Welcome to the Emergent church of Christ blog.
This blog is created for the purpose of conversation related to exploration, experimentation, renewal, and restoration in churches of Christ of the American Restoration Movement. It is hoped that a broad range of voices will be in conversation here. All voices are welcome.
In future posts, it is hoped that there will be many points of view, many authors, and many converastions about how churches of Christ fit into the story of God in the 21st century and beyond. Some pieces will be historical, some pieces will be current, while still others will be future focused. There will be practical pieces, highlights in ministry, theological posts, and many other topics and categories covered.
Again, welcome to the emergent church of Christ blog. Set it to your blog reader and consider contributing comments or even a post to the blog.
Tags: church of christ, Emergent, emerging church, restoration movement
May 31, 2008 at 1:09 am
What is an Emergent church of Christ?
June 1, 2008 at 6:46 pm
There might not be an emergent Church of Christ as in there is probably no congregation you could visit which makes a claim on itself as emergent. In fact, I hope that there is not one. The making of such lcaims would typically be the result of a not very emergent process.
It more subtle than that. Rather, it is more like how the shoreline changes on a lake. Trees near the shore eventually loosen their roots fromt he gorund and slowly fall into the lake, and then the purpose of the tree changes from shade and photosynthesis to cover for fish. It is still the same tree and the same lake, but the relationship between the two is different. The roots are still there, but they are serving a different purpose.
Perhaps the emergent church of christ is like a forming star. If the proto star reaches a critical temperature, then nuclear fusion begins and it is on its way to becoming a star. If a critical temp is not met, it remains a brown dwarf and never really reaches star status. Mysterious gravitational forces within protostars, forces scientists cannot yet explain, is important. If the gravity is strong enough to match the pressure withint he protostar, it has a chance to develop into a star. But it might not.
The main point with the star metaphor is that the entity changes, but remains the same entity.
So, something is astir in many curhce sof Chrust, and I do not belive it is originating with the formal elders and deacons and ministers hierarchical structure of the church. Rather it is originating in these centers of gravity within congregations and amoing members. It is emergent by the true definition of the word.
May 8, 2009 at 4:00 am
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