That “emerged” into an idea to meet a need we had brought up a few months ago. Why not form a virtual Emergent cohort as a means for those of us who are outliers to Emergent who have not found a critical mass of participation in our own communities to gather. Rather than have a lifestream of chats via Twitter and Facebook among others, why not have a purposeful and intentional community that while we cannot meet regularly face to face, why not meet virtually using all of the tools that are at our disposal? It does not just have to be a video conversation, but with discussion boards, chatrooms, and other media we can find both synchronous and a-synchronous ways to make this work. If it works for distance education, why can’t it work for “Distance Emergent v. 1.0″?

So I am pleased to announce that Emergent Outliers has formed! This is not only as a group intended to capture the conversations of those people who persist with the emergent conversation outside of stable communities that have formed more often than not in urban centers. This is also for those of us who have kids, jobs, and all of the other life commitments who have difficulties participating in yet another gathering of people with yet another thing to do. Sometimes it takes a solid interest in doing one thing to make a group grow. Starting with this initial book reading, it is a great way to foster community.

Of course it would be ideal to have more than 30 something white guys from suburbia to participate! I always hope to hear as many cultural voices as we can muster so please jump in and represent! It often might not happen that way due to all sorts of social constraints including the very word “emergent” which might foster misplaced animosity among some. But as someone who has been critical and supportive of Emergent and so, kind of on the margins of the mainstream conversation, I think this has great potential as an open space for dialogue and to nurture faith through knowledge and friendship. Why are you still reading this? Go on over to Emergent Outliers now!

N.N: Thank Gideon for rocking the website in about 20 min. after we Tweeted the idea back and forth this morning.

via emergent outliers: “distance emergent” community without geography –.

Scot McKnight, Professor of Religious Studies at North Park University, has been studying the phenomenon that is pervasive, but as yet little noticed by the general public.  He calls the change ironic.

This new breed of Christian is a product of Evangelicalism and appears to be carrying on the Evangelical tradition; but serious scholars are asking “Is this a subsection of Evangelicalism or is it something quite different?”

The developing ironic faith takes the believer to a fork in the road. Will the believer abandon the Christian faith altogether or will the believer redefine the meaning of being a Christian?

Many of the emergent groups listed on this site would not characterize themselves as “post-evangelical” since they are constituents inside current denominational structures. Nor can we make any conclusive statement that people who would classify themselves as emergent do so as a reactionary stance to a given theological perspective, namely evangelicalism.

Rather, the tone seems to be geared more to what some might call “post-denominational” or what I would call “meta-denominational” Christianity. In the mid-20th century the ecumenical movement was an attempt to join denominational structures in a spirit of cooperation and tolerance of differences. In some ways this is part of what emergent are trying to do. But there is another level to it. There is also the recognition that while denominational structures are normative for many, they no longer are constitutive of one’s theology or worldview. It is a conversation that happens in large part above these social structures.

For those who call themselves emergent within denominations, there is a sort of reflexive behavior now taking place. Once the connective tissues between people in different social structures including denominations have been formed in often an indissoluble bond, what happens to the denominational structures that are still greatly endearing, but no longer representative of what has now “emerged?” This is the point at which I think emergent is now. It is the breaking down of American denominational and social pillars in order to build something on what is totally different soil than what was assumed to be true in the mid-20th century.

Bryan Wilson, in his analysis of sectarianism in 1990, is almost prescient in this regard:

An important facet of a sect’s shift towards denominationalism is the steady relinquishment of the pristine rigour of its theology and ideology. As the self-conception of collectivity changes from asserting the uniqueness and indispensability of its truth, and moves towards claiming parity of status with other denominations in a culturally pluralist tradition, so the emphasis on distinctiveness diminishes. Unions are proposed as Christians perceive that, faced with the overwhelming secularity of the wider society, different denominations have much in common. Ecumenism, which churchmen (sic.) tend to see as a response to spiritual forces, may be no more than the reaction of weak organizations to a declining market in which secular agencies compete more effectively for the time, energy, and money of individuals (pp. 119-120).

But rather than a mere capitulation to secular forces, is it possible that emergent Christianity is actually a reaction to the encroachment of many secular forces such as bureaucracy, hierarchies of management, consumerist mentality, denominational walls, as well as the perception that church organizations that have adopted these strategies are not as efficient to meet the demands of a world that has change all around it? Is it possible that emeregent is now a response to the old wineskins called denominations that continually resist new wine? Or is this as Wilson says it is – a new capitulation to the forces of secularity in our culture.

Originally published at Notes From Off Center.

King’s X – “Get Away”

Hey God, I watched the news tonight
Why are your people so fucking mean?
Hey God, that kid was locked up for 3 years
Why do the innocent suffer?
Where do you go to get away?

Hey God, they say you’re perfect and in control
And I am falling apart
Hey God, the god of so many names
But who can I blame?
What the hell are you thinking?
Where do you go to get away?

We’re standing here counting our fears
Abraham
Live in a desert there’s nothing there
Abraham
Where do you go to get away?

As a devotional and writing project I have decided that starting on the 18th of May I will write a prayer a day for 100 days. I am inviting all of my friends to do some similar prayer writing over that same period of time. I will post selections from all of these prayers on this blog and will hopefully distribute the final document of prayers to those who participate.

This is a unique and productive way of using the web as an open source devotional. With more participation, more snapshots of peoples’ joys and struggles with God and with the world will be captured. I hope it forms the tapestry of human experience that it has the potential to be. Here is one example:

Day 4

When did becoming a follower of Christ become a popularity contest?

I’m sick of it. I feel like the dorky band kid who spends their life immersed in what they love but gets teased for it relentlessly. I can’t help but ask is it worth it?

Is it worth it to immerse myself in loving you and following your teachings, rather than buy into the brand of Christianity being sold today?

I remember being in high school and my mom telling me that the popular kids make fun of other kids to make themselves feel better. That they are just as insecure and hurting as the rest of us, if not more so because they lack experiencing authentic relationships. Instead of doing the hard work of healing and serving, they choose to make life a popularity contest.

Help me remember the other piece of advice my mother gave me: Just because it’s on sale, doesn’t mean you need it.

To submit your daily prayers, church liturgies and devotional prayers to brianmerritt (at) mac.com.  Original content only please.

We know that there are people in different churches and denominations that share the same ideas about the world, but there are few forums where they can meet to engage these ideas together and therefore, deepen their faith in new ways. This is different behavior than religious “seeking” or “church shopping or hopping”, it is the realization from people that they want to deepen their faith in new ways, but the supply of religious opportunities out there does not offer enough for that engagement.

That’s what this group is about.

This is not about forming a new church, a “sect”, or a “movement.” It is about forming a community where people meet to deepen faith through knowledge and friendships.

With that said, there is indeed a kind of subversive element to it. By meeting we are basically telling the churches that there are religious needs and spiritual needs that they are not effectively meeting. But if some sociologists are correct, forming a kind of religious home through friendships this way may actually help rather than harm all of the churches in our area, many of which are struggling just to keep the doors open. Maybe this kind of group will fan some flames for current churches to respond and participate even as it quenches the souls of those who participate.

I decided to start this site and use both Facebook and Twitter to assess interest. In addition, there is also a meet-up group at http://www.meetup.com/weareemergent. As you can see there are various denominational discussions happening as well as several other Emergent Cohorts that have formed in Pennsylvania.

Drop a comment here and let me know if you are interested in something like this. Feel free to explore some of the other cohorts I have linked to on the left to get a sense for what kinds of things these other groups do on a regular basis!