Tim Keller on Emergent

From Paul Martin’s blog (TK = Tim Keller; JT = Justin Taylor):

TK: If you define evangelicalism in a John Stott kind of way, the seeker movement is inside evangelicalism. The emergent church is moving away from orthodoxy. In places like Yale, there is a post-liberal emphasis on the text that shows a distinction from old liberalism. This emergent group is really much like this group. Emergent will never really grow as they will not plant churches or build colleges. They may produce some writers… but that is probably about all.

JT: Is emergent growing?

TK: It is producing pundits, but not community and institutions.

This is for another day, but I think the legacy of the emerging church will not be to build more institutions but to do something that’s been ignored by the existing church, and eventually to influence existing institutions for better (and for worse). But more on that another time.

Wish I was at this conference – almost went with my friend Ken Davis from up the road.