Emergent is...(revisited)

Last night my father asked me to explain what the emerging church is all about.  He had been reading various things on the net and still couldn't figure it out.  In some ways, I still can't either.  I tried my best to explain, but found it very difficult.  That's not to say that there are no answers, it's just hard to get right to the point—right to the heart of the issues involved.

This frustrated me.  I'm thinking particularly of the American entity called Emergent, who's goals I have wished were more clearly defined.  But then it suddenly hit me why Emergent has been reluctant to un-fuzzify its boundaries.  Partly, this realization was spurred on by Jonny Baker's post yesterday, in which he suggested that Emergent "should forbid anyone round the world from calling their local network emergent...and encourage people in their regions to network but to develop their own names and local take on the conversation."  In the spirit of post-colonialism, Jonny suggests that Emergent's "international strategy should be about encouragement and gift - encouraging local/regional conversations that are genuinely contextual and giving away ideas and whatever else."  What he's saying is that we don't want to start a franchise for our brand of the "emerging church."  This isn't McDonald's and we don't want it to be.  John Drane has some great things to say about the dangers of McDonaldization in his book The McDonaldization of the Church.  Click here for some of my reactions to the book.

Anyway, last night I was struck by the thought that in the end, at least for me, it's not about whether I call myself Emergent or part of the "emerging church."  Perhaps to me, Emergent will always be a conversation that has helped to get me thinking about a variety of things.  This should spur me on to focus on what matters to me most and then do something about that, whether that means research, speaking, or action.  Actually, it probably should entail a combination of all three.  In doing so, I may have something more to add back in to the conversation, but the conversation is not my life's work.  The conversation helps inform my life's work.

Emergent's new "Structure" page on their website spells out the difference between their organizing group, affiliates, contributors, and "friends."  I guess what I'm saying is that I already consider myself to be a friend (although I haven't contributed financially, as they suggest) and would like to be a contributor if ever I am able to help in that way.  I don't, however, need to be an organizer.  I like what Doug Pagitt has to say about this category:

"Hopefully this language change will play out in reality by more people contributing and not waiting for leaders to initiate. And for the organizing group to organize and not expected to coordinate everything." (from the new emergent-us blog)

I don't know if all of this is making sense.  I guess I'm trying to say that I'm feeling okay with Emergent's fuzziness right at the moment.  Of course, I can't say what I will feel like 10 minutes from now!  My wife also helped bring things into focus for me last night.  She said, basically, that without the conversation Emergent has provided she doesn't know if she would still want to be a part of the church.  I think this is true for so many of us.  We may not be able to put our finger on or agree about all that Emergent is or should be, but we have found a conversation in which we feel a little less alien; a little more like we do belong in the kingdom of God after all.

Please God, may the conversation continue!

Comments

[rick luoni]

Nice post! God is "fuzzy". God will most like always be "fuzzy". Part of the issue surrounding "emergent" is that many are attempting to "emerge" from the theology that attempted to define God and place God in a systematic box. For me, I thank God that God is "fuzzy", God became so much bigger and more loving the "fuzzier" he became to me. Van Morrison has a song, "The Mystery" it is worth a spin. I just posted this elsewhere: God's cause is not cult, but humanity. (Hans Kuhn) We need to hold this close to our heart as we define our cult boundaries.

Peace,
Rick

[Karen H.]

I've been kind of pondering this too Bill, especially in light of Will Samson's ideas regarding the establishment of an emergent society or association. I like the idea of emergent being a conversation - a port of entry, if you will, into a possibility that a life of faith can be more than most of us had known before. Good thoughts. Thank you.
Peace,
Karen

[Geography Dissertation]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!

[Dissertation Layout]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!