Why were Pentecostals were ignored in the early emerging church movement? My Assembly of God friend Earl has some answers in his article Can We Be Pentecostal and Emergent?
Reason Number One: "Origins: Early and influential EmChurch authors, webbers, and speakers were almost all from outside the P/C [Pentecostal] movement. Many were Reformed. Lots of the EmChurch plants were actually SBC [Southern Baptist Church] under the hood, including significant amounts of low profile capital investment."
Reason Number Six: 6. "No show: Pentecostals tend to be doers, while a lot of EmChurch influencers tend to be thinkers (this is my patronizing reductionism—sorry). Result: we simply didn’t show up for work when the EmChurch was gaining momentum, largely loosing our opportunity to have a voice in the dialogue." Link
I met Earl about 6 years ago in Seattle (I think) and he interviewed me for something he was working on. I try to keep up with his writings and journey as a leader in the Assembly of God. His article is good but comments elsewhere show that there is a lot of confusion still out there and there is still much work to do. I am also thankful to Phyllis Tickle for including the Vineyard and others in her synthesis of the key streams and influences in The Great Emergence.
Why am I mentioning this? Because I heard there is a group of Assembly of God leaders coming to my meetings today so I am reading up on what they might want to ask me.
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