Donald Miller still loves God and Jesus. Don’t misunderstand him. His problem is with Christianity, at least how it’s often practiced. “It’s a dangerous term so I try to avoid it,” said Miller, who considered giving up his career as a Christian writer and leaving the church in 2003 because he couldn’t attend services without getting angry.

The movement has taken on a variety of labels — it’s called emergent, emerging, postmodern and missional, among other things — although these Christians resist being defined. Their numbers are difficult to estimate because they don’t focus on attendance, and their ideas about what church should be cover a wide spectrum.

The Emerging Church is defined as a broad swath of churches that attract younger Christians by tapping into a secular culture. The movement – which promotes alternative ways of attracting young people, including rock music and alcohol – makes traditional Christian leaders nervous.

Every month, dozens show up at the brewpub to drink beer and talk about issues ranging from racism in St. Louis to modern-art controversies to the debate about embryonic stem cell research. First-timers are invited to check out the church on Sunday, and Journey leaders say many have. Theology at the Bottleworks is just one of The Journey’s ministries, but it has helped the church grow from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today.

Lyndsay Moseley was no longer inspired by the evangelical Christian faith of her youth. As an environmental activist, she believed that it offered little spiritual support for her work and was overly focused on opposing abortion and gay marriage.

New Faithful Practice Away From Churches

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A recently developed way of envisioning church known as the "Emerging Church Movement" deals carelessly with Scripture and compromises the Gospel, according to a prominent evangelical scholar and a Southern Baptist seminary president.