Mission without the Sacred-Secular Dichotomy

UPDATED 2/11/09

Question: Given the identity of church, what are the activities that would express that identity and by what criteria are those expressions to be evaluated?

For too long, the church has separated its activities from daily life; we have conformed to a sacred-secular dichotomy that does not exist. God is Creator and Ruler of all and we are his people in all of life. We--his church--ought to bear his influence through regular life in our neighborhoods. I do not mean the sort of influence that we often package as programs, but rather an influence had by joining existing services in our neighborhoods, working together in the community as a powerful expression of church in the world.

How should we decide which services to join? General grace is one criterion: "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45b).

As we consider participating in this work, let us ask, "Will we demonstrate God's mercy, grace, and rule before the world?"

If the answer is yes, then let us join the work.


===


I hesitated in posting this, because it is an indictment of and a challenge to me more than to any who read it, for I have separated myself from my neighborhoods.

In self-defense, I offer a usual excuse: time. But I must ask myself, "If I am too busy to be a neighbor, them am I not too busy?"

I also offer the excuse of calling, for I am called to minister to the church. But does this excuse me from service as the church? I think not.

Now, the million-dollar question: Will I take the next step?

Related
Robert Campbell:

• Being a Local Church "...discern those few key points of dissension that will communicate what it means to live the gospel of King Jesus most clearly to our people and our place."
• Finding Your Way With the World "...[1] use truth rather than opinion...[2] change the existing culture...[3] shape the arriving culture"
  

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

Open Letter to the Sanctify! Dreaming Team

As we have seen in Isaiah, God holds individuals and communities responsible for their behavior. In addition, individuals may experience discipline for community behavior, even if their own behavior is good.

As TNBS and Sanctify go forth this year, possibly transforming into something beyond what we had envisioned, we need to function with this in mind. We need to remember that we are responsible for the behavior of our community and are obligated to do something about it. Within that task, we must not let loose of the fact that we are also responsible for our relationship with God. We must strive to be holy persons.

I, for one, know how difficult it is to act against our habituated ways of being. But God's Word is clear: he expects our lives here, together and alone, to correspond to his ways. God is Lord and Creator of all. Whether it is entertainment, employment, politics, community service, or friends and family, how we live must correspond to God's ways. Living a life that corresponds to his ways means living a whole life, not a few moments here and there.

We, as individuals and as a church, are so engulfed by our own ways of being and our culture's ways of being that we do not know how to be who we are. This must change.

To bring it down locally, for that is all we can really do, if TFB is to become what God wants us to be, we must remember two things: who God is and who we are. Apart from this knowledge, we have no criteria for change.

According to Ephesians 4:15-16, spiritual maturity happens in community as we exercise our grace-gifts in connection to Christ and one another. Our becoming who we are has everything to do with our connection to the Head and to one another. These connections accomplish the work of growth.

In 2009, let us struggle to maintain our connections to the Body and the Head. Only in doing so will we as a church become who are are.

Inputs
Isaiah 24-27
Ephesians 4:7-16

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

sketchpad Communal Formation and Disciple Making as Systems

Update: Feb 4, 2009 (Thanks to input from Jeff, Prib, and Plock)

Initial version

Changes

• "discipleship" merged into "Disciples in Training"
• "conversion" --> "Trusting to repentance"
• corrected direction of disciplers-to-Disciples in Training influence arrow

Initial version

Changes

• added "perceived walk" and "discrepancy"
• changed "functioning body" to "functioning members" and made "APEPT" a subset
• Not knowing how to depict the Head, I created an all encompassing footnote.
• changed title to "Disciples in Training"
• Added Ephesians 4 references
  

yellow box = stock
yellow arrow = flow
black arrow = influence
"B" = balancing feedback loop
"R" = reinforcing feedback loop


Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

skethpad--CHURCH: THEME and VARIATIONS

• We are the community of holy ones, called to be holy in the world for Christ's sake and to mature through cooperation with the Holy Spirit and remaining in Christ.
• We are in process, called to show what it means/looks like to be fit for God's presence and to mature through behaving as ones being made fit.
• We are warriors, called to fight Christ's battle against all forms of evil and to mature through training in discernment, declaration, advocacy/intercession, and emergency care.
• We are heralds, called to introduce God's order and to mature through knowledge, practice, and graciousness.
• We are dancers, called to show that submission to God's ways is freedom and to mature through the disciplines and through "loving God and doing as we please."
• We are scholars, called to know truth deeply and behave accordingly and to mature through holistic study and integrative education.
• We are followers, called to reveal God's fullness in our life together and to mature through increasing knowledge of who God is and through submitting our behavior to that knowledge.
• We are in the world but not of it, called to point to Christ in his incarnate fullness and to mature through intellectual, relational, and personal knowledge of him.
  

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

sketchpad—FOUR-WAY BIBLE READING FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

The Church is the Body of Christ; the individual members belong to that Body only by virtue of their connection to Christ. He alone is the founder of our faith; he alone is the completer (Heb 12). The Body, therefore, is not a mere collection, as if a part might be removed without consequence. Each person, each connection, each function, each purpose makes the Body what it ought to be. Similarly, persons, connections, functions, and purposes not inherent to the Body contaminate the system and make it what it ought not to be.

As the Body, the church functions at the communal and individual levels. In addition to saving grace (Eph 2:8-10), Christ measures out functional grace (Eph 4:7), equipping each member to serve the local and global church. Persons practice grace so that the church might mature and expand. The Body practices grace that is greater than the sum of its parts; a properly functioning church will have influence beyond what is logical from member’s participation.

How does this maturation take place in the world? An important step is to take a clear, focused look at Jesus and confess that we, as his Body, are not behaving in accordance with our identity in him. Only then, after knowing where we are and where we ought to be, can we plan and begin our journey. If the church is broken, the problem is not external; the problem is in the church itself.

A major internal contributor is the unbalanced, haphazard way many persons receive biblical input. Too may subsist on pre-chewed pablum. Too many read only emotionally. Too many read only intellectually. If growth results from knowing and speaking truth in the context of love, then adequate biblical input is necessary for life and growth.

This biblical input must go beyond mere hearing, mere emotions, or mere intellect. Each person, each community must take responsibility. The following matrix (developed after skimming Life with God by Richard Foster) offers some suggestions.



I realize some may cast doubt on my emphasizing biblical input, placing great importance on spiritual experiences. Such experiences can be important; they can also be false. Others will emphasize listening to the Spirit. This is, of course, crucial and necessary. But to both I must ask, How do you know the experiences or the voices are from God? One cannot merely say, I just know, for we all have personal and cultural filters that skew our perceptions. The only sure way to know God’s voice is to listen to him in community as we gather to read the Word with head and heart, going deeply into smaller portions and gaining breadth in larger chunks.

Relevant Readings and Writings this Past Week
blog post: Pursued by and Dwelling in God
book: Biology of Human Starvation
blog post: Blitz the Me-Prayer
Scripture: Daniel 9, Psalm 23, Psalm 119:105-112
book introduction: Thinking in Systems
blog post: By Guidance and Intention
ideas in blog posts: monkey bars

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

RESTRUCTURING FOR INTEGRATIVE EDUCATION

Reading this week

Restructuring for Integrative Education: Multiple Perspectives, Multiple Contexts
Edited by Todd E. Jennings
168 pages
Publisher: Bergin & Garvey (July 30, 1997)

Chapters

• "Developmental Dialectic of Students, Faculty, and Higher Education" (Ivan D. Kovacs and Helen J. Shoemaker)
• "Service Learning and the Liberal Arts: Restructuring for Integrated Education" (Robbin D. Crabtree)
• "Confronting the Ultimate Learning Outcome: We Teach Who We Are" (Susan Drake)
• "Transforming School Psychology: Paradigmatic Assumptions and Impediments to Holistic roles" (Dudley J. Wiest and Dennis A. Kreil)
• "Restructuring Classroom Management for More Interactive and Integrated Teaching and Learning" (Barbara Larrivee)
• "From Alienating to Liberating Experiences: A New Comer's Learning Experiences in the New Culture" (Danling Fu)
• "Recent Mexican Immigrants: Forgotten Voices in the High School Restructuring Process" (Rosalie Giacchino-Baker)
• "Restructuring as an Integrative Process" (Sam Crowell and Renate Caine)

My Focus Chapters

• "Developmental Dialectic of Students, Faculty, and Higher Education" (Ivan D. Kovacs and Helen J. Shoemaker)
• "Confronting the Ultimate Learning Outcome: We Teach Who We Are" (Susan Drake)
• "Restructuring as an Integrative Process" (Sam Crowell and Renate Caine)

LEARNING TO LEARN

Reading this week

Learning to Learn: Toward a Philosophy of Education
Jerry H. Gill
262 pages
Publisher: Humanity Books (August 2000)

Referenced Persons
Michael Polanyi
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Jacques Derrida
Richard Rorty
Hans-Georg Gadamer

Key Thinkers
John Dewey
Alfred North Whitehead
Paulo Freire
Carl Rogers

HOW DO CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL FAITH WORK?

Launching Quote

A vital point about Isa 6:9-13 that is fundamentally important for our treatment of Jesus' quotation is that the repentance and healing mentioned in verse 10 is not about individual salvation. The reference is to corporate hardening, corporate repentance and corporate healing.

Douglas S. McComiskey

"Exile and the Purpose of Jesus' Parables (Mark 4:10-12; Matt 13:10-17; Luke 8:9-10)"
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume 51, No. 1, March 2008 (59-85)
pg. 65

Ponderings

• Assuming McComiskey is correct and God does hinder corporate repentance for his own purposes, what are the responsibilities of persons in that community?
• When a community comes to the point of corporate repentance, what is its responsibility toward unrepentant persons?
• When an individual person in an unrepentant community repents, by what criteria should that person decide whether to remain in or leave the community?
• Assuming the decision to remain, what are the primary functions of the repentant person in the life of the unrepentant community?
  

Resources

• Isaiah 6:9-13
• Mark 4:10-12
• Matthew 13:10-17
• Luke 8:9-10
• Mark Saucy: The Kingdom of God Sayings in Matthew
  

ONE SCREEN OF TEXT

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology

WHAT MAKES US FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST?

In preparation for this coming Sunday sermon, Pastor Charlie has asked us to consider what we think are the most important things we can do to develop ourselves into fully devoted followers of Christ.

1. It may be a matter of knowledge. An increase biblical and theological knowledge increases spiritual maturity . But this is not necessarily true. Many Christians know Scripture and doctrine and yet remain emotionally disconnected and behaviorally bland.
2. It may be a matter of emotion. Emotional experiences and a desire to help others increase spiritual maturity. But, like knowledge, this is not necessarily the case. Many Christians have deeply felt experiences and yet remain ignorant of Scripture and focus more on experience than on service.
3. It may be a matter of doing. Practicing good works, religious rituals, and spiritual disciplines increases spiritual maturity. This is also not necessarily the case. Many Christians do all these things and yet remain ignorant of Scripture and unmoved by the needs of others and the glory of God.

So, if knowing, feeling, or doing are insufficient, what is the answer? What is our part in our own spiritual formation? In the spiritual formation of our brothers and sisters?

I'll be posting my thoughts on Monday after the sermon.

Post-Sermon Thoughts
All three are necessary and, by themselves, insufficient. Even so, it seems that knowledge must have priority, for by knowledge we are able to interpret feeling and doing. That being said--given my own Christian context--I must say again: knowledge alone is insufficient for discipleship. Because we are whole persons, we are disciples as whole persons--following Christ takes place via knowing, feeling, and doing. A fourth piece is intention--this is the most neglected. In TFB's REVEAL results, not making discipleship a priority was a top barrier for those who are growing in Christ and, to a significantly greater degree (34% higher than for growers), those who are NOT growing in Christ.

Knowing, feeling, and doing only work when intention and proper goal are in place. Intention is our decision to be disciples. The proper goal is Christlikeness.

Resources
Spiritual Formation in Christ by Dallas Willard
Renovare founded by Richard Foster
Institute for Spiritual Formation at Biola University
Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

Related post on Laura's Writings

Tag(s): ecclesiology church christian theology