Most Commented

Recent Comments

Subscribe

  • Subscribe

Why ‘Reformergent’?

Posted by Chris Case | October 9, 2007 .

Simply put, reformergent is a blog interested in the interaction between Reformed theology and the Emerging church movement. As our society moved out of modernism into post-modernism and beyond, the church has sought ways to interact with contemporary culture. In the recent decade, the emerging church has rose to popularity and some controversy as a church that has sought to be relevant to contemporary culture.

Although there are some valuable traits to be gleaned from emerging ecclesiology (theology of the church), spiritual life, and evangelism, I also have hesitancies regarding their theology and orthodoxy. As stated by Phil Johnson in Pyromaniacs, the generous orthodoxy in the emergent church is neither generous nor orthodox. If my creed as a Reformed individual is, ‘reformed and still reforming,’ I think it is extremely valuable to examine the rise of the emerging church and test the theology, methodology, ecclesiology, and all the other ‘ology’s against Scripture to see if its clearly against Scripture, clearly reflected in Scripture, or an area where Scripture is silent.

In light of my traditional Reformed theological understanding of Scripture, I do think that the Emerging church has emphasized some valuable areas of individual faith and community faith. Here are the major areas I think that the Emerging movement is scriptural and a valuable voice for the contemporary church:

1.) Missional Living : Social action, community involvement, and sacrificial hospitality is primary in lifestyle living. There is once again an interest in being light and salt in a broken world. This involves primarily politics and culture. Although the emerging church sometimes lacks an emphasis on evangelism as part of missional living, there is still value in their approach to how we can be ‘in this world, and not of it.’

2.) Social Justice : There is a highlighted interest in social reform, seeking political, social, and to some extent, economic equality. Given the constant biblical instruction in caring for the poor, orphaned, widowed, disenfranchised, and the ‘least of these,’ this is certainly a biblical concept. We should be lovers of peace, and therefor seek that. But I am also not interested in equating the Kingdom of God with simple social justice, which some emergent thinkers tend to do.

3.) Authenticity : The emerging churches are often the most welcoming communities around, although sometimes erring by being TOO welcoming. Church is a place for sinners, and I highly value the welcoming and grace-filled attitude we should have as churches, but that is not to completely throw out any understanding of biblical obedience and sanctification.

4.) ‘Unstructured’ Ecclesiology : Although sometimes too unstructured, I don’t think the Bible is as detailed about defining the Church as many Reformed theologians believe. There are definitely some prescriptions given, and I agree in elder leadership, teaching/preaching the message of the apostles, prayer together, communion and baptism as marks of the church, but in actual ’style,’ the Bible is fairly quiet, so why not seek methods and styles that are at once biblically correct and culturally relevant.

The voices of the emerging church have grown loud, and it seems like those against it have lately grown louder. It doesn’t seem like individuals are always thinking as openly, seeking to engage both sides in a constructive way. That is not to say I won’t have posts about the parts of the emerging church that concern me or parts I simply don’t agree with, but I am excited to see where this goes.

I look forward to the conversations that will hopefully start up in regard to these two topics that seem to get many folks heated. Once again, I seek humility for I don’t know all the answers. That’s why I am here.

Posted under Theology | Like this article? Subscribe to our RSS feed.

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Comments

7 Comments so far
  1. Dan Ra October 10, 2007 10:29 am

    Wow. EV linked to you guys as I’m sure you’re aware. This i quite an encouragement to me for some strange reason. I’ve been heavily trained in the Reformed Evangelical mold throughout college and early part of my post-college life and have in the last 6 months completely embraced the emerging conversation. I guess I fit the exact description of many “emergents”: disillusioned and disgruntled reformed evangelicals. Sad…

    Am I Reformergent? I have no clue although it sounds cool… I’ve written in other people’s blogs, however, about the need for the Reformed guys (Piper, Driscoll, Carson, Mohler) to quit being so belligerent. I think the emerging conversation is ABSOLUTELY necessary for our post-modern post-christian nation today and I wish those guys would understand the heart of these big emergents. These Reformed guys (I exclude Keller because he’s encouragingly reasonable and non-judgmental. He’s awesome.) need to learn from the Emergents about what it means to humbly approach theology as part of God’s mystery. Sure, Scripture is an amazing, unique, inspired, and authoritative revelation of God (although I wouldn’t say fully and finally authoritative anymore), and sure, substitutionary atonement is one of a handful of great examples and theories of the work of the Cross (although not the ONLY or the BEST as the reformed guys seem to express). But these guys flailing their arms and spitting out “heresy” without humility and caution does them a great disservice. Emergents just want to talk (and hopefully do), and heresy is the farthest from where MOST of these emergents are.

    Regarding your list, I was thrilled and happy to read it. That is a list I’ve been wanting to read and am surprised as to why I didn’t write a similar one, although I do now align myself a bit more with emerging/postmodern “ideals.” I would love to flesh out some thoughts about the nature of church with you however we can do so.

    Glad to add you to my blogroll and to my Google reader!

    Dan

  2. Nate Puckett October 10, 2007 3:11 pm

    I’m not sure who this Dan Ra character is, but I really like his thoughts (including his thoughts on atonement) and i hope to cross his path some time.

    keep up the good work, Reformergent…you’re a needed voice in this thing.

    God bless.

  3. Michael October 10, 2007 4:51 pm

    Since the “Reformed Guys” include the likes of Piper, Driscoll, Carson, and Mohler; not to mention Sproul, I feel very comfortable being i the belligerent catergory. They speak the truth, which most emergents have a problem with, so I understand the belligerent comment. One cannot be Reformed and emergent. It is impossible. You either believe The Bible is inerrant or you don’t. There is not room for questions. If you have questions, you are not reformed. Sorry Dan and Nate and the rest. I am glad that you do mention The Word and that you are not throwing out sanctification. You all should be ashamed.

  4. David Herbst October 10, 2007 6:01 pm

    Sounds great! I’ve spent a couple hours each week for the last 3 years reading blogs and websites like Ermgent Village agreeing and disagreing with some sides of the coversation thus far. I’m excited to see someone trying to weed out the bad and keep the good things and keep the coversation going in a real way. I’ll be checking back next week.

  5. Bob Robinson October 11, 2007 2:37 pm

    I look forward to your contributuon to the dialogue.

    I’ve been blogging for quite some time on the intersection of Reformed Theology and Emerging Church ideas.

    “Vanguard Church” (http://vanguardchurch.blogspot.com/) is a top blog in EC circles in which I connect Reformed Theology with the Emerging Church conversation, and “Friend of Kuyper” (http://friendofkuyper.blogspot.com/) is a resource on how Neo-Calvinism and the Emerging Church can intersect.

    I’ll be back!

  6. Chris Case October 11, 2007 2:52 pm

    Michael, I am not so sure the blanket statement connecting the official emergent position with the term inerrant is correct. Are there thinkers and some leaders within the movement that believe that, of course. And to them I would kindly say that I disagree, but last I checked, the emergent movement a) doesn’t have an official spokesperson and b) has not as a movement officially come out and said the Bible has errors.

    It is this kind of attitude that makes this whole conversation really difficult. Reformed is a theological framework (understood by interpretation of the Bible systematically) and Emergent is a movement of thinkers and movers seeking to define the Christian life and church within a post-modern context. Those two do not stand in contrast to me. Do I wish that emergent church had a clearer doctrine? Of course… but that’s not going to happen, and thus irrelevant. So why not help seek to learn from the Emergent movement and test it against Scripture and a Reformed framework. In my heart, I believe that there is much to learn from it.

  7. daniel October 12, 2007 2:40 pm

    Wow - I’m really impressed with this site and with the quality of dialogue here.

    I think that the generous orthodoxy that the emerging community seeks has the room, willingness, and humility to learn from the Reformed. However, the presentation of that message coming from the Reformed camp has often been so brash as to not allow for discussion, let alone an ‘agree to disagree’ standpoint - all of which strains the relationship to the point where the emerging community cannot hear the valid concerns. This, in turn, further frustrates the Reformed, because they think that they’re simply being ignored, which causes more lashing out, more missing the point, etc.

    Eventually, of course, it gets to the point where we’re completely talking past each other. The Reformed are calling the Emergents ‘heretics’; the Emergents are ignoring, or winking at, the critique.

    I think that any meaningful theological discussion must be entered with the presupposition of friendship and good will. Both parties need to be willing to listen and not just speak; each party needs to be willing to learn from the other.

    Thank you for opening up such a space. I’ll keep watching the site.