Karl Tsatalbasidis - The Emerging Church

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The Emerging Church: More than Just a Face Lift

Karl Tsatalbasidis

Difficult to DefineThe emerging church—what is it? Frankly, it isdifficult to define; yet, we hope that by the end ofthis article, readers will be aware of the directrelationship that exists between philosophy andtheology and the way we do church. “Doing church”usually includes worship, mission, evangelism,spirituality, and church administration. The

emerging church has been described as a Christian movement thatincludes traditions of a wide range of churches. It began in the latetwentieth century and is rapidly expanding. Its adherents can befound in many parts of the world, especially in Europe, North America,Australia, and New Zealand. The movement itself is comprised mostlyof evangelical Christians struggling to find ways to communicate thegospel in this postmodern age.

The thought leaders within the movement believe that the worshipforms of many churches are wed to the modern culture from whichthey arose. To them, this is problematic because “modern” is nowold-fashioned; it has given way to postmodernism. Since faith isgrounded in culture, the church should recognize that it no longerspeaks a language that postmoderns understand; it should, therefore,change its worship forms, mission, evangelism, etc., in such a way thatthe gospel makes sense to this postmodern generation.

Eddy Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger, two popular postmodern writers, havesaid, “Emerging churches remove modern practices of Christianity, notthe faith itself. Western Christianity has wed itself to a culture, themodern culture, which is now in decline. Many of us do not know whata postmodern or post-Christendom expression of faith looks like.Perhaps nobody does. But we need to give these leaders space to havethis conversation, for this dismantling needs to occur if we are to seethe gospel translated for and embodied in twenty-firstcentury Western

culture.”1 Clearly, this line of reasoning assumes that worship forms,evangelistic strategies, spirituality, and church structure are entirelyculturally conditioned, which is something the Bible denies.

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The style of worship in emerging churches is sometimes referred to asalternative worship. “Before the name ‘alt worship’ appeared, earlyexperiments were dubbed ‘rave worship’ because they were borrowingdirectly from the culture of dance music in the late 1980s and early

1990s.”2 In addition to the musical style, emerging churches also usethe cross, incense, paintings, slides, drawings, and candles as visualexpressions. They may show videos, a TV clip, or occasionally an artinstallation or exhibit functions as the entire “service.” They also maydisplay icons that resonate with both ancient and modern cultures.Thus, their worship services integrate the mystical aspects of bothOrthodox and Roman Catholic liturgies.

Because similarities in worship style with seeker services and othermegachurches include varying forms of rock music, some may betempted to think that the emerging church is nothing more thananother innovative way to attract youth and other unchurched Harrysand Marys. Bolger and Gibbs explain:

We were also concerned to dispel the myths that the emerging churchis simply a passing fad representing an avant-garde style of worship, amovement seeking to recoup its losses among young people bydeveloping contemporary worship styles, or a new and improvedmarketing strategy. Neither do we believe emerging churches to behalfway houses of a parent church, established to provide a holdingtank for younger members until they emerge from their adolescentyears of “worldly ways.”Identifying the emerging church with youth

church is to miss the point.3

So then what is the point? What is the emerging church all about?First and foremost, the emerging church is a system of intellectualphilosophy grounded in postmodernism. The emerging church is notjust a face-lift, or, to use another analogy, it is not the wrapping paperthat covers a gift without changing the nature of the gift; the gift is thesame when covered with a different wrapping paper. This is not truewith the emerging church. We are seeing a change of epic proportions,which has occurred at the foundational level of theology andphilosophy; the results affect the entire structure of Christiandoctrines and practices. Part of the emerging church’s quest is toexpress its understanding of Christianity within the context of thisphilosophy, which is why emerging-church thought leaders state that astudy of culture is absolutely indispensable if one is to communicate

the gospel today.4


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In order to better understand the relationship between the emergingchurch, Adventism, and other churches, it is important to explore thetheological foundation. When we’ve done that, we will see why it wouldbe easier to merge tectonic plates than to adopt the worship forms,mission, and evangelistic strategies of emerging churches into theAdventist church.

The Theological GroundThe books of Daniel and Revelation inform us that the devil’s chieftarget is the heavenly sanctuary because he knows that the sanctuarycomprises the overall theological system that provides the veryfoundation of our understanding of the plan of salvation, worship

forms, mission and spirituality.5 In Revelation 11:19, John recordedthis amazing scene: “The temple of God was opened in heaven, andthere was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there werelightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and greathail.” Also, in Revelation 4 and 5, both the Father and the Son arebeing praised in the heavenly sanctuary for their work of creation andredemption.

Classical EraThe Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle developed a system ofphilosophy that the Christian church has been unable to escapefor more than 2,000 years. They theorized that ultimate reality istimeless, which means that it is devoid of space and time; it is alsoboth immaterial and nonhistorical. They described this kind ofreality as perfect, immutable, and eternal. Both Augustine andThomas Aquinas developed this idea into the grand system uponwhich Roman Catholicism is based.

According to Roman Catholicism, the Bible contains timelesstruths that are wrapped in historical clothing, thus while timesand circumstances may change, the timeless truths never do. Anapplication of this has been made regarding creation. Accordingto the Catholic system, the timeless truth in Genesis 1 and 2 isthat God created, but the seven days of the creation comprise thehistorical wrapping in which the Bible writer expressed thistimeless truth about creation. Hence, the seven days, whichinclude the Sabbath, that Genesis 1 and 2 record are relegated tothe mere cultural understanding of the Bible writer and havenothing to do theologically with creation. This explains why therecan be theological compatibility between Roman Catholicism andevolutionary theory.


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This line of reasoning also applies to the wonderful scenes thatJohn described in the book of Revelation that was discussedearlier. Since ultimate reality is timeless, there can be no realsanctuary in heaven where Christ actually moves from the holy tothe most holy place. These are “obviously” symbolicrepresentations of heavenly worship that John ascertained fromhis own cultural understanding of worship. Thus, the forms ofworship that are presented in the Bible are culturallyconditioned, meaning they are not grounded in theology, which isunderstood as being built upon timeless conceptions of reality,rather they belong to the ever-changing realm of culture.Therefore, if the forms of worship in the Bible are culturallyconditioned, what would be wrong with worshiping God throughthe cultural forms that exist today? This argument is based upon afalse foundation and assumes that the Bible does not provide uswith a model that demonstrates the causal relationship betweentheology and liturgy.

This era has been described as the era of classical theology, whichreigned from the second to about the thirteenth century. Worshipwithin this era can be described as the integration of paganismand Christianity. In a recent trip to the Vatican, I could not fail toobserve this integration within the churches, basilicas, andcathedrals as well as in the vast and costly displays of art. Withthe Word of God literally taken away from the people, art—alongwith ritual and ceremony— became the conveyor of “truth.” It wasinteresting to me to notice that, of all the artwork I saw at theVatican, there was not one painting of Jesus serving as our greatHigh Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Of course, there couldn’tbe any such painting; it’s incompatible with the philosophicalsystem upon which Catholicism is built.

The Modern EraAs the classical era gave way to the modern era, the system thatPlato and Aristotle developed was still assumed, only now humanreason could not reach timeless truths. In the classical age,philosophy and theology were married, but in the modern era,philosophy gained its independence from theology by building onthe authority of human reason. Absolute truth still existed in themodern era, but the only way to get there was through reason.

The modern era placed an unbridgeable gulf between all thatexists in the timeless realm and creation. This means that the


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whole Bible was simply the opinion of the authors and did notcontain any cognitive data from God at all; it was merely theauthor’s understanding of God based on his own culturalbackground. This brought about a separation between faith andreason, and between theology and science, which has impacted usto this present day. The modern era also set up the separation ofsacred and secular.

With its emphasis on reason, logic, the attainment of absolutetruth, and the invention of the printing press, some emergingchurch thought leaders erroneously suggested that theReformation grew out of this change in culture that took placeduring the modern era.

Furthermore, they stated that the Reformation emphasis on thepreaching of the Word as the central part of worship, and theremoval of idols and images, was based on this cultural shift. Bydoing this, emerging-church thought leaders sought to engulf theReformation within the Platonic system of ultimate reality bystating that the Reformation emphasis on the Word grew out ofculture instead of the Bible. They stated that “Protestant church

forms were created by a literary age that no longer exists.”6 Thus,all forms of Protestant worship are completely culturallyconditioned, and the criticism of emerging churches is thatevangelical churches are continuing to use forms of worship thatare wedded to the modern print era and no longer apply in themedia image culture of today.

The Postmodern EraAt last, the philosophical system that Plato and Aristotle erectedis gone. Now, no such thing as timeless reality exists. Ultimatereality is now considered to be historical. Gone also is the notionof absolute truth that was built upon the Platonic structure.Absolute truth has been replaced by pluralism, relativism, andinterpretation. Instead of an emphasis on reason and logic, theemphasis now is on experience, intuition, and feelings.

The postmodern era can also be characterized by the tearingdown of the division between sacred and secular. The God whotranscends the universe and is separate from it no longer exists;instead, God is interpreted from within creation as in pantheism(God and the universe are indistinguishable) or panentheism (the


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universe is in God, yet God is greater than the universe).

One of the major implications of this shift in the postmodern era isthat there is very little difference between God and creation,which effectually breaks down the barriers of sacred and secularwhich the modern era had erected. As a matter of fact, one of thechief objectives of the emerging church is to tear down thisdivision between sacred and secular because the shifting of thephilosophical ground from modern to postmodern indicates thatall of human life and experience is sacred.

Sacralization, the process of making all of life sacred,represents the interaction of kingdom and culture.Emerging churches tear down the church practices thatfoster a secular mind-set, namely, that there are secularspaces, times, or activities. To emerging churches, all oflife must be made sacred. . . . Sacralization in emergingchurches is about one thing: the destruction of thesacred/secular split of modernity. The modern periodwas characterized by the birth of the idea of secularspace, that is, the idea of a realm without God. . . . Thus,in the modern period, many dualisms were introduced tochurch life that had not been problematic before: thenatural versus the supernatural; public facts versusprivate values; the body versus the mind and spirit; faithversus reason; power versus love; and the list goes on.These capitulations to the dualisms of modernityaffected every level of the church, including worship,Bible study, power structures, and mission. Postmodernculture questions the legitimacy of these dualisms.Correspondingly, every one of these modern divisions is

greatly opposed by emerging churches.7

This tearing down of the division of sacred and secular helps us tounderstand the philosophical differences between emergingchurches and purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive churches.

The new paradigm, purpose-driven, seeker, and Gen-Xchurches are not postmodern in this sense. Thesemovements venerate the large gathering and the heartas the primary spiritual domains. They do not challengethe many dualisms of modernity but rather continue thedivisions between natural and supernatural, individualand community, mind and body, public and private,


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belief and action, and they leave controlling powerstructures in place. In these movements, religion andspiritual practices are activities one does apart from theculture, and spirituality is still very much at themargins…. For emerging churches, there are no longerany bad places, bad people, or bad times. All can beholy. All can be given to God in worship. All modern

dualisms can be overcome.8

Implications

The foundational role of the heavenly sanctuary is undermined.When John Harvey Kellogg’s book The Living Temple wasreleased, Ellen White recognized immediately that the principlesespoused in it were a direct attack on the reality of the heavenlysanctuary via Kellogg’s pantheistic beliefs regarding the nature ofGod. She claimed that if these theories were accepted into ourchurch, it would be the death of Adventism.She wrote, “The subject of the sanctuary was the key whichunlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to

view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious.”9

1.

The heavenly sanctuary is the great system that helps us tounderstand the nature of God, ultimate reality, the plan ofsalvation, worship, evangelism, and the entire range of doctrines.Yet, in all three eras, the foundational role of the sanctuary wasreplaced. As a result, our understanding of God, ultimate reality,the plan of salvation, the forms of worship, evangelism, andspirituality has been derived from culture instead of from theBible.

In the Bible, the sanctuary integrates theology with liturgy. Inother words, the worship forms that are employed in thesanctuary service express our understanding of God and the planof salvation. In 2 Chronicles 29:25, the Bible states that it wasGod who commanded and ordered the worship forms through Hisprophets. The liturgical forms came as a result of God’s revelationand not from the prophet’s cultural understanding of worship.

We must keep in mind that the emerging church is more than justa face-lift because it is inextricably linked with postmodernphilosophy. If their worship forms are adopted into the church,the significance of the heavenly sanctuary and its role in the plan


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of salvation will be completely discarded, with the result thatmany will be without an anchor to steady them through thetroublesome times ahead.Since liturgy always assumes an underlying philosophy, theadoption of emerging church forms within Adventism would causean earthquake at the foundational level, which would then be feltthroughout our doctrines and practices. At the philosophical andtheological levels, the doctrine of the heavenly sanctuary cannotcoexist with postmodern philosophy; for that matter, it has nevercoexisted either with the classical era or the modern era.

It’s interesting to note the theological compatibility betweenRoman Catholicism and Protestantism regarding the worshipforms of the emerging church. The adoption of emerging churchworship forms into these belief systems does not alter theirtheological foundations because their philosophical systemteaches that worship forms are culturally conditioned, whichmeans that they have nothing to do with theology. In Adventism,worship forms are not culturally conditioned; the idea that theyare can seriously undermine our theological foundations, whichare centered in the heavenly sanctuary.

Furthermore, when the foundational role of the sanctuary is setaside the result is that the preaching of the Word is set aside,replaced by the celebration of the Eucharist and a more visual,sensual style of worship akin to Roman Catholicism. “In emergingchurches, the symbolic aspects of worship are central. As a result,there is an appreciation of the Eucharist as the central act of

worship.”10 Also, “the experience of many alt worshipers was likethat of people suddenly discovering a birthright, a heritage whichhad been hidden from them. The riches of Catholic liturgicaltradition were suddenly spread out before them, overflowing outof the old treasure chest: texts, chants, rituals, use of color, andgesture. The impact of these discoveries was to generate new

respect for Catholic tradition.”11

Everything is now considered sacred.Instead of profaning the church, secular music becomes holy, andtherefore the rest of their lives becomes holy as well. Foralternative worshipers . . . music is Christian when they glorifygod with it, not because of the lyrics or because a Christian wroteit or played it. All things can be made holy as they are given to

God, whether “secular” or not.12

2.


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Postmodern philosophy blends God and culture in such a way thatthey are hardly distinguishable, which makes it impossible to saythat certain forms of worship are false. Thus, when thefoundational role of the sanctuary is discarded, the result is areinterpretation of the second angel’s message to refrain from thefalse worship of Babylon by coming out of her (Revelation 14:8;18:1-4). Yet, in the postmodern system, there can be no suchthing as false worship since truth is culturally conditioned.Furthermore, why would anyone want to come out of Babylonwhen God is operating there? However, in spite of what theemerging church claims, the Bible teaches that there is adifference between the sacred and the common (Leviticus 10:8-10; Ezekiel 22:26). It also teaches that we should not confuse evilwith good by stating that everything is holy (Isaiah 5:20).

The Sola Scriptura principle is discarded.It should be very clear by now that the building blocks of theologyfor the emerging church are not the Scriptures; instead, it’s aneclectic use of tradition, culture, and experience mixed with alittle Scripture.

3.

Adventism Has Not Been Immune“Reinventing the Adventist wheel” is the title of a SeventhdayAdventist blog site. The subtitle is “Progressive Seventh-dayAdventists exploring missional and incarnational expressions of church

life in a post-Christian context.”13 What follows is a reinterpretation ofour pillars and teachings within the emerging church postmodernframework. Read a few quotes:

Worship“I believe worship should be deep and meaningful expressions offaith within our own cultural settings and context. I believe weshould reconsider the worship forms we have inherited from ourupbringing, and rediscover ancient and alternative Christianworship traditions.”

Regarding customs, behavior, and lifestyle“My lifestyle is perceived as ‘liberal’ by Adventist culturalstandards for reasons such as music and worship style, dress,habits related to food and/or drink or lifestyle choices related toentertainment. However, I prefer to label myself as a ‘Jesusfollower’ because I am a disciple.”


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“My Adventism doesn’t draw boundaries that determine who orwhat is in or out of God’s kingdom. It allows for God’s presence inany area of life or culture as I see it.”

Regarding doctrines and fundamental messages“I believe we are a ‘part of’ a larger Remnant (Fundamental #13)along with other ‘true churches’ preaching the Gospel. Stressing‘a part of’ to the official statement would unravel decades ofdenominational exclusivity and arrogance.” We should observehere that Seventh-day Adventists have always taught that thereare true Christians in every denomination; the blog statement canonly be understood in the light of the emerging church’spostmodern framework, in which calling one’s church theremnant makes no sense.

“I believe that a doctrine of perfection found in the historicalSanctuary message of the investigative judgment (Fundamental#24) is not consistent with the finished work of Jesus’ death onthe cross. In updating the meaning, ‘Judgment’ should insteademphasize working to model divine justice on earth.”

Evangelism“I do not believe evangelism should be done strictly through largeorganized events that only further institutional cause to promoteAdventism. I regard Adventism as one option among many otheroptions for witnessing to unbelievers about the Gospel.”

These statements make it abundantly clear that worship forms are seento be culturally conditioned. Also, music, worship, dress, food (cleanand unclean?), and entertainment have nothing to do with being afollower of Jesus because these things are all culturally determinedand, thus, have nothing to do with genuine spirituality or salvation.They may be defended on cultural grounds but certainly not ontheological grounds. In addition, there is nothing theologically uniqueabout Adventism because it’s simply one option among many in thispostmodern setting, and when we take this line of reasoning to itslogical conclusion, then there’s no reason for Adventists to preach thethree angels’ messages to draw God’s people out of Babylon.

The emerging church phenomenon helps us to realize that all of thisexperimentation with worship styles, spirituality, and evangelism is notsomething cosmetic. That is the line that we have been fed ever since“worship renewal” was introduced into the Seventh-day AdventistChurch. What we are realizing is that the emerging church is an


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intellectual movement built upon postmodern philosophies and shouldnot be confused with purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive megachurchesthat still assume a modern framework.

One must see the emerging church as something more than alternativeworship styles within the background of mainline evangelicalchurches. It’s more than a cosmetic change, it’s more than just a facelift: it’s recognition that the message, mission, and worship of thechurch is inextricably linked to deeper philosophical issues. Noattempt can be made to completely understand the emerging churchwithout first coming to grips with modernism and postmodernism.

I close with this paragraph from Ellen White. Written during the timeof the Kellogg controversy, it fits well within this setting of theemerging church.

The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the suppositionthat a great reformation was to take place among SeventhdayAdventists, and that this reformation would consist in givingup the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, andengaging in a process of reorganization. Were thisreformation to take place, what would result? The principlesof truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnantchurch would be discarded. Our religion would be changed.The fundamental principles that have sustained the work forthe last fifty years would be accounted as error. A neworganization would be established. Books of a new orderwould be written. A system of intellectual philosophy wouldbe introduced. The founders of this system would go into thecities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course,would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it.Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the newmovement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better thanvice, but God being removed, they would place theirdependence on human power, which, without God, isworthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and

storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.14

NOTES

1 Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger, Emerging Churches: CreatingChristian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Grand Rapids, MI:


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Baker Academic, 2005), 292 Jonny Baker and Doug Gay, Alternative Worship: Resources from andfor the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 20.3 Gibbs and Bolger, 28.4 Ibid., 1-26.5 See Daniel 8:11-13; 11:31; Revelation 13:6.6 Gibbs and Bolger, 71.7 Ibid., 66-67.8 Ibid., 67.9 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, CA: PacifcPress Publishing Association, 1911), 423.10 Gibbs and Bolger, 228.11 Baker and Gay, 24.12 Gibbs and Bolger, 71.13 http://reinventingsdawheel.blogspot.com/2006/04/qualifying-this-blog-for-adventists.html. The last update, as of this writing, wasMarch 6, 2008.14 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, Book One (Washington DC:Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 204-205.< SiteMap. Powered by SimpleUpdates.com © 2002-2010. User Login /Customize.


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Karl Tsatalbasidis - The Emerging Church