DeWaay, in *The Emergent Church: Undefining Christianity*, ([on Amazon][1] but in stock [on CICstore][2]) asserts that Emergents believe in a hopeful view that **"the kingdom of God is emerging through the processes of history because God *is* the future, drawing everything into Himself**" (DeWaay 11).  See DeWaay's book for that case, but I think this is a fair assessment. 

How this looks in a few details:

 - Emergents usually reject final judgment, preferring to think God will "save" everyone in a tangible paradise here on earth.
 - Their mission is not first to spread the saving Gospel message of Jesus Christ to individuals, but instead to do good in society and make life better to all.
 - They want to create coherent meaning specific to a church or other community, rather than seeking objective meaning and absolute truth.
 - Truth and meaning are experienced, rather than known.
 - Conversely, experiences are more important than doctrine.
 - They seek spiritual growth in many various ways, usually rejecting that the biblical means of grace (Bible teachings, prayer, fellowship, the Lord's Supper) are paramount.
 - Many even go so far as to reject basic logic as useless: they won't acknowledge the self-evident basic logic laws that all people follow every day, that *A is A*, *A is not non-A*, and *A and non-A cannot be both true*.

Some identify themselves as Emergent or emerging; many followers or proponents of emergent thought do not identify themselves as such. One such self-identifying source is the Emergent Village.

I do not think it should be regarded as a catch-all term.

Emergents will try to avoid any straight, direct answers, and they may object to my broad strokes here.  Their beliefs also vary among each other, of course.


  [1]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578009994/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shareyorg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0578009994
  [2]: http://www.cicstore.org/servlet/the-61/The-Emergent-Church-dsh--dsh--Undefining/Detail