A Guide to Emergent-Speak

It's important as we continue our discussion of things emergent to understand the terminology they often use. Some of it is good, especially in the questions they ask, which sadly, aren't being answered well, or even answered at all, by most churches. But some of their "speak" is frankly not good; and some of it could be good if it wasn't so vague.

So, to start us off, here are four phrases that I've come across in almost every emergent book I've read (I just finished my 15th emergent-y book). Do you know of any more?

*who's in and who's out
-->defintition - we shouldn't worry so much as to who has accepted Christ and who hasn't.
-->why they say it - some people need time to "follow Jesus" as conversion usually is a process.
-->what they really mean - we don't want to exclude people so we allow non-Christians to be baptized and even become members of the church. We don't wish to hurt their feelings, make them feel unwanted nor hinder them in any way in receiving Christ someday.
-->where it falls down - What I want to see is the day the ones who are not converted are on prayer teams, leadership teams, teaching their children and then marrying their older children. Remember, the unconverted do not have the Holy Spirit nor the mind of Christ. I think when these things occur, we might see the emergent "conversation" change a bit. In other words, I'm not sure some of this has hit them where they live yet, but as we older ones know, it will.


*Jesus Followers or Christ Followers
-->what it means - emergent name for Christians. In some emergent groups it is the name for anyone who attends their church regularly. Remember, they aren't concerned with who's "in" or "out."
-->why they say it - they don't like the word Christian because of the baggage they feel it carries.
-->what they really mean - we don't wish to pin people down as to if they really are born again or not.
-->where it falls down - I understand their motivation but frankly, the term as used by many emergents is very vague. It has come to include liberal Protestants and wanna-be emergents who "follow" the teachings of Jesus as well as they can. It tends to exclude anything the apostles wrote as well as any cogent plan to salvation. In other words, the key word here is VAGUE.

*Telling our story
-->why they say it - they feel traditional, modernistic ways of communicating the gospel is not meaningful to today's world, especially to the younger generation
-->what they really mean - here is the gospel but not in the traditional Four Laws format. Instead we tell a "story" - the story of God's redemption of people from Genesis to Christ and beyond.
-->where it falls down - actually this is one of the emergents' better ideas for today's generation. However, again, the word vague comes into play at times in their "story." If they make it very clear as to what Christ did at the cross and how we can receive it, then the story idea is a good one IMO.


*Thinking outside the Box/Jesus outside the Box
-->why they say it - our thinking is too stilted in modernism and traditional theology. We need the freedom to think further than these places.
-->what they really mean - We want to be sure Biblical interpretations are not products of fundamentalist theology. We also wish not to be hemmed in and that includes our thinking. We want to be free to synthesize other thoughts, philosophies, religions and histories into Christianity.
-->where it falls down - the problem with this one is the synthesis, Hegelian style, that is often done in the "thinking outside the box." Otherwise, it can be creative and useful.