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Title: The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations
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Manufacturer: Zondervan
List Price: $16.99
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| Customer Reviews: |
| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan Good read |
Most of my commentary on this text would simply echo the pros and cons of the other reviews.
It is a general intro. to the praxis of emergent ecclesiology.
The book was most helpful for me in laying out how other churches are doing the emerging thing.
The book was least helpful in Rick Warren's defensive and sometimes critical sidebar blurbs - the other voices and perspectives were interesting and welcome, but Warren's were a bit more jarring and dissonant. If I want a Rick Warren book, I'll pick up a Warren book. Despite Warren's denial of the fact in the Foreward he wrote for this text, his ministry is modern and aimed at boomer moderns - why was he included in this text by Kimball? |
| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan So close to being a great book... |
This is quite a challenging book for any traditional pastor. In fact, I think the material presented within would be quite challenging even for pastors of more modern churches. But challenging in a good way. I would encourage every pastor to read this and work through the material within, but maybe read a book like Stott's Cross of Christ or Noel Due's Created for Worship first to get your priorities straight.
The need for having a firm Biblical foundation before reading this book is great because though the ideas and concepts are quite engaging and exciting, some of them can be easily carried out in excess and without the proper motivation, setting, and emphasis.
Kimball also has a habit of generalizing and stereotyping which sound convincing but aren't necessarily true. In addition to that, his criticism of the Seeker movement is rather passionate, but in the end his model is very similar, for it is also focused (on one level) at attracting people to church, though since this attraction is played out in a postmodern setting it looks, feels and behaves quite differently than the modern Seeker movement.
What I think is good about this book (as I thought the same about his corresponding Emerging Worship) is that Kimball raises issues and difficulties facing the church at present. These issues must be dealt with, but not necessarily the way Kimball demands they be. The primary problem with his solutions is that not every church is in California, and nor are all the high school and college age church members completely up to their heads in postmodern thought. Pastors and ministry leaders should read this book not because it has all the answers, but they need to see if the issues are relevant to their body of believers as well as if any of the solutions proffered by Kimbal might be able to minister to their people in their respective settings. |
| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan Not a Postmodern church |
Dan Kimball's book is not a Postmodern take on the modern church, but simply a new formula for the seeker-sensitive church to adopt. Dismissing any problems with the "seeker" way of carrying out the Great Commission, he sees it time to simply change the game plan. Unfortunately academic terminology is used to "dress-up" his view as he changes the meanings to respected words such as "postmodern" and "deconstruction". Dan Kimball's book is not propaganda; it just uses the same techniques.
Kimball uses the term "deconstructing" to describe the part of the book where he highlights the problems with the modern church (the book only addresses seeker-sensitive style church). Although "deconstruction" is an actual word, its meaning varies. As a philosophical term, it is very difficult to define. Kimball seems to use this word with authority, but also confuses the word with the term "destruction". Kimball fails to recognize the difference between the two.
This would also bring to light the second part of the book "Reconstructing". He puts the philosophy that he just destructed back together. His idea is to put it back together in a different way that would make more sense. But since he never fully "deconstructed" the idea, he puts his idea of church together the same way in a different form. An example would be building a house of cards, watching it fall, and then building it again in a different form, yet never replacing the cards with sturdier materials.
The seeker-sensitive church model comes from a Modernist way of thinking. A Postmodern view on the seeker-sensitive church would not be a good one. Although some would say the truth hurts, and is necessary for growth, some are blinded to it. Kimball also demonstrates one's inability to remove oneself to get a complete view (Kimball doesn't mention any styles or beliefs other than the seeker, whether they suffer from the same issues or not).
Maybe it is not formulas that the seeker-sensitive movement is using, but the fact that they are using formulas at all that is causing the problem.
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| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan All church leaders need to be more sensitive to this movement. |
| In my role of church leadership, the missing 18-35 age group has been a major concern. I can also identify with this mindset because I'm a Gen-Xer too. I do also agree that this approach to worship gatherings cannot just be thrust upon an established congregation, especially in the South. It is nice to realize that in the South we usually get these things last, so reading this book gave me a "heads up" on how young people are progressing around us. I think that what I have learned from this book will be useful in the years to come. |
| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan The church the way it should be, excellent emergent discussion!! |
| This is a great book I totally recommend. Dan Kimball is clearly making the point by setting the vision of what the church was designed to be in the first place: a living community of missional disciples instead of a group of people meeting in a club while getting some well served religious cookies. I totally agree with these practical thoughts about church and christianity, they are radically new still well grounded in the good traditions of the early church, without the prideful tones of those wanting to make a revolution for the sake of it. Dan is a great leader who is going to make a big difference envisioning many of us "born-again christians" to be open enough to creatively change our mindset on what the church should be, on the real impact we're having outside the church walls and our role in all of it. This is a relevant & urgent call, we need to seriously pay attention to him! Read also his new book They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations |
| The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Zondervan Product Description |
| Churches are noticing less and less emerging generations in their midst. The Emerging Church, winner of the 2004 Christianity Today Book Award, explores the cultural changes impacting churches and offers practical advice of how they can creatively reach emerging generations. Some of the "spiritual" things that were removed from churches are the very things that post-Christian generations are connecting with and find attractive in a church. |
