Matthew 16:13-19, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Peter Drucker: "Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation.... Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself--it's worldview; its basic values: its social and political structures; its arts; its key institutions. Fifty years later, there is a new world. And the people born then cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived.... We are currently living through just such a transformation. It is creating the post-capitalist society”.

My father and mother were born in the 1890s, before radio, television, automobiles, airplanes, telephones, computers, etc. Their world was not a great deal different from the world of the apostolic church in the first century, with the exception of the printing press and the steam engine. Since 1933, my birth year, I have also watched major changes in our world. This includes the world of religion in general and the world of evangelicalism in particular.

There is nothing wrong with changes in methodology, music, sophistication and structure in the 21st century church. There is something very wrong with changes which distort and pervert the church’s message, mission and vision. This is where I find myself at serious odds with the modern day emergent church.

WHAT IS THE EMERGENT CHURCH?
The emergent church, also called the emerging church, was allegedly created during the past decade because of frustration with dead and irrelevant evangelicalism. Very quickly, these new congregations and ministries have cropped up across the nation. They claim they have decided to modernize and re-create the church so as to be more attractive to the unchurched.

From the website of The Leadership Network, the headquarters of the Emergent Church movement, this is how they describe themselves.

History
“Emergent Village began as a group of friends who gathered under the auspices and generosity of Leadership Network <http://leadnet.org/>  in the late 1990s. We began meeting because many of us were disillusioned and disenfranchised by the conventional ecclesial institutions of the late 20th century. The more we met, the more we discovered that we held many of the same dreams for our lives, and for how our lives intersected with our growing understandings of the Kingdom of God.”

Friendship
“Above all, we became convinced that living into the Kingdom meant doing it together, as friends. Thus, we committed ourselves to lives of reconciliation and friendship, no matter our theological or historical differences. As time passed, others joined the friendship, and the friendship began generating things like books, events, websites, blogs, and cohorts.”

Organization
“By 2001, we had formed an organization around our friendship, known as Emergent, as a means of inviting more people into the conversation. Along with us, the “emerging church” movement has been growing, and we in Emergent Village endeavor to fund the theological imaginations and spiritual lives of all who consider themselves a part of this broader movement.”

Emerging Church <http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Emerging+Church>  groups have typically contained some or all of the following elements:

• Highly creative approaches to worship and spiritual reflection. This can be good when not taken to ridiculous extremes.
• This creativity can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films to very formal liturgy or other more ancient customs. ...
• A flexible approach to theology whereby individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason. This is the major chink in their armor as I will point out later.
• A more holistic approach to the role of the church in society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building or Christian outreach.
• A tendency to re-analyse the Bible against the context into which it was written.

WRONG FOUNDATION
As our text in Matthew 16 teaches us, when the church is founded upon human discontent, desire to improve what God has designed or any other basis than upon Jesus Christ and His Word, it is destined for corruption and failure. The emergent church, in a very few years, has already moved onto the slippery slope and every passing day and every new church plant magnifies that error.  

WHERE HAS THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TAKEN THEM THUS FAR?

MANY HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS BUT  WEAK BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING.
They had an interesting idea, but without Bible training many of them have no idea what they are preaching. They do not know theology, they do not know apologetics.

THEY DO NOT VALUE SOUND DOCTRINE AND THEOLOGICAL TRAINING.
Many of them have been to “conferences” that tell them HOW to do things. Very practical, but they do not know WHY they are doing them. No theology. Thus, they have a little bit of knowledge, but no wisdom.

THEY DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS NOVEL AND WHAT IS SINFUL.
Informal attire, different music tastes, praise and worship instead of hymn singing, etc., are not sinful. Cursing in the pulpit is heresy. Tony Jones, a leader in the emergent church, recently used the “F” word in a pulpit utterance. He said, “The Fxxxx Bible is scary to me”.  

SOME OF THE MAJOR LEADERS-
Chris Seay, Tony Jones, Dave Travis, Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, and Rob Bell.

PROFANITY AND VULGAR SPEECH
Emerging Church <http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Emerging+Church>  groups have decided that profanity and vulgar talk from the pulpit and elsewhere is becoming relevant to the culture and thus makes our message more attractive to sinners.

THE USE OF ALCOHOL
They have decided that the use of alcohol among believers is acceptable.

THEY DO NOT VALUE DOCTRINE AND THEOLOGY
They have decided that doctrine and theology are roadblocks to converting the lost. They make room for heretical doctrine among their churches and pastors. One of their leaders said that it is necessary for a believer to have knowingly received Jesus Christ to be saved. Many have become universalists… everyone will ultimately be saved.

THEY REJECT SALT MINISTRY
They make room for their members to be involved in diverse family forms… gay marriage. They take no stand on abortion. They urge their people not to be involved in confronting the culture. No political involvement.

RELEVANCE IS THE DRIVING AGENDA
I read a powerful statement by another critic of the emerging church. He said, "Have you noticed that a rush to relevance has become the driving agenda in most of these churches today? - Not preaching repentance, faith or obedience to God's Word - all the things that Jesus demanded of His followers - only a never-ending quest to be relevant to the culture - something the Lord never taught.... Unfortunately, when we bond with the enemies of Christ, we betray Him - having first tolerated, then accepted and ultimately embraced the unscriptural standards, ideals and agendas of those to which we have willingly yoked ourselves."  

THEY ARE GALVANIZING AS A DENOMINATION.  
While it is more of a loose movement today, the emergent church now has a headquarters and officials… thus heading toward the very thing they said they were created to oppose, denominationalism.The movement started with mission-minded pastors who wanted to try a casual approach to church growth, (casual dress, informality, more skeptically driven), and now, they are going headlong down the slippery slope.
Dr. James McDonald spoke my feelings when he said that “I resonate deeply with much of the criticism flowing from the emerging church against current Western Christianity, but I am deeply grieved to see the emergent remedies accepted so uncritically by those who feel gratified by the accuracy of their critiques.”

I realize many leaders of the new emerging church are sincere men with genuine concerns. But my measured commendation for some of these men does not translate into enthusiasm for their current emphasis and direction.

Dr. James McDonald, in a recent sermon, explained why he and Harvest Bible Chapel are not “emerging”.

1. Because observing the bad is not a credential for guiding us to the good.

2. Because God is looking for obedience to revealed truth, not just sincerity. In John 14:21 Jesus taught “he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” We are expected to obey our Master and to accept His Word without equivocation.

3. Because Christ’s is a kingdom of substance, not style. Candles and bells, paintings and sculpture, incense and chanting--great! Let’s bring back the best of all those offerings of worship, but let’s not confuse style and substance. According to Jesus it’s still truth that sets you free, not artistic expression. Wearing suits and ties is certainly not necessary and it can be contrived and unnatural, but wearing jeans and sandals is not a means to the revealed presence of Christ.

4. Because the answer is Jesus, not cultural analysis. In the past few years we have analyzed our culture ad nauseum. Cultures don’t come to Christ, individuals do and the fields are more ripe for harvest than ever before. Our endless discussion of culture has become just an elitist substitute for rolling up our sleeves and getting the Good News to the people who are hurting right now! Baby Boomer, GenX, Postmodern, etc.

5. Because Jesus is the purpose for the party, not the surprise hiding in the closet of respectability.

If you have not traveled to the places in our world where the Gospel of Christ is spreading like wildfire.

Why do so many of the emerging church websites speak of God/Father and less overtly or not at all about Jesus Christ the Lord? Dr. Vines told of a bad experience in one of these emerging churches. Claiming to be postmodern we are still marketing Jesus and hiding Him in the closet of respectability until we feel like people are ready to handle Him. Jesus can’t be handled and He doesn’t need spin doctors.

“Now hear this: the answer we desperately need is a fresh move of God. We need a renewed vision of God’s exalted, infinite holiness. We need an overwhelming sense of our own pride and personal sinfulness. We need our eyes lifted from the bankruptcy of cultural reflection to the crucified, risen, glorified Christ. There must be a returning to the centrality of the unadorned Gospel and the power of God’s Spirit to redeem, restore and rebuild broken lives. We need men and women on fire with passionate confidence in the power of God’s Word proclaimed; not because pagans say they want it, but because God promises to bless it. In short, what we need, what we desperately need is a renewing work of God that will cut a swath of revival across our land like a tornado across a Kansas wheat field.”