I'm in charge here...

So, the big news today is this: Andrew Jones called me a "leader in the emerging church movement."

Whoa.

Hmmmmm...

You know... Now that I'm a leader, I think there's definitely going to be some changes around here...

First, I am hereby declaring Quartodecimanism to be Official Emerging Church™ Dogma.

Also, I am declaring that Lollardy is an Emerging Church™ doctrinal essential.

Please make a note of these changes and adjust your personal/church doctrinal statements accordingly.

Oh, and hats. We're gonna have some cool hats. The bigger the hat, the more important you are.
Pastors get ball caps... Muckity mucks like Jones and Pagitt get 10 gallon hats. Someone make Brian McLaren a big ass sombrero please.

But seriously folks...

It's cool that Andrew said this. It caused me to think today about what I say and how I say it, in this forum, and on others. I've been thinking that the higher one's profile becomes, the more circumspect one should be in what he says (wait... did I say "big ass sombrero"?). Doug Pagitt said way back at the beginning of the year that 2005 would be the year that the emerging church stopped getting a pass and that the criticism would start, hard and heavy. Boy, was he right...

As we explore and reform and reformulate... It's good to remember that people are watching and that with titles comes a measure of responsibilty. In a certain sense if you have visibilty, whether you want to or not, you speak for others who may or may not see things the same way, and while acknowledging your right to believe whatever wacky (or perfectly reasonable) stuff you want to believe, would prefer if people didn't think we all believed said wackiness.

I think it's incumbent on our critics to be able to discern the difference between "Brian McLaren says this" or "Tony Jones thinks that" and what a broad, very diverse group of church communities tend to believe and think.

But, it's also important for those who grow to become perceived as "leaders" in this conversation to... be careful.

Yeah?

Comments

[fr'nklin]

Hmmmm...your thoughts here scare me...I've heard that from the mouths of too many people who hid behind the title "leader" to NOT say what needed to be said. You became a leader by being who you are...don't stop now. Not that I think you ever would...but it did sound that way just a little bit. Maybe it was just me...either way, you KEEP IT UP...I love reading your blog and your comments elsewhere.
Peace.

[bob hyatt]

Well- I hear that.
let me think a bit more...

Anyone else?