Comments on: Top Ten Myths about Emerging Church

By: gfh

gfh — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:59:40 +0000

I had only read one book by a so-called spokesperson.

By: Seth

Seth — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:34:46 +0000

I, like many of you, don't understand the problem of having a leader or a spokesperson. I think back to THE church of Acts. What would you consider Paul if not a leader?

By: Carla Franklin

Carla Franklin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:50:44 +0000

#9 ”Emergence is anti-denominational”. In my humble opinion, I think that is the best Church to go to. If your heart leads you there. God is not Baptist, Methodist or Catholic. He does not care which Church CLUB you belong to.

These Denominations (Baptist, Catholic, And etc) have their own set of doctrine (rules) for you to be allowed to be part of their club. and most of it is NOT biblical by any means..

SO if your heart has you in a Non Denominational Church you are in a very good place.. Make sure they teach the bible and nothing but the bible.. It is important that YOU learn what Dad is saying in his letter to YOU (the Bible) and to not rey on any humans interpretation of it.. Jesus tells us that he foretold us all things. Everything you need is IN that Book and if your church is not teaching it, You need to run… With all haste AWAY from that church..

By: Katie Jo

Katie Jo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:21:32 +0000

Just a different perspective to add to the “spokesperson” conversation. I didn’t know I counted as “emergent” or even what emergent really was until about six months ago when a friend told me that the way I thought of church was “emergent.” I had only read one book by a so-called spokesperson, but I came to think in what I now call “missional” and “emergent” ways because of the influence of studying Methodist history and reading accounts of American Pentecostal revivals. I just thought of it as “the way my generation would want religion.” I think there are lots of folks out there doing things we would call “emergent,” but not calling it that because they came to it through a completely different path. Perhaps we are giving too much credit to the “spokespersons”…

By: Matthew Gallion

Matthew Gallion — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:09:29 +0000

Speaking along these lines, Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove discussed something very similar on Sojourners recently.

http://is.gd/7eF3b

The way Claiborne talks of intentionally trying to not be someone’s spokesperson makes me wonder. Does one choose to be a spokesperson, or are spokespersons deemed such by those who embrace their words? In other words, can Claiborne actually succeed in his endeavor to not be a spokesperson?

Also, I totally agree with what he said. I’ll probably start quoting him on it all the time.

By: Matthew Gallion

Matthew Gallion — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:32:27 +0000

As a person who is attempting to do academic research on emergence, I have to identify so-called “spokespersons.” I also have to deal a lot with taxonomies and generalizations. All of these things are somewhat unfaithful to the ideals of emerging thought. For me, the issue at hand is how to understand what the emerging church movement is. Is it actually a movement? From a sociological perspective, it certainly is. It has a specific language, certain uniformity, and even these spokespersons.

But theologically, emergence is much more like what @Dave H. describes. It exists locally. It affects communities and relationships. Emergence, in this regard, is not a movement, but an ethos. The terms “emerging” and “emergent” only serve to temporarily describe the Church’s need to constantly re-evaluate. And as far as these spokespersons go in this regard, they provide individuals in separate contexts a starting point for conversation.

I once heard Tony Jones say that writing and promoting his books was the single most profane thing that he does. In other words, it’s just a job. And I think he does it well. But just how much authority we give a person who is just doing his or her job is something that each of us must decide.

By: Tweets that mention The Image of Fish » Top Ten Myths about Emerging Church -- Topsy.com

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:40:37 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Emergent Village, Jay Bakker, Tony Jones, Amy Moffitt, Queermergent and others. Queermergent said: RT @EmergentJesus: if these are myths, then so was my resurrection (@tonyjones) http://ow.ly/10Jll [...]

By: Dave H.

Dave H. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:45:55 +0000

Hey Parker,

I get that you weren’t critiquing an entire movement, I’m sorry that wasn’t clear.

John Buckwalter, Connie Finney, Ernie Lipscomb, and Beth Stevick are invited to speak about their views and experiences all the time. Every week, even daily, I and my friends are in deep conversation and dialogue with them. This is what I’m saying, the radically local conversation is what matters and where authority, leadership, even representation is found. A stranger with a book deal does not speak for us. He or she is an interesting conversation partner.