The Emerging Identity Part 1

  Who are the emergent Christians?  Is there a common flag that can fly over all of us or most of us?  I've been wondering this for some time.  Having read most of the popular books from most of the leading authors - informal spokesmen for the emerging church, if it were possible - I've seen many labels used to describe this growing group of ragtag radical followers of Christ, from "Post-evangelicals" to "new reformers" to "barbarians" to - from the other side, "liberals" or even "heretics". (Surprise me, why don't you?)
  But what I have been watching for is a common orthodoxy or doctrinal identity.  Like a denominational platform.  Not that I want one.  The whole idea of signing on to a new doctrinal creed is repulsive to me... I mean, I just recently got rid of the old one!  And the new believers are understandably all over the map on their positions, because the new Way is in the process of developing and solidifying as we speak.
  Anyway, I think I may have found it - or it found me, or my cousin's husband found it for me.  Dave gave me a book titled, The Naked Anabaptist, by Stuart Murray, thinking that he saw me in there, I think: the Neo-Anabaptist.
  This just may be the common orthodoxical homeland for many of us, simply because there are so many similarities between the direction of the new reformers and this little-known 500-year-old tradition.  If you are one of the "new" Jesus-followers, you just might see yourself in these core convictions held by most contemporary Anabaptists:
  1. Emphasis on emulating/imitating Christ as a lifestyle, as well as worshipping him.
  2. Jesus-centered doctrine.  Emphasis on the gospels - the life and teachings of Christ - as a filter for interpreting all of the Bible.
  3. Commitment to learning from the experience of movements that have rejected standard assumptions of Christendom and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving.
  4. Commitment to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless, and persecuted.
  5. Strong sense of community.  Churches will be places of discipleship and mission, friendship (not just fellowship), mutual accountability, multivoiced worship.  Young and old are valued, leadership is consultative (the group makes decisions together), roles are related to gifts rather than gender, baptism is for believers.
  6. Spirituality and economics are interconnected. Simple living, generous sharing, caring for creation, and working for justice.
  7. Nonviolence. Commitment to finding ways to make peace between individuals, within and among churches, in society, and between nations.
  You probably noticed right away that, as Murray puts it, "these statements say nothing at all about foundational theological subjects... Nor do they pretend to cover every aspect of the subjects they do address, such as Scripture, the church, and mission.  These core convictions are not intended to be comprehensive, to substitute for creeds or statements of faith....  They introduce a way of being followers of Jesus that is unusually holistic."
  So, you saw Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution) in there, right?  And how about Brian McLaren (A Generous Orthodoxy)?  And I also see my young counterparts, Sam, Ben, Jordon and Ricky in there, along with tens of thousands of new radicals who are leaving the traditional institutions on pilgrimage to something more authentically Christ-ian.
  I think Stuart Murray speaks for many Post-evangelicals when he points out the similarities between certain Anabaptist convictions and the common direction of many radical, authentic Christ-followers of today.