I think the emerging church is actually similar, in some respect, to the “Jesus Movement” that began in the sixties and early seventies.

The movement created some interesting groupings, like Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith and Resurrection band.

But it also created some rather strange groups, like The Children of God cult, The People’s temple cult, and the cult-like Christian Fellowship Ministries (under Wayman Mitchell).

You wouldn’t want to compare Calvary Chapel with the Jonestown massacre, but both arose out of that movement. I think I may be pre-empting things here a bit but I think the nature of the Emerging church will lead to some very strongly influential evangelical leaders of the future… as well as some bad cults.