Emergent in the Tennesseean

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On Saturday, May 28th, the Tennesseean featured an article about the Emergent Convention (that I was at) here in Nashville last week. Today I contacted Ray Waddle, a Nashville based, free-lance religion writer who authored this column, to inquire further about his perspective in writing this article.

The points he highlighted about the "Emergent Church" were quite interesting. He noted (pardon the bullet points):

• that it was in fact a conversation, opposed to a movement
• that it sought to reconnect with our ancient spirituality, opposed to the modern seeker-sensitive style
• the emphasis on Biblical reading, care of the body, and social justice concerns
• that it emphasized generosity and inclusiveness
• and many other interesting points (click the link above to read)

After a conversation with Ray this afternoon, I did learn that he does have a relationship with Jesus, but makes all efforts to write his columns and articles from an objective point of view. I find it interesting that an attempt to view the EC without religious perspective or bias yielded the observations that it did for Ray...they are about as close to an answer that an Emergent leader might give as they could be. I do hope these are some of the things that a person without a relationship with Jesus sees when they observe (and possibly participate in) the Emergent Conversation.

That being said, I remain (still for an unknown reason) uncomfortable and cautious to be labeled an "Emergent" church, but these facets of Emergent Conversation are some of the very things we, as a community of faith, share in common with many of the emergent churches out there...