This doesn't sound like a guy who is trying to be edgy.

Obsessed with Cool

One of the traits we see in our students is the tendency to define who they are by trying to clarify who they're not. This tribal behavior draws boundaries on the basis of clothing, music, areas of interest, etc. "Dude, I never would wear something like that. That is so lame..."

Reading through Dan Kimball's otherwise fine book, The Emerging Church, I was struck by the almost comical efforts made to be sure that readers understand how the emerging church isn't like those "Saddleback-type seeker-sensitive churches"—you know, that are not emerging. The book does a great job of describing a style of worship and ministry that looks different from what Rick Warren does at Saddleback Church; but in reading through this book, a book that talks about how we can be more sensitive to postmodern seekers who are faith-impaired, un-churched, and unfamiliar with God-language, one can't help but think, "Gee, when you're being sensitive to seekers like that, isn't that like being, you know, 'seeker-sensitive?'" Of course, it's a different approach, but isn't it the same idea?

One youth worker expressed his appreciation for The Emerging Church by explaining to me, "What appealed to me about that book is that I grew up in a conservative church where people were closed-minded, hypocritical and very judgmental, and I think that people such as Dan Kimball and Brian McClaren are trying to say this is a new kind of church, a new way of thinking about church."

Here's the problem: If part of the church is the emerging church, who or what are the rest of us—those of us sinners who are occasionally close-minded, hypocritical and judgmental? Submergent? Divergent? Convergent? Detergent? What this view of the church doesn't seem to comprehend is that we're all one body, and a hipper-than-Thou identity betrays the basic theological fact that we are all one (Eph. 4:1). Those closed-minded, hypocritical, judgmental people in the "old kind of church" happen to be in the "new" church whether we like them or not.

This desire to witness to the world by showing how much we're not like those we don't wish to be like only shows the world one more form of tribalism. To be sure, this desire to give to the world an authentic witness is biblical and healthy. We must be (dare I say it?) sensitive to seekers and non-seekers. Paul's Corinthian letters seem to be burdened with precisely this issue (1 Cor. 10:23, 14:16-17). Unquestionably, there are instances in which the witness of some churches has been a hindrance to the mission of the church; but that witness is borne more convincingly and authentically by demonstrating whose we are than by declaring who we aren't (1 Tim. 4:1-12).