Willzhead asked me "What do the words 'emerging' and 'emergent' mean in that context?" (I presume our context here in BLC, KL/PJ, Malaysia)
Here was my quick reply which he said made sense ...
I think for me "emerging" is (1) more of a description of the reality
we're in - i.e. we a young four year old church is "emerging" and we
as a Malaysian church is still "emerging" (thus avoiding a static
arrived image or mindset) (2) I guess building on the first and
somehow tugged in the back of my mind is something you wrote as it
being a "value"
Now for "Emergent" - I think of it now more like a "learning space" or
posture (cf. McLaren's tree metaphor was helpful here) and applying
that kind of thinking in how we do ministry has great possibilities.
But deep down ... my motivation is more "missional" and that's the
reason why I find "emerging" church values, and "emergent" thinking
"useful" & "helpful" to allow me to explore this dimension more. As
one who serves in a mainline denomination we often maybe "missions"
minded or evangelistic but also have "maintenance" mindset at our core
... thus, reminding ourselves that we have not really "passed"
through the missionary context , even though like in Malaysia all of
the early missionaries or pioneers have left, and we're tempted to
think we are "established" churches ... I think that is not the case.
Does all this make sense?
Posted by sivinkit at October 8, 2004 10:25 AM