Emergent Is...pt.3

Emergent is a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders. (Read more from the source here.)

Today's topic is the word "generative."  This is what emergentvillage has to say:

The growing friendship that constitutes emergent is more than a matter of valuable interpersonal relationships. This friendship is intended to be generative: to generate new thinking, new art, new dreams, new conversations, new discoveries, new action – in many places and forms, among many people inside of emergent and beyond.

Well, well!  I could have saved some time yesterday if I had read ahead a little bit!  This desire to be generative is something I really value about Emergent.  Does this mean people will be criticized if they're not doing something new all the time?  I hope not.  None of us want that.  We do live in a culture of change, however, and should probably expect change to be more a part of our lives.

There are many who want to plant new churches and start new services in order to reach out to "postmoderns."  This is not, from my experience, what Emergent is all about.  The people who are a part of what we might call "emerging churches" are simply trying to express who they are in Christ.  They are postmodern and they are living that out in everything they do, including in their churches.

I suspect some Emergent fellows may resist being labelled postmodern for various reasons, but this is what they are in my estimation.  One must keep in mind, however, that postmodernism is a complex phenomenon (I struggled to figure out what word to use there).  Too many people either oversimplify it or just dismiss it as a fad.

Getting back to the statement above, this is the kind of fellowship that I hope will prove to be very valuable to me.  To have friends who push you to change, to grow, to think new thoughts and do new things for the glory of God—that would truly be a worthwhile fellowship to be a part of.

Update: Tony Jones has posted some thoughts on postmodernism today over at theoblogy.  Check it out.

Better yet: Read Brian McLaren's article here.  It includes a description of what he calls "emerging postmodernism."

Comments

[timsamoff]

Man, you gotta give me some tie to read the others! :) (No, really, this is good -- really good!)

[timsamoff]

(I meant "time," by the way.)

[timsamoff]

I apologize for tying up your comments! :) But, you may find a bit of interest in what I have written on the subject of postmodernity...

- http://www.sense-datum.org/tim/archives/2004/01/01/10.40.36/index.html

[Bill]

Anytime, man. The comments department is a little on the slim side. I could use anything I can get.

I appreciated your post on the word "postmodern." I can't agree with people who say the word is "becoming so 15 minutes ago." I think a lot of people still have no clue what it even means.

To me, it's important for your average Christian to be informed that not everyone is approaching what is being called postmodern in the same way. I appreciated what Brian wrote because I believe we can approach some of those same tenets that all postmoderns talk about, but NOT succumb to total relativism, etc.

But what you say is true. I don't think Brian can simply create his own definition for what he wants postmodernism to become. That will not make it so. Perhaps it would be descriptive enough for people to talk about emerging thought and then relate that in some way to postmodernism.

[timsamoff]

Yeah, I think the "relating" part is key... I think that's an aspect of Emergent as well: Finding ways to do church in a postmodern world (i.e., we are here, so we'd better relate). It doesn't mean "become part of," or, "redefine," it means, "relate." Cool. :)