being more
i was going over a old story at the larknews that spoke so deeply to the current feeling i have been having concerning the emerging church [here is the link]. what i have been seeing, and striving to express, is that in the big picture the emerging church is simply becoming a younger modern church. all we have done is changed some titles, the style of worship, the words we use and the music we push - but in everything else, everything, we are just the same church with different terms.
what has changed? truly, given the reality of this important conversation what has changed? what i have been experiencing as of late is this strong desire to quite the voices that desire us to go beyond where we are, and enter into conversations that truly examine what it is we are believing. i am not hearing much in the way of dialog, but i am hearing a great many monologs. we should be open and allow expressions in the faith, but even with those who claim "emerging" as a thought patern, this has not been the reality. we do not have to agree, but we must allow other voices to speak.
being an emerging church means we are so much more than just changing names, words and putting up pictures.
5 comments:
I cn only speak for myself, and my experiecne of our church, but I would say that we are changing ourselves and who we are as church. We are changing the way we relate to the world around us, and the way we become involved, and we are changing the way we think about our faith and it's part in our lives.
I know that's quite vague, and it is a slow process - we've been goign for nearly two years now, but it feels so muhc more for us than changign stuff
I know this wasn't a personal comment, and this isn't an offended answer. It is to say it feel like we are changing who we are, and moving to a more integral and congruent place in the world.
I think I may have to write more about this soon...
Steve
I'm wondering exactly what we're hoping to find once everything is transformed? It seems theres a contradiction between desiring to do something "new" and doing something faithful. Maybe I've missed the idea here, sorry if I have. Maybe that is the idea. I don't know.
the difference would be to ask the question, "what are hyou being faithful too?" and idea? a thought? a tradition? a theology? a religion?
i am not striving to go into anything trying to find anything, because whenever we do that as a human people we find what we are looking for - and only because we picked what we wanted to prove our point; not because we seek anything real.
jok i have had similar feelings for a while now, maybe its just the way things happen. i had a friend once say to me he is always skeptical of people/groups who think they are the cutting edge. there may be something to that, but i think its more than reform versus transformation and there will always be pockets/individuals who get it right when the whole screws it up.
I totally understand what you are saying John. I look through the books at stores and see so many "how-to's" for emerging churches. While some of it comes from outside, alot of it is coming from inside Emergent. As days go by, I think Emergent needs to step away from being the "official" speakers of the emerging believers. I think we need more emerging groups like Emergent to sprout up... Ones that emphasize more than just style
Post a Comment