An Emerging Adolescent

Is the emergent church self-sufficient? Does it seek to be?

I ask this question because:

• From what I can tell, several emergent church leaders have day jobs in traditional church settings (jobs outside of the emergent paradigm) or on the speaking/consulting/writing circuit that fund or enable their work with emergent;
• I attended an emergent congregation and heard nothing regarding gifts/tithing, nor did I see an offering plate or place to leave a gift;
• I noticed on an emergent congregation’s website an assurance that they are not "institutional types," and that their ties to a mainline denomination are just "helpful for the red tape part of life."

These are just snapshots, I know. One visit to one church. A look at a few websites. This is not representative, I’m sure (I hope).

But is it possible that the emergent movement is in denial about the extent to which it depends on traditional main line or evangelical Christian institutions? Many leaders in the emergent movement attended seminaries built and supported by denominations. Some of them are pastors whose pensions and health benefits are provided by denominations. Some of them engage in ministries that are funded in part or entirely through denominations or congregations affiliated with denominations.

Perhaps this is fine, especially if emergent is still in a start-up phase. But if emergent’s rhetoric is going to continue along an anti-denominational trajectory, then it seems to me that the emergent movement should emerge from the shadows and financial support of traditional Christianity and get on its own two feet. Perhaps with the naming of a national coordinator, the emergent movement will achieve this.

Alternatively, the emergent movement can more clearly articulate itself as a reform movement acting within existing denominational and evangelical parachurch structures, playing the role of reformer or loyal opposition (I think this might be a more constructive option, especially as a way to bring their creative and passionate mission-oriented ideas into the wider church). Perhaps that is what emergent is doing, in part, with its publishing partnership with Zondervan and Youth Specialties. But nonetheless, at this point and from my (limited) perspective, Emergent seems like an anxious adolescent who grumbles about parents and their rules but who nonetheless depends on them for daily emotional, physical and financial support.

I am sympathetic to the movement and what it seeks to achieve. Emergent intrigues me, and I think it raises important issues in the church today (it seeks to engage culture dynamically, engage tradition critically and imaginatively, and engage mission passionately, all things that we struggle to do in traditional churches). As a Lutheran, I recognize that it is a reform movement within Evangelical Christianity, but I also see that it has something to say to us in the Main Line, too. But I’m not sure that its disdain for structure and institutions will serve it well in the long run.

I look forward to watching this movement grow up.