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Christianity Today, January, 2009 |

Emergent's Divergence

Leaders hope decentralizing power will revitalize the movement.

Brandon O'Brien | posted 12/18/2008 09:04AM

As one-time leaders of the emergent movement have recently distanced themselves from the term, the network itself dropped its organizational leader. The decision of Emergent Village's board of directors ...

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Nyssa

Posted: December 26, 2008 12:41 PM

Perhaps one of the additional issues (other than the dropping of a possibly offensively perceived term) concerns the inevitability of a movement becoming institutionalized as it becomes larger. If the 'Emerging Movement' grows will it find the need to establish its own publishing houses or seminaries and para-church organizations? Will we see more "Mission Statements" which will be seen to be on par with 'Statements of Faith"? Will we see more splits and divisions as the movements grows? This is nothing new if one has studied church history. As the great philosopher Yogi Berra once said "It's deja vu all over again".

There's always a place for

Posted: December 26, 2008 9:09 AM


Theology that denies truth. This week they call it emergent and also package up with political discord aimed directly at the Republican Party.

PLStepp

Posted: December 24, 2008 10:08 PM

Fortunately, much of Emergent's forward momentum was built on Bush-bashing; now they don't have the unholy trinity (Bush / Cheney / Rove) to kick around, any more. Emergent asked the right questions but didn't seem to find many of the right answers. Ultimately, their most important contribution appears to have been making it safe for young evangelicals to disagree with Dobson and those awful right-wingers. Now they've gotten their wish; good luck with all that.

Entheos

Posted: December 23, 2008 4:33 AM


You people have no clue.

CJSchmidtz

Posted: December 21, 2008 1:05 AM


I was generally disappointed with how well a radical liberal skepticism could make inroads into the church by merely trying to borrow/use/distort popular labels. I am very encouraged that more people are seeing through the facade.

Joel	Posted: December 19, 2008 6:53 PM

Unfortunately, this isn't just a fad that is going to go away. The EC is an entire philosophical movement dedicated to change, to moving forward. Even Tony Jones has admitted that he wants Christianity to move forward rather than go back to to some idealistic "golden age." In light of this, it's not so much that the EC is "going away," it's merely changing. I think Jones and others are quite upset that it's becoming centralized and with Jones stepping down, this takes away from any attempt to centralize. Furthermore, disuse of the name means little. The EC of today was known as "neo-orthodox" in the early 20th century and has gone by various names. The name will change, but the same garbage will remain.

Larry

Posted: December 19, 2008 2:17 PM

You guys are ignoring that 1) the sentiment and philosophy behind Emergent Village is not going to go away regardless of what happens to EV, 2) that the word "emergent" is not the same thing as that to which it refers, the word can go away if it is no longer useful or has been co-opted, 3) the idea that the emergent movement, or even just Emergent Village, needs a leader to function is rather, well, non-emergent, modern, rather than post-modern.

Ralph Gaily

Posted: December 19, 2008 12:56 PM


" Emergent..... changes as do the times". Sounds familiar.....

Y.P.	Posted: December 19, 2008 10:30 AM


another church fad come and gone...or going, at least

Existential Punk

Posted: December 19, 2008 1:32 AM

You said, "As one-time leaders of the emergent movement have recently distanced themselves from the term, the network itself dropped its organizational leader. The decision of Emergent Village's board of directors to eliminate its national coordinator position marked the latest sign that the movement is either decentralizing or disintegrating." You guys here at CT just don't get it! Emergent Village still exists. It's just not a corporate entity. Emergent emerges, grows, shifts, changes as do the times. It is not about power plays and top-down leadership models. EVERYONE has a voice. We are not in need of revitalization! Tall Skinny Kiwi is in the UK and there is still emerging church UK that is very much vital and alive! That is his context you are quoting. That's the beauty about emergent - we can ebb and flow in different directions. Thank you for taking the time to report on this new adventure for the emerging church and Emergent Village USA.

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