Next-wave retrospective on the emerging church

Next-Wave Ezine turned ten, and the January edition features talk on the EC in NA. Shephen Shields gives a nice overview of its history, and a two-part interview with Jordon Cooper, Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, Tony Jones, Dan Kimball, and Andrew Jones: Ten Years Out: A Retrospective On The Emerging Church in North America, and A Retrospective on the Emerging Church in North America Pt. 1, and A Retrospective on the Emerging Church in North America Pt. 2.

It's funny, because just the other day I was thinking about some of the early discussions on the emerging church, and how it really connected with me, and still does. I can remember getting info on the Young Leaders Network when I was in seminary, and, while I've always felt like a goldfish in the ocean, I've probably been influenced more by many of these people than any other. Even though I have never been officially 'involved' with anything or anyone, I've always felt like we kind of grew together, and started out around the same time (I will have been a pastor for 10 years in August).

Perhaps this is why I feel more connected to the term "emerging" than "missional." I don't know. In all honesty, I still just don't like the word "missional." Not that I don't like what it means, or the people who use the word... I just don't care for the word. It's not that 'emerging' doesn't have its own issues too, but I feel a sort of bond with it.

At any rate, happy anniversary Next-Wave. I really didn't intend to put down any thoughts about this, but more just wanted to bookmark the articles for myself, for posterity more than anything.

ADDED LATER - also a nice post by DD on The Emerging Landscape. Good stuff.

Peace out, folks; and in.