Here's My Enthusiasm For Emergent

I’m enthusiastic, too, Jonathan. And I agree: we don’t have to have all the answers, just the willingness to love each other. (Which we have, and are given, in abundance—more all the time.)

Well said Jonathan. I’ve been reading Nick, Josh, Julie, Tony, et. al. about this this week, and at first I was like, really? We’ve come to this? Fighting amongst ourselves?

But then I remembered why I was drawn to EV, postmodernity, and considered myself “emerging” (which is different than “emergent”). I was drawn to it because it is about community. And small communities, like families, churches, cohorts, friends, etc.. they eventually disagree, find new and differing directions, or just need to vent.

Expectations are a pain, but one can’t help but have expectations of something about which they are excited! Also, people wouldn’t be upset if it wasn’t something they cared about. Thus, “messy” is the right word.

But we didn’t sign up for clean, neat, easy… most of us left churches because they certainly had all of those features, but no meat. It was neat black and white, but no room for gray. Well, this is a gray time for EV and the Pomo Christian movement (which I don’t think is the best word for it, but am a t a loss for a better at the moment).

I don’t think it is or was a fad. How can something be simply a fad if you are honest about the organic ever-changing nature of it to begin with? And that’s what drew me to this. That it wasn’t always going to be the “gurus” who held the floor, that ever new and exciting voices were going to also emerge. also that it would never be stagnant or an institution, but something that got back to the point (to use Tim Conder’s terminology): we would thus always be a church in transition.

I guess I’m not upset because it means that people care about doing this right, and if that means an organic life-cycle, then let’s embrace the idea of death and rebirth. But although the organization my change or die, the conversation will continue. Why? because more and more people are realizing that they simply can’t do it the “other way” any more. There are people I meet every day that are seeking to be a “New Kind of Christian”, but are still oblivious to these options that some of us who have been on the pomo scene a while have rehashed to death.

I believe that we’ve turned a corner in Christian history…or are at least turning the wheel to begin turning that corner. And I do know this! Once you embrace all of the things that have made emergence so eye-opening and refreshing, one can’t go back without killing something beautiful and alive inside of them. That’s reality. And we spout that we embrace reality…so for better or worse at this moment, we need to stand behind that. I understand everyone’s POV, but lets make it a part of the conversation: open, honest, and respectful conversation. What we’ve been about from the beginning!

Increasingly, we are learning to talk and do things at the same time. I hope that is a trend- I love the conversation, and also love working together. My local community is missional, conversational, and confessional. But (as Angela posted) whatever we do should ultimately be about Love, in following Jesus- and that gives everything we may do together it’s meaning. I am encouraged, the fact that our conversations are changing means that it is still alive, whatever we choose to call it.

This is my moment of clarity. My thesis is that the secret vocabulary, dress code (tight black jeans, narrow glasses, bed hair), the rituals, the emphasis on community, the repetitive POMO affirmations, the salty language, the affinity for a frosty ale and pre-ponderance of young men in the emergent “Conversation” is just a repressed desire and unconscious need to belong to the Fred Flintstone Water Buffalo Lodge N. 26. It is related to the hundreds of hours spent in front of the TV watching the Flintstones as youths. Hence the Cohorts and Collectives. It is the archetypical journey to get in touch with the inner Barney Rubble.

Rick,

Nothing personal, but now that you’ve figured it out we’ll have to… um, arrange for you to disappear.

Some rocks should simply not be turned over. :-)

Rick, that was remarkably funny. Well done.

Willlllmaaaaah!

Just joining the conversation with a word of encouragement in the form of a story. When we started our group we did not know we were part of an emerging church movement. We said, hey let’s share leadership, let’s not get strapped into buildings and mortgages and staff. Let’s meet, sing, pray, have a potluck, work together on things like welcoming refugees from foreign lands, doing a craft sale, helping each other and friends move in and out of apartments. Many said it would not last. They were right. It didn’t last in the sense that there were disagreements about who was in or out, how broad and how centered we should be, what traditions we should draw on. There were tears, and lots of dissapointment and sense of loss. Some folks left. Then other folks came. We started meeting in the early 80s, had our major shaking out in the late 90’s and are still meeting and trying to figure out how to be new kinds of Christians in a new kind of church.

Blessings,

John

Great post – especially the last two paragraphs – they also describe the journey of followers of Jesus Christ (not just those in Emergent) – if we are committed to following Jesus then we will get frustrated and discouraged at times – with ourselves, with others, with our communities – sometimes we want to give up and quit – BUT sometimes we are the ones who are fired up, enthusiastic, hopeful and the ones that are able to help others along by encouraging them, giving them a time to take a break and get renewed, loving and supporting them.
I was a little put out with some on the comments on Nick’s blog when he posted about his disappointment but as I look back on it I don’t think I should have been. The comments that were negative were just people who were feeling discouraged like Nick was. My part shouldn’t include me getting defensive or angry – my part should be to encourage those who need it now and hope that the favor will be returned to me when I need some encouragement in the future. I’ve learned a lot from you over the last couple of years – thanks again for more wisdom.
Your words remind me of this:
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

Another sign of the Emergent decline? Less than a dozen comments on the “Emergence is Dead” article. It seems no one else is left to care.

Melchizedek / “Foolishness of the Wise”:

And that makes you feel good, does it?

I’d suggest that “Number of comments” is perhaps not the best indicator of the presence of the Kingdom of God.

Mel, I would suggest that if you aggregated the comments of all the blogs discussing Nick’s original concern, you’d realize the dialog is simply across several places.