tuesday reflection for week 4

The church I attened in college, University Baptist Church, was one of the first churches in the late nineties to begin doing things differently. Years later the group of churches who were doing things differently came together under the name "emerging churches." Describing my church in Waco to other people was always difficult. I would usually end with, "You just have to come see for yourself." The emerging chruches are difficult to characterize. However, from Ryan's lecture today, I think I can give some broad characteristics of emerging churches:

• The dominant theology is the concept of the kingdom of God as the redemption of earth inwhich we particpate.
• Social justice issues are written all over the people of the church community.
• The church looks like the culture around it.

This last point was a surprise to me. I was under the misconception that the emerging church, across the board, is more artistic and "indie." UBC, Mosaic Austin, and Tribe are all this way. However, in doing his research for a book with Eddie Gibbs, Ryan found that the emerging churches in an area are true to its zip code. This is fascinating to me because the emerging churches are even more diverse, a quality that breathes more life into the gospel and what it means to us today.