case

there is no case for the emergent church...

someone should tell mr. strobel to get on that, he might be able to make a bit of money.

i stumbled upon one of ryan's friends blog this week.

he had some interesting things to say about us 'postmodern/emergent/anti-traditionalist/church-critiquing brothers and sisters'....

you can read it and my response here.

what he said was fair...it's true that our perception is our reality,

but as i mentioned in response to him,

i was a little hurt.

i'm not really sure which is worse, being invisible or being misunderstood.

ryan's friend is a smart boy and has a ton of good things to say...

i like him because he listens.

ken has always told me that i should never argue but strive to dialogue...

but then who gets to fight for those of us out here???

who represents US?

and WHO IS US?

ryan and i had a long chat about it last night...

and i'm beginning to realize how much i don't argue about these things anymore.

what others think and critique about the movement are becoming background to what we're really trying to do...

it's when i poke my head up and see who's paying attention to us that i get in trouble.

there are people out there that are claiming to represent the 'emergent' group (whatever you call it) and are doing a really poor job...

they are angry and reactionary.

and that really pisses me off,

mostly because i used to be that way.

people like ryan's friend have no choice but to believe what they're hearing...

and i suppose all we can do is try to pay enough attention and try to interject when we can.

i have been guilty of painting the whole traditional, conservative, modern church with huge brush strokes...

and i guess i shouldn't expect anything else from the other side of the fence.

for some of you out there, none of this is really a reality...

for others of you, you get bombarded more than i do.

it's a tricky thing...

knowing when to discuss and when to shut up.

i'm learning :)

and i'm trying really hard to just...'be'.

........................................................

"the 'emerging church' is a label which is being stuck on anything that is outside the 'norms' of the Church as most people know it; whereas the Emergent Church is specifically about the principles of the science of emergence to church growth."-brewin

perhaps we're putting too many churches into these categories...

and maybe the categories don't matter at all.

we're gonna screw up...

that's the reality,

and i suppose all we can do is try.