Disengagedandindistinct: The subcultural identity of the Emerging Church Movement

Abstract

Drawing on participant observation, pastor interviews, congregant focus groups, and the website content of an emerging congregation in Seattle, this article explores the ECM (Emerging Church Movement) as a religious subcultural movement utilizing Smith et al.’s (1998) subcultural identity theory. The study views the ECM movement as a unique religious subculture and locates it along the two dimensions of distinctiveness and engagement. The results of the field research indicate that the ECM as a subcultural religious movement is both disengaged from the dominant society and indistinct from other religious subcultures. The implications of these findings for the future directions of the movement are discussed.