An Honest Post on My Involvement with Emergent

NOTE: I have reread this and see that not all is clear here, but for tonight anyway I will leave it as it is. This all is my own personal take, so others may see it differently. But since this blog has been going on for some years now, I thought it only right to be open with where I am

I have, over the last four years, read about, talked about, lectured on, given advice on, attended worship, and generally been a very dedicated Emergent Village follower. I have over time, from time to time, supported financially both Emergent Village and Jacob's Well. I am an unabashed Tim Keel admirer. My mind has been expanded by what I have read and my heart has been touched.
Now, though, I find myself having gone for several months without having the intense interest that I have had over the past several years. The reasons for this are varied: To be honest, at the Brian McLaren event here in April, I was frankly put off by a person with whom I have worked in the past who treated me unbelievably rudely. That should not of course put me off on Emergent but did take me aback. Additionally, although I am a real Tim Keel fan, and consider Mike King a friend, when I volunteered to give time and effort at JW since I would be on leave, and when I tried to talk with others there about what I might do, my eagerness to help was not followed up on. And I have not attended JW for four months, but no one seems to notice. I really do not have many inroads at JW, so that my presence has not bee missed really is not much of a shock. But it is still, at a feeling level, disappointing, I think I know what it feels like when I have talked to a visitor to a church which I have served and hear hurt at not having had some follow up that I should have provided (thank goodness those conversations have not been numerous, but have happened)
But really, I guess the bigger concern for me is that the turn that EV has made over the last year or so to a real social justice emphasis although so very needed, is not really the emphasis that I sense is needed most by United Methodism. It sometimes feels, and I understand this, I really do, that since some of these folks whose own past experience has not taken social justice issues as seriously as they should, now feel like they are the ones who have discovered this "new thing" when, in effect our denomination has been setting a courageous standard around issues of human suffering and the need to live a "social faith" for way over 200 years. That doesn't mean I am not moved by Emergent folks have so profoundly enveloped themselves in the idea that Jesus calls us to prophetic witness in our world.
I guess the issue is that what I believe that the UMC can learn most from the Emergent folks has less to do with how to care for the least and the last, but how to be culturally relevant and to embrace the truth of the postmodern era. That can still happen. I just find myself fading in interest in the emergent conversation, and I know that my own change will not effect many. I do want to continue to find ways for our churches to, with courageous and creatively, reach younger adults and those who live particularly in this city who have either rejected or have been rejected by an irrelevant church. It doesn't have to be that way. I am continuing to be open to the ways that I can be used as an instrument of change in the midst of this intense call and I know that God can use me.
Thanks for listening.