I’ve been around for a while, though I came in through the punk and goth and metal churches/movements, but I generally feel very welcomed within these conversations, and as though people feel I have unique and valuable things to offer. You do as well, as I’m sure you know, but it never hurts to hear it a few times. Thanks for writing this.

I can’t speak for the emergent idea of change, but sociologically and politically the world is a vastly different place where multiple socio-political and economic frames interact and overlap that simply did not do so before in the way they are now. One crucial example is that West versus East is a lost global comparison. Now it is North versus South for many many reasons and religion is certainly one of them. The “world” of local influence may seem as if it has not changed much for many Americans, but even in my little town of Duncansville, PA we are dealing with increased pockets of drug activity, increased illegal immigrants, and a severe issue with unemployment directly attributable to what has happened in the post-industrial (a very practical and measurable term by the way) economy. These are enormous changes and the church needs to understand its place in the midst of it. What is the church here to do, with whom, who is going to do it, and how will we know if we have done it? Nothing can be taken for granted anymore since we seem to be working with flawed assumptions of how the world works and how the church fits into that picture. To me, at least, this is the core of what is “emerging” if you will. A dialogue that is trying to re-imagine what our new socio-cultural assumptions are and what the right theological voice is to make change happen in people’s lives where they are with the revelation of the Gospel in their midst. I call the dialogue “meta-denominational” since it does away with assumed church structures in order to imagine new ones that make sense with the changes in the world that are as evident as gravity.

Yes, he did! So did I.

That’s good to hear. Especially since I know that when y’all put your minds to something it usually get done. For example–more women in leadership. It’s wonderful to see Christianity 21. I wish that I could attend.

I wouldn’t count the movement out just yet. Any movement has to re-commit to (or perhaps re-define) its core principles as it grows beyond the original people who made it work, and invariably changes and refines as part of that process. I’m sure that many good things will continue to come as a result of the work that emerging folks (and their descendants?) are doing.