I would like to begin by laying my cards on the table. This is an article that is generally critical of postmodern ministry in the world.  It is not meant to be offensive, hurtful, or rude. On the contrary, I have great respect and passion for most emerging ministries and would like to see my own church begin to emerge in the ways that they have.  I believe that God is doing something new in the Church, and that churches are moving to new levels of creativity, mission, participation, and community. This is great for the kingdom and every church in America should embrace these principles.  Having said that, let me say that I see some disturbing trends among postmodern/missional/emerging pastors, trends that repeat the mistakes of previous generations. As I read through the blogosphere, and surf the web for articles on postmodernism, I find myself sensing that something is missing. While I agree with much of what the movement is doing, something is wrong…. we need to refocus and rethink some of our positions or we will die. So, what is it that's missing?

1. Positive energy. Every major movement in history emerged out of critical, dare I say, negative thinkers. Leaders perceived a problem in the church or world and dedicated their lives to fixing that problem.  And that last sentence really is the issue, because at some point the leaders of these movements stopped wallowing in their own negativity and began to take some steps forward to fix the problems. It's not a movement if you're not moving!

This is my concern with the postmodern movement. I worry that some will never come out of their hostility (I chose this word carefully) toward the local church, and will never contribute in a positive way.  With the invention of the blog (which I love), many would rather sit on the sidelines and criticize instead of rolling up their sleeves, taking a step of faith, and getting some actual work done.  At some point the postmodern church must emerge out of the critical and negative thinking it has been stuck in and begin to offer clear and positive steps to a healthier, more holistic church.

2. Humility.  You probably think this is the last thing I should be writing about, especially after my comments in the previous section. We have a humility problem in the emerging church movement. I mentioned the blog world above, and I am constantly surprised by the arrogant attitudes with which we approach other church ministries.  We act as though mega-churches are doing no good at all, and that we have a corner on God's vision for the church. We ignore the thousand and thousands of people that are fed and clothed by these mega-churches, and sometimes we act as though God isn't even involved in their ministries. Jesus taught us to have attitudes of love, service, humility, and meekness. Instead, we often have attitudes of superiority, arrogance, bitterness, and sometimes anger. We need to repent of our sinful attitudes.

I'm afraid it sounds as if I'm against all forms of critical thinking and critique. I'm not. Critique is a good thing and I engage in it all the time (this article will probably me the subject of some critique, and I welcome it), but critique must always be done with a spirit of love and humility. Are we open to learning from the very church/organization we are attempting to critique, or are we blinded by our passion, so that we only see the negative? If all you ever see is the negative, you probably need to work on your heart before you ever say a critical word about theirs.

3. Action.  One of the popular phrases I here is "join the conversation." If we're not careful we could talk ourselves to death. It's true that postmodernism hinges on the mode of conversation, but at some point the conversation needs to end and we need to go to work. I grow tired of reading the blogs of people who are fed up with the local church, and are receiving their paycheck from the local church. Resign! Go start a new and vibrant ministry that will affect an entire generation. We could debate and discuss forever, but at the end of our lives we will have done no meaningful thing.  I worry that the movement will never really move, because we're too busy talking about it moving. I appreciate the ministries of men and women who have stepped out and done some really amazing things, but we need more!

I love the web, and love to read critical thinkers of our postmodern age. However, I believe if we don't address the issues I've mentioned above our movement will be in serious trouble.