Evangelical Resources

Post-emergent

11:13 pm | Emergent Church

For several years, I have wrestled with the same kinds of things that the Emergent church has wrestled with. Things like “God isn’t a Republican” or “Why is it that Christians can’t see any sin but homosexuality?” and so forth… “Why is Jesus being packaged and sold?”, “Are these people here to share the gospel or sell Precious Moments figurines?”, “why is the church so institutional?” What I’ve found is that these kinds of questions can really get people thinking, but by themselves neither the questions or thinking necessarily brings us to wisdom.

Part of the point of being spiritual pilgrims is that our journey is toward a destination, and our journey is marked by specific milestones. We aren’t to be simply babbling like foolish babes, but growing in knowledge of Christ. Our growth in Christ has a purpose too, as His workmanship we are created to good works in Christ. We are here with a specific purpose, not to be people who regress in our walk with Christ.

It is convenient and proper to be uncommitted to a position on certain matters when one is trying to find their way. When one lacks wisdom in a certain area, one should withhold judgment while seeking wisdom. But one should seek wisdom on matters, which often means being willing to finally commit oneself to a position. For a long time the Emerging church has been defined by its unwillingness to be defined. But for many people like myself, we have grown weary of this pie-in-the-sky Christian relativism. It generates a lot of talk, but for all its noise over the years it has come to little more than meaninglessness and futility. I want my Christian life to have real meaning and purpose - not to be merely another babbling fool whose life shrivels away into nothingness.

I look at Jesus talking about the sheep and the goats, and I see James talking about true spirituality. For all their high-sounding talk, I do not see the Emerging church actually helping the poor, visiting those in prison, giving personal aid to widows and orphans. They talk about being ‘missional’ but have a very narrow view of real mission work. I look at the people that these Emergents criticize the most - the otherwise “institutional” church - and I realize that these people ARE going out and helping with the poor (particularly by volunteering real effort at UGM), they ARE visiting and ministering to people in prison, they ARE giving aid to widows and orphans, and they have hearts for world missions that are can hardly be contained within their souls… and they can suffer all things and sacrifice everything for the cause of Christ whom they love with all their hearts souls minds and strength. When I see the true spirituality, it’s not with the trendy hip Emergent crowd and their new language of inclusiveness, but it is with the old guard who follow Christ with abandon.

I desperately want a Christianity that is real and authentic, that isn’t just about a lot of just talk. All we’ve done is substituted Evangelical-ese for Emergent-ese and called it “relevant”. We congratulate ourselves for being more inclusive but we’ve excluded our spiritual fathers and Evangelical brothers from our conversation and fellowship. I desperately want to move past this. I want to get beyond all this twenty-something angst against the “institutional” church. I don’t want to be a person that considers standing around pointing out Christian hypocrisy to be a virtue. Instead, I want to be about my Father’s work. I want to be working the work of the Kingdom. I want to serve and love Christ with an abandon that I haven’t in years. I want to become postemergent.