Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger - My Reflections

Chp. 1
Culture has shifted dramatically within the last 60 years in the West. This shift in culture from modernity to postmodernity and Christendom to post-Christendom necessitate that churches in today's Western world shift as well from their cultures rooted in the practices of the past to practices that reflect the needs of the people of today.

Chp. 2
The emerging church exists under a variety of forms today in the US and Britain yet there are a few common distinctive such as identification with Jesus, transformation of the secular space, and living in community.

Chp. 3
The emerging church focuses on the kingdom of God as its missional duty. Therefore, those in the emerging church try and emulate Jesus wherever they are in society, with the hopes that such a display will attract those who are in the world. This model of "doing church" is drastically different from having people come to a building on Sundays.

Chp. 4
Bringing the kingdom of God to earth as Jesus did means bringing it to the part of society that is secular. For those in the emergent church, the sacred/secular divide is something that adherents try to erase, precisely by being Jesus whether they find themselves in church or not.

Chp. 5
Emerging churches view church as family and not an institution – in other words, church is meant to be highly relational, a place where people can come as they are, be welcomed and not shunned. This conception of church as family runs against the prevailing Western emphasis on the individual.

Chp. 6
Emerging churches go to great lengths to include the outsider in their churches. Some emerging churches will visit holy sites of other religions or else invite holy men of other religions into their church services to share about their pagan practices and religion. In my opinion, some of these practices (cf. p. 132-3) go too far, and by mixing the religions of Yahweh and the pagans, the truth becomes muddied.

Chp. 7
Serving is a core practice of those participating in the emerging churches. Emerging churches stress that serving is meant to be a lifestyle and not a random practice. Furthermore, the type of serving advocated does not amount to the social gospel; instead, the serving is meant to be a more intentional reflection of Christ in the individual serving.

Chp. 8
Emerging churches desire that all would participate in their services. Instead of a select few that are designated within the church to lead the meeting, each person ought to be allowed to display their gifts – this is assumed to be in line with Paul's discussion of the gifts in 1 Cor 12-14.

Chp. 9
Worship is a creative event in the emerging churches. Beyond creating music, participants are encouraged to contribute art in the form of media, drawings, paintings, sculptures, spoken word, etc. as their expression of worship to God.

Chp. 10
Emerging churches move away from the hierarchical model of leadership to a model of leadership that is open, team-based, and volunteer. This flat model of leadership is an attempt to encourage the "priesthood of all believers."