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sometimes it just feels like a petty game

There’s a good conversation going on over at Mike’s blog. I really liked this from his comment to Karl.

At this point it just feels like a semantical game to say whether something is “evangelical” or “emerging” or “historic, orthodox Christianity”. Who cares who gets the claim it?! If folks in the emerging church say “We’re thinking in these ways”, and someone else comes along and says “Well we’ve already been thinking in those ways before you even started”, big deal! It just feels petty to argue about who got there first. Emergence is an inclusive conversation. It’s not about reinventing everything all over again for ourselves. It’s about learning from all those folks you mentioned and more. And if some folks in evangelicalism have already been learning from them, great! But some are still just “emerging” into that, so if we’re “emerging” into places that others have already been, fantastic! Novelty was never the point.

That’s why I like to talk about “convergence” as much as “emergence”. It’s not just an emerging out of old ways of thinking, it’s also a coming together of many different streams of faith. We’re all learning from each other and contributing to the larger conversation. But it doesn’t really matter who gets to claim what part of it. If it’s good and true, then I’ll take it for my own, regardless of whether it’s evangelical or anabaptist or mainline or Catholic or whatever.

2 Comments

  1. Christy Fritz — October 18, 2007 #

    Emergence is an inclusive conversation.
    We’re all learning from each other and contributing to the larger conversation. But is doesn’t really matter who gets to claim what part of it. If it’s good and true , then I’ll take it for my own.

    that is an awesome perspective. one i’ve always shared, but felt wrong for doing so, not because of any church per se. but from my own perceptions of what i thought it meant to get christianity “right”. thanks for sharing.

  2. Mak — October 18, 2007 #

    I agree, it is awesome :)

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