pat loughery

Maggi writes today about the ongoing conversation regarding emerging church – and specifically whether “emerging” is the same thing in the UK and the USA.

She references this link to a good, and long, article in Christianity Today entitled “The Emerging Mystique“. The focus of that article is the work of Rob Bell, whose Nooma videos I’ve raved about here, and Brian McLaren.

Part of me wants to be able to define whether or not we’re “emerging”. A couple of weeks ago, a frequent guest came and brought a friend of hers who normally attends ThursdayPM, which I would certainly guess is “emerging”. I found myself dying to know if this person would label that gathering time as “emerging”. Like it meant something to me whether there was an answer, or a percentage, or a “this was, but that wasn’t”.

But then part of me wants no part of the whole “defining the emerging movement” conversation, because much of what I see in it is hipper-than-thou, trendiness, and far more defined by what-we’re-rebelling-against than what-we-are.

A few months ago I started to write a whitepaper with the same title as this blog entry. It was meant to be more for myself than anything else, though I figured I’d pass it along to our leaders to discuss, and maybe stick it on our welcome table or on the website. But I found it excruciatingly difficult to write. So that’s tabled for now. And I find that I’m really the only person who’s interested in the answer anyway, and I only sometimes need to find out.

What I do know is that I’m fully convinced that the Gospel message is not about ticket-punching to heaven, but about entering a Kingdom here and now and also later. That we are the subversive agents of a missional God who is bent on redeeming his creation even though we continue to damage our relationship to it and him. That our gathering times exist for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry which is “out there”, in the grocery stores and homes and schools overwhelmingly more often than “here in this building”. That God desires that we would seek Him both in wisdom and experience. That Biblical truth is caught best in a mixed form of teaching and dialogue and activity. That everything about the Kingdom is upside-down, backwards and inside-out from what we see around us. That I like candles for how they add an ambiance of holiness, reverence, tradition and mystery :-). That Nicaraguan coffee is better than Starbucks. That we’re all on multiple journeys together – both towards the Savior, and also sent out from the Father – journeys which we’ll never finish in this life. That serving our community and the poor is way more fun and transformational than it seems like it should be. That questions are more interesting than answers. That we take seriously the description that Jesus used: that we can have overwhelmingly abundant life now, even amidst the pain of everyday life. That it’s all about relationships. That both the ancient and the future parts of the faith are deeply meaningful. That the church doesn’t attack the culture nor hide from it, but reflect and be reflected. That God speaks to us as much through movies and music as he does through the voices of (some) people. That we have a good idea where we’re heading, but no idea what changes along the way.

That’s some of what we feel. Or at least what I feel and think and think that I know – but I know that not everybody in our group would say the same things.

Whether we’re emerging or not, I’m not sure that I care. At least today.