Getting the Emerging Church out of my system

It's been a crazy reading week here. More metaphor theory, a little Drama of Doctrine, and a firehose of Emerging Church stuff due to the faculty lecture series at school (which, BTW, has generated some discussion here and here, with more likely to come). Untold blogs, emerging church websites, and the books The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll, The Emerging Church by Dan Kimball, Emerging Churches by Gibbs & Bolger, and The Church of the Emerging Culture, edited by Leonard Sweet. The lecture series couldn't deal with everything, so I wanted to get a feel for some contributers to the so-called movement other than the extremes the lectures dealt with.

It's been an interesting exercise. Here are a few observations:

1. There is indeed much diversity here. So much so that I'm still very reluctant to call it a movement. I think its followers have forced it into "movement" status prematurely, and this makes interacting with it exceedingly difficult. I'm not sure I'm qualified to say much yet, but this is where I am the moment.
   
2. Of the contributers known to me, McLaren is the far left of the spectrum. His apparent reticence to take a position on the gospel, including the atonement, heaven and hell, pushes him right off my radar. Forget trying to figure out any of the rest of it -- if he can't directly articulate the gospel (like others below in the "movement"), then I can't find a good reason to listen very closely to his arguments about much else.
   
3. Pagitt is a conundrum. If he really has implemented his thoughts on reimagining preaching, then he has effectively relinquished much of his role as a shepherd of a flock. Maybe he doesn't practice what he, um, preaches in this area, but I can't tell. And I can't afford more time in reading more books on it. The Solomon's Porch website didn't help me in this area, but only raised more questions about what he believes and does. But, as a friend said to me recently, he definitely has snagged the coolest church name since the first century.
4. But there's much more to this movement. I was actually very encouraged by Driscoll and Kimball. I can't sign up for some of their ideas regarding "multisensory worship gatherings" (I'll have to post on that separately), but they seem wholeheartedly driven by a clearly articulated, orthodox gospel. The truth of who Jesus is and what He did comes thru very well in their books and on their church websites. They are much more about retooling methodology than reinventing theology. Brian has some good comments on this. Frankly, I was challenged and humiliated by their passion for those who don't know Christ.

I think people in the #4 category will eventually have to put some distance between themselves and the McLaren- (and maybe Pagitt-) types. I just don't see them getting along closely for much longer if they keep going in their respective directions (and if I'm properly understanding at least this much of the "movement"). They just don't seem to share the same central passions, whatever else they may have in common.

Meanwhile, I think it would be better to deal with this as a cluster of theological and shepherding issues than as a movement. Or as a cluster of related but distinct authors with unique agendas and emphases. It seems to make more sense to talk about what McLaren says, and what Pagitt says, and what Driscoll and Kimball are saying, etc, rather than lump them all together as a "movement."

That was way too long and looks too much like a blog post. But I've almost got it out of my system. One post on multisensory worship and I think I'll be ready to get on with life.