Me? Emergent? Who?

HT to CartoonChurch.com

As I've said a number of times, the difficulty I have with criticism of the 'emerging church' or the 'emergent movement' is that there is not one satisfactory definition of just what constitutes the animal. Ask ten different self-professed 'emergees' to define it and you'll get ten different answers... at least.

Here is an article from Dan Kimball's blog that I found most thought provoking. He asks a question of critics: Just what information are they working with?

Where we are concerned, do any of these critiques sound to you like CCA? (1) drawn to ambiguity; (2) rejecting the notion that God's word is clear; (3) and that is it understandable; (4) the rethinking of or wholesale rejection of precious doctrines; (5) thriving on disorganization; (6) distrusting authority; (7) dislikes preaching; (8) recognizes few doctrinal boundaries; (9) few moral boundaries; and (10) feeds intellectual pride

There is one more allegation in the article, that is that 'everything is being questioned and deconstructed'. I think one of the markers of our society in these times is a propensity to ask questions and a desire to deconstruct - and I am seeing people come to Christ through this very process!

So, what do you think of Dan's article? The debate?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Emergent, Emerging Church, Ecclesiology

Are You Guys Emergent?

The question was posed to a CCA member last week. "Christ's Church? Are you guys an emergent church?" How would you answer that question? The person who was asked came and asked me on Sunday - "Are we?"

We've talked a lot about the words 'emergent' and 'emerging' before. We've also talked about what it means to be missional and conversant with the day in which we live.

This article on a Southern Baptist blog caused me both to chuckle and to scratch my head. Andrew Jones has some thoughts to share on the subject here.

What do you think? Is emergent heretical? Is too much made of labels? Is there any satisfactory definition of 'emergent' out there?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Emergent, Emerging Church, Ecclesiology