What on Earth is The Emergent Church?!

"In a variety of voices, this group of friends is attempting to sing a song a together."--Tony Jones on The Emerging Church.

What is the Emerging Church?

I've heard this question asked rather frequently as of late. No matter how I try to explain it, I feel like I haven't quite satisfied the inquiry. Part of the reason is because The Emergent Church is so diverse that I never feel like a flat two to three sentence definition suffices. Another reason is because I usually feel a bit on the defensive since I find that people who do not even know what the emerging church "is" are wary of it, have already formed some negative preconceived notions, and are sometimes flat out against it. Since the Emerging Church is diverse and more of an ongoing conversation or movement than a denomination of "the church," people have a hard time pinning it down. However, I came across this post from Mike Clawson over at Emerging Pensees that sums up the history, evolution, various contributors, and main streams of thought of what is known as "The Emerging Church." He also does a superb job of defining some of the "key terms" and principles of Emergent thought.

Here is a more indepth article by Scot McKnight, a professor of religious studies at North Park Theological Seminary, that dismantles some of the prevailing stereotypes levied against Emergents and examines five streams within emerging faith: prophetic, postmodern, praxis-oriented (how faith is lived out), post-evangelical, and political.

Any thoughts? Emergent folks, do you feel this is an accurate summary of The Emerging Church? Traditional folks, does this give you a better understanding of what the Emerging Church is?

And just for laughs, here's a little cartoon dealing with stereotypes....