Hierarchy, Freedom, and Emergent
I was out shopping recently and saw a baby boy onesie (it was blue, so in the strictly color coded baby clothes world, it was intended for boys and boys only…). On the front was the phrase “Second in Command After Daddy.” Now as a good feminist that pissed me off. Who in their right mind would stick that on their baby, even as a joke? Even tongue-in-cheek promotions of such family hierarchy encourage the myth that having a penis somehow makes you more important than women.
If you haven’t gathered it by now, I’m not a huge fan of hierarchical leadership (even when it’s not based on gender). I prefer flat networked structures that allow for input from all. And in truth, it’s less about equality or sameness and more about simply respecting people as people. Letting voices be heard and appreciating contributions for what they are.
So on one level, I appreciate that fact that Emergent Village is transitioning to a more decentralized structure. While some may be heralding Tony Jones stepping down as National Coordinator to symbolize the dismantling of Emergent, it was meant as an opportunity to allow a wider variety of people to step up into leadership positions (as the amusing series of I Am The Emergent National Coordinator videos demonstrates). And as Tony mentioned on his blog yesterday, “Any time you can dethrone an overeducated, loud, brash, white man,people just feel more openness for their own voice to be heard.” It’s all about reducing hierarchy and opening up the conversation.
But will it work? In brief discussions with other women leaders in the emerging movement, I’ve heard the question raised if the lack of a central leader will actually help women become more involved in the conversation. Many post-evangelical women still struggle to jump into the conversation, much less assert themselves as leaders. For good or bad, they still seek invitations to come alongside and be a part of the in-group. With no one to officially offer that invitation, the question remains if the women will step up or just remain on the sidelines peeking in. I honestly have no idea. It would be easy to say that women just need to get over it and assert themselves, but that would stray into dangerous psychological territory and miss the point. I don’t want to need a man’s permission to do anything, but an invitation (from someone) is still what many women are looking for.
So I’m curious to see how the decentralization of power affects the presence of women in Emergent. I’d of course like to see a vibrant representation of women in Emergent leadership. I’m encouraged to hear from some that at The Great Emergence event men at times seemed like the token voice. But to the best of my knowledge, I haven’t seen any women making national coordinator videos. That’s not a criticism, just an expression of curiosity of where this will lead. I hope the speculation of other emerging women will be wrong and we will see an increase of women’s voices in Emergent. But at the same time be proactively aware that the opposite could just as easily occur.
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julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
As much as people try to “decentralize” the movement of emergent, there is a natural human tendency for people to assert power to individuals who have written books and with whom they agree. There is some kind of reward to think that someone important agrees with me. In this regard, I think MacLaren, Jones, and other emerging “leaders” continue to be the voice that many within the converation look to.
I am not saying this is right, but I am saying that is what generally happens. I think the first step is for people to stop trying to find ammo to support their position against others. Even in emergent, I have seen many who claim to be “open” to many thing quite close-minded about many issues. This is generally what happens when you try to make a system out of anything.
Where will this all lead? Well, I think the moderate emergents are going to win out and create a new kind of fundamentalism. Those outside the movement don’t understand it, but pastors outside the movement are more willing to criticize the more radical voices in the movement, while the moderate emergents who stay within their denominations will pull their non-emergent brethren further out to sea.
I think, however, that we will see more women in leadership roles because moderate emergents are much more friendly to woman leaders than our non-emergent fundamentalist brothers and sisters.
This was just a rought thought that came out after reading this, and I may be totally wrong.
Julie,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here on this. I just want to say that I realize the Emergent Village blog is a pretty prominent platform for Emergent voices, so this is just a wide-open invitation to emerging women to email me things for the Emergent Village blog. If you’ve already posted it on your personal blog, please email a link to your blog with a note that says “check this out.” (I’ll assume you are giving permission for me to re-post something on the EV site, and I’ll probably ask you for a photo and a short one-sentence bio to go with it
I try to read a lot of emerging women blogs, but I can’t read everything, so I appreciate it if/when you can email me stuff and bring it to my attention. I think I’ve posted/re-posted some really great, thought-provoking, conversation-starting posts from emerging women over the past year or so. There’s a great discussion going on right now in response to Jenell Williams Paris’ Santa post, and Kelly Bean is writing something for Emergent/C and the EV blog about the upcoming Convergence event. (Just to name a couple of recent examples.)
As a side note, I think the “great emergence” of Phyllis Tickle as a prominent Emergent voice/thinker has really been a hugely influential thing over this past year. What do you think of Phyllis’ impact/influence? I think the Great Emergence event in Memphis was more gender-balanced than previous Emergent events because of her influence and because of the ongoing work of emerging women (like you, Julie) in the blogosphere and beyond. Just my two cents.
I just regret that there isn’t more Julie Clawson on the EV blog! Maybe there will be in 2009 … Here’s hopin’.
Shalom,
Steve Knight
knightopia AT gmail.com
I agree Steve, I hope there will be more Julie Clawson on the EV blog soon. Though it’s mostly my fault that there isn’t. She’s too busy helping me go back to school.
And I agree that Phyllis’ rise within emerging circles is a very good sign. At this point she’s almost the female Brian McLaren in terms of prominence and influence IMHO. I just wish she was about a decade younger so we could be sure to have her around for longer.
danny – I’m hoping that over time other voices will emerge so to speak as well. not that I don’t like the voices we have, but diversity of perspectives is a plus.
steve – I think the more this openness is made known, the opportunity to get their voice heard will be easier for women. And I think its a great thing that Phyllis is associating with emergent. As she’s told us women, shes our greatest cheerleader – a huge encouragement and role model.
Great post! My wife teases me that I get more pissed off than her about this issue, but she shares it too.
Interestingly, I recently engaged in a similar discussion in a leadership meeting for an organization I am a part of. One of the leader, a Polynesian islander, challenged us (white males) when we invited non-white leaders to step forward. In his culture, it would offensive to presume leadership. Invitation is critical. While he recognized that there are times he will have to step past his culture, we needed to recognize that just “stepping out & stepping up” is also a dominant cultural value that can be just as much an imposition as hierarchy.
The other lesson I am learning is this. As much as women might need to take the initiative to lead, we men need to take the initiative to follow. I am working on it… slowly. Thanks for the encouraging challenge!
Peace,
Jamie
Good question. It sorta dove tails with some questions I have been asking about leadership imbalances within multicultural churches. I am finding minorities just don’t know what to do with egalitarianism. Its like you say, its like they’re waiting for an invite but the whole dynamic of flat structures is that there are no gate keepers giving or restricting permission. It reminds me of an old saying, that freedom is always taken, never given. Now that may sound a bit aweful, so let me put it another way, you can never force freedom onto people.
I’ve noticed the same thing Matt. One minority friend in particular complained to me that people of color were not being invited to the emerging church conversation, and couldn’t quite seem to get his mind around my explanation that there really isn’t anyone with the authority to do the inviting or to keep them away, and that if they wanted to be part of it, all they had to do was show up and join in.
(Of course, this particular person mainly thought that joining the emerging conversation meant getting book deals and speaking gigs, and was upset that he hadn’t been offered any yet, though I think that was mainly his own issues coming thru.)
(seriously messed up onesie – can’t imagine!)
creating a vacuum (by first creating a space and then exiting) is a great way to let new folks emerge.
we create vacuums all the time in my community when its time for a change. or just to develop new talent.
i applaud this move by tony.
well, then, I guess we need to fire Obama. And all the other elected officials as well. Good news: we get rid of Obama. Bad news: anarchy might not be such a great idea….
This is one of the most asinine ideas that i have ever heard of. Of course there is hierarchy. Do you work? If you work, isn’t there a boss? Isn’t there a teacher in school??? You are parents. Except for the most extreme parenting weirdos’ (google Taking Children Seriously….) families contain hierarchy. I am sure that even a city as liberal as Austin has a mayor. But they shouldn’t. That;s hierarchy. There should not be judges in the courtrooms, police on the streets, city counsel men/women..oh, you get the idea.
Let’s just rid the world of any and all authority that one person might hold over another and see how well things run….NOT….
Liz – cute as always. but you always seem to miss the point.