In the early 90’s we had an explosion of what we called “alternative music”. This was music that was either on the fringes of or completely different from the hit music of the time. We would have called this hit music “mainstream music” at the time. “Alternative music” came about and was able to flourish because of great dissatisfaction with the current state of the music industry. What “the industry” was producing was mostly lifeless, weak, and ineffectual music. Why? Because it had working formula for a long time and it was generating a lot of revenue.
Eventually “alternative music” became very popular. Because of this, it could no longer be called “alternative” because it had replaced that which it was an alternative to. “Alternative music” was now in fact part of the body of work that comprised “mainstream music”. The primary – and most important – effect of this was a widening of the musical variety in “mainstream music”.
In the same way, we are seeing an explosion of new expressions of Christianity called the “Emerging Church”. These expressions are either on the fringes of or completely different from the way most churches are expressing themselves. We would call these established churches the “mainstream” of Evangelicalism. The “Emerging Church” has come about and has been able to flourish because of great dissatisfaction with the current state of the North American church.
The North American church – like the music industry in the late 80’s – has become too weak, lifeless and ineffectual to capture the hearts and minds of the emerging generation of Christians. In some cases, it uses outdated formulas for evangelism that were once effective.
But these terms need to be transitory and flexible; once something is mainstream, it can no longer be the alternative to the mainstream; once the new generation (of people or churches) has emerged, it can no longer reasonably be called “emerging.”
The mistake we seem to be making is we’re trying to call something “emerging” after it has already emerged, just like we continued to call something “alternative” after it became that which it started out as the alternative to. “Alternative” mistakenly became a genre within the music industry. “Emerging” and “Emergent” are becoming genres of Christianity. This too is a mistake.
