News

Emergent’s Divergence

Leaders hope decentralizing power will revitalize the movement.

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.

Board members said they eliminated Tony Jones’s position October 31 in order to reclaim the Village’s founding purpose as an “egalitarian social-networking organization.” “We are gifting the power of Emergent back to the people at the grassroots level of the conversation,” said Jones.

The decision leaves the future structure of emergent leadership unclear. “We know how to run traditional organizations,” said Brian McLaren, a board member and one of the group’s most prominent pastors. “We don’t know how to run networks. [But we know] there’s a place for leadership in networks.” McLaren says there have been ongoing questions about the label itself. “For many people, the name emergent has allowed them to remain in the evangelical world,” he said. For others outside the conversation, he admitted, the name has become an epithet for theological heresy or cultural trendiness.

Even some within the network are beginning to avoid emergent vocabulary. Prominent blogger Andrew Jones (known online as “Tall Skinny Kiwi”) has dropped the emergent label from his conversations. “The word no longer communicates what I want it to,” he said, “so even though I will still be in support of emerging church ventures … I will no longer be using the word for myself and the ministries that we support.”

Additionally, several thinkers once associated with emergent, including pastor Dan Kimball and professor Scot McKnight, have formed a new network provisionally called Origins, dedicated to “friends, pioneers, innovators, and catalysts who want to dream and work for the gospel together rather than alone.”

Nevertheless, the Emergent Village board remains optimistic about the future. McLaren pointed to groups such as Presbymergent and Anglimergent as examples of conversations that are taking place outside of Emergent Village.

Such groups encourage John Franke, professor of theology at Biblical Seminary and Emergent Village member. “We never thought we were the conversation,” he said. “We’re just a particular node of the wider conversation.”

Now that he has stepped down, Jones is hopeful that critics and proponents alike will be less likely to apply the views of a few prominent speakers and writers to everyone who identifies as emergent. “The best-case scenario,” he said, “is that stakeholders will step into leadership roles and feel a great deal of ownership in the network.”

Emergent leaders recognize the dangers of decentralization. Networking, a central emergent value, may become difficult in the absence of an obvious contact person. And some have concern that ambitious leaders might try to co-opt the network.

But Jones hopes decentralizing American emergent networks will give participants worldwide, who lack access to book publishing and other resources enjoyed by their American counterparts, more freedom to express themselves. “Any time you can dethrone an overeducated, loud, brash, white man,” he said, “people just feel more openness for their own voice to be heard.”

Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

The Emergent Village has more on its website about its decision to eliminate the national coordinator position.

Christianity Today has a special section on the emergence of the emergent.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Jesus Is Not a Brand

Review

'The Blue Parakeet' Faces Inconvenient Verses

PhotographyWatch

News

Memphis's Other Graceland

Pivoting Toward the Faraway Neighbor

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

What Is a Spiritual Director?

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual Formation Agenda

News

Managing Your Money

News

A Surefire Investment

Groans Too Deep for Words

Faith-based Super Bowl Parties

The Evolution of Darwin

There Goes the Neighborhood

News

Books Uncommon and Offbeat

News

The Greatest Social Need

Review

Jacaranda

News

Evolve or Die

News

Popcorn in the Pews

Bush's Envoy's Advice: 'Raise Cain'

News

Building a Peace Beyond Understanding

Review

Everyday Lord

News

Better Than a Bailout

News

Battle Fatigue

Editorial

Don't Let Them Die Alone

How to Help Orphans

Our Priorities for 2009

News

Go Figure

News

Black Flight

News

Second Thoughts

News

Microfinance, Now More Micro

News

News Briefs: January 01, 2009

News

Quotation Marks

News

Passages

News

Up for Debate

View issue

Our Latest

The Bulletin

Young Republican Texts, Anglican Split, and George Santos Released

Controversial Republican texts, Anglican Communion splits, and George Santos’s sentence is commuted.

Review

Do Evangelical Political Errors Rise to the Level of Heresy?

A Lutheran pastor identifies five false teachings that threaten to corrupt the church’s public witness.

Highlights and Lowlights of 1957

In its first full year of publication, CT looked at Civil Rights, Cold War satellites, artificial insemination, and carefully planned evangelism.

News

Will There Be a Christian Super Bowl Halftime Show?

Conservatives suggest country and Christian artist alternatives for game day.

News

As Madagascar’s Government Topples, Pastors Call for Peace

Gen Z–led protests on the African island nation led to a military takeover.

News

Amid Fragile Cease-Fire, Limited Aid Reaches Gazans

Locals see the price of flour rise and fall as truce is strained and some borders remain closed.

News

Federal Job Cuts Hit Home as Virginia Picks Its Next Governor

Meanwhile, the GOP candidate draws from Trump’s playbook to focus on transgender issues in schools. 

Religious OCD and Me

Scrupulosity latches onto the thing we hold most dear—our relationship with God.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube