Andrew,
I thought I had let this dog lie, but i was driving home yesterday after a small group session where we were talking about what must change in the traditional church in order for it to remain effective in our American culture. I started thinking about this and the other posts about Emergence, Divergence, and Convergence, and an idea struck me.
Are we a eneration of folks that are starting a EDC cycle or are we on the down swing of a mega-EDC cycle? What if we are not emerging at all, but are in the process of causing the church to converge?
My thought went along these lines:
The early church was unified and as its theologies matured various groups emerged. Some were heretical but some were legitimately critical and by 1054 we see the first big divergence with "the Great Schism" between the east and the west.
We see more divergence in the Reformation and all of the splintering of denominations that took place after it.
Starting in the 20th century, following the weakening of Modernity's philosophical stronghold, non-denominational and inter-denominational churches begin to form and people begin to recognize the value of the history lost to the laity and preserved in seminaries and bible schools.
The laity (especially the young people) begin to more thoroughly explore spirituality and the spiritual history of the church and begin to adapt ancient tradition into their practices.
Which leads to a conversation about efficacy and culture and the Kingdom of God.
Which leads to . . . (the future of the church)?
And throughout the whole cycle, there are litle cycles that move the larger cycle. The things each generation gets caught up in that darken the distant path with smoke from the present destruction.
Obviously I don't know this to be actuality, but for some reason it seems to resonate with me. Maybe we aren't emergent, maybe we're finally trying to be convergent.
Tell me what you think.