Canadian Rev. Darryl Dash has been linking to and writing about the emerging church, outlining pros and cons from several sources, especially in Canada - as well as writing about the tradition/emergent undersatndings in a Canadian Magazine called Christian Week, . The articles reach out to churched people with education helping them define what may make them uneasy about how the church is changing in Western Culture.
The tradtional/emergent debate  over the past few years on blogs has been quite heated at times. I have great respect for leaders in traditional denominations who work within their boundaries and dialogue respectfully with their bosses, collegues and those not comfortable with their denomination.
And there are a lot of examples of various voices in this nebulour ‘emergent’ from authors such as Brian McLaren or Spencer Burke who have been thrust into a media spotlight.
I also have great respect for bloggers that are posting and talking about thier operational emergent churches – like Signposts and LivingRoom in Australia; Prodigcal Kiwis in New Zealand.  Leighton Tebay in Saskatchewan, Pernell Goodyear in Hamilton, Mike Todd of Waving and Drowning in Vancouver, and others in Canada often hanging out at Resonate. Jonny Baker and Jason Clark in the UK and gracious and informed voices. US bloggers like Rudy Carrasco from Urban Onamps, DJ Chuang, Spencer Burke; Andrew Jones in Europe. Messy Christian and Irene Q struggling with traditional verus more emergent styles for their worship in Malyasia. There are many who are meeting discouraged churched people and unchurched people where they are at – they are going out into their communities often with little money or security to introduce people to Jesus Christ and the power of His Love to totally transform lives. The debate less and go and out do than many.
I don’t worry about the universal church – Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever and He will not abandon His people. The Holy Spirit’s charge and ability to draw people out of religion and into relationship has not changed.Â
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. I Corinthians 13 NIV
Change is hard in a rapidly moving world and in our stressed lives and as we move into the 21st century I have hope for young people tired of consumerism, and wanting to dedicate themselves to grow in grace love and faith in God, wherever that relationship leads them.
We need traditionalists and emergents, and as Darryl wisely points out, listening is not an option, we have much to learn from His followers all over the world and in our cultures. Change is frightening, pushes us out of our comfort zones, easy to back away from, and even easier to criticize.
