
This makes the pastor happy (I assume), because they were in the way of his seeker friendly, reaching out to the community to get sinners into the church, because we in the church have to be told to do that 3023982 times during church and sunday school. This is all he preaches, never a word from Revelations or most other books, just a few NT books verses and they have very little meat, and I can find them on bumper stickers in the parking lot of Walmart.
This particular pastor has been asked to leave many many many times, and he refuses, he refuses to change, he refuses to get off the Rick Warren emerging highway prototype, and 100 or so mature Christians who built that church over the past 40 years have left, and he is left with those he can armstrong, manipulate and puff up to do his will, not God's will.
He has pointed his finger in people's faces who have rebuked him and he has angrily said "YOU WILL NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO IN MY CHURCH!".
He is a big man, and he uses it to intimidate.

This emerging church doctrine on the front cover, looks nice, oh yes, lets seek the lost, lets get out into our community, churches are SOOO bad now because they just stay in their little 'holier then thou' walls and think they are better then everyone else, instead of getting out into the community and meeting the needs of the world.
It looks like an important Godly message.
But it gets TWISTED and its ruining congregations.
No longer do we have in our church the families who met at the convelescent centers and read the bible, and visited, singing Christmas carols and delivering treats at Christmas, those 'holier then thou', moved on to another church. No longer do we have the large groups of mature Christian women who made meals for the sick, needy in our church and for those in the community. No longer do we have the elder men to mentor the younger Christians, no more choir, no more homeless weekends, where we housed the homeless and fed them for a week in our church, sharing the duties with the other churches in the area. There is no one left to stay with these people, you can't let them run around unsupervised in your church, you have to have people willing to take off work and stay the night, cook for the families and provide car rides for the kids-school, men-rides to their job, etc etc etc, a HUGE deal, and they would come to the Lord sometimes, but the people who did this WORK, where the 'holier then thou' elders of the church who had BEEN there for years and years, who resisted change (the video games and pool table at youth groups). And so those people are gone.
They were the people who held the amazing sunday school classes, pouring over the bible in amazing detail, they taught the adult and children classes, they spent personal hours doing research and buying materials with their own money. Holding meetings in their homes, practices for plays and activities after hours on their personal time. They LOVED the church, it was their life.
But they didn't go OUT into the community in attempts to DRAG sinners into the church to meet their needs in the way the emerging church would have them perform, therefore they were weeded out, shut down, rudely handled and eventually the Godly people of our church have all just gone, except for a very few who hang on in distress and confusion.

Sure, wear your sandals at church, nobody really cares, have a social time between Sunday school and church time, serve cookies and welcome everyone, especially the new people looking to see what your church is all about. I think that is common sense, we are supposed to welcome sinners into our church, but the CHURCH is not a church full of sinners looking for a feel good experience and something to do on a Sunday. The church is a group of repentant sinners who have died to themselves, picked up the cross of Jesus Christ. We in the church are not supposed to look like the world outside our walls, we are supposed to BE different, BORN again, we ACT different, we don't need pool tables and video games to engage the teenagers, because if we DO, then we are doing something wrong. If you want to play video games with the youth, then do it outside of church, at a special party.

But when they start, behind your back, showing nooma (yoga like) video's to your teenagers, without your permission, basically brain washing your kids, THATS when you know, you have to GET OUT. The Rick Warren books and teachings many years ago should have been a sign, but you know, you forgive and forgive, and finally you have to stand up for the true church of Jesus.

Sorry, I'm long winded, but just because the packaging looks nice and some people explain emerging as really cool, and a good idea, it isn't.