"Why We're Not Emergent"

The Emerging Church is a growing trend in Western Evangelicalism and preys mainly on a younger generation. The their book, "Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be," authors Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck provide both a critique and a warning of the dangers of the movement. Each chapter is full of references to various Emergent leaders, especially Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Dan Kimball, and others.

The critique of the Emerging Church comes from major issues of Christian theology. One such subject is how the Emergents treat the Bible. They all love Scripture, but their approach is not orthodox. They love narrative and fear absolutes. Therefore, their interpretations of Scripture are skewed. They seek basic principles, rather than absolute doctrines. Their sermons are full of stories that inspired, rather than direct commandments from the Bible.

Perhaps the most insightful parts of the book come from their critique of specific books and authors in the movement. One such critique regards Rob Bell. Bell has written several best sellers and his form of Church government and theology are a bit off base. They review and critique his writings, namely, "Velvet Elvis," and shows were the implications of his arguments and writings veer off of clear Biblical truths.

The authors seek to do one thing: warn their readers of the dangers of this movement while at the same time draw them back to Biblical orthodoxy. The Emerging Church fails to be orthodox in virtually all areas of Christian theology. Therefore, though their goal in the movement might be commendable, the resulting product is not Biblical. As a result, we must strive to be relevant, but not at the cost of Biblical truth.

For those wanting an introduction on the Emerging Church, I highly recommend this book. So would men like Dr. Mohler, Dr. MacArthur, and others. It was at their conference, the Together For the Gospel Conference, that I received this book at their recommendation.