[There are a lot of people who think I'm uncharitable to the Emergent Movement in many ways. I don't mind the sentiment, and I'm happy to debate it with you.]
The outspoken members of the Emergent movement – those who are interested in and effective at getting the word around – talk endlessly about the monolithic “emerging generation” and it’s concerns. They talk about what youth and young adults will and won’t be attracted to, or interested in. They talk about what the church will have to do to survive, because if it continues as it is, it will be pushed to the fringes as modernism crumbles. They have centered their positions, their existence, around one thing: they know where culture is going. They know the future.
They won’t tell you this. They’ll point to surveys, books, social and religious trends, and most often they’ll turn to anecdotes. They’ll look at what is starting to happen in small pockets around the country, and tell you that this is what is going to happen. They’ll weave things together and make arguments that sound convincing, but all the while you know something’s wrong. Then it might hit you that they’re predicting the future.
Now, before I move on, I have to say that they might be right. All of their predictions about society and culture, the future of the church, and particularly the futures of evangelicalism and other conservative theological movements might come true. I’m just a little skeptical.
I don’t know what’s behind the speculation. I don’t know if it’s true belief, reasonable expectation, or just hope. I’m sure there’s a mixture of all three, and some I haven’t thought of. But what’s happening in the movement, just as in much of society, is that the speculation is taking the place of reality.
What just a few years ago was simply an idea of what might be the future of our culture is now said to be the reality of our culture. So many in the Emergent movement began adjusting their practice and theology to entice the members of this new society. Now, in an incredibly short span of time, the ideas and positions of just a few years ago are deeply entrenched ideologies.
Consider this post at Pomomusings.com (154 comments and counting) titled “The Bible & Homosexuality: Enough with the Bible Already.” Read more
As I thought a little bit more about the tendency I discussed in my 
You’d think people would be sick of crying “Wolf!” by now. The world hasn’t ended yet, despite all your posturing and hoping and warning, and I don’t think it’s going to any time soon. Of course, I could be wrong, and if I am, that’s okay, but in the mean time, you’re making anyone who takes any word in the Bible literally look foolish.
