Frustrating

Watching this almost 90 minute panel discussion between Kevin DeYoung, Tony Jones, Scot McKnight and Alex & Brett Harris at the Christian Book Expo in Dallas (moderated by Mark Galli) was more than frustrating. Here was a unique opportunity to make some progress in the conversation between evangelicals and emerging leaders (with some input from an even younger generation) and to give people a clearer picture of what "emerging" really stands for, but this opportunity was wasted in defensiveness, peripheral argumentation and in some parts an apparent lack of trust and honest effort to understand what was being said.

I decline to attribute more guilt to some than other parties, let's just say the whole thing felt less like a real conversation and more like a wrestling match. The emerging side felt misrepresented and misunderstood (and rightfully so as the discussion on epistemology revealed!) and Kevin felt at a loss to respond to something fairly that refuses to be defined in narrow doctrinal terms and to be pinned down so he could give his "biblical" rebuttal to it. His closing remarks revealed what he really would have liked to talk about - Tony Jones' stand on homosexual marriage, Brian McLaren's view of hell and pretty much everything that exposes "emerging" as a false teaching undermining sound biblical doctrine and evangelism (from his perspective).

Where do we go from here? That is MY question!

I applaud Christianity Today and Mark Galli for trying to keep both sides talking. There's obviously a long way to go to foster REAL understanding and to keep us from prematurely breaking fellowship (once again!) in the body of Christ. With proper respect and a willingness to let go of past hurts and possible misconceptions of each other, it should be possible to not only understand legitimate concerns and insights on BOTH sides but also to work together - instead of against each other - in building up the church and equipping it to reach out more effectively to the world around us!