I thought I should post this since I don't have commenting available for the time being...

This was sent to me recently... I didn't get permission to use his name but I thought it should be part of the discussion...

Hey Tony

I'm not a fan of all the emerging stuff because most of what I've seen in the four years of having read and studied it, has been so far removed from the Biblical description of church, I can hardly understand how they even use the Bible as a resource in good conscience. But I really thought your question of what an emerging camp looks like was interesting. Rather than lay my thoughts out in some "thus saith the Lord" kind of statements, I'm going to leave room for debate, opinion, interpretation, and prayer. And I'm going to go about it as what I think camp should look like, emerging or not. Call me aesthetically un-minded.

If the camp isn't relentlessly affirming the authority of scripture and the greatness/magnitude/dynamic/quenching/the million other applicable adjectives of God, it should rethink how it's doing camp. An emerging camp should be like any other environment where there is error - the word of God is brought to bear upon the way people think. I don't mean that combatively, I mean it compassionately. If I were destroying myself in prostitution or some other sin that's easier to hide, it's not loving to coddle and affirm my action, it's loving to confront what's separating me from the most ultimate love the universe has and ever will know.

More streamlined...

If you judge your camp primarily by the preaching and the music, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (1 Corinthians 1-3, esp. 1:17, 2:3-5, 3:4-15, and 4:6-7)

If the whole of involvement is putting limp hands in the air before listening to a speaker, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (Acts 2:42-47 and4:33-35)

If you're a camper (or whatever you call it now) and haven't actually had a real conversation with the primary teachers, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (see above)

If the teachers are across-the-nation celebrities, be careful. That's all I'm going to say about that one. Be careful. And pray for them. Their job (and responsibility) will get tougher as they get more famous and in-demand. (James 3:1, Matthew 23)

If any of your directors drive $60,000 cars (an admittedly ambiguous but certainly not unfair number), you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (1 Timothy 6:3-21, 1 John 3:16-18, 1 Thessalonians 2:6-9, Luke 6:20-24)

If you’ve known your directors for a significant period of time (intentionally ambiguous phrasing) and haven't ever heard them admit that they're wrong or ever were, you might want to rethink the way you’re doing camp.

If you find that you're consistently criticizing the camp and/or its leadership, but never lovingly share those frustrations with the directors, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (Acts 2:42, 1 Timothy 4:1-6, 2 Timothy 2:23-26 and 4:2-5, Titus 2 and 3, Ephesians 4:25-32 and 5:21, Matthew 5:23-25)

If you find you're consistently criticizing your camp and/or its leadership, and lovingly shared those frustrations with the directors but nothing changed and you're still frustrated, what are you doing there in the first place? And don't give me that "God has called me to this place to help get it straight" business. That's bullshit, and you're part of the problem. You're probably driving the leaders crazy. You're probably in sin. If you want to change a camp, lead it. Or at least, pray for it. Serve it. Love it. But don't pester it. (same passages as above, plus Psalm 133, Colossians 2:1-5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4)

If none of your closest friends are part of the camp, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (same passages as above)

If you don't trust your directors, or if you're always suspicious of their actions and/or words, please rethink the way you're doing camp. (same passages as the last three, not to mention Romans 13)

If you spend the entire off-season reliving camp moments, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp.

If the directors consistently gives cheap compliments (or, God forbid, trite "You're so awesome" comments) to volunteers, you might want to rethink the way you’re doing camp. By the same token, if the directors are always trying to raise money on the cheap (ill-efforted methods), you might want to rethink camp. There’s a difference between stewardship and self-inflatedness. (1 Timothy 6, Jeremiah 22:13-14, Isaiah 58:1-7)

If you don't consistently, sacrificially give money to your camp, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp. (Matthew 6, 2 Corinthians 8)

If the speaker's teaching/living never confuses or frustrates you, you might want to rethink the way you’re doing camp. (John 6, Luke 6:22-26)

If your camp is so big you start to see the Acts 2 model as impossible, impractical, or irrelevant, you might want to rethink the way you’re doing camp.

If you care more about Leonard Sweet and Brian McLaren than the apostle Paul and John the disciple, you might want to rethink the way you're doing camp.

Just to add the legal jargon, these are not the views of the management nor their children, barristas, etc...