I have heard this sharp, cutting criticism before and i REFUSE to accept it. Its just nonsense! The emerging church is NOT . . . I repeat NOT . . . full of white middle class males.
In fact, Jonny Baker and I were discussing this yesterday over a cup of tea. . . and we both believe the rumors are not true. We would have consulted the ladies on this matter but none were available.
Jonny had just defeated the other gentlemen in a MERCILESS game of croquet at Shallowford House, an Anglican retreat center north of London. I refused to play croquet because i did not have my appropriate white attire.
But I did play a few games of lawn bowls with the men . . .
Technorati Tags: emerging church
Jonny thought he would also win the bowls . ..
but he was wrong . . . VERY wrong!
. . . now what was i talking about again?????? ah yes . .
Jonny and Jen have actually addressed the issue of gender inequality in the emerging church and I blogged something on the subject as part of an apology for using the word "girl" out of context in a previous post.
But the issue is still on the table and the question [i am being serious for those of you born without a sense of humor] of gender, class, education, ethnicity are still being sorted out.
btw - our speaker for the retreat was an African missiologist named Joe who outlined the impact of women in the bible history and also their current plight in todays world dominated by white western males.
also on the radar is the upcoming global emerging church roundtable called Die Gefaehten, which now has a blog. The participants in this event are a good mix of gender and there is a special focus on hard-core underground sub-cultures - which is where the emerging church movement often starts.
Thanks Mark Berry for posting these photos on flickr.
