The Ugly Side…
Two negative images of the emerging church have stuck in my mind since Greenbelt. They’re not good images and I’d like to be able to say that all the fantastic things that I saw of the emerging church at GB outweighed these two moments…unfortunately they did not. I am a great fan of the emerging church but there is a danger that unless we address these two issues seriously, then we will ‘perpetuate the failings of Christendom’ (i think that’s something John Drane said).
One moment involved the exclusion of a female from a particular conversation by a group of men. No intentionally, probably not even noticed, but there was a genuine exclusion which angered the woman excluded. Everybody that i know within the emerging church has a positive view of women in leadership – why is this not outworked in practice? I was chatting with a friend who was involved with an emerging church and he commented that whenever they were asked to do things they always made sure that a man and woman attended. This modeled partnership but also prevented the cult of personality growing. I think that we can no longer shrug out shoulders and say, ‘yes it is a problem, but we don’t know why’ – that is an inadequate response that we should be ashamed of.
Second moment, I was on contributors patio working on something and within earshot were two guys both in leadership positions within the emerging church talking philosophy. Whilst i have no problem with this on a academic level, it did portray an image of the emerging church as an exclusive self-indulgent academic pretentious clique.
Two rather ugly sides of the emerging church, two missiological failings, two gospel failings…
Technorati Tags: Ben Edson, emerging church, Gender, mission
Hi Ben,
I am not at all surprised by your observations. As a woman with a child at Greenbelt who is part of an emerging community I felt quite often isolated from my peers – who spent a great deal of time in the beer tent (a place where my child struggled to be comfortable) or on the contributors patio talking about their ideas. I didn’t have the time to ‘network’ and I wasn’t introduced to any new people by those who were able to. I have worked in secular professional theatre for most of my life and have always been made to feel included, comfortable and loved. This was my first Greenbelt as a contributor and I found the environment quite competitive. I am ashamed to say that I got caught up in it and found myself speaking about one worship session in a way that was particularly unchristian and as a result decided to exclude myself from further debate. I am also ashamed to say I didn’t have the courage to challenge the behaviour or admit to my shame at being part of it.
I am not sure what the answer is…I think we will find as we mature (as an emerging church) these things will start to slip away. But in the meantime I do worry about those we might be hurting along the way.
“Whilst i have no problem with this on a academic level, it did portray an image of the emerging church as an exclusive self-indulgent academic pretentious clique.”….? Bothersome? Why? Why separate belief and academia? You must think of Paul as one pretentious bastard!
i’m not separating belief and academia, the two should go together. I’m highlight that the emerging church can be seen as an academic clique, and if it aims to engage with and transform contemporary culture it needs to broaden out. Part of this involves making sure that the image that we project is an inclusive humble image; which this was not.
Was not at Greenbelt, but agree that these are both really important points. I have not experienced the first, (though the EC seems the domain of Sons of Ministers – me included.)
The second point has been a beef of mine for a long time. Whilst I love the academic, intellectual side, there is a risk that this is exclusive. Many people can’t or don’t want to engage at the philosophical level and this shouldn’t exclude them. My only answer – from someone currently not involved in a community – is that maybe the community need to be a ‘doing’ community as well as a thinking one.