You have probably heard the term “Emergent” to describe faith communities in both a positive and negative way. I personally hate the term. I don’t hate the folks who use the term to categorize themselves, but I do hate that we feel a need to categorize ourselves.
Boundaries make people feel comfortable. When you start removing boundaries, or simply ignore their existence, people get nervous. I like what Rob Bell (who many call Emergent with a smile, and many call Emergent with a scowl ) said about the term. I don’t have a direct quote, but it went a little like this: “I am not comfortable being called Emergent, but I am comfortable being called emerging. We have not arrived.”
It seems like I have said this countless times since we started building a church. We have not arrived. I don’t know the best way to preach, or teach, or facilitate community. I don’t know the best translation of the Bible, and I often question how we interact with Scripture. But I am searching and studying, because we have not arrived.
The team I am a part of that is creating a new church in Winston-Salem, NC has run into this several times. For instance, these two questions were asked on our Facebook page:
Are you a bible preaching/ believing Church? Or a part of the Emergent Culture?
I guess I didn’t realize you had to be one or the other…