Comments on: 5 Reasons Why the Emerging Church is Now Receding

By: Truth and thoughtful liturgy not churchian emergent murk. | Dark Brightness

Truth and thoughtful liturgy not churchian emergent murk. | Dark Brightness — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:18:52 +0000

[...] Consider this, from an excellent article called 5 Reasons why the emergent church is receding by Trevin Wax Unfortunately, some Emerging Churches look like the continuation of the Seeker movement, even as [...]

By: Stephen Shields

Stephen Shields — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:07:23 +0000

Trevin,

Just seeing this. Good job.

By: Is the Emerging Church Receding? « A Digest of Christian Comment

Is the Emerging Church Receding? « A Digest of Christian Comment — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:29:54 +0000

[...] by Jonathan Mason on August 3, 2009 Back in 2008, Trevin Wax suggested that the Emerging Church was in the early stages of decline, offering a number of reasons for [...]

By: Ted

Ted — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:21:43 +0000

I appreciated Ron’s comments from Dec…the emergent church is not fading..they are being absorbed into churches that were once Christian…there’s nothing good that will come from the emergent movement…the leadership network is nothing more than a liberal think-tank, with sole intentions on creating a controllable one world church…amazingly, all they had to do was convince a few churches that there were a few good ideas and some truths to what they were saying in order to gain a foothold…if only we would have had the courage to totally dismiss these false teachers when they “only added a few small heresies”…then this would have never taken root in our churches…it’s high time we held everything we see and hear to the scrutiny of the scriptures alone…we are a peculiar people…the world will hate us for our faith and without that stark contrast…no one would ever be convicted or saved…even a mini-poularity contest will end in utter failure…love God not the world…there’s no middle ground…

By: Engaging Emergent – One More Time « Kingdom People

Engaging Emergent – One More Time « Kingdom People — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:31:35 +0000

[...] in 2008, I wrote about how the Emerging Church had begun to “recede.” Shortly thereafter, some key participants in the conversation began abandoning the title [...]

By: Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be

Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:27:18 +0000

[...] something’s changed. For one thing, I have. I can relate to what Trevin Wax has said: “Many who initially intrigued by the Emerging conversation are now distancing themselves [...]

By: Unless the Lord builds the house . . . « . . . and the world hears them

Unless the Lord builds the house . . . « . . . and the world hears them — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:43:20 +0000

[...] 5 Reasons Why the Emerging Church is Now Receding Is the movement on the wrong track? Many of the leaders have deconstructed orthodox Christianity so much that there is no foundation on which to build. That’s a problem. And that’s why so many are jumping off the Emerging bandwagon. [...]

By: Premodernity Emerging « Cogito, Credo, Petam

Premodernity Emerging « Cogito, Credo, Petam — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:03:09 +0000

[...] 18 December 2008 · No Comments Trevin Wax wrote some months ago about the waning of the Emerging Church. I agree with him that the movement has done its work of critiquing evangelicalism and opening that [...]

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:12:20 +0000

Yeah, I agree it’s receding. And I praise God for that.

I’ve always been on the outside of EC. So my observations are not that grounded in experience, beyond reading thoughts by Brian McLaren, Spencer Burke, and Doug Pagitt. And it seems a lot like they’re the new Athenians, just sitting around (probably with cigar in hand) conversing about the latest theological ideas that came into their brain. And not about devotion to Jesus Christ, transformation to His likeness by the Spirit, or being his agent of love and peace in the world (both individually and corporately). But “how can the church be more accepted by the world?” (Never mind that the Scripture says at one point, “Don’t be surprised if the world hates you.”) But it’s almost like they enjoy discussing the questions without ever coming to any answers!

They’re not all wishy-washy, though. Some do come to conclusions. Anyone ever ready Burke’s “A Heretic’s Guide To Eternity”?

I’ve been Pentecostal all my life, and a few years ago switched to doing house church. I still have many friends in what HCers call “Babylon”, though, including my extended family. And as recently as last year, I’d mention “emerging church”, and most people had never heard of it. Here’s where EC departs from the Jesus Movement comparison: I was only 5 when the Jesus Movement hit, but from what I gather, it rocked the church. It was controversial. And while the faddishness of the Jesus Movement faded away, the good things about the movement strengthened the church as a whole. Meanwhile, the EC has felt more like the student at Bible College needling his professor with trivia questions, partially to show that he doesn’t buy what he’s hearing, and partially to piss off the professor. And shortly after the semester ends, the kid leaves, and is forgotten.

Look, I could care less about a new form for the church. I care about Christ. And how we as His body can impact this world. It won’t happen with beautiful buildings, or 3-point sermons given by a man in a suit, or pack-a-pew contests, or Karate for Jesus. It’ll happen when we draw near to God and He draws near to us, we connect with each other in intentional mutual discipleship, and we share this divine love with a world that’s all shook up. If EC helps with that, then praise the Lord. Let’s just keep the focus right, though . . .

By: aworthydiscussion

aworthydiscussion — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:21:23 +0000

Really like what you say here Trevin. Very early on I saw this was just a fad. You can’t continue on a diet of cotton candy forever can you?