Renee Altson is the author of Stumbling Toward Faith, an emergentYS book that was published in September 2004. Here is the soundbite from her on the emerging church movement:

“Here’s what I know about the kind of church I’m looking for. I’m looking for a church that honors story, that holds a big God, and that creates a safe place for people to be human with one another.

More than anything, I am exhausted with the effort that so many churches put forward in pretending. True community, as I hope to live it, involves us sharing in each other’s moments of joy, pain, doubt, belief, despair, hopelessness, and faith. It is truly a journey with one another.

I don’t know that this makes me ‘emergent’ — and I certainly don’t know that any definition ever truly can define what I’m looking for — but I do know that in my experience with the emerging church, I have found more of an open attitude to these things I seek. If nothing else, the emergent church is engaging in conversation that many other churches are not willing, nor able, to have.”

Another voice on this emergent conversation.