This post is in response to the article Fast Friends or Future Foes: The Emerging Church and Southern Baptists by Dr. Mark DeVine. This article was brought to my attention by Cory at Church Communications Pro via this post.
Fast Friends or Future Foes: The Emerging Church and Southern Baptists (PDF Document)
I would like to respond to a specific quote from the document:
“In best case scenarios, seeker and purpose-driven churches have attempted to do exactly what the “right wing” of the emerging movement is now doing, plant churches indigenous to the community” (page 15 – Dr. Mark DeVine, Fast Friends or Future Foes: The Emerging Church and Southern Baptists, link to post with original document).
This is an interesting thought which I have often wondered about the UM Church of the Resurrection, the church to which I am currently appointed. Resurrection is a large suburban congregation seeking to build a Christian community where non and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. There is ongoing conversation about the emerging movement at Resurrection. Sometimes I think that there would need to be an additional venue / worship service, etc. At other times, I think that Resurrection is an emerging church if the definition is a community of faith that is lived out in a way that is native to the community in which it exists.
Rev. Andrew Conard 