continuing on the work of Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger.


I've heard many say things like: Oh, it will be a differant thing than candles and rock music for the next generation." Interesting findings from the section on "Is the Emerging Church about generaltional approaches to church life?" In the mid 90s there was a shift for some from specific strategies for generations. There was a confernce for Gen-X minsitry put on by Young Leaders Network (YLN). they found that it wasn't standard "angst" from that generation. It was basic philisophical between ministry and culture. The conversations to follow eventually birthed the organization Emergent. Here's a quote from Todd Hunter [Yorba Linda, CA] "My big 'aha' moment was when it hit me: Everything I know about church is aboug Christendom and modernity and the baby boom, and all three of these are going away. These were the three eggs in my basket. So the issues were much deeper than adjusting services for Gen-X" (32).

On pages 33-39 there is an inderesting segmant on labels. First and formost in the postmodern world we don't know what's coming next. It's just post. It's after... what's next? Good question. Andrew Jones of Boaz in the UK has some good thoughts on it. "The goal is for us to put away lable tha excluede, to become more like Jesus and less evangelical, or become more like Jesus and less Protestent. Labels adn terms will always com bcakd to bite us." This quote from page 39 may hit home for some. "From a postmodern perspective, the ultimate question is , Why is it important to label oneself as evangelical? Aren't labels simply aritficial divisions that make us feel safe or help us exert control? Why not mine the riches of many traditions? What is obvious is that the ecclesiastical or theological label on decided to wear is of far less a concern to emerging churhes than how one relates to the gospel and culture."