The Emergent Church and The Gospel
The Emergent Church: The Gospel of God (3) Mervyn Hall from Truth and Tidings magazine, December 2011 One of the most common criticisms directed at the Emergent Church concerns its handling of the Biblical gospel and, in particular, its tendency to promote the dangerous heresy of Universalism. In the words of one of its most popular advocates, Universalism is the belief that "in the end, all men will be gathered into the love of God" (Barclay, 1977). Although it has been presented in many guises throughout 2,000 years of church history, it has not been widely accepted. But due to its natural appeal to the sentimentality of human nature, it has never finally disappeared, experiencing strong resurgence in the liberal theology of the Pentecostal Latter Rain Movement (1940s & 50s) and, most recently, within the Emergent Church. Despite this assertion writers, such as Brian McLaren and Steve Chalke, have stayed sufficiently distant to av...