Postmodernism. You know?

Hello Reader,

 Recently, I watched a few vids that the Rabbi posted online. They were about a relatively new movement within the church, which is loosely defined as "emergent" church movement. This movement has grown rapidly since the mid-20th century, and has an extreme appeal to a post-modernist culture. In this article, I'll attempt to debunk a few myths about the movement, as well as provide clarity as to how a Christian should handle it.
 Funny thing, though-- the majority of Emergent churches don't even want to be labeled! They prefer to maintain their own anonymity. Some members call themselves "post-modernists," "post-evangelicals," or even "post-protestant." It's difficult actually define the emergent movement-- the best I can really do is describe their people, practices, and philosophy.
 The members of these churches tend to be young and outgoing. They are sick and tired of pews and traditional church methods.They dislike the idea of the spiritual authority that resides in the church-- instead, they decide everything together as one community, without any specific leaders who want to decide everything for the congregation. They want to be heard, and their "sermons" are really just large group discussions about spirituality. They sit on couches, and a discussion leader sits in the center of the auditorium to act as a moderator. Their worship services are very sensory related, and include dj's who mix tracks in order to provide the right "atmosphere" of worship. Some even include ancient practices of worship, which include walking through labyrinths. They tend to mix different worship techniques of different Christian branches-- most notably, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
This is mostly fine-- at least it attracts the modern world to some form of Christianity... right? Well, not necessarily. Unfortunately, This influential movement puts little to no emphasis on the authority of scripture. They don't tend to accept anything as absolute truth, due to the post-modern nature of their views. As D.A Carson, a theologian from Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Illinois, believes, once people remove the authority of truth and scripture, they risk losing a correct view of God.
 Christians need to respond to this movement. The only question is, how do we do this? First, I believe we need to consider their arguments, and make sure that we are not guilty of any of their accusations. They claim that the church is too controlling-- is it? Do we put more authority into the church than in scripture? The truth is, some churches do exactly that. We need to avoid this by looking to God as our ultimate authority, and  be willing to correct the church's views on certain subjects if they dont align with scripture. They also say that our forms of worship are not convicting enough. They say that they don't really feel God's presence in the church during worship services. In response, we need to be certain that our worship services are filled with God-honoring songs that don't put the congregation to sleep. We need to lead people in worship with hearts that are pure before Lord, as well as being excited to be near Him in his throne room. Others claim that we don't allow people to speak for themselves, or ask questions. We need to make certain that we have places like small groups and bible studies where no-one needs to be afraid that their thoughts will be rejected.
 On the other hand, we cannot reject the supreme authority of God and His Word. While we should allow questions to be asked, we must not speak without authority of scripture as the basis for our thoughts. We must not change the clear meaning of the Bible and allow truth  to be twisted. Overall, we must put God's desires first when encountering one of these churches-- as we should in all situations.