Exploring the Emergents

A Review of The New Christians:
Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

by Tony Jones (©2008, Josey-Bass, ISBN: 978-0-7879-9471-6)

In the 1970’s the Jesus People transformed the ecclesiastical landscape. A small but vocal group of iconoclastic radicals started a movement that has redefined and reshaped the texture of the American expression of evangelical Christianity. Nearly every aspect of our worship and practice has been touched by their influence, from seeker-sensitive churches, to guitar-strumming praise and worship songs. The seismic shift that started with the Jesus People still reverberates in the Emergent Church aftershock. Tony Jones, national coordinator of Emergent Village, explains this particular set of aftershocks and points to how they might become a full-fledged earthquake on its own. His latest book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, serves as an essential source for anyone wanting to understand who the Emergents are, where they come from, what they believe, and how they operate.

Written in the style of a travelogue, Jones explores the geography of the most profound cultural change in evangelical Christianity since the Jesus People turned the conversation from defending denominational distinctives to following Jesus Christ. Critics of the Emerging Church will find exactly what they are looking for - ammunition for lobbing more broadsides at what they consider a serious threat, or in their most alarmist terms, The End of Christianity As We Know It. To be more precise, it is actually the end of Christianity as they wish it to be. Friends of Emergent will find exactly what they are looking for as well. The New Christians is a thumbnail history that documents how the Emergent Conversation got started, how it formed over the years, who the leaders are, and how they became a full-fledged movement. For those who have not formed an opinion on the Emerging Church and Emergent Christianity, this book will serve as a much-needed guide to what the major themes and issues are, what the Emergents believe is at stake, and what Emergents look like in their natural habitat. In all honesty, Jones could have titled this valuable contribution, A Field Guide to Emergent Christians and Their Habitat and not been off the mark.

This, and chapter 3, “Who Are the Emergent Christians?” are quite possibly the most valuable chapters in the book to anyone wanting to understand who the Emergents are and where they came from.

Jones details the rise of what was called at the time, “postmodern Christianity” and how its influence began as a conversation among youth workers and spread outward, due in large part to the books of Brian McLaren and the work of Youth Specialties, founded by Mike Yaconelli, author of Messy Spirituality. Just as importantly, the internet was the primary vehicle for rapid development and deployment of what would later become the Emergent Conversation, using discussion groups, blogs, and web sites to quickly build a vocal following. Ironically, this transparent and accessible public forum of the internet is responsible for many of the accusations by evangelical leaders who were blind-sided by the “secret” way in which much of the Emergent Conversation developed. Pastors and other leaders who had no time to surf the internet were caught totally off guard when the movement seemed to explode out of nowhere, completely shaking things up. For many spectators of the Emergent movement who were watching the seismographic readings of the pre-quakes on the internet, this cluelessness only highlighted how out of touch many evangelical leaders are when it comes to trend-spotting and identifying the underlying causes of dissatisfaction among their people. As older Evangelicals continue to remain out of touch with Web 2.0 technologies, they will become more and more irrelevant to the ever-changing theological developments and find themselves increasingly behind the curve when it comes to formulating a coherent response.

So where did these Emergent Christians come from? In a word: Youth Ministry.

Jones helps us connect the dots from the Jesus People who originated a lot of the innovations of modern evangelicalism, but had their biggest impact in the creation and propagation of youth ministry. Nearly all the Emergent leaders were trained and served as youth ministers in evangelical churches beginning in the 1970’s, or were themselves the products of youth ministry, or both. Youth ministry was the fulcrum for the social shift we are seeing in Evangelicalism today. While the Emergent movement is plainly an unintended consequence of youth ministry, the geologic fault lines are quite obvious on inspection. The first thing youth ministry did was to institutionalize the establishment of a subculture within the local church that had its own music, its own literature, its own leaders, and its own ministry. Most often, this internal subculture was independent from the parent denomination. This paved the way for the second consequence of youth ministry and that was to create an ecumenicalism that obliterated denominational boundaries. Young people from a broad array of denominations and theological perspectives would meet, fellowship, and worship together at Christian concerts, Bible camps, and other Youth-oriented activities like Fellowship of Christian Athletes. As the kids in various youth groups grew up, they became increasingly involved in nondenominational parachurch ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ, Youth With a Mission, and Youth for Christ, discovering that there was more uniting them than there was separating them. In fact, interdenominational cooperation became the norm rather than the exception. This created a widespread (and often undetected) incongruity between the messages of denominational solidarity proclaimed from the pulpits and the practice of Christian fellowship promulgated in youth groups.

The result of all this was the creation of a demographic cohort among Evangelical post-Boomers who were countercultural, anti-denominational (as opposed to merely nondenominational), activist-minded Christians bent on recovering an authentic expression of Christianity. They had been brought up on a steady diet of building a relationship with Jesus Christ, reaching the unchurched in spirit of honesty and integrity, and living consistently with the teachings of Jesus Christ as authentic, genuine believers. This was in distinction from their parents who valued sincerity and good intentions over consistent practice. Young people heard these values of relationship and authenticity repeated so often that that they actually believed the messages from the youth leaders, the literature, and the music. They had been raised to take their commitment to Christ seriously and to despise fake, pretentious Christianity that was just for show. Predictably, a deep dissatisfaction set in that centered on the current church’s inability to deliver on the promises proffered to them in youth group. In the opinions of many, denominations had become so immersed in consumer-driven materialism that they were indistinguishable from the world. What happened to many of the youth leaders was that they were preaching a message of authenticity and integrity that was not being emulated, at least in the eyes of church young people, by the adult leadership. Questions would often begin, “If the Bible says …, then why do we do …?” and the leaders were often at a loss to provide an answer.

This sense of disquiet rumbled deep within churches for years and youth ministers would gather at conferences, sharing their concerns with one another and wondering what they could do to make a difference. Most notable among the youth conference circuit were those sponsored by Youth Specialties where talk of “postmodernism” began to circulate. However, it was not until the publication of Brian McLaren’s groundbreaking book, A New Kind of Christian, that the movement had a name for itself. At first Emergents called themselves Postmodern Christians, but this term soon fell by the wayside in favor of the less polarizing term, Emergent Conversation. Denying for years that it was a movement, Emergents finally gave in, got a logo, and in Jones’ book finally describe themselves as the Emergent Movement.

Admitting that Emergents are often an ill-defined group, most Christian pundits have had a difficult time identifying and describing who these new Christians are. Nevertheless using a series of “Dispatches,” sprinkled through the book, Jones gives us some insight into who the Emergents are and what they are about. Modern-minded Evangelicals will be disappointed to find no “statement of faith” or unifying doctrinal position as defining characteristics. Instead they will find such things as:

“Dispatch 1: Emergents find little importance in discrete differences between the various flavors of Christianity. Instead, they practice a generous orthodoxy that appreciates the contributions of all Christian movements.” (p. 8)

“Dispatch 2: Emergents reject the politics and theologies of left versus right. Seeing both sides as a remnant of modernity, they look forward to a more complex reality.” (p. 20)

 “Dispatch 6: Emergents see God’s activity in all aspects of culture and reject the sacred-secular divide.” (p. 75)

“Dispatch 7: Emergents believe that an envelope of friendship and reconciliation must surround all debates about doctrine and dogma.” (p. 78)

 “Dispatch 10: Emergents believe that theology is local, conversational, and temporary. To be faithful to the theological giants of the past, Emergents endeavor to continue their theological dialogue.” (p. 111)

 “Dispatch 13: Emergents believe that truth, like God, cannot be definitively articulated by finite human beings.” (p. 153)

“Dispatch 15: Emergents hold to a hope-filled eschatology; it was good news when Jesus came the first time, and it will be good news when he returns.” (p. 176)

Suffice to say, Jones and the Emergents articulate a deep sense of unrest that seems to permeate much of Evangelical Christianity, particularly among post-Boomers. What many current leaders are going to learn the hard way (as did their fathers) is that young people with questions will outlive old people with pat, conventional answers. Today’s leaders can take a lesson from the Jesus People and admit that what the young people of the 1970s brought to the table has had an overall positive impact on Christianity. The seeds sown by these former radicals, now the Evangelical Establishment have born fruit in the lives of the Emergents, graduates of a youth ministry curriculum that codified almost every “Dispatch” that Jones lists. What is both disquieting and heartening at the same time is that fruit contains within it the seeds of the next generation. If Emergents are the harvest sown by the Jesus People and youth ministry, it does make one wonder what the fruit will be in the 2020s when the children of Emergents grow up with their own questions and concerns. Will the Emergents be able to deliver on their promises any better than their fathers? And just as importantly will the Emergent Establishment of those days feel as threatened by their youngsters as today’s Evangelicals are of the Emergents?

by Rick Presley