What Happened to the Emerging Church?

Solid article with good insight. #3 really put the hammer on the nail.

“They, most of whom were former Fundamentalists (not Evangelicals), mistakenly identified all Evangelicals with neo-Fundamentalists.” So true.

In my experience, emerging church figureheads articulated problems very well, but had no solutions to offer. They rejected evangelical everything in favor of… well… nothing that could be stated, only lived as “story.” Moreover, they rejected truth as something that can be articulated, which was, of course, self-defeating.

I once asked Mike Svigel what he thought of the movement. He just shrugged and said, “Meh. Just give it time. It’ll all blow away like smoke.” (That was more than 10 years ago, so that might be a paraphrase.)

As I reflect now, I see a common thread running through their general discontent: a perceived lack of authenticity in the church. Too much hypocrisy, too little transparency, too much talk, too little action. All culminating in a sincere lack of confidence in the power of the verbal proclamation of the gospel to change the world. Consequently, they began to slide down the same slope as another generation of discontented Christians who gave us “the social gospel.” The similarities are striking.

Could it be that fulfilling the Great Commandment, while advancing the Great Commission, would have eased their identity crisis? But, instead of mobilizing fellow believers to feed the hungry, combat poverty, or care for widows and orphans, they wrote best-sellers that pointed fingers at the church for failing to act… and then failed to act as well. (Funny how finger-pointing goes.)

I, too, resonated with their discontent. At least until I grew tired of their whining. That discontent (and other, unrelated factors) took me on a spiritual odyssey that led to Christian humanitarian work. I now work for a Christian humanitarian organization (GAIN, aka Global Aid Network, a ministry of Cru), and I think I found the satisfaction they still seek.

Fortunately, this new generation of believers is not like the whining, Gen-X/Y emergers. I’m encouraged to see a rising hoard of young Christians bursting with amazing pent-up energy, eager to put faith into action. Instead of rejecting orthodox truth, or distrusting the efficacy of verbal proclamation, this up-and-coming generation recognizes the power of combining word and deed. Instead of tearing down the church, they’re turning their discontent into fuel for ministry among “the least of these,” the marginalized, the abused, the neglected, the discarded. They’re searching for ways to DO something with their faith.

But there’s a danger we cannot ignore. They need leadership. In fact, they crave it. They’re looking to older generations, expecting them to guide and empower them for practical ministry.

What happened to the emerging church? Who cares? Like a vapor, it’s gone. Now we have the privilege of harnessing the energy of an emerging generation of believers eager to accomplish much for the kingdom. We do that by equipping them with orthodox truth and by creating opportunities to let them minister in deed.

Thanks, Michael, for faithfully serving up orthodox truth (along with a cup of coffee), and doing it with such integrity and transparency. That’s step one. Now let’s help them put that truth into action.