McKnight writes,
One of the streams flowing into the emerging lake is prophetic rhetoric. The emerging movement is consciously and deliberately provocative. Emerging Christians believe the church needs to change, and they are beginning to live as if that change had already occurred. Since I swim in the emerging lake, I can self-critically admit that we sometimes exaggerate.
McKnight makes two points —
* First, change requires being provocative.
* Second, exaggerating can lead to being misunderstood.
I agree. Few things are more obvious than the fact that the Churches of Christ need to change. Getting the attention of people who defend traditional norms sometimes requires provocative language. I’ve tried my hand at it a few times myself.
But there’s a danger that comes with provocative language. It’s just so much fun to make the slightly exaggerated statement! You get attention and responses. But — trust me, I know — your opponents will hang the slightest mistake around your neck.
And the emerging church movement has made this mistake — as have many of the “change agents” in the Churches of Christ.
Therefore, it’s critical that we not judge any movement by a few statements made out of context.
