Emerging South Africa-Be Careful!
I’m just coming out of a phase of disappointment with the emergent movement in South Africa (as I’ve experienced it) and wanted to share some of those on this site for us to think around and perhaps to watch out for.
Some of the claims I’ve heard emergents in South Africa make are around being inclusive, culture-sensitive and reaching to the poor. I’ve heard emergents in South Africa critique mainstream churches for being building-bound, program-obsessed, expert-driven and inner-looking.
This is what I’ve seen most visibly from the emergent movement in South Africa: events being held in white suburbs, in white churches, with entrance fees above what the vast majority of South Africans could afford, with ‘experts’ on the topic of emergent thinking flown in (expensively) from the west and giving western style presentations. Where there are emergent communities, you can primarily only encounter them by going to their building and participating in their program. Conversations taking place in emergent circles are more about theological and philosophical issues within the emergent movement than about anything outside of the emergent movement.
The emergent movement in South Africa thus has a slight tendency to me, to look: exclusive, culturally-insensitive, for the rich, building-bound, program-obsessed, expert-driven and inner-looking.
How many emergent events have taken place in Soweto or Soshanguve where our central speakers have been local South Africans, or perhaps, even better, where we have not had central speakers at all but people ‘on the ground’ sharing their stories? How many events have we had that were entrance-free, and that involved doing rather than talking? How many events have we had that involved reaching outside of emergent issues to issues that are affecting people out there? Perhaps the Amahoro conference in Uganda came the closest to some of these things…
I had to laugh a little at the Change Agents conference (for youth leaders in South Africa) I attended this past weekend where, after two-hour long lecture-style presentations, speakers would say, “Don’t use this style of relaying information with your young people – it’s not very effective!”. Surely what we model is what our Change Agents are going to do? Similarly with the emergent movement: what we model at our events is what people are going to do. Until we start incorporating what we talk about into the very way we do things, it all starts to sound a little hollow.
I’d like to see story-telling gatherings in townships (where us whiteys travel out there). Or learning outings to little-heard of corners of our country, where people from all cultural groups form little learning communities to receive from people ’on the ground’ insight and knowledge into how they are doing church and community. Or street parties in the inner-city where everyone is invited to come join in and eat, and churches donate the food. Or drumming circles in local parks where curious bystanders can enjoy some unusual (free) entertainment.
Let’s stop spending our money on paying for the flight tickets for so-called experts from the west to come and tell us how the church in Africa should emerge. Let’s rather start conversing with our fellow Africans on grass-roots levels and see what emerges from there.
- Cori's blog
- 737 reads
Stay updated
Who's been visiting?
Recent blog posts
- What were the bad old days like and why should we remember them?
- The rise and fall of the Emerging Church movement
- Why is the Emerging/Missional movement so white?
- Heh fellow sojourners
- Missional and assumptional
- The Bible in five statements
- Wanted: one good reason why this site should continue to exist?
- Frank Viola's imaginings
- Muzi Cindi: postmodern nigger in the woodpile.
- The African Way post
Comments
on the button .....
on the button .....
Interesting...
Interesting... I've never really thought of that... It's been true for so long in own personal life. For so long I've been more words than actions... But I'm glad to say that I'm trying to make a change in my own life and trying to become more practical then verbal...
Makes me think of that phrase, "Cancer can be beaten!!!" Only this time, the cancers something I'm afraid of fighting!!! I'm trying to fight this battle in my mind... trying to convince myself that I am a missionary... I don't wanto go on a mission "trip." I wanna be able to share what I got....
A good friend of mine says that he's not good with chatting to people, but with others online, he's a machine... Perhaps it's not only me... perhaps there are others out there who are afraid to step outside their comfort zone...
Maybe it's just me...
This is a problem with the
This is a problem with the "emerging church" worldwide, including North America. We still tend to think in institutional and organisational terms, instead of organic ways of working together which fits more the idea of family and community of the early church. From my observations and experiences in Africa I suspect those of us in North America and the West/North could learn a lot about what true Biblical community is from Africans who practice it naturally when not influenced by others.
Great thoughts!
I am a post modern, not a post colonial.
I am a post modern, not post colonial.
Hi Cori, Great to hear your
Hi Cori,
Great to hear your thoughts on the matter. I think what you say is absolutely true, and painful to realize how guilty we are on this. There is so much we can learn from women and the point of view number one, and secondly also from the broader community of faith. I am also guilty of so easily talking after the american writers...think we need more get togethers were us ("the people!") can talk and imagine how things will look like in SA and Africa
Best post on site!
I think the best way to deal with the issues you raise, Cori, is for us to fly in Spencer Burke from the States and to have a weekend gathering at a local campsite to discuss it. I hope we'll be inclusive enough to be white-male dominated, and the cost will be somewhere around R400.
::sticks tongue out at self, slaps self on head::
I think this is the best post I've read on this site. Ever. It's a challenge for us to have enough courage in ourselves to do things differently. You've given some excellent suggestions on how this thing could be taken forward - I'd like to hear others do some thinking around them. As for me, I'm going to be processing through this over the next few days.
Interesting how we can model something and then say, "Do this differently!" to others...
Reflects Emergent USA too
I don't think this is unique to SA though, as once again we are copying the Americans. Recent research by Tony Jones shows that of the 8 major emergent churches he visited, 92% of people attending were white. They were also significantly more educated than Americans at large.
Judging by people on this site we are also mostly white, urban, highly educated and obviously connected to the internet (just that cuts out most of the SA pop.). Question is, what do we do with that?
I think there are legitimate conversations we can have within that demographic, but if those conversations do not empower us to move out of ourselves, then I agree they are a waste of time.
So what are the forums for dialogue that would broaden the conversation and more importantly, are 'our' issues of any concern or interest to 'them'?
Some hard questions...
Some of us are trying...
Those who attended Brian Mclaren (yes, another American speaker) might remember the talks we had about this exact thing. Why was the occasion so white?
However, no matter how many times I've thought about the "white problem" in the emerging conversation, solving this isn't that easy. Maybe the emerging conversation is simply a theological haven for many of us, many who are tired of feeling that they have to defend themselves the whole time for asking questions. Maybe the emerging conversation won't ever be anything but a white theological conversation, since, as I see it, it was started as something of a theological conversation, and focus on theological issues not neccesarily shared by black people.
My dad is a missionary in Swaziland, and said this weekend that the things we are talking about isn't helping him at all. Maybe this is the first thing we should realize. If we want to have an inter-racial dialogue, we should start by leaving our own theological issues behind, and then have a new conversation, seeing what get's put on the table.
But you put some very important critique on the table, I'll be contemplation it within the next few days.
Oh, and Cori, I hope your title wasn't referring to the title of my first blog:-)
Emerging South Africa - be careful
Hi Cori
What a challenge! Thank you (I think?)!
It also makes me want to sound a word of caution to us all - we are so quick to lift up our eyes, look out and critique others. Maybe our critique should be for self and our loving help and encouragement should be for others? Yah, I know there is more to it than that... but it bears thinking about.
Can I also suggest that whatever mainstream churches are (or are not according to Emerging SA) they are still being used by God to affect much good change in the lives of idividuals and communities. And I have witnessed that. Time has yet to tell whether the emergent conversation will actually significantly change anything at ground level in SA.
Let's keep up the conversation. Let's seek change. But let's do it humbly. My expereince is there is usually much more to clean up inside than outside... and those who dont think so usually prove the point.
What are we doing on a blog then?
The very fact that we are discussing this on a blog is already an "exclusivist" thing to do. We actually exclude some 80% of South Africans (and possibly a higher percentage on the rest of the continent).
So, what to do? I agree we need to get out there more and engage with people at ground level, and actually do stuff. There's plenty to do, but it is a mission to get going, but then again nobody said it would be easy to be church out there.
On the other hand we need to realise that depending on what context you grew up in, it is very different things you will be "emerging" from. The challenges of your average township church are vastly different to those of an average suburban church. Not only that, but the solutions would also look different, because while the church in the "western" sphere of influence needs to reinvent itself to be relevant to the postmodern context, whereas the township culture is not neccesarily that much affected by postmodernism.
What are we to do then?
so then what exactly are we to do?
it can't be either/or
i think we've worked ourselves into a corner. yes, blogging/internet/sitting around chatting about our ideas of church are luxuries of those with the time and means to do so. but that doesn't mean there is NO profit to it. I sense that people here are learning, finding room to express their hearts, and connecting. that's good. but it's not either we do this OR talk to people in our contexts, engage diversity, etc. I
t's BOTH/AND. Yes, chat here. But please do not stop there. Take up the conversation now with someone over coffee. Visit a friend who lives in a different environment and ask them what they think about what you are talking about here. That's where the power of this conversation really comes. When I take the conversation further with others, finding out what matters, what's relevant to them, what is perhaps even liberating. That's what keeps it from being an interesting philosophical debate.
yee haa
I must say I find a lot of emerging churches to be self obsessed.. it is not much about talking to others, but rather talking amongst OURSELVES in a setting and way that WE like.. Is just about us in the end (again).. and they way we'd like church to be.. then it is not that much different to where we came from is it? Church again is just a place to keep Christians happy...
Post new comment