The Emerge-ish Church

As usual, I've said most of the things I think are important above in the video, but the basic gist is this:

This is a post for two separate sets of people. The first is the world of the general internet community and the second is a group of students in the Thurman/King School and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School for Christian Leadership. It has come about because I'm teaching a one-time evening seminar to this group on the topic of "The Emerging/Emergent" church and was asked to address the issue for folks that were interested in but didn't have any personal ties. Ok, so now onto the point(s).

If you are NOT in that class, the favor I'd ask is that if you've got another perspective and/or resource that you want to pass along to those students, please post it in the comments and I'll make sure folks get to see it. I'd love for this post to become a living document, so please post away: personal narrative, resource to read, or otherwise. I'd love to have as many voices as possible on this doc.

If you ARE in that class, please watch the video above and then look at some of these links below and the comments section. Try to read and/or watch at least two from the "Insider Perspectives" section and at least one from each other section. It would be great if you checked them all out, but getting to at least one each should give us grist for the mill. If you have any questions please be in touch and I'll see you in April!

Insider Perspectives

Julie Clawson: Personal Account and a HUGE list of other links to follow if you're interested.

Todd Thomas: A Great (Quick Blog Post)

Nadia Bolz-Weber: Another Great (Even Quicker) Post

Christianity Today Article (2007)

Emergent Village Values and Practices

Outsider(ish) Perspectives

New York Times Article

PBS Documentary

Shane Clawson: Sojouner Blog Post "On the Sloppiness of Naming"

More Critical Perspectives

Strong Biblical Perspective: Charges that Emergent --> Catholic Mysticism --> Dark Forces