The post-evangelical emerging church : innovations in New Zealand and the UK.

Abstract

This article explores new religious groups who build a distinctive vision of the ‘emerging church’ by drawing from a post-evangelical perspective. Specifically, we explore the ways in which two groups (a Baptist church in Auckland, New Zealand, and a group attached to a Church of England parish in York, UK) re-imagine church and reflexively reconfigure ideas of Christian religion, in light of their embrace of a ‘post-modern’ view of the world. Throughout, the focus remains on the question of how religious groups, which self-consciously embrace a post-modern worldview – emphasising detraditionalisation and individualism – sustain durable Christian communities.