MattCleaver.com

Reimagining Youth Ministry

  • Home
  • Youth Ministry has Failed
  • Best Youth Ministry Books
  • Church Websites
  • Contact Me

Emergent Post #1

Last Updated November 18, 2004 by Matt 1 Comment

I title this as post #1 because there will probably be a lot more to say about this as I continue to formulate my thoughts. When I first heard about the emergent movement, I really felt as if it was something that dealt with the needs I saw in the church as a whole and became really excited about it. However, I must say that I am getting a bad taste in my mouth with a few of the people who claim to be “emergent.” It seems as though they would rather be an exclusive club than edify the body of Christ as a whole. Instead of thinking of ways to help heal the dying church in America, they are wanting to go start their own churches and critisize those who do not. In addition, “real” emergent folk get up in arms over churches who do call themselves “emergent” but who don’t fit the emergent mold (as accused by the “real” emergent people). Doesn’t this go against everything emergent stands for?

I thought emergent was about opening up communication and dialogue within the Body of Christ. Excluding certain churches because they don’t fit the mold seems contradictory to what emergent stands for. I think the people who call themselves emergent have a lot to give to the church. But they need to begin doing it in a more prophetic way rather than try and create an exclusive group of churches. If the end goal of emergent isn’t that the Body of Christ as a whole become healthier as a result of this movement (or “conversation” as they like to call it), then I want no part in it.

We need to be exploring ways to get our message out, not ways to start our own churches. This sort of reform might need to come from the laity. I have no idea how many pastors and church members have any idea what emergent is or what it stands for; I’m willing to bet it’s a fairly small number. But they need to know. The church needs help. Why are we keeping it to ourselves?

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Matt

Matt Cleaver has written since 2004 on youth ministry, theology, and the church. His blog was ranked by Youth Specialties as a Top 20 Youth Ministry Blog. Click here for Matt's list of the Best Youth Ministry Books.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    November 19, 2004 at 8:16 pm

    Hey, it’s Rachael. After reading all of this, it makes me miss talking to you. I wish you had more time to sit down but I totally understand how busy you are. It sounds like you’re doing wonderfully. I’m happy for you and Alicia. Chat with me sometime. I miss ya, Cleaver.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Best Youth Ministry Books

These are the books that will completely change the way you think about youth ministry, for the better. Links are to my reviews of each book.

Teen 2.0 by Robert Epstein

A psychologist makes you question every assumption you have about adolescence.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andrew Root

Why build relationships? Root’s answer will surprise you.

Best Youth Ministry Books: Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher

Yesterday I finally read Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher, and since I’m one of the latecomers to the conversation I won’t summarize the book too much. Marko has linked to tons of reviews on his blog if you are interested in more in-depth summaries. If you are fairly in-tune with a lot of the […]

Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry

Postmodern Youth Ministry by Tony Jones is the book I would recommend to youth ministers if they could just read one youth ministry book. I first read the book in my Foundations and Practices of Youth Ministry class at John Brown University. After the preface to the book there is a page titled, “The Day […]

You can find my new blog on philosophy and teaching at MattCleaver.com

Search

Archives

Categories

  • Best Youth Ministry Books (4)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Blogroll (1)
  • Book Reviews (17)
  • Books (32)
  • Christianity (50)
  • Ecclesiology (52)
  • emerging church (13)
  • Featured (8)
  • Links (27)
  • Ministry (4)
  • Neo-Youth Ministry (8)
  • News (25)
  • Personal (69)
  • Podcast (4)
  • Quotes (14)
  • Random (43)
  • Seminary (16)
  • Theology (48)
  • Uncategorized (50)
  • Websites (15)
  • WordPress (1)
  • Youth Ministry (149)

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in