My Journey in and Out of The Emergent Church
Lesson Overview
My Journey in and Out of the Emergent Church with Jason Carlson
This standalone message is given by Jason Carlson of Christian Ministries International (son of Dr. Ron Carlson), who spent about eight years involved in the emergent church movement before leaving it. Drawing on that firsthand experience and years of studying its leaders, he offers an overview and critique: he argues that the emergent church, in trying to reach a postmodern culture, ended up absorbing the harmful elements of postmodern thought and drifting from biblical Christianity. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video. This is a critique of a movement from a conservative evangelical standpoint; see the note for students.
What Is the Emergent Church?
Carlson explains that the emergent church is a growing movement that arose from a genuine and good desire to bring Christianity to postmodern culture, an aim he affirms. His concern, and the reason he left, is that the movement absorbed the very cultural assumptions it set out to transform. He frames his whole talk with 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “test all things and hold fast to what is good,” arguing that this applies even to movements that come in the name of Jesus. To evaluate the emergent church, he says, you must first understand postmodernism, to which it is “linked at the hip.”
Background: Modernity and Postmodernism
He gives a brief history. Modernity was the humanist outlook that grew from the Enlightenment, holding that human reason alone could discover all truth and build a perfect world without God. Its failures (world wars, the Depression, the nuclear arms race, and more) produced postmodernism, a loss of confidence in that optimism. Postmodernism especially shapes younger generations, and it is the soil from which the emergent church grew.
To illustrate postmodern thinking, Carlson reads a letter from a childhood friend, “Ryan,” who studied philosophy and came to believe that all religions are equally valid perspectives on God, that claiming exclusive truth is arrogant, and that tolerance means never trying to convert or correct anyone. Carlson suggests most listeners have met someone who talks like Ryan.
Five Characteristics of Postmodern Thought
The core of the talk is five features of postmodernism that Carlson argues have infiltrated the emergent church.
The social construction of reality. Postmodernism holds there is no objective truth existing independently of us; truth is constructed by societies and imposed on reality, so personal experience, not truth, defines what is real.
Truth is relative. If truth is constructed, it becomes subjective (“true for you, true for me”). Carlson’s memorable illustration is “truth is ice cream.” Choosing ice cream is a matter of personal preference with no wrong answer, but choosing medicine for a disease is not: you must take what actually heals, whether you like it or not. He argues the postmodern world treats God, religion, and morality like ice cream (preference) when they are really like insulin (truth), and that the emergent church, quoting the emergent author Dave Tomlinson, has embraced the relative view. He cites George Barna’s finding that relativism grew faster among Christians than non-Christians, and sets against it 2 Timothy 3:16, that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable.
The deconstruction of traditional worldviews. Postmodernism treats the great “modern” worldviews (including Christianity) as sources of oppression and elevates previously marginalized cultures and religions, fueling interest in non-traditional spiritualities such as Wicca and Eastern mysticism.
Religious truth moving from the rational to the mystical. As objective truth is devalued, people seek mystical experiences. Carlson argues the emergent church downplays Bible teaching in favor of practices like contemplative prayer, prayer labyrinths, praying with icons, yoga, and meditation, which he regards as rooted in non-Christian sources rather than Scripture. He grounds his concern in warnings against pagan practice (Deuteronomy 18, Joshua 23, 1 Corinthians 10:14-21) and argues every spiritual practice must be tested against Scripture. (This is a contested claim; see the note.)
Uncritical tolerance as the highest value. In postmodern thought, since there is no objective truth, no one may criticize another’s beliefs or lifestyle, and the worst possible label becomes “intolerant.” Carlson argues the emergent church has absorbed this, becoming unwilling to name error even where it believes Scripture is clear.
Carlson’s Main Examples
Under this last point, Carlson gives two examples of what he calls the emergent church’s failure to speak clearly. First, he criticizes the prominent emergent leader Brian McLaren for proposing (in 2006) a five-year moratorium on the church making pronouncements about homosexuality; Carlson argues that the traditional biblical position is clear and cites Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:24-28, while also stating that Christians are called to love people. Second, he recounts an emergent pastor who, in a debate, would not clearly identify the doctrinal errors of Mormonism, which Carlson calls a “quasi-universalistic” reluctance to distinguish truth from error. Both are his examples of tolerance overriding conviction. (These are contested positions within a live intra-Christian debate; see the note.)
The Closing Charge
Carlson closes with Jude 3, the call to “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” saying he takes no pleasure in critiquing former friends but believes the church must stand against error even when it comes from within. His final encouragement is personal: what brought him out of the emergent church, he says, was the godly influence of his parents and grandparents, who raised him in the Word and equipped him with a biblical worldview (he mentions materials by Josh McDowell, David Noebel, David Barton, and Ken Ham). He urges parents to invest in their children’s faith and students to take their worldview training seriously.
Key Terms
The emergent church: the movement Carlson critiques for adapting Christianity to postmodern culture.
Modernity and the Enlightenment: the earlier humanist confidence in reason that postmodernism reacted against.
Social construction of reality: the postmodern idea that truth is made by societies rather than discovered.
Truth is ice cream versus insulin: Carlson’s image contrasting preference with truth that must be accepted.
Deconstruction: the postmodern suspicion of traditional, all-encompassing worldviews.
Uncritical tolerance: the postmodern elevation of tolerance to the highest value, which Carlson critiques.
Verses to Know
1 Thessalonians 5:21, test all things and hold fast to what is good. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. Jude 3, contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. 1 Corinthians 10:14, flee from idolatry. Deuteronomy 18:9-13, do not imitate the detestable practices of the nations.
Takeaway
Carlson argues that the emergent church, seeking to reach a postmodern world, absorbed postmodernism’s assumptions, that truth is constructed, relative, mystical, and never to be judged, and so drifted from biblical Christianity, and that the remedy is to test everything against Scripture and contend for the faith, grounding the next generation in a solid biblical worldview.