Living Journey

I have read enough to realise that the Emer move is full of mainly middle-class white men. So much so that the Emer themselves are asking… why is this so?

However, what disturbed me about Catalyst (and conferences like it) is that the majority of the people who attend these conferences are all white males (goatees, glasses, and jeans). Catalyst had over 10,000 people there, and I would guess that 95% were white (Caucasians), and part of the so called, “EMERGING CHURCH” movement. I can only respond to this by asking, “WHY?” Is the “EMERGING CHURCH” movement a “WHITE THING.” @On the Way

I too have been puzzled by this and not because I am female.

The question why does the Emer movement appeal more to the white middle-class male seems a fair one and an honest one at that. A move of God should be unisex, super-cultural as well as breaking any social-economic barrier. A move of God should bring us to our knees, asking for forgiveness first off!

I came across something today that may shed a bit of light. Or it may be completely irrelevant, but I just wanted to blog my thoughts on it. It was a post about ‘The Kingdom of Emergent Theology’. It actually spoke about this particular theology having a predecessor called ‘liberal postmillennialism’…

It is helpful to know that the Christian community has been down this trail before. Emergent eschatology is by-and-large identical to liberal postmillennialism which flourished prior to the mid-twentieth century. In general postmillennialism is the view that Christ will return after the millennium, or the kingdom age, which is presently on earth.

Theological liberal postmillennialism shares some of the same optimism as its conservative counterparts but directs its attention to social enhancement of the planet.

Liberal postmillennialism focuses on societal transformation rather than personal conversion. Their “social gospel” sees the saving of society from social evil as the great purpose of the church. The mission of the church is not to preach the gospel to sinners in need of God’s great salvation, but rather, to liberate mankind from poverty, racism, disease, war and all kinds of injustice. @The Kingdom of Emergent Theology

What was also said was this…

Maybe the emergent leaders are right, maybe the world is getting better and better and, if we Christians would just get more involved, eventually earth will be like heaven.

Could it be that white men are so blinded by their own world construct - their being successful, and rulers of the free world etcetera - that they really do think that the world is getting better and better? Are they the ones wearing the rose coloured glasses while struggling to even think outside their own world construct? In effect saying… well, if it’s this good for me, then you can have it too, sounds a bit like the prosperity gospel to me, but with a lot of conversation thrown in. Are they just having a great conversation in the mirror to self? No offence guys!

Perhaps the reason that it is filled with white-middle class males is that it fails to attract those who haven’t got it so good. Is this why it is a white male dominated movement? I am using generalisations I know. But the Emer crowd has noticed this themselves. Should they look deeper than their own conversations and start looking towards their theology? Is ‘theology’ really such a dirty word? Surely they must see something doesn’t quite add up?

The kingdom, while already here, will progressively become like heaven as we attend to the social ills and needs around us. Tomorrow looks bright and the day after that looks brighter still.

I actually wonder if this move is so westernised that it will fail to move past the western borders in any great way. All this talk about being culturally relevant seems completely irrelevant to the persecuted church in China, Iran, India, Egypt, Ethiopia etc,. The only thing that the persecuted church covets is the need to be held up in prayer.

It is worth noting that the postmillennial system, which was nonexistent in the early days of church history, was originally systematized by liberal Unitarian minister Daniel Whitby (1638-1726). His system grew legs due partly to the optimism of the age, but lost steam when the two world wars of the twentieth century shattered dreams of the world progressively improving.

Since that time a more realistic understanding of human development has set in and most recognize that the earth is not only not moving toward utopia but is more likely closer to annihilation.

I wonder if this move will fizzle if things start to rock the boat. I wonder if this phenomenon will be examined more as time goes on? Time will tell I guess.