A Look Back at Emergent

Five years ago Ted Kluck and Kevin DeYoung wrote Why We're Not Emergent: by Two Guys Who Should Be. It was an insightful, educational and entertaining book, dealing with the Emergent Movement while it was still at (or at least near) its apex. On pages 31-35 of the March issue of Credo Magazine, Kluck takes a look back at things "Emergent" (and its cousin "Missional"), given the perspective that only time can often bring.

Among the things I found particularly helpful with Ted's piece were the following:

Ted's openness about his own struggles with pride and the example he sets in his commitment to try to write more humbly. I'll be honest with you, I probably check the stats on my web traffic more than anyone should, and certainly more than anyone who generates as little traffic as I do! I get excited when a web post of mine generates 25 or 50 hits; I can only imagine how hard it would be to remain humble when you're a real author like Ted and thousands of people actually pay money to read your books. He freely admits his struggles in that area, and in so doing, provides a great example for those of us who may like the spotlight a little more than we should.

A subsequent willingness on Ted's part to express thanks for some of the parts of the Emergent movement.  To be sure, some of this of a backhanded compliment in part, as it includes such things as his observation that the Young Reformed movement owes much of its rise to the Emergent movement. But indeed, for better or worse (and there is surely much of both) the rise of a new generation of prominent Reformed leaders was (at least in part) a response to the Emergent movement. Ted also expresses appreciation though for such derivatives of the Emergent movement as the uniting of people across normal liberal/conservative divides and a concern for many areas on which we all need to focus.

A steady commitment to keep the center at the center. While not being critical of social efforts, Ted rightly wants to keep the mission of the church centered on the proclamation that our only true hope is in the the good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and our subsequent salvation. Surely, good works will flow out of this, but the Gospel is the key.

Check out the whole article by clicking here.

Are You Too Post-Evangelical/Missional/Post-Emerging?

C. Michael Patton has a good blog entitled Parchment and Pen. He often deals with weighty theological matters, and while I don't agree with his conclusions 100% of the time, I usually do. And even when I don't, I find Patton helpfully hought-provoking.

Sometimes though, he posts thoughts that are a little more on the lighter side of things. One example of this was the other day when he published a list of the Top Ten Signs You Are Taking this Post-Evangelical/Missional/Post-Emerging Thing too Far.

My favorites were:

5. You have yet to read the book of Romans believing Paul was too modern in his thinking.

and

2. When someone calls out your name you get angry saying, “Don’t label me. Labels are completely unhelpful!”

Book Review: Kinda Christianity

One of the many blessings I’ve experienced since moving to Michigan was the opportunity to get to know Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. In the past, I've written of my appreciation for Kevin and Ted, who have co-authored two award-winning books, Why We’re Not Emergent and Why We Love the Church.

One of the reasons they work so well together is the contrast of their styles. Though both are really smart and really funny, Kevin’s writing tends to emphasize the former while Ted leans a little more heavily on the latter.

Ted recently teamed up with another pastor, Zach Bartels, to write Kinda Christianity, a satirical response to Brian McLaren’s latest tome in the Emergent Conversation, A New Kind of Christianity. I’ve never met Zach, though I have read his blog from time to time. He’s clearly also a real sharp, funny guy, making it difficult to tell where his contributions to the book left off and Ted’s picked up. It wasn’t just as if Ted wrote it by himself, it was like two Teds wrote it.

What exactly does that mean? Well, if you don’t like satire or you do like Brian McLaren and the Emergent Church movement, you probably won’t particularly like this book.

If you’d like to get a theologically astute, incisive, well-written critique of A New Kind of Christianity, I recommend that you read Kevin’s review here.

But if you would like to read a more light-hearted (though still incisive) critique of McLaren and all things Emergent, then A Kinda Christianity is definitely for you. It's sub-title bills it as "A generous, fair, organic, free-range guide to authentic realness." One can only assume that "relevant" and transparent" simply didn't fit on the cover.

The authors freely admit that this short book is not intended to really encourage anyone. Rather it is solely meant to make people laugh. It’s satire definitely accomplishes this goal for the anti-Emergent reader, ultimately answering the question, “What would Christianity look like if we were all college sophomores?”

Not Emergent Either

I attended a conference yesterday in Grand Rapids at West Cannon Baptist Church. It was entitled “Don’t Stop Loving the Church” and featured some great speakers: Mike Wittmer is one of of my favorite seminary professor/authors, Kevin DeYoung is one of my favorite pastor/authors, and Ted Kluck is without doubt my favorite former professional indoor football league player/author! (Kurt Warner hasn't written a book yet, has he?)

You may recognize DeYoung and Kluck from their book Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). I was blessed with the opportunity to speak with the two of them at length and really enjoyed getting to know them a little. They both strike me as godly, humble, intelligent men who love the Lord and His bride, the church.

As I made the grand drive between Grand Rapids and Grand Blanc, I considered some of the reasons I am not emergent either. The list I came up with is not really why I’m not emergent, so much as how you can tell that I’m not emergent. So here it is, in Lettermanesque 10 to 1 fashion:

10. I wear slacks to the office every day.

9. When I go to the office, it’s usually at the church, not at a coffee shop.

8. When I do go to a coffee shop, I drink black coffee, not a pumpkin spice latte, a frappuchino, or some other (ridiculously overpriced) concoction.

7. I wear shoes and socks when I preach.

6. In fact, I don’t even own a pair of Tevas/Birkenstocks/sandals.

5. I have neither a goatee, nor a pair of designer glasses.

4. Though I do enjoy most of U2’s music, Bono is not even on my list of favorite theologians.

3. I don’t think that we should have to try to be "authentic."

2. I think that the Word of God is far more “relevent” than any movie clip I could show.

1. I actually believe something, and think you should believe it too.