“The Emergent Church” July 19, 2008
Posted by Zack in Missouri , trackback
Over the last week, I have been living the dream of every rank and file Emergent Christian.
First, I got to hang out with the guys from the Church Basement Road show: Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette — and Emergent leader Tim Keel, who’s church, Jacob’s Well, was hosting the show. They were doing their performance/book tour at Jacob’s Well in Kansas City. Like a groupie, I finagled my way into their RV and wound up going on a pre-show walk with Tony Jones. He told me the insider’s history of the Emergent Church — and I felt so privileged. I didn’t realize at the time that it was the second chapter of his book! — but I still feel privileged.
After the show, Elizabeth and I bribed our way into their lawn chair hangout session outside their RV with two large Imo’s pizza. Again, what a privilege to talk to so many of the early leaders of the Emergent movement at length!
Often, people have commented on this blog, “You’re writing about the Emergent Church, why do you keep saying the movement doesn’t have a name?” But the Emergent movement is a sub-movement within a much larger phenomenon. These guys are the ones who were willing to be overt and explicit about the full implications of the wider movement. A consequence of that was accepting a name, and therefore becoming an easy target for fierce criticism from conservatives. It also means that pastors and leaders who’ve been ostracized, demoted or chronically ignored in the struggle to change their churches find their way to Emergent mailing lists and websites. These Emergent leaders carry weight on their shoulders: they see the consequences of working toward a new future for the church. From my perspective as newcomer and outsider, it all looks good. I can easily see the change the change that’s happening in the church, but it’s not easy for me to see the pain and turmoil that abundant just under the surface. These guys are seeing the friction and tension and hurt that are an inevitable by-product of any sea change in a tight-knit culture.
I have to admit, I still don’t really understand what Emergent is all about. I feel like I should understand it, because I’ve studied all the postmodern philosophers who these guys like. They seem to share many of my positions social issues. And their style of “doing church” appeals to me more than any other. So if there are any Christians I should understand, it’s these guys. But the more questions I asked them, the more of a mystery they became. So, I’m diving into some more of their books. Right now I’m reading Tony Jones’ The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. It is an incredible overview of this chunk of the Revolution in Jesusland, covering all aspects of the Emergent church from its history to theology to church methods. And it’s a great read.
And then, to make Emergent visitors to this site even more jealous, I got to visit with Brian McLaren before the Matthew 25 Network event in DC the night before last. What a great guy! Since he stepped down from being a pastor in 2006, he’s been to some crazy number of countries learning about the global church (and a lot of other things). A lot of good is clearly coming from his travels.
Tags: Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Emergent, Mark Scandrette, Tony Jones
Comments»
I’m so jealous! And I share in your mystification as to the concrete nature of Emergent. If you get any closer to figuring it out, please share.
I briefly got to finagle in and around the vicinity of Tony Jones a year ago in Salem, MA over beers. He was at a conference called “God for People Who Hate Church” held by The Gathering of Salem.
I too never understood what the emergent jazz was all about. But he explained it during his talk in a way that made total sense to me.
When are you coming through the fair mother city?
Tough to nail down this whole Emergent thing, but can’t argue that its a “thing.” I’ve also posted today on a specific issue from within EC. Thought you might be interested.
Grace and Peace,
Parables of a Prodigal World
“the more questions I asked them, the more of a mystery they became.”
Zack, I’m wondering if this isn’t the case because they are reluctant to try and speak for everyone in the movement? I think that’s often the case, anyway — when someone asks for a specific answer about something, the “correct” answer just happens to be, “Well, some people are like this and some people are like that” and “Some people believe X while other people believe Y” and “Some people do church this way and some people do church that way.” The beautiful (and frustrating) thing is that all of these people can find a place under the big tent that is “Emergent.” Not that everyone experiences Emergent as “a big tent” — sometimes people feel excluded for one reason or another, but I don’t think that’s intentional.
Does that make sense? Or what is your take on why Emergent remains such a “mysterious” thing? I’d be curious to hear more of your thoughts on this, because (from a communication standpoint) that can be a real problem for us in the long run, I think.