When Dan Kimball began writing his book, The Emerging Church some eight years ago, the term “emerging” had a meaning completely different from how many would define it today.
The first to use the term in writing in the United States, Kimball “got into the whole emerging church world” because he wanted to see “lost” people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
In other words, it was all about evangelism.
“My entry into the emerging church world was because of the reality of the increasing amount of people who aren’t Christians and weren’t experiencing the joy of salvation and knowing Jesus in this life and the reality of eternal heaven and eternal hell in the life-to-come is a reality,” Kimball wrote in his blog last year.
In a recent interview with Leadership Network, the Vintage Faith Church pastor from Santa Cruz, Calif., recalled the energy and excitement in emerging church conversations nearly a decade ago when young pastors were trying to “rethink” church for younger generations.
“It was more initially focused on evangelism … with innovative thinking about what leadership then looks like for future generations, what … spiritual formations look like … and what worship gatherings look like for the next generations,” Kimball said on “The Show” last week. “It was much more evangelical churches desperate to see people know Jesus.”
Read the rest here,
Pursuing the Original Mission of the ‘Emerging Church’ | Christianpost.com.
