“Those people are hurt and angry, and they have to express that, they have to process it and get through it. But that kind of hurt and anger can easily be toxic. It’s not easy to help people process that kind of stuff and not get stuck in it.

“That’s one of the real challenges I see when I travel. I see it in Britain, I felt it in Australia and New Zealand; it’s certainly an issue in the States.

“Another problem is that many people my age and older – I’m 50 this year – have watched their children and grandchildren completely leave the Church and the Christian faith, and these children and grandchildren need some way to reconnect with God.

“We’re grappling with these issues, and we’re not coming up with solutions fast enough. But it’s a little like pregnancy - it can’t be rushed.

“But one of the great challenges is that we can be preoccupied with the disaffected, and miss the challenge to connect also with people who are more unchurched than dechurched.

“That group of people is increasing rapidly across the West. There are more and more people two or three generations removed from any active Christian life.”

Mr. McLaren says there is equally the danger of something like this degenerating into a fad.

“I had an interesting conversation with three pastors from Palmerston North, and they said how discouraging it is to have a lot of these fads come in from the US, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon, goes to the conferences, spends the money, tries the programme and then there is this feeling after it is all over that it didn’t really change anything.

“And they made an insightful comment, that what New Zealand really needs is its own confidence that it doesn’t need to borrow something from somebody else, but that people here have the creativity to address their own context.

“This is one of the reasons I don’t like the term ‘emerging church’. That feeds into the idea that it’s an imported programme. The idea of a conversation that New Zealanders play an active role in, but a conversation that takes place increasingly globally, which is easier to do because of travel and the internet, is a much more hopeful way to see it.”

Among the strengths of the movement is a resurgence of interest in the arts that, Mr. McLaren says, is unprecedented in his lifetime.

“There’s also a real interest in spiritual formation that is not about easy answers but is about going deep. For example, in the US last month, we have been sponsoring what we call ‘theological conversations’ where we invite people to spend two days with a leading theologian, who does not have to prepare any lectures.

“Everyone who comes agrees to read two or three books pre-selected by this theologian and then we just have discussion for a couple of days. We opened this up for 100 people, and the spaces were filled within six hours. We kept expanding it, eventually to 300 people, and that filled up as well.