Published on
August 8, 2013
Gerardo Marti, professor of sociology at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, is fascinated by diversity and innovation as aspects of how the world is changing and how that affects churches today.

Gerardo Marti, professor of sociology at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, is fascinated by diversity and innovation as aspects of how the world is changing and how that affects churches today.

His first three books explored these themes in multicultural congregations. Marti’s fourth book explores what’s been called the emerging church or emergent Christianity. He co-authored The Deconstructed Church: The Religious Identity and Negotiated Practices of Emerging Christianity with U.K. sociologist Gladys Ganiel. Their book is due out from Oxford University Press in 2014.

In June 2013, Gerardo Marti gave an extended interview while he was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a Calvin College Summer Seminar, Los Protestantes: Latino Protestantism in the United States.

In this edited excerpt, he describes distinctive worship practices in emerging churches. One distinctive is openness, and The Deconstructed Church has an entire chapter on ‘faith as conversation.’

 

In this edited excerpt, Marti talks about diversity within the emerging church movement.

In this edited excerpt, he talks about how emerging churches help people remain within Christianity, rather than leave it altogether.

Learn more about Gerardo Marti’s book Worship Across the Racial Divide. He presents extensive research showing that there is no single style of worship or music that determines the likelihood of achieving a multiracial church.

Also in this Series

Gerardo Marti on Emerging Church Demographics

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