I think it is possible that we are going to see at least two strands of emergent church emerging: one that is focussed on maintaining communion with the wider evangelical church on the the terms of the wider church, and one that seeks only authenticity and relates to others on its own terms. I see a role for both, as the evangelical church will only be redeemed by those who will put their name on the bottom of lots of statements of faith that say “of the same substance” and all that other stuff. At the same time, it is those seeking authenticity above all else and who will not simplify their faith to a creed who will always be the trail blazers and who the wider church will make suffer for their faith. I don’t mean either of these categories to be judgement statements, as historically God has worked through both of these groups.

My big question is whether the “main stream” emergents will claim brotherhood with “fringe” emergents, or whether they will distance themselves for the sake of acceptability in the “main stream” church. I think this may be the litmus test of whether the emergent church is a genuine redemptive movement or just another fad.

Can we genuinely say “yes” and “no” and maintain our unity?