<P> Revisionists are theologically liberal, and openly question whether evangelical doctrine is appropriate for the postmodern world . They look to leaders such as Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt . </P> <P> Driscoll has subsequently identified a fourth stream, the house church movement, which he previously included under the Reconstructionist label . Driscoll and Scot McKnight have now voiced concerns over Brian McLaren and the "emergent thread ." Some evangelical leaders such as Shane Claiborne have also sought to distance themselves from the emerging church movement, its labels and the "emergent brand ." </P> <P> According to Mobsby the term "emerging church" was first used in 1970, when Larson and Osborne predicted a movement characterised by: contextual and experimental mission; new forms of church; the removal of barriers and division; a blend of evangelism and social action; attention to both experience and tradition; the breakdown of clergy / laity distinctions . The Catholic political theologian, Johann Baptist Metz, used the term emergent church in 1981 in a different context . Marcus Borg says: "The emerging paradigm has been visible for well over a hundred years . In the last twenty to thirty years, it has become a major grassroots movement among both laity and clergy in' mainline' or' old mainline' Protestant denominations ." He describes it as: "a way of seeing the Bible (and the Christian tradition as a whole) as historical, metaphorical, and sacramental, (and) a way of seeing the Christian life as relational and transformational ." </P> <P> The history of the emerging church that preceded the US Emergent organization began with Mike Riddell and Mark Pierson in New Zealand from 1989, and with a number of practitioners in the UK including Jonny Baker, Ian Mobsby, Kevin, Ana and Brian Draper, and Sue Wallace amongst others, from around 1992 . The influence of the Nine O'Clock Service has been ignored also, owing to its notoriety, yet much that was practised there was influential on early proponents of alternative worship . </P>

What is the emerging church movement in american christianity