Nine Core Practices of Emerging Churches

I was surfing the web and came across this list of values for the Emerging Church from Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger’s book Emerging Churches: Creating Community in Postmodern Cultures. I was struck by how well the matched with a lot of the things that we have talked about together in relation to our values for Via Christus. Perhaps these might be a good way of summarizing some of our ideas:

1. Identifying with Jesus (and his way of life)
2. Transforming secular space (overcoming the secular/sacred split)
3. Living as community (not strangers in proximity at a church service)
4. Welcoming the stranger (radical and gentle hospitality that is inclusive)
5. Serving with generosity (not serving the institution called “church,” but people)
6. Participating as producers (not widgets in the church program)
7. Creating as created beings
8. Leading as a body (beyond control and the CEO model of leadership)
9. Merging ancient and contemporary spiritualities

“Emerging churches destroy the Christendom idea that church is a place, a meeting or a time. Church is a way of life, a rhythm, a community, a movement.”