While many bloggers started the new year by recapping the highlights of 2007, Kester Brewin also looked forward to 2008.  One of his predictions for the coming year is “the collapse of the emerging church as a popular project.”  He further clarified his hunch on Emergent Village saying, 

I sense that some of the key players are less and less willing to work with that particular language. I think that, whereas a few years ago people were excited by the prospect, people are getting used to/bored/fed up with ‘emerging church’ as a concept, and will thus leave it behind.     

I don’t think the issue is the emerging conversation.  Whether we are speaking about the conversation itself, or the language used.  The dangers of participating in the conversation come from the “Emergent Church” dissenters, and their growing hostility towards anyone who seems to be a leading voice in what they want to label as a movement.

These dissenting  crusaders define the “movement” and identify the “leaders” themselves, and continue to pigeonhole the language into definitions — most of which aren’t even a part of the meaning implied by those in the conversation.  Their oversimplification leaves postmodern meaning ‘denying truth,’ and the purpose of the “Emergent Church” being the deconstruction of all tradition, orthodoxy, and practice in the evangelical church.It is no surprise that these horribly skewed definitions labels leave those who are seeking a better way to live as Christfollowers wanting to distance themselves from the controversy for the sake of progress.

Moving away from hot button terms and labels will only keep the conversation a few months ahead of its critics, IMHO.  Meanwhile, as the bashers work diligently to follow the evolution, those who genuinely desire to be a part of the conversation may never be able to find a place in the dance where they can cut in.  Instead of abandoning terms and anything emerging, I feel we should continue to address these incorrect labels and accusations with constant clarification in our conversations.  I have always tried to be conscious of my language.  I call it speaking out of the definition.  When you unpack your terminology in an effort to be better understood, you also leave those who wish to attack you with less room to twist and manipulate your words.

This is where I feel the emerging conversation might continue its efforts to overcome the intentional misrepresentations of others, while at the same time making it easier for those new to the conversation, to join in the journey of finding a better way.

What do you think?