The “Emergent” Church – a Primer

From the Winston-Salem Journal, here’s an introduction to the so-called emergent-church movement, by evangelist Tony Campolo.  (Hat tip to Maggi Dawn).  I was curious about this phenomenon but had seen only brief cryptic references to it.  According to Campolo, the movement:

• is basically evangelical in belief;
• rejects most of the trappings and bureaucracy of the institutional church;
• doesn’t spend money on buildings;
• is basically grass-roots congregational in its governance model;
• focuses on specific programs such as feeding the homeless, tutoring disadvantaged children, etc., in which members can be personally involved with the people they serve;
• can be fairly formal in liturgical style and often shy away from "contemporary" worship music;
• often think that the church has better things to do than arguing about issues such as homosexual marriage;
• tend to reject exclusivist claims that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

The article’s author concludes: 

But there is no question that [the emergent-church movement] is attracting many sophisticated Christians who contend that traditional mainline churches are devoid of vitality and mega-churches are irrelevantly narrow.