The most common question I get from people is along the lines of ‘so what will your church look like’? Its a very tricky one, because I don’t know for sure.

If we believe that church forms up out of mission then we will have to wait… It doesn’t mean I have no idea and don’t want to act on what I do know – I have lots of ideas! But ultimately I am keen to make sure our missional engagement shapes our church forms and not the other way round.

In reading Mike & Alan’s book watch off the map in divx they give four characteristics of the emerging church as they see them:

1. Missional – genuinely getting back to being missionaries in our own backyards.

2. Incarnational – engaging with the world rather than separate from.

3. Messianic – seeing a whole of life spirituality rather than a sacred / secular dualism.

4. Apostolic – a new leadership structure that embodies the essence of the five fold giftings in Eph 4.

That’s a very brief summary of a pretty intense book, but I reckon its probably not far of the mark. They all sound fairly harmless in themselves, but the practical implications will rock the church to its core if we actually take them seriously and act on them.

I am almost finished the book and I’d reccomend it to anyone who wants to go beyond the basics in thinking through these questions.