The Emergent Church: Fad or Future?

Two days ago my wife and I had to travel to Seattle to provide care of her parents. My mother-in-law has chronic migraines and is bed ridden most of the time, which left my father-in-law to handle the domestic duties. What happens when they are both incapacitated and unable to care for themselves or their home? This is the hard line reality of life we all will have to face. Our family situation left me pondering the question, "how will our communities deal with the hard issues of life?"

In view of the deep issues of life and eventuality of death, how will we care for people in need? Labyrinths, experiential worship, new communication strategies, media integration, ancient/future, missional churches, postmodern theology, new ecclesiology, aesthetics, art integration, church environments and the dynamics of community building are simply not all that the church is about.

It occurs to me that much of what we have been talking about in the emerging /emergent conversation is basically the external issues of how we do emergent church. At its worst it degenerates into a "Look how different we are" type of mentality. Let me be frank. The emergent church phenomena is currently the next Christian (un)fad. I understand that this is a harsh statement but please let me clarify it a bit.

If we get lost in the look and feel of an emergent environmet then we become just another fad. While these mechanics of the emergent / (post)emergent / emerging church are fun to talk about, they are not the main thing. I'm not questioning their necessity or even their validity in a Postmodern cultural context. Recent life circumstances have served to remind me that they are simply not the main issue in church life. Jesus reminds us of what is central to our communities / Church / Christian life. LOVE and CARING.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 13:34-35

It is within the filter of these concepts that all those cultural transformations I mentioned before have any lasting meaning. The main thing is how we love one another in this emerging cultural environment. As we learn to embody the love of Christ in our culture we will be the emerging Church.

What does the love of Christ look like today? What about social justice and environmental issues? As one of my Regent Professors, Rikki Watts, said to us in class, "How well are you people keeping?" Ie. How well do you love one another? That is part of our commune-ity responsibilities; to love one another.

Sorry if I sound like I'm beating a dead horse here. When people are homeless, jobless, abused, in pain, disenfranchised, hurting, dying, and alone. Does our style of church really matter? Does an ultra-modern or postmodern church style bring comfort when our loved ones have been in an accident, have a life threatening illness, or die? I think not.

Ultimately it is Christ who comforts us. Will our churches be places that foster a people who can show the love of Christ in our world? Will we be known for our love or the difference in our services? The answer to the question of "People Keeping" is the only thing that will validate any of our approaches to Christian Community.

Thanks for hanging with me on this one.

Now go and read The Emergent Mystique over at Christianity today.

Comments

[Bruce]

I agree with you, Darren. Personally, I think if we keep our focus on Christ and live deeply in him (each of us individually), the "church" will come to be what he wants it to be. Love one-another? Half the people sitting in the pews are lonely and hurting, and what do we do? We sing songs and listen to speeches. I guess that's what we call love. We promote organization as if it is Christ itself. Just as we've lost personal connection with Christ, we've lost personal connection with each other.

[Aaron]

Darren, I agree with you. The Emerging Church (EC) identifies with so much more than just style. In fact, I would say that style is the packaged-brand or packaged form of the EC and not necessarily the core of the conversation. I would not go as far to say that stylization is not EC, but I would say it does not reflect entirely the values or missional objectives of the EC as a global whole. In North America, our churches are so market-driven (fad, trend oriented), that stylization has played too much of a role. EC is not a fad or a trend, and represents some deeper issues in evangelical theology and mission.