The Emerging Church: Religion at the Margins

Abstract

Can an organization avoid implementing the practices and belief systems that dominate its field and continue to thrive? This is the central question of Josh Packard's The Emerging Church, an interview-based study of what he refers to as the Emerging Church movement. Packard draws on 59 in-depth interviews and participant observation within six congregations to identify practices within the “anti-institutional Emerging Church” that allow congregations to resist and avoid institutional pressures. The key argument is that while organizational theory predicts that successful organizations conform to influential organizational players in the field, the Emerging Church thrives by “resisting institutional pressures and occupying an intentionally unstable position at the margins of the religious landscape” (137). Packard describes the Emerging Church movement as the one with no distinct leader, vision, or mission. Operating in the evangelical Protestant tradition, the book cites evidence that suggests there are over 300 congregations that identify with the movement. What do Emerging Church congregants have in common? They share a commitment to living in an “unsettled time,” constantly questioning their congregation's activities and biblically justifying that questioning. They refuse to define the movement's central goals or nail down an ideology or belief system. They want religious professionals around, but they resist giving professionals too many opportunities to institute their seminary training. They insist that activities are initiated by congregants, maintained without interference from church staff, and are allowed to dissolve when interest among congregants lags.