An Emerging Conversation

"Evangelism" seems to be the theme of the summer and lately, I have been reflecting upon and questioning my own approaches to Evangelism. In doing so, I have been researching the Emerging Church.

And thus, I need to admit to all that I had this movement pegged all wrong. I thought that the Emerging Church was simply another pawn being played by the fundys. I assumed that Emerging Churches wanted to throw all liturgy and tradition out the window and simply play rock music with lyrics about Jesus. After reading numerous articles and visiting a few websites, however, I realized that one of the goals of the Emerging movement is the reclamation of tradition.

Listed below are some of my preliminary thoughts and critiques:



• Emerging churches should not attempt to mimic other emerging churches. Let me clarify: it is, of course, perfectly acceptable to borrow ideas from other emerging churches. But I have noticed that if one idea works at a particular church, then other churches instantly begin to emulate that idea. The result is an experience inauthentic to the worshiping community. Every emerging congregation/church is a creation unto itself and each situation is unique. Therefore, just because something works at Jacob’s Well doesn’t mean it will work in another Emerging Church.

• Emerging Worship needs just as much attention to detail as “more traditional” styles of worship. Just because it is “emerging” doesn’t mean that liturgy can be unorganized or haphazardly thrown together.

• The Emerging conversation needs to embrace inclusive language. I love many of the ideas behind the emerging movement but sadly, I find much of the language exclusive to women and homosexuals.

• Emerging Churches should refrain from trying to be cool/relevant/hip. Nothing is sadder than reading a host of pop-culture references on a church’s website. Either you are “cool,” or you are not—but even being uncool can be cool. Cool is hard to define, hard to maintain and it’s best to just be. If churches are attempting to attract people my age (20’s and 30’s), then they must be authentic. They must embrace their inner nerdiness. Otherwise, churches seem like Jim’s dad from the American Pie movies—hopelessly out of touch and awkward when attempting to converse with the “younger generation.” Authentic is, and always will be, tragically hip.