Showing posts with label Emerging. Show all posts

I know we live in an environment where many persons believe they don't need the church.  We get that a lot in Girdwood.  After all, can't we just experience God in the beauty of our environment?  Isn't it OK if I go for a hike or go running or go skiing?   My answer to this has always been that "Christians are pack animals" -- we travel in groups.  We need each other.

There's a new resource for small groups I found out about.  It's by Jared Wilson entitled “Abide: Practicing Kingdom Rhythms In A Consumer Culture” .   The author writes...

None of the kingdom rhythms — Feeling Scripture, Intentional Prayer, Joyful Fasting, Generosity and Service — can be sustained independently. The gospel supposes reconciliation between creatures, just as it does creature and Creator. We need each other, and the Church is God’s design for discipleship. The Christian life must be walked within the encouragement, edification, and accountability of Christian community. We need teachers to teach us how to do it, encouragers to inspire and sustain us, givers to remind us to give, helpers to help us embrace servitude, etc. To “put on Christ” necessitates embracing the Body of Christ as God’s plan for the Christian life. Embracing kingdom rhythms becomes easier and more sustainable when it is done collectively.

So, the question for Christian individuals is, "How can I make my church a place for Scripture, prayer, fasting, generosity, and service?  What can I put into it?"
So, the question for the church is, "How can we make this a place where we are fulfilling God's plan for discipleship?"

I have four concepts that are swimming around in my head that are clearly coming out in this blog.  I have appropriate links to help you understand.

1)  The Missional Church -- The church exists to be missionaries in the culture of which it's a part.

2)  The Emerging Church -- This is harder to define but is a "deconstructed," post-modern way of looking at church.  It is closely tied with the Missional Church.

3)  Red-Letter Christians -- This is a movement to save the church from both left and right partisan politics by focusing on the words of Jesus (the "red letters") and living according to his words.  It recognizes all of Scripture as inspired but uses the life of Christ as the lens through which the rest of Scripture is viewed.

4)  Servant Evangelism -- The notion that acts of love have a positive change on communities and is what brings persons into a relationship with Christ.