Emergent Is...pt.5

This will be the last part in my reflection on the following statement found at emergentvillage.com:

Emergent is a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders.

I want to hone in on the following description:

Emergent is practitioner-focused. We believe that the best theology arises in the context of mission, and the best mission is informed by good theology, so we seek to bring reflective practitioners together with missional scholars and thinkers for mutual enrichment. We seek to avoid both unreflective activism and the intellectual cul-de-sacs that often divert reflective people from actually getting anywhere.

Some have criticized Emergent for having a suspicious lack of action proceeding from all the talk that's going on.  That is certainly no one's intention.  I appreciate that Emergent seeks to avoid "unreflective activism."  We can't always just jump into things.  In some circles there has been too much activity based on absolutism.  As Walter Brueggemann has quite correctly pointed out, "those who want absolutes tend to accept authority only if it speaks the absolute claim to which they are already disposed before anything has been said." (Texts Under Negotiation by Walter Brueggemann, p.10)  The evangelical church has fought battles for the Bible and a dogmatic orthodoxy that many of us are no longer willing to be a part of.  Meanwhile, inaction has resulted from the hard stance taken against social and environmental causes championed by any groups perceived as "liberal."

I believe that much more reflection needs to happen in the churches of America.  Some have asked where the supposed "emerging churches" are located.  There are some, but I suspect that most fellows of Emergent are like me.  I am a part of an existing church.  This church has a background of fundamentalism, but has moved away from that little by little.  This church is resitant to change, but there are a handful of people who are fighting against this resistance.  Some people, looking from the outside, might think that it will never change enough.  Honestly, I have to say they might be right.  Will the church cave in?  Will God cease to work through it?  I don't think so.  But that doesn't negate the need for change and it also doesn't preclude the possibility that real change can continue to happen...little by little...day by day.

As I write these words, some people are out there planting churches, doing a new thing.  Assuming they continue to be a part of this emerging conversation, that's great.  But again, I suspect that many of us are quietly working to provoke conversation, standing up for changes that we believe need to be made, and occasionally ranting on our blogs!  May God bless us all.

Comments

[Just Me]

It's interesting, isn't it, that the root words for "conversation" and for "conversion" are basically the same - the transitive verb being "to turn around." So conversation can indeed lead to "conversion;" can indeed turn people in a new direction. Just something I noticed for the first time.