Jesus Cropped from the Picture

More Identity, Less Method

know that difficulty, death, sickness, and unexplained pain are not necessarily the fault of the Pragmatic doing “something wrong.”

Anchoring the Emerging Method In some ways, the Emerging Church has the greatest potential to embody the Church’s Sacred Roots . They already have a narrative view of the Scriptures and are willing to adopt pre-Reformation (and even ancient) practices. They are deeply committed to making Jesus central and living out his missional teachings in their lives together. Their openness to theological dialogue, and their appreciation of mystery, make them less defensive and entrenched than the Traditional and Pragmatic methods. Some Emergings are creating marvelous ways to express worship as “producers,” in contrast to the consumer-orientation of the Pragmatics. In fact, a number of Emerging churches may have already begun formation of an identity based on the Church’s Sacred Roots . 139 Utilitarian However, many Emergings will find it challenging to embrace these Sacred Roots since their commitment to ancient practices is more practical than theological. 140 There is an underlying individualistic streak in their worship experiments. At times, it appears that the individual’s expression is more important than what is pleasing to God. Further, the focus of Emerging church is so missional that they may overlook worship as a simple expression of appreciation for Jesus’ accomplishments. Gibbs and Bolger exposed Emergings’ utilitarianism when they said that spiritual activities are useful in providing spiritual stamina and sense of calling for mission. 141

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