Book Review of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier (Part 4--or, "The Dispatches")

In my mind, the strength of the book comes from Tony Jones' observations of the "emerging church." I'm not sure if there's anyone who has attended more of these types of churches or studied them in more detail than this author. He makes his observations in the form of "dispatches"...and far be it for me to add or detract from his list. He's the expert, and I'll comment along the way...

Emergents find little importance in the discrete differences between the flavors of Christianity. Instead, they practice a generous orthodoxy that appreciates the contributions of all Christian movements.

While the "E"mergents find little difference, I'd suggest that the "e"merging church does indeed find those differences to be important. See, I've found that, to "e" mergents, theology matters. Theology actually unites instead of divides. So, for example, let's say that some of my "pentecostal" brothers & sisters, who have a distinctly different view of progressive sanctification than I do, want to worship at my church. They choose to speak in tongues. Their practice of the spiritual life in worship has now flown at odds with my pentecostal family members. This would cause all sorts of division among our local church...which I don't think is honoring to God.

So, actually, those differences are important. And, in order for true unity to take place, there's a necessity for those that believe certain things to worship together in unity. This allows those of us in the Bible church to worship as we believe to be in "spirit and truth" and all the other "flavors" to worship in harmony.

However, I agree that the "e"merging church is much more open to appreciate the contributions of other denominations. For example, one year our student ministry participated in a full-blown Lenten observation. For Bible church kids, this was eye-opening as they began to understand what the other "flavors" of their friends consisted of. Instead of bringing a lot of negative baggage to the table, they were open-minded enough to participate in a practice uncommon to them and learn from other "flavors."

Emergents reject the politics and theologies of left versus right. Seeing both sides as remnant modernity, they look forward to a more complex reality.

Amen, Tony. It's high time Christians avoided any consistent allegiance to any American political party.

The gospel is like lava: no matter how much crust has formed over it, it will always find a weak point and burst through it.

The author's point is well-taken in that you can't really nail down the Gospel message in four points or a simple napkin drawing or a six-week session taken from a book. It's a lot more complex than what Americans have done to it. However, where I'd calm down a little bit is to say that those little methods can be one more way that someone CAN come into a relationship with Christ. So, if somebody rolls through something like Rick Warren's book "40 Days of Purpose" and develops a relationship with Christ, rock on Rick Warren! Granted, the Gospel is definitely a journey, but every journey has to start somewhere, and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss those potential starting points like a Campus Crusade kid at the beach walking someone through the "4 Spiritual Laws."