Power of Labels

There have been quite a few commercials as of late concerning the health care debate.  These commercials are trying to win our allegiance to something, and at the end we are informed as to who the organization is that is supporting this message.  Regrettably these labels are not truly indicative of the goals of the said group.  For instance if I knew that the groups with the funding for the ads were named “Rich Insurance Companies of America, Trying to Get Richer Through Exploitation” or “Association for Free Health Care for People Who Take Advantage of the Government in Any Way Possible” they wouldn’t be getting my support. Or, for instance if you watched the latest episode of “Mad Men” you would remember the dog food company that had received bad press for using horse meat (according to the script something their competitors did as well) was using Sterling Cooper’s advertising magic to remove the stigma.  Their only response was to change the name, not the product.

The point being is that labels are important, and if these labels communicate something negative then they are no longer useful.  A friend, who is much wiser than I, reflected that if the practices of the emerging church are to have any positive effect on more established churches in rural areas it may be time to scrap the words emerging and emergent all together.

Think about the word “liberal”.  Our first thought may be Democrats or a specific Democrat.  Or you may think of policies that you strongly disagree with.  You most definitely don’t think about being generous.  Your first inclination would not be to use that word to describe your charitable donations or hospitality.  The same could be said about the word “conservative”.

With the creation of Emergent Village, we see that the ideas of the Emergent Church may be becoming a bit more institutionalized or at least structured.  Something that ironically goes against some defining thoughts concerning the movement.  However as all things emerging tries to be completely inclusive to all streams of thought it may be best to re-frame some aspects of the movement for those who already immediately associate the words emergent and emerging with heresy and false doctrine.

As the emerging church movement grows the voices within it will only become more diverse, which in and of itself is a positive.  However this will only afford those who find themselves in opposition of the movement to find fresh issues of contention and frustration.  Therefore leaders in these congregations, who resonate with aspects of the emerging church movement  must stay out in front of this criticism (that is at times justifiable) and recast such thoughts in a more appropriate and ultimately helpful manner.

On a side note this is my 50th post.  When I started this a few months back I had no idea if I would stick with it, and really doubted why anyone else would.  So thanks for reading along and entering into some dialog.