December 10 - Conference on Emerging Christianity held at Texas Christian University

Christians emerging into an age of vast cultural change are exploring new ways to attract people disenchanted with the established ways of church life, speakers said at a conference this month.

"God is doing a new thing among us, whether we like it or not," said author Phyllis Tickle, who spoke at Emerging Christianity: New Ways of Thinking and Following Christ, held at Texas Christian University.

Tickle told about 450 Methodists, moderate Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Disciples of Christ that many churches are becoming revitalized by adopting new methods and returning to Jesus' basic message of loving God and other people and reaching out to the poor and disenfranchised. "Protestantism is not dying," Tickle said. "We ain't dead. We are just going through a new emergence of Christianity."

Speakers at the conference are identified with the sometimes controversial Emerging Church movement, which calls for new ways of worship and thinking about the Bible and theology. It champions accepting all people and practicing Jesus' teachings of helping the oppressed. Emerging churches also use new media technology, said Tony Jones, author of The New Christians: Dispatches From the Emergent Frontier. He conducted a pre-conference workshop on how church leaders can better use the Internet, including webcasts, Twitter and Facebook.

"We took out the pews and put in couches so we could see each other face to face," he said. "That doesn't mean we are not doing church." The conference, for most people, was a wake-up call to seek better ways to practice faith at their own churches.