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Copyright © 2013 Joe Randell Stewart All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction.

THE INFLUENCE OF NEWBIGIN’S MISSIOLOGY ON SELECTED
INNOVATORS AND EARLY ADOPTERS OF THE
EMERGING CHURCH PARADIGM
___________________

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

___________________ In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements of the Degree
Doctor of Education

___________________

by
Joe Randell Stewart
December 2013

APPROVAL SHEET

THE INFLUENCE OF NEWBIGIN’S MISSIOLOGY ON SELECTED
INNOVATORS AND EARLY ADOPTERS OF THE
EMERGING CHURCH PARADIGM

Joe Randell Stewart
Read and Approved by:
__________________________________________ Hal K. Pettegrew (Chair)

__________________________________________ Timothy P. Jones

Date ______________________________

I dedicate this dissertation to my loving wife, Nancy. I will always love you. Thanks for your constant encouragement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀ ꢂꢃꢀ

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Chapter

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
1. RESEARCH CONCERNꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀꢀ ꢄꢀ ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ

  • ꢀ Introduction to the Research Problem . . ꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀ
  • ꢅꢀ
  • ꢀ

ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Newbigin’s Influence on the Innovators and Early Adoptersꢀꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢆꢀ Newbigin’s Influence on the Missiology of the Emerging Churchꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢄꢇꢀ

The Scope of Newbigin’s Influenceꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢁꢀꢀꢀ ꢄꢆꢀ

ꢀ Selected Concepts of the Innovators and Early Adopters of the Emerging Church Paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

ꢀꢀ
ꢀꢀ
ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

The Pervasive Impact of Christendom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Communal Dimensions of Witness: The Church as a
Hermeneutic of the Gospel . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀ ꢀꢀ

The Church as Sign, Instrument, and Foretaste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
ꢀ Research Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Focus Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Delimitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

ivꢀ

  • Chapter
  • Page

Research Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Procedural Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

ꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀꢀ
ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

2. NEWBIGIN’S IDEA OF CHRISTENDOM’S CAPTIVITY
OF THE CHURCH IN THE WEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀ ꢁꢂ ꢃꢄꢀꢅꢆꢇꢆꢈꢉꢈꢊꢆꢀꢅꢋꢊꢂꢌꢄꢍꢄꢀꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢀꢀ ꢏꢐꢀ

ꢀ Epistemological Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Precursors of the Enlightenment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Speaking Truth to Caesar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ꢀ Newbigin’s Concept of Pluralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Types of Pluralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Dialogue with Other Faiths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Proper Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
ꢀ Evaluation of Newbigin’s Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
ꢀ ꢀ McLaren’s Postmodern Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

McLaren on Modernity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 McLaren and Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 McLaren and Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

ꢀꢀ
ꢀ

A Multi-Faith World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

  • ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ
  • ꢑ ꢒꢇꢓꢈꢊꢀꢇꢊꢔꢀꢆꢕꢈꢀꢖꢍꢊꢗꢔꢂꢉꢀꢂꢘꢀꢙꢂꢔꢀꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢎꢀꢀ ꢚꢛꢛꢀ

Newbigin and the Kingdom of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103ꢀ

ꢀ

ꢀ ꢀꢀDissecting Truth and Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

ꢀꢀ

vꢀ

  • Chapter
  • Page

ꢀꢀ

3. NEWBIGIN’S VIEW ON THE COMMUNAL DIMENSION OF
MISSION AS A HERMENEUTIC OF THE GOSPEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

ꢀ ꢀ Focus Statement Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀThe Communal Nature of Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Hermeneutic of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Radical Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Principalities, Powers, and People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
ꢀ ꢀ Missio Dei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

The Scandal of Particularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Trinitarian Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 The Nature of the Biblical Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
ꢀ ꢀ Evaluation of Newbigin’s Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 ꢀ ꢀ Tony Jones: Relational Ecclesiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Confessionalism and Contextualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Navigating Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Navigating Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
ꢀ ꢀ ꢁꢂe Church Reimagined – Doug Pagitt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151ꢀ

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀ

ꢃꢄꢅꢅunity in the Inventive Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153ꢀ Scripture in the Inventive Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Heaven on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

ꢀ

Evaluation of Pagitt and Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 viꢀ

  • Chapter
  • Page

ꢀꢀꢀ

4. THE CHURCH AS SIGN, INSTRUMENT, AND FORETASTE . . . . . . . . 163 ꢀ ꢀ Focus Statement Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 ꢀ ꢀ Triangular Movement of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Contextual Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Sign, Instrument, and Foretaste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
ꢀ ꢀ Evaluation of Contextualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 ꢀ ꢀ Mark Driscoll and Reformission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Reformission Without Ruin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Contextualization in Reformission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

ꢀ

Dan Kimball’s Vintage Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ Kimball’s Missional Motif . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
A Holistic Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

ꢀ

ꢀ ꢀꢀꢀEvaluating Driscoll and Kimball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 5. CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 ꢀ ꢀ Newbigin and the Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

ꢀꢀꢀ

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ Christendom, Culture, and the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

ꢀꢀ

ꢀ ꢀMissiological Corrections in Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

ꢀ ꢀꢁꢂꢃꢀꢄꢅꢃꢆꢇꢈꢉꢇꢀꢊꢂꢋꢆꢌꢂꢀꢍꢉ ꢀꢎꢋꢏꢐꢈꢌꢀꢁꢆꢋꢑꢂꢀꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢒꢀꢀ ꢓꢓꢔꢀ
ꢀꢀꢀ

ꢀ ꢀ Community, Mission and a Reciprocal Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

Mission in Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Neglected Notes in Evangelical Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

  • ꢀ
  • ꢀ ꢀ ꢀ

viiꢀ

Page

ꢀꢀꢀ

ꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢀ Challenging Relevance in Contextual Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

ꢀ ꢀ

Reaching a Pagan World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 A Missionary Encounter in the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀPractices and Prospects of the Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 ꢀ ꢀ ꢀꢀ Practices of the Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 ꢀ ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀThe Prospects of the Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

ꢀꢀ

  • ꢀ
  • ꢀ

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ ꢀ ꢀ Some Personal Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 REFERENCE LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ
ꢀ
ꢀ

viiiꢀ

ꢀ

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

  • CSI
  • Church of South India

CASA Christian Agency for Social Action CWME Committee on World Mission and Evangelism (WCC) EACC East Asia Christian Conference

  • GOC
  • Gospel and our Culture (Britain)

GOCN Gospel and our Culture Network (North America)

IBMR

IMC

IRM
International Bulletin of Missionary Research

International Missionary Council

International Review of Mission(s)

Southern Baptist Convention Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Student Christian Movement South India United Church
SBC SBTS SCM SIUC

  • TEF
  • Theological Education Fund

USA WCC YLN
United States of America World Council of Churches Young Leader’s Network

ixꢀ

LIST OF TABLES

  • Table
  • Page

ꢀ

1. Models of contextual theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 2. Kimball’s Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

ꢀ
ꢀ
ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ

xꢀ

ꢀ

LIST OF FIGURES

  • Figure
  • Page

ꢀꢀꢀ

1. Lesslie Newbigin’s triangular movement of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2. Three streams of the spectrum within the
Emerging Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

3. Driscoll’s missional miscues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

ꢀ
ꢀꢀ

ꢀꢀ
ꢀ
ꢀ

ꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀꢀ

xiꢀ

ꢀ

PREFACE
Such an endeavor as a dissertation requires the aid and help of a myriad of individuals. Hal Pettegrew, my supervising professor, was a constant source of encouragement, wise insight, and challenge. Professors Timothy Jones and Michael Wilder added valuable insights and encouragement as well. John Hogan was an indispensible source of grammatical and structural advice. My dad and mom played a significant role by providing a place of refuge and support.
A host of others have provided constant support. The congregation of Sabino
Road Baptist Church, Tucson, Arizona, are a body of believers that continually and constantly support their pastor. Their prayer cover and faithful service of the Lord made it possible for this research to occur. I wish they knew how often their well-spoken words of encouragement were just what were needed at an opportune time. The cohort that traveled this journey with me spurred me on, and I will never forget their feedback and encouragement.
No words can express the debt of gratitude I owe my wife, Nancy, for her constant support and loving affirmation during this process. During times of intense spiritual warfare, she was always on her knees in support of this joint endeavor. Thirtytwo years of marriage and a multitude of ministry challenges have never dimmed her view of the loving grace of God. I look forward to the journeys we will share in the future.

xiiꢀ

Finally, I continue to relish the fact that Jesus Christ has fully forgiven and redeemed my soul. Jesus is my very reason for living and the head of the church I love with my whole heart. His power and presence is the source of any goodness or merit I have in my life. He deserves our ultimate allegiance and all praise for everything.

Joe R. Stewart
Tucson, Arizona December 2013

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xiiiꢀ

CHAPTER 1
RESEARCH CONCERN

Is the church out of touch? Extensive objective research by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons of the Barna Group discovered that among eighteen to forty-year-olds, the buster and millennial generation, that Christianity has an image problem. The research of the duo shows that for many of those outside Christianity, especially among younger adults, that there are significant attitudinal barriers in place that hinder the willingness of this generation to commit their lives to Jesus Christ (Kinnaman and Lyons 2007, 11). The premise of the research is “the nation’s population is increasingly resistant to Christianity, especially to the theologically conservative expressions of the faith” (Kinnaman and Lyons 2007, 39). The empirical research shows that outsiders view Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical, homophobic, too political and shelteredharsh words that are particularly challenging to theologically conservative Christians and are in all probability a caricature and misrepresentation of the perception of devoted Christians. The image, however, persists.
Such images led to the birth of a protest movement among Christians known as the emerging church. Much of the literature among emerging church proponents has stressed the movement’s deep dissatisfaction with the traditional church (Yaconelli 2003). Gibbs and Bolger have written a book length treatment of the phenomenon that surfaced from their academic research of the emerging church paradigm (Gibbs and Bolger 2005). After hundreds of interviews Gibbs and Bolger found that agitation was a

1

common theme as the task of the emerging churches was one of “dismantling first and then . . . rebuilding” (Gibbs and Bolger 2005, 28). A plethora of conversations, books, seminars, and conventions engaged the conversation throughout the beginnings of the movement and characterized it as dissent against the status quo. The protest centered around an examination of the negative legacy of Christendom and Enlightenment rationalism, an emphasis on the collective witness of the church in the kingdom of God as a corrective against what was framed as individualistic formulations of salvation, and the importance of a critical stance toward culture as the church engages society as salt and light (Goheen 2000, 245).
Different assessments have reached different conclusions about the validity and the viability of the emerging church paradigm. Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger’s work

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures stated that

one of their aims was to “dispel the myths that the emerging church is simply a passing fad . . . or a new improved brand of marketing strategy” (Gibbs and Bolger 2005, 28).

D. A. Carson in his critique of the movement, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging

Church, highlighted the “astonishing broad influence” the movement gained in a short time period (Carson 2005, 9). Phyllis Tickle, in her work Emergence Christianity, states, “What has happened in our lifetime seems to be more than just another semi-millennial shift. It seems akin to the Great Transformation of two thousand years ago” (Tickle 2012 209). Andrew Jones, a leader of the emerging church movement, marked 2009 as the year “when the emerging church suddenly and decisively ceased to be a radical and controversial movement in global Christianity . . . the movement has already been adopted, adapted, or made redundant through the traditional church catching up or

2

duplicating EC efforts” (Jones 2010; http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com). John

MacArthur suggested that “the so-called Emergent Church is now in a state of serious disarray and decline. Some have suggested it’s totally dead” (MacArthur 2011,

http://gty.org). The research will demonstrate that many proponents of the emerging church paradigm in its early manifestations no longer want the label (Smith 2010, 59). The baggage of theological liberalism that is now associated with the emerging church and especially the “Emergent” moniker led many proponents to embrace other terms such as missional.
The question concerning the continuing impact of the emerging church does not diminish the impact of the purpose of this dissertation. This dissertation examines and explores the influence of Lesslie Newbigin on selected innovators and early adopters of the emerging church paradigm. Lesslie Newbigin’s work as a missionary in India and his retirement in England created a central question that resonates with advocates of the emerging church paradigm and other missiologists (Newbigin 1989b, 15). The question concerned how the church might relate the gospel to a society that was as resistant and pervasive as the comprehensive story assumed in much of modern Western culture. Newbigin’s contention was “the basic story assumed in much of modern Western culture is humanistic and has its roots in the European Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries” (Bartholomew and Goheen 2004, 19). Newbigin adamantly maintained that such a posture maintained by the Enlightenment epistemology was unhelpful and untrue from the context of the other comprehensive story to which he was committed-the Bible. This clash of stories creates the context for Newbigin’s work that

3

entails a more critical stance towards Western culture and a reframing of the church through a cohesive and collective witness in the kingdom of God.
This reframing or refreshing of the church created the ecclesiological and missiological phenomenon known as the emerging church. Extant research focuses on Newbigin’s work in relation to missiology and theological influence (Stults 2008; Goheen 2000; Wainwright 2000; Hunsberger 1987; Thomas 1996; Veldhorst 1989). There is anecdotal evidence of his influence on the movement known as the emerging church (McLaren 2004a, 64, 110; Pettegrew 2006, 174-75). The study discusses the implications, applications, and limitations of Newbigin’s influence on the emerging church paradigm in the current climate in the United States. This study attempts to identify the connection, if any, between Newbigin and selected seminal authors while noting nuanced and significant differences.

Introduction to the Research Problem

The emerging church necessitates much examination from both a scholarly and practical viewpoint. Almost every emerging church researcher in the early twentieth century began with the same theme: the culture is in the midst of rapid, extensive transformation at every level (Conder 2006, 12; Fullan 2006; Gibbs and Bolger 2005, 8; Hersey 2001, 377; Hirsch 2006, 247; Kotter 1996, 3, 161). The impetus for this type of change is often described in theological terms:
North American culture is . . . moving through a period of a highly volatile, discontinuous change. This kind of change is a paradigm of change not experienced in all points in history, but it has become our norm. It is present and pervasive during those periods of history marked by events that transform societies and cultures forever. Such periods can be seen in events like that of the Exodus, where God forms Israel as a people, or the advent of the printing press, which placed the Bible into the hands of ordinary people and led to the transformation not just of the church but the very imagination of the European mind, or the ascendance of the new

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