At the same time this year we have seen "survey" books on the left with Christianity for the Rest of Us, and A New Spiritual Home, (see posts below), there is another one surveying emergent/organic churches from a more (for the most part) orthodox evangelical position. It is "Inside The Organic Church: Learning from 12 emerging congregations" by Bob Whitesell (Abingdon, 2006).
I will be blogging in coming days more in depth to compare it with Diana Bass' and Hal Taussig's books (main premise is that each side in the emerging and changing church world can learn from one another), but let me at least mention the 12 churches and you can check them out too. Except for theology, my own church planting experience and interest lies more closely with the experiences reflected in Whitesell's book than the other two, which are more geared to already established churches, but there are good things to gain from all. If only....
The Twelve:
St. Thomas' Church, Sheffield, England. www.sttoms.net and www.tribalgeneration.com
The Sol Cafe, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. www.thesolcafe.com
Mars Hill, Grandville, Michigan, www.mhbcmi.org
The Bridge, Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Arizona, www.thebridgewebsite.com and www.riovistacenter.com
Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, Calif., www.vintagechurch.org
Freeway, Baton Rouge, LA, www.freewaybr.com
Church of the Apostles, Seattle, WA, www.apostleschurch.org www.emergingchurch.org www.fremontabbey.org
One Place, Phoenix, AZ, www.oneplacechurch.com
Scum of the Earth Church, Denver, CO, www.scumoftheearth.net
Bluer, Minneapolis, MN, www.bluer.org and www.creativechurch.org
Tribe of Los Angeles, www.tribela.com
Solomon's Porch, Minneapolis, MN, www.solomonsporch.com
I will blog more in depth coming up soon on this book's findings, and comparing them to surveys of recent progressive Christian churches.
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