Am I "emerging"?

I'm wondering if i am actually "emerging" (as in emerging church) or if I'm actually just hoping to get in on the next new thing.

It's amazing that the further I explore the Big E Emerging church (aka Emergent, the talking heads of movement, Peter McLaren, etc) that I'm finding less that I'm interested in and more fad wrapped in academic language. I'm not saying that there isn't something genuine in the midst of this. I really respect some of the ELCA players (Karen Ward, Nate Frambach) in the larger discussion.

However, what does anything of this mean towards multi-generational/modern/post-modern/post-post-modern people all in together? How does this change anything ultimately to have one more new splinter group? I'm suspicious after watching the Willow Creek phenom become the mega-church monster. It is just one more cool group. One more spiritual product or designer label to buy and be popular. It's popular to be emergent now, just like it used to be popular to be seeker-friendly.

What I hope will stick will be a reflection on micro-community awareness. Karen Ward talks about her "tribe" and how her faith community reflects their particular needs, strengths and weaknesses. That just makes sense to me. Just like a new leader can't walk in to a foriegn community and authentically demand the entire community conform to that leader's idea of correctness, a generalized theology of "Every Church" that prescribes styles, practices and functions to everyone regardless of who, where, when and what they are as a part of the whole.

Anyway, it's a thought.


On another note, don't put stacks of folded fabric into a washing machine until the machine is full. Apparently, when i tried to wash my grandmother's sewing stash last night (they had four inches of sewage in their basement last week, yuck), I actually put *four* loads in the washer because I didn't unfold the material. Oops.