[...] C Michael Patton – Will The Real Emerger Please Stand Up [...]

[...] by junior on 2009 May 23 Below is a mix of text from Michael Patton and visuals from the [...]

[...] I’ve kept wondering what exactly that means, and now Michael Patton has finally written a fantastic article on Parchment and Pen defining the Emerging church, and not coincidentally also giving a fantastic [...]

[...] by C. Michael Patton over at Parchment and Pen.  He wrote a very helpful five part series entitled “Will the Real Emerger Please Stand Up?”  In it he defines terms (as best as can be done considering the topic at hand–read it and [...]

[...] Read more about the emerging church here. [...]

This was a very informing article. The term “emerging” has been a negative term until I read this. Actually, until I read “They Love Jesus, but not the Church”. But Michael makes some distinctions between emerging, evangelical, fundamental, and emergent that I had not yet understood. It seems to me that if we are going to be “always reforming,” it’s important for us to be open to our view and interpretation of scripture being wrong. In this day and age, we have become so busy that it is easier to believe the claim we are fed, then to take the time to evaluate the claim ourselves. No wonder those outside the church see us as arrogant and ignorant. Until the rise of this recent intellectual age, is was ok to believe naively. But as our culture is becoming more and more informed, we need to do likewise. We need to be open to discussion even if it means we may be wrong. Our essentials we must stick to, but we become arrogant when our non-essentials, become as important as our essentials.

Some aspects of those who would fall into the emerging category seem to have taken it too far. I believe it is easier for us as Christians, to fall back into the culture (our old nature), then to pull them up toward Christ (the new man). So I believe there must be a balance as to how deep we are willing to emerge ourselves into that culture. For me, much prayer would be needed. Michael has led me to realize that being labeled “emerging” it is not as black-and-white as I once thought.

Thanks for the article. I was very helpful

Steven Rodrigue_TTP

[...] The best definition of the Emerging Church can be found at the excellent Parchment and Pen blog, here. C. Michael Patton doesn’t call the movement heretical, but he has several major critiques of [...]

[...] at that blog, I found another fascinating post, on the emerging church – one which does a far better job of describing the range of thought within that (non)movement than [...]

I love your thoughts on this subject. And hurray for charts! I do think your definition of heretic is circular though. Is there even a single doctrine that has been believed by every Christian ever? It depends on how you define a Christian. Which means putting your own ideas about what doctrines are the real important ones. In other words: Christians are what you say they are.

According to your article, I’m a heretic, and I suppose emergent. Like you I believe in the sovereignty of God. But I’m also a Universalist and would like to see all institutional church bodies dissolved into house churches that outreach through para-church organizations. (Can you imagine what the billions of dollars we spend on stupid buildings could be doing for Christ’s kingdom?)

Your breakdown is very good. I appreciate the understanding of the granularity that this sort of ‘movement’ entails. As one who is epistemologically emergent, but socially conservative, it’s nice to not be lumped into one category or the other. (except that of heretic!)

Thanks for the well-thought out article.

[...] Michael Patton at Parchment and Pen writes a long long post on the emerging church which acts as a very helpful and informed introduction. [...]