Emerging
A few years ago my son in law, Philip, introduced me to a Christian writer named Brian McLaren. McLaren comes out of an evangelical background and had become the most visible face and voice of a movement in American Christianity called the Emergent Church/Village. (www.emergentvillage.org) I picked up a couple of his books and was moved by his writing, especially in the first of his books that I read, The Church on the Other Side. I have since seen his work in more and more mainline periodicals and seen him speaking at more and more mainline events. I was struck by McLaren's openness, his humor, his genuine humility, and his love of God and the way of Jesus. I wanted to learn more.
This past week Columbia Seminary in Decatur sponsored a three day event called Mailline Emergent/s. It was an opportunity for mainline pastors to dialogue with and learn from leaders of the Emergent movement. McLaren was one of the speakers. I knew when I learned of it that I had to go. I was not disappointed.
I love the United Methodist Church. In Emergent language it is the "tribe" that has formed me and that put me in touch with God, starting so long ago. I have tried to serve it faithfully across the years. And I still think the Wesleyan way is a wonderful path for those seeking a rich and meaningful relationship with God. But in this latest season of my life and ministry questions keep coming up that won't go away and that concern me about our great church. Most critically I wrestle with why so many of us United Methodists - and I include myself - don't look more like Jesus as we live our lives. The larger church seems mired too often in institutional concerns and is regularly torn asunder by petty bickering. And we seem to be either unsure about what the Good News might mean for folks or confused about how to share it effectively. These conccerns are not new, but they have become more critical for me recently. (maybe it's my age - today is my birthday.) And it turns out they are similar to many of the issues that lead to the formation of the Emergent movement in the late 1990's.
Emergent practitioners ae folks who are solidly grounded in the postmodern world. They feel that the church traditions that many of them grew up in - mainline and evangelical - do not address the questions they are wrestling with in their lives. The polarizations that are such a part of my daily life are deemed unhelpful and irrelevant by Emergents. McLaren quoted a French Roman Catholic Bishop from a few years back: "the Church is a disaster. The future of the church is in people's homes and in restaurants". They are interested in a missional church that speaks to the new world that has emerged since the 1960's. As the week unfolded it was clear that there is in the Emergent movement an appreciation of gifts that remain and are active in the older tratitions. But the movement seeks to use those gifts in new ways, with a new focus.
Regular members of the Emergent movement might wish to challenge or add to my interpretation here, but I think I have a basic sense of what it is about. And I am excited about what it offers to me and to the church. I'll share some specifics from the conference in my next post.
Jimmy
This past week Columbia Seminary in Decatur sponsored a three day event called Mailline Emergent/s. It was an opportunity for mainline pastors to dialogue with and learn from leaders of the Emergent movement. McLaren was one of the speakers. I knew when I learned of it that I had to go. I was not disappointed.
I love the United Methodist Church. In Emergent language it is the "tribe" that has formed me and that put me in touch with God, starting so long ago. I have tried to serve it faithfully across the years. And I still think the Wesleyan way is a wonderful path for those seeking a rich and meaningful relationship with God. But in this latest season of my life and ministry questions keep coming up that won't go away and that concern me about our great church. Most critically I wrestle with why so many of us United Methodists - and I include myself - don't look more like Jesus as we live our lives. The larger church seems mired too often in institutional concerns and is regularly torn asunder by petty bickering. And we seem to be either unsure about what the Good News might mean for folks or confused about how to share it effectively. These conccerns are not new, but they have become more critical for me recently. (maybe it's my age - today is my birthday.) And it turns out they are similar to many of the issues that lead to the formation of the Emergent movement in the late 1990's.
Emergent practitioners ae folks who are solidly grounded in the postmodern world. They feel that the church traditions that many of them grew up in - mainline and evangelical - do not address the questions they are wrestling with in their lives. The polarizations that are such a part of my daily life are deemed unhelpful and irrelevant by Emergents. McLaren quoted a French Roman Catholic Bishop from a few years back: "the Church is a disaster. The future of the church is in people's homes and in restaurants". They are interested in a missional church that speaks to the new world that has emerged since the 1960's. As the week unfolded it was clear that there is in the Emergent movement an appreciation of gifts that remain and are active in the older tratitions. But the movement seeks to use those gifts in new ways, with a new focus.
Regular members of the Emergent movement might wish to challenge or add to my interpretation here, but I think I have a basic sense of what it is about. And I am excited about what it offers to me and to the church. I'll share some specifics from the conference in my next post.
Jimmy
posted by Jimmy at 7:12 PM
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