The label emergent is gaining fame among evangelicals but still lacks clarity. The national coordinator of Emergent Village, Tony Jones, in a recent interview on the Al Mohler radio program (July 13, 2007), was asked to define emergent. He replied that coming up with a definition was "tricky."

That sums up our problem in this new series of articles. For the next year, I anticipate publishing short weekly pieces analyzing the most important new subculture within evangelicalism-its positions, its leaders, and its ways. The factors that make this project on emergent Christianity tricky are numerous: The writings of guru Brian McLaren; the diversity of the emergent network; the abstract nature of the controversies; and the depth of the crisis now looming over evangelicalism.

The crisis to which I refer is a crisis of survival. How will evangelicalism persevere in a predominantly hostile American culture? Upheavals of every kind-theological, social, economic, political, aesthetic-are overturning the habits and principles of evangelicals, and the upheavals could spell the end of the movement as we know it. Consider the three most significant upheavals, and how each is driving the growth of emergent Christianity.

1. The overturning of community.

The local church has lost the loyalty of believers. They drift from fellowship to fellowship, they form house churches, or they stop attending church entirely. The reasons churches are not feeding believers are many. Some churches are scaled for crowds but lack depth both in teaching and relationships. Other churches are so ingrown that they can only minister to a few. Still others are committed to narrow and legalistic doctrines, offering the joyless security of certitude.

This upheaval, silently doing its work for the last three decades, is proving catastrophic. People without strong churches become unaccountable, narrow, and ignorant.

Here is Brian McLaren on current attitudes toward the community of believers (from A Generous Orthodoxy, p 16): "So many of us have come close to withdrawing from the Christian community. It's not because of Jesus or his Good News, but because of frustrations with religious politics, dubious theological propositions, difficulties in interpreting passages of the Bible that seem barbaric . . . , and/or embarrassments from recent and not-so-recent church history.

Whatever else we may think McLaren, or even of the above quotation, the frustrations he voices on this issue are widespread and legitimate.

2. The overturning of social status.

Another upheaval evangelicals have endured is their social marginalization. Evangelicals have perceived themselves historically as mainstream, ordinary folks. Churches had a privileged place in the culture. But the way believers are perceived from the outside no longer permits a "just folks" self-concept. We're viewed as nuts.

The first paragraph of A Generous Orthodoxy confronts this reality.

"You may not be a Christian and wondering why anyone would want to be. The religion that inspired the Crusades, launched witch trials, perpetuates religious broadcasting, presents too-often boring and irrelevant church services with schmaltzy music-or else presents manic and overly aggressive church services with a different kind of schmaltzy music-baptizes wars and other questionable political programs, promotes judgmentalism, and ordains preachers with puffy haircuts . . . it doesn't make sense to you why anyone would want to be ‘in' on that."

Evangelicals are not even close to recovering from having lost their mainstream voice, and McLaren gets it.

3. The overturning of knowledge.

This third upheaval was self-inflicted, in an effort to make becoming a Christian easier. Evangelicals have divested themselves of knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of history, knowledge of the arts, and even knowledge of life skills. Most evangelicals don't really know what they believe, and when they find out, they don't believe it.

McLaren reads widely. He knows a lot. In one sense, he pleads with Christians to learn something, anything-to grow up. But in another sense, as we will see, growing up is something McLaren often seems unwilling to do himself.

Radical, sacrificial steps must be taken for evangelicalism to return to health. In the coming months we will examine how the emergent conversation is toying with some proposals. We shall see whether emergent Christianity can address the crisis of community, social status, and knowledge. Do emergents see the depth of the crisis? And will their ideas make it better or worse?