Emerging Church Challenge

In a comment for Gideon Strauss, in a post about whether neo-calvinists were de-emphasizing discipleship in the struggle to be culturally engaged (and relevant), Michael Matkin states:

I wonder if it would be better to seek to be compelling rather than relevant. Better that folks leave our gatherings saying "I didn't really get all of that, but I would like to because I see the effect it has on the people that I know." rather than "Okay, I got all of that. So what's the big deal?" In that sense, the cultural mandate is just Christians being what they are, being truly human. Then the mood might shift from impacting the culture to creating a living culture within the Church. It strikes me that such a community becomes its own apologetic, and challenges the larger culture by its very existence.

This is an excellent succinct expression of my desire for the "emerging" church. The problem is that the word emerging is starting to take more variety in expression than even the word charismatic! Andrew Perriman has an excellent reflection on the time spent with Tom Wright - what is the emerging church? (PS See Andrew's reflection on the movement in general in an 7 Questions Iterview) I do want to see the church as compelling in current culture - a community that is attractive, not becuase it speaks the language or looks just like the current culture at large - but because it offers those things our current culture lacks so desperately: A story that organizes, a mission to motivate, a community that loves in diversity. The difference between cultural accomodation (relevance) and cultural transformation (compelling) is difficult to tease out, for we must know in order to transform, exmust engage in order to compell, we must participate in order to express, we must open doors in order to be heard. But all that does not sound like appropriating last years popular culture icons and spinning them for the evangelical world. Someday I'll blog about playing bass in a high school band that sang "Walk on the Water" as a Deep Purple cover - just so we could play in chapel....