An Emergent Manifesto of Hope

An Invitation to a Deeper Journey

Brian McLaren was a church planter and pastor for 24 years. Now he is an author, speaker, and networker. You can sign up for his enewsletter and check his schedule at brianmclaren.net.

One of the critiques of the Emergent Manifesto of Hope is that it didn’t go deep enough in any of the subjects it covered. This, I think, is inevitable in a book that tries to bring together many authors. Each of us had one brief chapter to address a topic of personal concern. If we had one person write a book on one topic, he or she could have gone deeper, but then we would have lost the variety of voices and the breadth of topics.

Also, we were trying to mix together experienced writers and new writers. If we had excluded the new writers, something may have been gained, but something more valuable (in my opinion) would have been lost. We have to resist the tendency to create a few “stars” or “sages on stages.” We need to keep bringing more and more voices to the table, and the book attempts to do that.

Another critique is that the book didn’t do much in the way of deep biblical or theological reflection. Again, this is a valid observation, but many of us are working hard at writing other books that contain deeper reflections; this particular book had other purposes. I think book with deeper biblical reflection will be an especially fertile area in the coming years.

For a lot of people, the emergent conversation begins as a matter of pragmatics—changing methods while leaving the message unexamined. Over time, though, we also begin to re-examine our message.

This conversation isn’t, as is commonly asserted, simply a matter of trying to accommodate or water down our message to suite postmodern tastes. Rather, it is an attempt to assess the degree to which the message we inherited had already been watered down by modernity, by colonialism, by consumerism, by racism, by nationalism, and so on. I know from my own experience that it takes a surprising amount of time to begin to see the Bible in fresh ways, and not colored by the particular, inherited lenses. The process is ongoing.

So, the Emergent Manifesto of Hope is what its title says: a hopeful statement that we believe exciting things are emerging and exciting discoveries are waiting to be made. The book doesn’t claim that we have arrived, only that we are so hopeful we’re setting out on a journey together—a journey which all interested people are invited to join.
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Listening to our brothers and sisters around the world

Brian McLaren was a church planter and pastor for 24 years. Now he is an author, speaker, and networker. You can sign up for his enewsletter and check his schedule at brianmclaren.net.

Although the Emergent Manifesto of Hope was largely by and for people in the US, it remains inescapably true that we in the US need to listen more than ever to voices from our brothers and sisters around the world.

Fortunately, this is beginning to happen. For example, the recent Amahoro gathering (amahoro-africa.org) marked a milestone in global conversation about faith and mission in the emerging post-modern, post-colonial world.

Even within US borders, there are signs of progress in global listening. In an Emergent Village “emergent/c” email newsletter earlier this year, we posted a beautiful piece by an Asian theologian, and response was grateful and positive. Blogs like those of Sivin Kit , emergentafrica.com, converse.org.au, and emergent-uk.org also strengthen interaction.

For obvious reasons, the internet facilitates this kind of international interaction more than book publishing does, but in the end, I think there’s something better than mediated conversation, whether on paper or screen. Face to face meetings can’t be replaced.
This is costly in terms of time, energy, and travel (as the Apostle Paul knew through his many journeys) but a number of us— in all directions—are making these investments, and relationships are developing.  It’s great to see more and more visits happening and friendships developing as people in one country discover conversation partners in other countries.

The US, because of its wealth and media and politics, easily becomes an echo chamber, and we Americans often engage in monologue and show ourselves unwilling to listen. This is true both in politics and in matters of faith, sadly. There’s a lot of work to be done, and the book acknowledges this need in several places. I hope the book will not be seen as another case of American monologue, but will rather give people in other countries the chance to eavesdrop on what we’re thinking about—and in so doing, stimulate conversations within and among countries around the world.

US Emergent Manifesto of Hope?

Brian McLaren was a church planter and pastor for 24 years. Now he is an author, speaker, and networker. You can sign up for his enewsletter and check his schedule at brianmclaren.net.

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In a previous posting, I said that the Emergent Manifesto of Hope was focused largely on American problems. For that reason, it might have been better to call it “The US Emergent (Village) Manifesto of Hope.”

On the positive side, the book reflects that we are making some small steps of progress in dealing with our US issues. For example, more and more networking is happening among Euro-Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and others. There is increasing dialogue about justice, peace, sustainability, ecology, and other important faith-based issues.

As we seek to deal with the many issues of division and injustice that exist in our own country, we will become more sensitized to parallel issues elsewhere. If we rush out to “fix” everybody else’s problems without facing our own, we’ll be repeating an old American tradition.
After all, it’s often easier to help someone across the globe than across the street or across town or across a political party line.
This kind of relationship building takes time, and the book reflected the beginnings of progress being made in this area. May that progress continue!

Responses to a Few Critiques

Brian McLaren was a church planter and pastor for 24 years. Now he is an author, speaker, and networker. You can sign up for his enewsletter and check his schedule at brianmclaren.net.

It's encouraging to hear that the Emergent Manifesto of Hope is being well-received. I thought I’d respond to a few critiques of the book that I’ve heard, in this and future postings.

A few people have critiqued the book for being too American.
Obviously, my chapter and several others speak of the need to think more globally (and post-colonially), but critics are right to say that the book is still largely by and for Americans.

I think they’re less right if they infer too much from this. The fact is (as a recent gathering in Uganda made clear—see amahoro-africa.org) that the emergent conversation in the US is becoming more and more interested in global issues—especially issues of poverty, justice, reconciliation, and peace. Some people might complain that this broader perspective has been a long time in coming, but I would respond with two reminders.

First, the emergent village in the US is still less than a decade old. Conversations take time, and can’t deal with everything at once.

Second, the American church has a lot of its own problems to deal with. Yes, we may seem strong to the rest of the world because we export books, television programs, people, and arguments. But we who live here daily experience our pervasive religious dysfunction, and so the Emergent Manifesto tries to bring some hope into our situation. I hope we can be excused for trying to deal with the planks in our own eyes before seeking to extract the splinters in the eyes of others.

Still, this criticism is a good reminder that we are all connected and the emergent conversation truly is a global affair; we in the US are one small part of it—no doubt full of problems—but learning to proceed in hope.

Secular Media, Politics, and An Emergent Manifesto of Hope

By Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren served as church planter and pastor (crcc.org) for twenty-four years, and now is an author, international speaker, and networker active with emergent (emergentvillage.com), Sojourners/Call to Renewal (sojo.net), and others. His books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and the Secret Message of Jesus. You can learn more about him at brianmclaren.net.

In the last several presidential election cycles, the “Evangelical” identity has been largely synonymous with “the Religious Right” in the secular media (and much religious media too). In recent years, many journalists have become a little more savvy—realizing that the term “Evangelical” is not as monolithic as many people have assumed.

One of the significant players in the deconstruction of the tired and paralyzing polarity of “left/right”, “liberal/conservative”, or “Democrat/Republican” has been Emergent Village. It has transgressed old polarizations on many levels. For journalists seeking to understand the changing religious landscape of the United States during this election cycle, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope will be a must-read. They will discover a mélange of Evangelical, Mainline, and Catholic voices addressing issues of theology, social justice, the environment, poverty, racism, globalization/colonialism, leadership, sustainability, and more.

Exposing a Secret/Correcting a Myth

By Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren served as church planter and pastor (crcc.org) for twenty-four years, and now is an author, international speaker, and networker active with emergent (emergentvillage.com), Sojourners/Call to Renewal (sojo.net), and others. His books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and the Secret Message of Jesus. You can learn more about him at brianmclaren.net.

It’s easy to understand why so many people have been saying that “emergent village is a conversation among highly educated, white, middle-class, younger evangelicals.” After all, when Emergent Village puts on events midweek which require air travel and hotel accommodations and rental cars, large numbers of people—notably poor people—are unintentionally excluded. The same is true regarding publishing—which tends to favor certain kinds of “insiders” and disfavors others. The Internet is more egalitarian, but even there blogging still has a kind of elitism. These problems aren’t unique to Emergent Village, of course.

The truth is, emergent did begin with a lot of young, white, male evangelicals (plus some older ones, ahem). But soon, an emerging women’s leaders’ network helped balance the gender difference; simultaneously, the conversation became a hybrid between post-conservative evangelicals and post-liberal mainliners. A number of Roman Catholics and some Eastern Orthodox became involved as well, and people of color are possessing an increasingly high profile.

For evidence of that growing diversity one only needs to read An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. The list of authors shows how diverse the US emergent conversation has become.

Of course, the book is intentionally a manifesto of the emergent village in the United States, which may mislead some people to think that this conversation is exclusively or primarily North American. This would be another misjudgment, but that’s another story.

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"Isn't emergent just a phenomenon of highly educated white Americans?"

By Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren served as church planter and pastor (crcc.org) for twenty-four years, and now is an author, international speaker, and networker active with emergent (emergentvillage.com), Sojourners/Call to Renewal (sojo.net), and others. His books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and the Secret Message of Jesus. You can learn more about him at www.brianmclaren.net.

Many of us involved in the emergent community have heard people ask,
“Isn’t emergent just a phenomenon of highly highly-educated white Americans?”
(A few years ago, they might have said, “white American males?” But
the increasing  involvement of a growing number of gifted and
articulate women leaders has rendered that version of the question
obsolete.)

In 2006 alone, I was in about 20 countries, and many others in the previous years,

and I'd have to report that no, the emergent conversation
is not an exclusively or even primarily white American phenomenon. It
is truly global and, in many ways, white Americans are somewhat late to
a party already in progress.

There are reasons why it is important for the emergent conversation to
happen in the U.S. among white people. Christianity among people of
European descent, as Philip Jenkins has shown in The Next Christendom,
is not in good shape. While the Christian church grows rapidly in many
areas of the global south, it is stagnant (or declining slightly as a
percentage of population) in the U.S. and is evaporating in Europe. In
the U.S., I am told that several of our leading Evangelical
denominations report modest growth, but if you take away the  immigrants
(mostly Latin American and African), among their white constituency,
they are declining and aging rapidly. So, it shouldn’t be too big of a
surprise that many leaders in predominantly white churches are taking
their condition seriously and are finding, in the emergent conversation,
resources that are helping them.

There are also other reasons why American observers (especially white
ones) may think that emergent is a U.S. white phenomenon. First, white
Christians tend to only hear much about other white Christians.
Second, although emergent is rapidly becoming more diverse,  its
founders were mostly white. Third, visibility in the United States
comes largely through radio, TV, and books. Although few in the
emergent conversation have much of a public role in religious broadcasting,
a number of us have published books, and most of us who have done so
(thus far) have been white. That, of course, reflects a whole range of
issues in American  history and culture, but I'm I’m glad to say that those
of us who are getting some leverage in the publishing world are using
our influence to be sure nonwhite voices are heard. An Emergent
Manifesto of Hope is an example of this attempt to reflect the
diversity of voices at the emergent table.

Beyond diversity in the U.S., as I explain in my contribution to An
Emergent Manifesto of Hope, the emergent conversation in the U.S. has
diverse counterparts around the world. Wherever I’ve traveled, I'’ve
met people asking  similar questions and reaching similar conclusions.
Each regional network is forming in response to its own issues and
needs, but the degree of commonality is quite amazing, and the
possibilities for mutual learning and cross-pollination are, to me,
downright exciting.

That’s one of the things that I think that An Emergent Manifesto of
Hope will help people see: there’s a lot going on among a lot of
different kinds of people. What brings us together, I think, is a
shared sense that the religious status quo — which “works” for
millions of people — isn'’t working for us.

And we also share this sense that the solutions and resources we need still
remain to be discovered... and that this discovery will not rally us
around a single leader or denomination or doctrinal system; rather, it
will bring together diverse people in conversation , and together,
through our diversity, we will discover treasures we never could have
found in isolation.

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