Emerg[ent/ing] Church Burnout

People are getting burned out on the emerg[ent/ing] church, and I’m not all that surprised. (see google search and technorati search) Alan Creech, who seems to have sparked this discussion, cites these causes:

  • Revolutionary zeal
  • Idealism
  • Relational and theological isolation
  • Constant fighting with little apparent victory
  • Very very precious few “signers-on”
  • Too liquid, not nearly enough solidity
  • Same old crap, new packaging
  • Too many babies thrown out with the bathwater (and I’ve thrown some of them)
  • I don’t know what else

The only reason I’m not burned out on the emerg[ent/ing] church is that I never put that much stock in it in the first place. I believe the church has always been emerging, sometimes more quickly or more effectively than others, but anytime the katholikos church has engaged the culture and lived as Christ in the world, she has emerged. So, maybe the emerg[ent/ing] church is the same old crap, new packaging… on the other hand, it’s the same old Christ, new world.

For that reason, I can’t imagine being burned out on the missional church.


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2 responses to “Emerg[ent/ing] Church Burnout”

  1. dwight Avatar

    baby thrower!

  2. […] One of my professors was asking me about the emerg[ing/ent] church the other day and more specifically what it has to do with postmodernism. I still have a lot to learn about postmodernity as a philosophy, a style, and an era(?). But I know that story and meta-narrative have something to do with it. I just can’t figure out whether postmodernity embraces story or rejects story. But when it comes to the church, I do know that we need to become better at embracing the story. […]

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