Had a fantastic time in LA, really good to connect with people from all over the world. For the pictures of the event see the ones that Paul Roberts has posted on: http://www.proberts1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html
It struck me once again how different Emergent US is to what is happening in the emerging church in the UK. Emergent US is essentially a brand and it seems to be working in that context, however, I’d have major hesitations if that brand were exported to the UK. I also found out that the brand trademark is owned by Rupert Murdock; another good reason to avoid it!
There’s a bit of controversy at the moment regarding some forthcoming criticism of Emergent US from Don Carson. I can fully understand that his criticism is hurtful to people involved in the movement, but on the other side of the equation I want to say does it really matter? A child wants praise off their parent but there also comes a time when a child needs to mature and accept the criticism, listen to it, evaluate it and judge it accordingly. It is then a question of what we do with our evaluation, do we go running back to the parent and try to change their mind or do we accept that the parent is part of the past culture and has a worldview that is blinkered by that culture.
I would listen to the criticism, take it on the chin and then forget about it because quite simply it doesn’t really matter what Don Carson thinks…
My question out of this is how indicative is this of the maturity of the movement? I think that there are some fantastic people in Emergent US but question why the criticism is causing so much pain. I wonder if part of the reason is that emergent US seems to have far closer ties with the evangelical wing of the church and the criticism is coming from an evangelical. Whereas the emerging church in the UK is broader and will be criticised by catholics as not being sacramental enough, evangelicals for not being biblically based and liberals for being too mission focused….I’m polarizing, but my point is that when you are from a broad church you’re used to living with difference and celebrating diversity.
I'm off on holiday now...
5 comments:
Is there any more info available about what Emergent US actually stands for?
I wonder how they can be closely tied to the evangelicals as a large part (for me at least) is the rejection of the polarised worldview that characterizes evangelicalism (tending to see everything as either 'godly' or 'worldly' and seeing no overlap or shades of grey).
I can only guess at what the evangelical churches think of Sanctus (having been in a few I can guess..) - it's difficult to see them having close ties!
Ben on Holiday!
Ahem... Ben working I think you mean Tony!
Ben,
Thanks for the comments -- so good to have you over to the house and meet the fam...I haven't laughed so hard in a long time...We make a seriously good 'foosball' team...
Some thoughts on the posts --
I would put the Emerging Church at 4 or 5 years old in the US, and 15 or so years in the UK, so yes, we are not as mature as a movement. In addition, all of us came out of evangelical backgrounds, and not too long ago, and most (not all) would still identify with the movement in some way or another.
I think we care how we are labeled because there are so many who are sympathetic to the movement but could get derailed from joining quite easily.
The Carson book was just released, and that is why it was on everyone's mind. But this year is a big backlash year, as many critiques have recently 'emerged'.
Cheers,
Ryan
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