emergence
buzz word? or legitimate term?
those of us rethinking church use this term a lot - but get tired when it gets bandied about too much. many others wish to join the conversation - but feel they still don't understand the idea of emergence. others use emergence as a brand name - like it's the new hipper "blended worship". some, who even claim to be spokespersons for the emerging church, think they understand that term - but clearly don't.
my thesis has continued to be that emergence is a fully accurate notion to describe the current church phenomena - but we have already begun repeating the Christian Ghetto that Brian Mclaren warned us we were living in before - by thinking of emergence only in terms of a church movement. when we do this - we isolate ourselves - and we loose the richness of a larger community or body of ideas that we can draw from.
and this is so doable - emergence is everywhere - and i bet is exists in nearly every discipline.
this flickr group is one of those paths.
those of us rethinking church use this term a lot - but get tired when it gets bandied about too much. many others wish to join the conversation - but feel they still don't understand the idea of emergence. others use emergence as a brand name - like it's the new hipper "blended worship". some, who even claim to be spokespersons for the emerging church, think they understand that term - but clearly don't.
my thesis has continued to be that emergence is a fully accurate notion to describe the current church phenomena - but we have already begun repeating the Christian Ghetto that Brian Mclaren warned us we were living in before - by thinking of emergence only in terms of a church movement. when we do this - we isolate ourselves - and we loose the richness of a larger community or body of ideas that we can draw from.
the most obvious example is this (emerging church) wikipedia link. we should simply be part of this (emergence) entry, or at the very least link from the emergence entry to the emerging church entry the way Postmodern does to (the four entries under Postmodern Theology such as) Postmodern Christianity! but i digress...what i really want to do is encourage folk who are interested in understanding emergence (which is not, in any way, a prerequisite for doing / being involved in church - or even emerging church) - to look at emergence from a multi-disciplinary approach. if we're going to embrace this idea, and i think we should, i'd like to see us to bridge back into the richness of this term -
and this is so doable - emergence is everywhere - and i bet is exists in nearly every discipline.
this flickr group is one of those paths.
posted by P3T3RK3Y5 for meltingearth
2 Comments:
great post Pete. I loved reading the emergance Wiki link.
Sjoe, your post has really made me think. I was instrumental at getting 'Africa' listed in the opening paragraph of the wiki entry on the Emerging church movement, but after reading your post can totally see how this entire wiki entry is boxing the whole emerging thing terrible. I'm getting quite frustrated, when talking about anything emergant, at how quickly its been sterotyped or categorised to mean things I cannot imagine it ever having intended to mean, and as I hear it being defined to me it becomes the last thing I would ever want to be part of (structureless, directionless, undisciplined, for church-hoppers who can't resolve their conflicts with people in mainstream churches, just to name a few). How to keep something outside of categories and stereotyping, boxes and boundaries??
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