What is the emerging church?

The emerging church is an incredibly diverse movement that sprung up out of evangelical Christianity sometime in the 1990’s. Since it has had no confession of faith, no formally recognized leaders, no denominational structure, and no official institutions, it is difficult to speak accurately about the emerging church as a whole. That said, here are some traits that characterize many within the emerging church movement. Participants in the emerging church conversation tend to:

• Think that the church must seriously adapt its beliefs and practices if it is to be relevant to our postmodern generation.
• Want to raise questions instead of answering them.
• Favor dialogue over preaching.
• Favor stories over systematic theology.
• Pit community against authority and prefer the former.