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United Methodist Church Aims at Relevance and Global Service

Posted On December 5, 2009

Filed under Biblical Worldview, Christian Education, Christian Kindness, Christian Living, Christian Mission and Calling, Christian Optimism, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Church and Culture, Compassion, Creation Centered Spirituality, Culture, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, Global Church, God's Kingdom, God's Love, God's Story, Holy Spirit, Interspirituality, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Mainline Denominations, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Morality and Values, Paul's Teachings, Personal Discipline, Personal Renewal, Personal Vision, Prayer, Praying With Scripture, Promises of God, Prophecy, Renewal of the Mind, Sacred Character, Service, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Practices, Spirituality, United Methodist Church, Vision
Tags: Christian Service, Christianity, Global Village, God's Love, Jesus, Jesus' Teachings, John Wesley, Methodist Church, United Methodist Church

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L. D. Turner

If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know that I often write about the major changes that are changing the face of institutional Christianity across the board. You will also recall that I have a sincere love and passion for the church, despite its many shortcomings, and genuinely believe that Christianity, when rightly practiced, has much to offer our hurting world. With its inherent creativity, its heart of compassion, and its depth of resources, the church universal is strategically positioned to become a positive force in helping shape our culture as this turbulent century progresses. The key to bringing these positive contributions to fruition is a willingness on the part of the church to be creative, progressive, flexible, open, and proactive.

I have been a member of the United Methodist Church for many years and am proud to say that our church is moving forward in an attempt to make itself a positive and beneficial force in the world and, in keeping with its mantra of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors, is doing so in a creative and exciting way. The UMC “Rethink Church” programs, along with the Ten Thousand Doors initiative, are but two examples of this.

Most recently, however, I came across a document that reminded me why, early on in my adult life, I chose to become a Methodist. The document I am referring to explains the rationale behind the UMC initiative entitled, God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action. It is the “Foundation Document” for the initiative and is authored by the UMC Council of Bishops. After reading this “Call to Hope and Action” my Wesleyan fires were blazing to say the least. And while I am sincere in my belief that denominational differences in this country are far too overblown, this document illustrates the social principles of the UMC.

“God’s Renewed Creation” maintains the firm commitment of the 1986 Council , namely that “nuclear deterrence is a position that cannot receive the church’s blessing. These documents, generated in 2009, also build on the observations of the earlier Council, that the nuclear crisis threatens “planet earth itself,” that the arms race “destroys millions of lives in conventional wars, repressive violence, and massive poverty,” and that the “arms race is a social justice issue, not only a war and peace issue.”

The 2009 Council of Bishops expanded its focus to include three interrelated threats:

Pandemic poverty and disease;

Environmental degradation and climate change, and
A world awash with weapons and violence.

“God’s Renewed Creation” gives me both hope and a sense of loyal pride at being a part of the United Methodist Church as well as the Wesleyan tradition of social ministry. Recognizing that the world as we know it has become an interrelated, interdependent global entity, the UMC leadership is taking a proactive stance in terms of addressing some of humanity’s most critical issues. Also recognizing that the church has historically been part of the problems in our world, the Council of Bishops now seeks to become a creative and transformative part of the solution.

The United Methodist Church has the vision to see that God is doing a “new work” in the world and is taking positive measures to be an integral part of God’s work at this critical point in our planet’s history. Rather than taking a myopic, “what’s in it for us” approach to humankind’s crucial problems, the Council of Bishops has given voice to a vision that is much broader in scope and, in keeping with the Wesleyan heritage of befriending the hurting and the marginalized, seeks to bring God’s healing grace to those who suffer the most in this time of rapid change.

The “Call to Hope and Action” reflects the United Methodist Church’s mission to “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.” Additionally, the vision of God’s Renewed Creation clearly reflects the denomination’s “Four Areas of Focus.” The Foundation Document states:

We know the world is being transformed and we seek to cooperate with God’s renewing Spirit, especially through our denominations Four Areas of Focus: (1) developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world, (2) creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations, (3) engaging in ministry with the poor, and (4) stamping out the killer diseases of poverty. Focusing on these four areas will shape our discipleship such that those who seek God will see an image in our behavior that is inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring.

As a United Methodist, I clearly see the personal implications of these four areas of focus and, along with the biblical teachings of the Master, use them as a matrix through which I organize my personal spiritual disciplines. I especially find the principles of inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring helpful reminders for putting into practice what I have come to call proactive hospitality. This type of hospitality is not only sensitive to the everyday, routine ways of being open and hospitable in our homes and churches, but also actively looks for ways we can practice hospitality to others, even if it is nothing more than smiling and saying hello.

Personally, I seek to practice proactive hospitality by holding doors open for people and allowing them to enter before I do. This may seem like a very small thing and perhaps it is. However, I have found this to be a simple practice that has enormous benefit when carried out over a period of time.

The Foundation Document takes great care to show how the various problems facing humankind in this age are interrelated. For example, the issue of climate change is examined from an angle somewhat different than the norm. Rather than focusing on whether or not climate change is man-made or part of a natural cycle, the Council of Bishops views this vital issue in terms of its impact on those living under the thumb of oppressive poverty. In addition, climate change and poverty are seen as interconnected with violence and the sale of arms.

Climate change poses a particular threat to the world’s poor because it increases the spread of diseases like malaria and causes conflicts over dwindling natural resources. Easy access to small arms ensures that such conflicts turn deadly, and the specter of a nuclear war that would destroy the world continues to loom over us.

The Foundation Document was created out of the Council of Bishops being “called to speak a word of hope and action.” The document is also a product of the church’s sensing of God doing a new things, as described in Isaiah 43:19:

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

As I read over the document the first time I was able to experience that sense of calling – that blessed sense of God’s love in action in the world. I understood at a deeper level that we, indeed, are living in a critical era in the world’s history – an age in which the matrix of the future is beginning to take shape. The Foundation Document, which came into being in reaction to the critical nature of our time, addresses the needs of our age – an age the document calls “a hinge of history. In terms of its contents, the Foundation Document of God’s Renewed Creation:

Describes the interconnected nature of poverty and disease, environmental degradation and weapons and violence through stories of those most affected;

Shares information about Christian scriptures and beliefs, and our Wesleyan heritage in order to provide a foundation for our response.
Recommends a variety of actions; and
Reminds us of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the great sources of encouragement and hope all around us.

To be continued

Cultivating Sacred Character: The Role of Spiritual Disciplines (Part Two)

L. Dwight Turner

If we ever hope to grow into the fullness of Christ as Paul promised we could, we not only have to imitate Christ. Although the “What Would Jesus Do?” teaching was both admirable and beneficial, it did not go to the core of the issue. If we want to manifest the character, the mind, and the heart of Jesus, we have to live as he lived. This means, among other things, that we have to practice the spiritual disciplines of our faith.

I am always fascinated by those folks who are threatened by the spiritual disciplines and especially those writers and teachers who warn us against practicing the disciplines. These folks go so far as to infer that the practice of spiritual disciplines is at best unscriptural and at worst, from the bowels of hell.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I don’t know what scriptures these teachers are reading from, but it surely isn’t the Bible and certainly not the four Gospels. Time after time we read accounts of Jesus going off in solitude to pray and engage in fasting. His consistent use of scriptural references tells us clearly that he engaged in the practice of sacred study. And in one of the most telling passages, Jesus went off alone and prayed all night long. The most telling aspect of this passage is the fact that Jesus did this before choosing the twelve apostles.

I can think of no other way to put it: to state that Jesus did not practice spiritual disciplines is sheer lunacy.

The classical spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith have been practiced for centuries, starting with Christ himself and carrying forward throughout the Church’s history. These disciplines do not “save us” in the sense of justifying us before a Holy God or granting us brownie points for spiritual behavior. As Paul clearly tells us, it is God’s grace that saves us and, logically extended, it is God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit that ultimately sanctifies us and helps us lead more holy lives. Does that mean there is nothing left for us to do? Hardly! Paul tells us to “work out our salvation with trembling” and James states in a most straightforward manner that “faith without works is dead.” There is plenty left for us to do and that is where the spiritual disciplines come in.

My experience has been that practicing the spiritual disciplines has helped me to accomplish several important milestones in my walk of faith. First, as their name implies, the spiritual disciplines have helped me to become a more disciplined person. By practicing the spiritual disciplines, especially prayer, contemplation, meditation, solitude, and Bible study, I have become a more steadfast follower of Christ. Second, practicing the disciplines have helped me reduce and even eliminate some of the major strongholds of resistance I have to leading a spiritual life. Let’s face facts: following the teachings of Christ is not something you or I come to naturally. Due to our inherent nature of “flesh,” we are not so inclined to set aside times for communion with God through studying scripture or engaging in practices like prayer, meditation, and solitude. To the contrary, for many of us it seems almost second nature to avoid getting to close to God. Instead, we tend to either ignore him or do whatever we can to minimize our moments of divine contact.

Thirdly, and I find this to be the most beneficial aspect of the practice of the disciplines, by engaging in these sacred practices I am brought to a place of receptivity to God’s presence and action in my life. Yes, it is God’s grace toward me and the work of the Holy Spirit that brings about desired change in my life. However, if my hands are not empty, I cannot receive this gift of grace and Spirit. By this I mean that I must be in a space of receptivity in order to receive. It is precisely the practice of the spiritual disciplines that brings this about.

I am reminded of the biblical characters Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus, two individuals who seemed to understand that Jesus was no ordinary person and went to great lengths to place themselves in a position to receive whatever it was that he might have to offer. Scripture tells us that Zacchaeus would never have been drafted by an NBA team as a potential center. A very short man, Zacchaeus had to shimmy up a tree right in Jesus’ path in order to even get a glimpse of the great rabbi. The tax collector ended up getting more than he bargained for. Jesus saw Zacchaeus perched up on the limb of the tree and called him by name. Not only that, he summoned the short little man down from his perch and to Zacchaeus’ astonishment, said, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?”

If Zacchaeus had not placed himself in a position of receptivity, chances are the story would have unfolded in a much different manner.

Bartimaeus also had a divine encounter with Jesus by making himself available. As Luke 18: 35-43 unfolds, we learn that Bartimaeus is a blind beggar sitting on a roadside near Jericho. While sitting there begging, he hears a distant commotion that steadily grows louder and louder. When he asked those standing around him, a sizable crowd by now, what was going on they informed his that Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples were approaching.

Blind but not deaf, Bartimaeus had no doubt heard of the miracle working itinerant rabbi and immediately wanted to make sure he could somehow get to the great teacher before he passed by.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me,” came the cry from Bartimaeus’ heart.

Those gathered around as well as those leading the procession, most likely some of the big wigs from Jericho, told Bartimaeus to pipe down and keep quiet.

Undeterred, the blind beggar shouted even louder.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me.”

Indignant, those around the social outcast told him even more strongly to shut up or else. Not wanting to offend the rabbi, chances are they might have even roughed the beggar up a little.

Jesus, however, stopped and to everyone’s astonishment I’m sure, asked Bartimaeus what he wanted. Bartimaeus by this time had removed his cloak and headed toward Jesus, who promptly healed him on the spot.

As far as I am concerned, the removal of the coat is a significant aspect of the encounter between the blind beggar and the Son of God. Bartimaeus, indeed, made himself available – receptive – in a position to receive the gift of healing from Christ. The removal of his coat implies a taking off of impediments that may block the flow of blessings from the Lord. It is the consistent practice of the classical spiritual traditions that assists in melting away those things that stand in the way of our more intimate contact with the Lord.

Countless numbers of sincere Christians desire just that: a more intimate contact with God. Recognizing that something deeper must be available in the Christian journey, these seekers are a bit different from those spiritual aspirants one might find in some of the more occult or New Age groups. Although those seeking the Light through these various paths are many times sincere enough, they are not sure exactly what it is they are trying to find. Conversely, many of the Christ-followers I encounter either at LifeBrook or at various churches are quite clear about their spiritual goal: they want to establish a deeper, abiding relationship with the Divine Source – God.

Granted, there are many other Christians who are not so much interested in discipleship in general and the deeper, more abiding realties that can only be found through practicing a disciplined life. These believers figure they have had their ticket to heaven punched and that is all that really matters to them. Quite satisfied to maintain the appearance of spirituality, these folks warm the pews with their backsides while their spiritual hearts grow increasingly cold. As the light placed in them by God at their conversion fades to a predictable dimness, they are unable to articulate even the most rudimentary knowledge of the contents of their faith. They can, however, bring one heck of a casserole to the Wednesday night potluck.

In addition to these two types of believers, those who want something deeper and more transformative and those who are content to maintain a cosmetic Christianity, there is a third type we need to briefly examine. In this case, these Christians perhaps want something of more genuine substance in their walk with Christ, but they have rarely expended much spiritual energy in pursuit of authentic spiritual formation. They may have had a number of surface experiences, but have never gone far beyond that. Content to splash about the wading pool of Christian discipleship, these folks usually won’t even put on a snorkel. Noted expert on the spiritual disciplines Donald S. Whitney paints a vivid portrait of the spiritual lives of these believers:

So many professing Christians are so spiritually undisciplined that they seem to have little fruit and power in their lives. I’ve seen men and women who discipline themselves for the purpose of excelling in their profession discipline themselves very little “for the purpose of godliness.” I’ve seen Christians who are faithful to the church of God, who frequently demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for the things of God, and who dearly love the Word of God, trivialize their effectiveness of the Kingdom of God through lack of discipline. Spiritually they are a mile wide and an inch deep. They are no deep, time-worn channels of communing discipline between them and God. They have dabbled in everything but disciplined themselves in nothing.

I hold the firm conviction that the Holy Spirit works through the spiritual disciplines in ways that are profound and transformative. The Spirit uses these classical spiritual exercises as a sort of matrix through which he can do his deeper and more intimate work. Therefore, it behooves us as true disciples to make it a point to not only become acquainted with these disciplines of grace, but to make them an integral part of our daily walk of faith.

An Effective Church: Consecrated, Gathered, and Synoptic

Posted On July 5, 2009

Filed under Apostle Paul, Biblical Worldview, Christian Education, Christian Kindness, Christian Living, Christian Mission and Calling, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Church and Culture, Clergy, Compassion, Culture, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, Evangelism, Fruit of the Spirit, God's Kingdom, God's Love, God's Story, Gospel, Grace, Incarnation, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Missions, Morality and Values, Paul's Teachings, Personal Discipline, Renewal of the Mind, Service, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Quotations, Spirituality
Tags: Christian Discipleship, Christianity, Church Renewal, Effective Church, Emerging Church, Evangelism, Richard Foster, Service

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L. Dwight Turner

Richard Foster, author of that landmark book on the classical spiritual disciplines, entitled, Celebration of Discipline, shares how he was honored with the opportunity and privilege to go about teaching and sharing his knowledge of the spiritual disciplines. In a subsequent article entitled, “A Renewed People for Our Time” Foster describes some of the realities he discovered regarding areas of spiritual deficiency among sincere Christians.

Briefly stated, Foster says that he saw three basic areas of spiritual deficiency and these were:

People Were Trying Rather Than Training

People Were Scattered Rather Than Gathered

Vision of People Was Myopic Rather Than Synoptic

I can say without reservation that over the years our work at LifeBrook International has borne out the validity of Foster’s assessment. We, too, have seen this trio of spiritual short falling and the subsequent litany of spiritual maladies that flow in its train. And like Foster, this has been an area of great frustration and disappointment.

I saw these things and I can’t tell you how discouraging this was to me. These good people honest people, sincere people were like sheep without a shepherd. And it led me to a period where I stopped all speaking and all writing. When I entered this time I did not know if I would ever write or speak again. I actually thought I would not.

Experience here at LifeBrook, especially in relation to intensive training in spiritual discipline, has revealed what I find at the core of the “trying rather than training” issue. People are initially well-meaning and the first fruits of their pursuits of spiritual disciplines tend to reward this initial burst of commitment with positive results. However, we have seen that many of these sincere seekers fail to understand the depth of our problem (Calvin would call it complete depravity, although I would not). As spiritual practice deepens our level of commitment must also take deeper root, otherwise we cannot bear up under the intensity of those unexpected hobgoblins that tend to rise up out of the dark silence of contemplation.

In actuality, these encounters are not all that bad and, in fact, can be both constructive and healing. The problem is, it seems, is that most of the folks who take up this disciplined lifestyle are either ill-informed or ill-prepared for some of the things they will encounter along the Yellow Brick Road. Lions and Tigers and Bears – (Oh My!) – seem to be the least of our worries. John of the Cross termed one of the stages of the mystical life “the dark night of the soul” for good reason.

Secondly, when a person is sincere about becoming a true spiritual aspirant rather than a pew warmer or pot luck patron, he or she is embarking upon a path that can be isolated and lonely. To emulate the lifestyle, the priorities, and the spiritual values of Jesus is not in keeping with mainstream American life, no matter what the Religious Right may tell you. To be like Jesus is to be weird, radical, and set apart.

To be like Jesus is, well, to use the correct biblical term, to be holy.

The following quotation by Houston Smith, although somewhat lengthy, is highly pertinent and illustrates vividly just how out of the box this business of Christ-following is:

…we have heard Jesus’ teachings so often that their edges have been worn smooth, dulling their glaring subversiveness. If we could recover their original impact, we too would be startled. Their beauty would not paper over the fact that they are “hard sayings,” presenting a scheme of values so counter to the usual as to shake us like the seismic collision of tectonic plates…We are told that we are not to resist evil but to turn the other cheek. The world assumes that evil must be resisted by every means available. We are told to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. The world assumes that friends are to be loved and enemies hated. We are told that the sun rises on the just and the unjust alike. The world considers this to be indiscriminating; it would like to see dark clouds withholding sunshine from evil people. We are told that outcasts and harlots enter the kingdom of God before many who are perfunctorily righteous. Unfair, we protest; respectable people should head the procession. We are told that the gate to salvation is narrow. The world would prefer it to be wide. We are told to be as carefree as birds and flowers. The world counsels prudence. We are told that it is more difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom than for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye. The world honors wealth. We are told that the happy people are those who are meek, who weep, who are merciful and pure in heart. The world assumes that it is the rich, the powerful, and the wellborn who should be happy. In all, a wind of freedom blows through these teachings that frightens the world and makes us want to deflect their effect by postponement – not yet, not yet! H.G. Wells was evidently right: either there was something mad about this man, or our hearts are still too small for his message.

To truly follow such a renegade can be a lonely enterprise. No wonder Jesus told his potential followers to count the cost before investing.

Finally, Foster’s observations regarding the myopic vision of many Christians is quite astute and based on the undeniable reality that many sincere Christians are raised in myopic traditions that see one aspect of the gospel message to the exclusion of others. The resultant lack of unity and commonality of purpose is obvious and pandemic. For too many years, charismatic, evangelical, incarnational, and social gospel traditions have come close to shunning each other, rather than utilizing their unique differences to augment and balance each others efforts in working to establish Christ’s kingdom here on earth.

Fortunately, the winds of change are blowing and seem to be picking up velocity. On both individual and corporate levels, the Body of Christ is beginning to grasp the reality that if one truly desires a deeper walk with the Master, it is going to require major life changes and shifts in perspective. The 21^st Century church can no longer afford to offer up its traditional menu and hope to engage a culture that is far more sophisticated than it was just 20 years ago. Nor can the church put forth any variant of what J.I. Packer so wisely called “hot tub religion” and count on any degree of success except maybe among a few disillusioned prosperity gospel-teers.

No, any significant movement in the church that has a chance to succeed must begin with having potential adherents count the cost of what they are getting into. Only then can a realistic decision for Christ be made and only then can a genuine discipleship commence. We don’t need what many in South Florida call an “Everglades Christianity,” – which is 50 miles wide and an inch deep. Today, more than ever, we need a Consecrated Christianity, with educated rear ends warming the pews – educated in what it really means (and costs) to follow the Master.

Further, these newly committed and consecrated Christ-followers must band together in commonality of purpose. It should no longer be necessary for a sincere Christian to walk an incarnational path of worship, love, and service while feeling like the Lone Ranger. It is time for consecrated Christians to gather together in oneness, unity, and shared mission. And with this commonality of purpose comes a sharing of vision – a synoptic vision that embraces and welcomes all aspects of the Christian faith. There is great unity in our diversity, if only we would lower our noses long enough to catch a glimpse of the brother and sister standing next to us.

We are the church, the Bride of Christ – consecrated, gathered, and synoptic. If we truly work for, embrace, and ultimately manifest this vision for the church, nothing can stop us. And the Gates of Hell can’t stand against us.

Characteristics of a Transformation-Centered Church

L. Dwight Turner

Church leaders must quickly come to the realization that our society has, to a large extent, become post-Christian. Prior to the 1960’s the Church was perhaps the most stabilizing and important institution in America. Christianity constituted, for all practical purposes, our moral compass. This is no longer the case. I won’t belabor this point here, but suffice to say that this state of affairs necessitates a certain reassessment of how the Church goes about its business, especially how it presents the Gospel. We must be creative, finding new and culturally relevant ways to present Jesus to our culture. The old ways just won’t work.

Jesus sets our example. He used parables and examples that his audience could relate to. He spoke of farmers, vineyards, oxen, and a host of images that his peasant listeners could relate to. Now, we must do the same. Creativity and cultural relevance in our gospel presentation is essential.

Perhaps even more striking is the imperative need for the church to become a “disciple-making” entity, geared toward equipping its members to walk with the Master in ever deepening ways.

The Protestant Church as a whole has been woefully inadequate in providing its constituents with workable plans and methodologies for positive change in their lives. It seems that, once a person is converted, efforts to discipline that person is aimed at the most superficial denominator possible. In our current social milieu, although there are many who are quite comfortable to punch their ticket to the Pearly Gates but balk at deeper discipleship, there are countless others clamoring for a real taste of the Living Waters of which Christ spoke.

It is incumbent upon the Church to rediscover its rich tradition of spiritual formation and make that a centerpiece and a calling card. In short, we must present to the world a living, vibrant Christianity that is transformative, a faith that gives substance to people’s hope for positive change.Marcus Borg envisions a Christian faith that is transformation centered rather than belief centered. Its focus is on practical ways of “living the Way” as opposed to belief. In my own view, the belief centered paradigm has been much of the problem with the church for centuries and I couldn’t agree more with what Borg has to say regarding the need for a more practical, transformation-centered approach.

Borg’s vision of a transformation centered church is outlined in the following notes, taken from his essay “An Emerging Christian Way.”

Borg sees this new paradigm as impacting the church in six major areas:

Adult re-education

Christian practices

Compassion and a passion for justice

Political consciousness

Living deeply into the Bible and the Christian Tradition

Commitment and intentionality

Adult Re-education

First, it would be a community of adult re-education. This is a major need in our time, simply because so many of us learned a vision of Christianity that stopped making persuasive and compelling sense to us. The re-education needs to be about the “big” topics: God, the Bible, Jesus, faith, prayer, and so forth. This can be done through adult education classes, of course. But it can also be done through reading groups in which participants commit themselves to read and discuss relevant books together. Such groups do not require expert theological leadership, but simply somebody who knows how to facilitate a group well.

Christian Practices

Second, the transformation-centered church would be a community that teaches Christian practices. In many cases, this would constitute a reintroduction of the spiritual disciplines and practices that have been a vital, change-producing aspect of the church throughout its history. It is practice that takes us beyond sterile belief and into the realm of experience. Borg says it clearly:

Practice is the means whereby Christianity moves from being about beliefs to being a way of transformation. Practice changes us. The single most important personal practice is prayer in both of its classic forms: verbal prayer and the prayer of internal silence……The single most important corporate practice is worship. Though worship is of God, it is for us. Its purpose is to nourish us by drawing us out of ourselves, opening us up, forming and informing us.

Compassion and a passion for justice

According to Borg, compassion and a passion for justice are the central ethical themes of the Bible. He then makes the point that justice is the social form of compassion and that compassion is the “soul of justice.” Borg goes on to say that a transformation-centered church:

Moves toward inclusion

Practices charity

Advocates justice and peace

I would also add that as followers of Jesus, we have our mandate and our marching orders when it comes to compassion and the pursuit of justice. All we have to do is look at how the Master went about his business.

Jesus Christ was not a man of compassion; he was a man of radical compassion. From his voluntary mission to this broken world, to his mysterious ascension back into the heavenly realm, there was no theme he stressed more in both word and deed. From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

Political Consciousness

I am the first person to admit that since the fusion of the Evangelical Christians and the Republican Party, I am now gun shy when it comes to mixing politics and religion. I have discussed this at length in other venues, so I won’t elaborate on it here. Suffice to say the I am of the educated opinion that this joining at the hip of conservative religion and conservative politics has done more damage to the Christian faith than just about anything I can think of.

Still, Borg is correct in stating that the transformation-centered church should take political consciousness-raising quite seriously. The form I would envision this taking is re-introducing people to the themes of biblical compassion and justice, as well as helping people understand how economic and political systems impact people, especially the poor and otherwise marginalized.

Living deeply into the Bible and the Christian tradition

Although tradition is not held in high regard in postmodern culture, Borg makes the point that it is important that the transformation-centered church does not make the mistake of jettisoning its rich history. Granted, there are things in Christianity’s past that are best forgotten. However, there are many other deep and meaningful aspects of the church’s tradition that can help feed a seeker’s spiritual hunger.

Borg also makes the point that most of us were raised in the Judeo-Christian cultural milieu and, even if we did not come of age in deeply Christian homes, we grew up with the images and language of the faith all around us. To a large extent, even though the Christian faith has become increasingly marginalized in western culture, these imagistic and linguistic factors continue to echo throughout our society.

On a personal note, I can also share something I noticed during the five years I lived in Mainland China. Although great efforts had been made to reconstruct and repair much of the damage caused by the Cultural Revolution, numerous temples and other religious shrines in China were gone forever. One of Mao’s strongest exhortations to his young followers during those turbulent years centered on the evils of the past and tradition. The Red Guards and others were encouraged to vandalize and destroy much of China’s rich cultural heritage. What I noticed was that any culture that has been robbed of its tradition is a culture that has lost something vital and irreplaceable.

Commitment and Intentionality

Here Borg defines the intentionality as the desire to have a transforming relationship with God as revealed in Jesus and the commitment is to the concomitant path of transformation.

Much of the superficiality and lack of spiritual power evident in the Body of Christ over the past four centuries can be traced to the misguided priority given to the necessity of “right belief.” Intellectual adherence to a prescribed set of doctrinal positions has become the defining characteristic of Protestant Christianity. The results are predictable. We ended up with a church universal that has, for the large part, been ineffective in changing people’s lives for the better. The reason is simple: beliefs alone do not change people, especially when belief itself is defined as adherence to doctrine. Doctrine never saved anyone and it surely never transformed anyone. Borg discusses the emerging church’s take of the word “believe:”

The emerging paradigm recovers the pre-modern Christian understanding of believing. For it, the question “Do you believe in God as known in Jesus?” has two primary meanings. “Do you trust in God as known in Jesus?” And, “Are you loyal to God as known in Jesus?” It is trust and loyalty that transform us. Beliefs may precede them or follow them or remain quite unconnected to them. But beliefs do not save us, do not transform us. Trust and loyalty do.

Personally, I find Borg’s take on all this both refreshing and inspirational. It is rare for either of these elements of the Christian tradition to be discussed from the pulpit in the modern church, particularly in evangelical circles. Perhaps it is time for these transformative themes to once again take precedent over the anemic practice of belief in correct doctrine. Perhaps then we might begin to see a vital church in which people’s lives are actually transformed according to the vision and the principles taught by Jesus.

When you think about it, trust and loyalty point to two critical elements that are at the heart of the Christian tradition. I’m talking about faithfulness and fidelity. In essence, these two concepts speak to the same issue, having faith in God and being faithful to God. In order for us to progress on the Christian path, we must be loyal to it, even when the going gets rough or doubt sets in. In this faithfulness, this fidelity of the spirit, we are able to dig much deeper in search of living waters. Rather than flitting about from path to path, tradition to tradition, teaching to teaching – we stay put out of trust and loyalty. We then are able to dig one hole fifty feet deep, rather than fifty one-foot holes.

Churches are notorious for resisting change, especially those churches that have been around awhile and have aging congregations. Yet change is essential if the church is to survive. Moreover, if it is to thrive, then in many cases radical change is called for. This process of change within a congregation is never easy and sometimes causes rifts and splits that are never healed. However, when a church is able to adopt an open mind and an attitude of flexibility, the possibilities of a bright and exciting future are great. Gordon MacDonald has written an excellent book dealing with these issues. The book, entitled Who Stole My Church, is written in a personal, narrative style and is highly recommended.

Diana Butler Bass, in her fine book Christianity for the Rest of Us, also discusses this subject of the church and change. Bass makes the following cogent observation:

Some Christians today fear cultural change, opting instead to make pronouncements about a God who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” and insist that they alone know the way to and the mind of God. Christianity, they say, is not about change. Christianity is old time religion. They build churches to protect people from change, often in anonymous, suburban, gated spiritual communities, where they recreate a vision of some cherished Christian past. They venture out into the world to try and force the rest of us back into the perfect world of their fathers.

Bass goes on to say that such a view of the Christian faith flies counter to that revealed by Jesus in the New Testament:

…Jesus insists that every person he meets do something and change. The whole message of the Christian scripture is based in the idea of metatonia, the change of heart that happens when we meet God face-to-face. Even a cursory knowledge of history reveals that Christianity is a religion about change.

The exact scope and shape this change will ultimately take is impossible to predict. The vision of the transformation-centered church as described by Marcus Borg is but one possible picture, albeit a vital and impressive one. As already stated, it is hard to predict exactly what form the church will morph into, except to say that it is doubtful that their will be any unified version. Chances are, as we move through these transitional but formative times, we will see a plethora of new wineskins, some good and some not so good.

In The Enlightenment’s Shadow: Belief Trumps Compassion and Justice

Posted On March 26, 2009

Filed under Christian Education, Christian Living, Christian Mission and Calling, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Church and Culture, Compassion, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, Evangelism, Fruit of the Spirit, God's Kingdom, God's Love, God's Story, Gospel, Grace, Identity In Christ, Incarnation, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Mainline Denominations, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Missions, Morality and Values, Obedience, Paul's Teachings, Personal Discipline, Personal Renewal, Positive Living, Renewal of the Mind, Revival, Sacred Character, Service, Spirituality
Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Compassion, Discipleship, Enlightenment, False Doctrine, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus' Teachings, Justice, Service

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L. Dwight Turner

We, as a body of Christ-followers, cannot overstate the importance of the task before us. What we are facing as this new century unfolds is the need of a radical reformation of our faith. The negative trends regarding the Christian faith and its place in western culture that began in the last quarter of the 20^th Century show no signs of abating. In fact, any brief survey of the values and social mores of our culture reveals that a number of these trends in post-modern culture are taking place more rapidly than originally predicted.

If the church is to reclaim a position of significance and influence in our advancing culture, we must face head on the problems that are of our own making as well as find creative ways to adjust to those situations that are created elsewhere. In either case, it all begins with Christians getting a handle on its historic capacity to deal with diverse problems and discover creative strategies to ignite and foster a new respect from those voices who once were its most prolific critics. In the final analysis, all of this rests on the church’s ability to rediscover just who and what Jesus was and to live his message in ways that communicate his love and justice in the world. Brian McLaren speaks to these themes:

Many people don’t realize that the Christian religion – in its Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Pentecostal forms – is the largest, richest, and most powerful religion in the world. If the Christian religion “misunderestimates” the message of Jesus – if it doesn’t know or believe the truth about Jesus and his message – the whole world will suffer from Christian ignorance, confusion, or delusion. But if it discovers, understands, believes, and lives Jesus’ message – if it become increasingly faithful to the reality of what Jesus taught in word and example – then everyone could benefit.

If we are to begin to make inroads into our post-Christian culture, we need to identify those aspects of our own making that create obstacles to engaging non-believers and peripheral Christians is a conversation regarding the true essentials of Christian living. One of our primary obstacles is unfortunately now so ingrained in the faith that it has assumed the status of “Sacred Cow.”

We live in a culture that is, in spite of over 200 years of historical separation, dominated by the Enlightenment. Most of us don’t recognize this, but that lack of awareness doesn’t make the fact any less true. The Enlightenment has cast a long shadow over Western culture, especially the church, and it continues to do so.

For those of us who claim Christianity as our worldview, this lingering hangover of rationalism, logic, and intellectualism has robbed us of the very core of our faith and, in its stead, has substituted a sterile and inadequate imposter. Rather than experiencing our faith as a living, vital, relational organism, the norm has become “faith equals right belief.” This represents a major tragedy in terms of the heart of Christianity and, although right belief has some degree of importance, it pales in comparison to the emphasis Jesus placed on incarnational service based on love.

This issue has been exacerbated by two-plus centuries of preaching and teaching that extols the notion that salvation is attained through belief in the accepted set of ideas. Faith is equated with belief and belief is seen as the cornerstone of the entire edifice of Protestant doctrine. It has been going on for so long now that any challenge to the validity of such a notion is seen as heresy. To assert that a Christianity that is based on incarnational themes such as relational imperative, spiritual transformation, and compassionate service is to invite the heckling banter of a cadre of “true believers.” For these people belief takes precedent over doing and faith (which means belief to these folks) overrides works, even if that work is identical to the service done by Jesus.

Friends, we need to jettison this fatal tumor of false perspective, spawned by the Enlightenment and reared by the 19^th Century Evangelical forerunners before it suffocates us completely, turning us into carbon copies of the whitened sepulchers the Master Jesus viewed with such disdain.

After much study, prayer, and reflection on these issues I have come to the conclusion that we Christ-followers are called to a more dynamic, vital, and holistic walk of faith. Indeed, we are called to a participatory involvement in God’s Great Story of incarnation and redemption. In fact, this was basically the view held by Christianity as a whole right on up through the Middle Ages and to the years preceding the Enlightenment. It was the illegitimate marriage of Enlightenment ideas to theology that changed the flavor and texture of the Christian faith and resulted in the dry, sterile form of religion that we find in many Protestant congregations today. And before I am accused of being of a narrow anti-evangelical bent, let it also be said that this same defective theology became the norm for the liberal wing of the faith as well as the old Mainline denominations, upon which Taps was blown two decades ago.

The late Robert Webber spoke clearly to this issue, discussing the validity of an ethic of faith-based works and the dire need for a return to the ancient, relational model of the faith. Listen as he clearly juxtaposes the ancient model of faith and the post-Enlightenment religion that is rampant today:

The incarnational model of the ancient church is relational. God relates to humanity by becoming one of us. We relate to God because, through the incarnation, we are lifted up into a relationship with the divine. In this ancient depiction of incarnational spirituality there is a divine indwelling of God, a mystical union between God and man, a relationship of continuous prayerful dependence. Contemplation of God and his wondrous story is characterized by the delight of the heart, an inner reality that proceeds from a union with God that is real…..By contrast, a justification/sanctification spirituality is less relational and more intellectual…..In summary, ancient spirituality is placed within the whole story of God and maintains the dynamic relational aspect of spirituality that is in union with God. On the other hand, the impact of the Enlightenment emphasis on justification and sanctification separates spirituality from the story of God (especially the incarnation in which humanity is lifted into God) and creates and intellectual spirituality that not only affirmed a forensic standing before God but one that equated spirituality with “right belief.” Spirituality ceased to be a “lived theology” and became faith as an intellectual construct.

Webber is not speaking of a return to a “feelings-based” religion. Like many astute spokespersons for the faith, he realizes that any spiritual truth based on our emotions is a tenuous commodity. Instead, Webber is talking about a Christianity that is anchored in God’s Sacred Story. Rather than being based on belief in correct doctrines, it is rooted in a life of active participation in God’s redemptive action. For Webber, true Christianity is relational, incarnational, redemptive, and restorative. The final chapters of God’s Sacred Story are the establishment of “new heaven” and “new earth.” All of these characteristics involve belief, but the entire edifice does not depend on belief. Instead, it depends on participation.

Intellectual religion is basically easy religion. When we base our Christian experience on kosher beliefs, we allow others to do our thinking for us. For many sincere Christians, the walk of faith basically consists of someone or some group telling them what they are supposed to believe and they fall in line with this expected code of doctrine, walking in mindless lockstep to the cadence being called by their theological leaders.

Please, don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying doctrine is bad, although in some cases it is just that. What I am getting at is that “unexamined doctrine” is a slippery slope. We need to take the time and make the effort to delve into the doctrines of our church, group, or denomination and see whether or not they hold water. More importantly, we need to deepen our understanding of God’s Sacred Story and start living it. At the end of the day, this approach is far more satisfying from a spiritual perspective.

Words to Ponder

Posted On March 24, 2009

Filed under Christian Education, Christian Kindness, Christian Living, Christian Mission and Calling, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Compassion, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, Enthusiasm, Evangelism, Fruit of the Spirit, God's Kingdom, God's Love, God's Story, Gospel, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Morality and Values, Obedience, Personal Renewal, Positive Faith, Positive Living, Purpose, Revival, Scripture, Service, Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Quotations, Words To Ponder
Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus, Jesus' Teachings, Jim Petersen, Notable Quotations, Service

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There is a basic difference in strategy for God’s people of the Old Testament and His people of the New. Rather than the come and see of the Old, it is now, go to and live among. It is as critical now as it was in Old Testament times to live holy lives. Ungodly living will destroy us and our credibility just as surely now as it did then. But we are to live our lives among the lost rather than separated from them. God’s people today are a people sent; we are to go and live among. So, a basic difference between the calling of God’s people in the Old and New Testament is that the arrows have been turned around. Where it was once come and see, it is now “go to and proclaim.” It seems we are having difficulty getting out of the Old Testament and into to the New in understanding what we’re to be about.

Jim Petersen

(from Lifestyle Discipleship: The Challenge of Following Jesus in Today’s World)

Are You Open For Business?

L. Dwight Turner

Our culture, it seems, is on some kind of spiritual quest. As I cruise about the Internet these days I often encounter articles, web sites, and discussion groups throwing about the term “spirituality.” With increasing frequency I also find sincere seekers, including professed Christians, attempting to define what true spirituality is. Some of the definitions are profound while others are more arcane than the tax code.

For Christians, the definition of true spirituality should not be a mystery. The meaning of the word, given to us by Jesus with alarming clarity, may not be the answer we are looking for. The definition of spirituality provided by the Lord had nothing to do with esoteric philosophical speculations, nor did it encompass the need for expanded knowledge of a multi-dimensional universe. On the contrary, Jesus told us what real spirituality was in a very direct and precise manner. He didn’t explain it to us; he showed us.

Jesus gave a new definition of what true spirituality consisted of when, as described in the 13^th Chapter of John’s Gospel, he shocked his disciples by performing the lowly act of cleansing their dirty, dusty, and most likely, fetid feet. In this act, Jesus then said that he had provided an example. In his words:

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… (John 13:14)

As Christ-followers, we are called to no less. We are called to the ministry of the towel. For the Christian, that is the meaning of spirituality. We are to be of service. Everything else, no matter how profound, is superstructure.

At its most fundamental level, proactive service, motivated by love and compassion, is what incarnational Christianity is all about. No matter what setting in which we find a need to be addressed, we are to obey and go. No matter how filthy, grimy, or smelly, we are to take up our towel and basin and hit the ground running. This is our calling and this is our duty. This is what Christ did and we are to do no less.

Even as sincere believers with a genuine desire to manifest active Christian love to our hurting world, we often complicate this issue of service to an extreme. “What is my true mission?” we often ask ourselves. “Is helping with this situation something I am gifted to do?” Other times we vacillate by comparing ourselves to others. “Are there other people far more skilled than I to help with this?” Moses tried this approach and God didn’t buy it. Although there is nothing wrong with assessing our talents and gifts, we need to realize in any situation, there is some type of service we can provide. There is at least some need we can meet. Just about anyone can fold chairs, clean a kitchen, drive a van, or deliver food.

At the end of the day, this issue of Christian service boils down to one word: availability.

We must each look into our hearts and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, ask ourselves: Am I available to be used by God? We need to be rigorously honest with ourselves in answering this all-important question. If we answer in the negative, then we need to explore the reasons why we feel we cannot currently follow Christ’s call to service. If we answer in the affirmative, then we need to find a place to serve, a way to serve, and get on with it. It is of vital importance that we keep in mind that we are Christ’s representatives here in this broken world. We are his hands, his feet, and his heart. And, we are his agents no matter where we are. Gary Thomas explains how this has come to work in his life:

“Once I begin surrendering my body to be transformed, I become a living and breathing center of possibility. I become a force that God can use to impact the world. This truth teaches me to see my life as a call to represent Christ wherever I go, whether it is at a high school basketball game, a family get-together, the dreaded Department of Motor Vehicles office, a local Starbucks, or my own home. Regardless of my location, I can live with a sense of offering myself up to God so that he can encourage his children and reach out to the lost.”

Individual Christians are not alone in over-thinking the issue of service. Entire congregations can do the same thing. Instead of diving in and providing immediate relief or help to those in need, churches often choose to conduct exhaustive investigations and hold endless committee meetings, trying to design a program that will address a community need. Again, research and planning are essential, but not at the expense of allowing people to suffer while we weigh our options. Jerry Cook, in his informative book The Monday Morning Church, strikes at the heart of the issue:

“I am convinced that as Christians we are not about programs. We’re not about bigger or better blessings. We’re about responding to people who call for help because their world is falling apart. These individuals aren’t looking to be converted – they’re looking for help! Being their help – by being the presence of Christ in their lives – is the only thing we’re about. Everything else we do is secondary and can even detour us from carrying out the true purpose of the church…You are filled with the Spirit of God. You are living in this window in time called the last days. You are where you are because God has strategically placed you there. The question is, are you open for business?”

Cook makes a poignant statement here and asks the pivotal question, a question that each of us must answer with truth and honesty: Am I open for business?

Each of us must find somewhere to begin his or her own unique mission, in whatever setting God has placed us. So, again, where do we begin? Why not start where Christ himself began? As he picked up the Holy Scriptures in the synagogue at Nazareth he spoke clearly and without reservation, echoing his Father’s words from the 61^st chapter of Isaiah. Christ said he had left his comfort zone in the spiritual realm and incarnated on this fallen planet in order:

To bind up the broken hearted

To proclaim liberty to the captives

To comfort all who mourn

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Surely, these words pertain to someone or some situation you are aware of. Are you aware of anyone who is broken hearted or held captive by some form of addiction or behavior? Do you know someone who is in dire need of comfort at this time? Is there anyone in your family, your church or your neighborhood who is in need of a little beauty and joy in life; maybe someone who needs help with depression or some other type of spiritual heaviness?

As stated earlier, the first salient question is not so much “How shall I go about doing good?” No, the question is, “Are you open for business?”

Are you ready to become someone God can use? Are you ready to become, in the words of Gary Thomas, a living and breathing center of possibility?

From Potential to Glory: Our Journey Into Excellence

Posted On March 15, 2009

Filed under Affirmative Prayer, Attitudes of Blessing, Christian Education, Christian Living, Christian Optimism, Christianity, Discipleship, Divine Mind, Divine Potential, God's Kingdom, Gospel, Grace, Holy Spirit, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Metaphysical Christianity, Mindfulness, Mission and Calling, Morality and Values, New Thought, Obedience, Optimism, Personal Discipline, Personal Renewal, Personal Vision, Positive Expectation, Positive Faith, Positive Living, Positive Thinking, Prayer, Renewal of the Mind, Revival, Sacred Center, Sacred Mind, Spiritual Formation, Spirituality, Trusting God
Tags: Calling, Christian Optimism, Christianity, Discipleship, God, Personal Vision, Potential, Purpose, Spiritual Growth

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Mick Turner

At Sacred Mind Ministries and LifeBrook International we have a corporate mission to provide programs and materials that assist individuals and organizations to become the optimal version of themselves for the benefit of others. This has been our mission since the founding of our ministry and we have never wavered in our pursuit of creating opportunities for people to grasp a real sense of who and what they are, what their God-given potential is, and that to which they are called. Once this happens, we feel a person is then ready to find a vital, living personal vision and, when this vision is fully realized, to walk in the full harvest of their personal glory.

Let’s take a little time a look at the how this flow normally takes place. Briefly, we can say that our growth into Christ-like character and into the optional version of ourselves moves through five interrelated phases.

Acknowledging and accepting our new identity “in Christ.”
Understanding our “Seed Potential.”
Discovering our “Call to Purpose”
Living with “Vital Vision.”
Our “Harvest of Glory.”

Our New Identity in Christ

It begins with the acknowledgement that we are not functioning anywhere near our true potential and, at least initially, this stems from the fact that we believers have little idea of who and what we are “in Christ.” For many reason, the church has jettisoned the vital half of the gospel, choosing instead to focus on the blood and forgiveness at the expense of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

It is as if you own a house with an exquisite, one-of-a-kind door. You fell in love with door and worship it so much that you never cross the threshold and go inside the house, which is even more beautiful. Likewise, many Christian become so immersed in Christ’s atoning work on the Cross and the cleansing of his blood they never grasp why he did this in the first place. He didn’t go through what he did so we could live life half-way, filled with doubt, inadequacy, and spiritual instability. Christ did not die just to get us into heaven my friend; he died in order to get heaven into us. Christ rose, met the disciples, breathed the Holy Spirit into them, gave them a Great Commission, and ascended into heaven, thus making the Pentecost possible.

In light of these realities, our first task is to understand and accept just what Christ accomplished with his death, resurrection, and ascension. We have a new identity and in the words of Paul, the old has passed away and the new has come. We are new creations in Christ and what’s more amazing, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Until we grasp the character and the ramifications of our new identity, we will only grow in fits and starts, if at all. It’s time to walk on through the door, grand as it is, and see what blessings have been placed inside.

Understanding Our Seed Potential

God has placed a potential on the inside of each of us and I am convinced this occurred before we were ever born. This seed has the fulfillment of our calling, purpose, and vision in its core, just as an acorn has a mighty oak hidden within its fibers. God-given potential is like a seed and, with the proper environment, that seed can develop, grow, and manifest those things hidden within its hull.

You potential is like a seed and, until you allow that seed to grow, your dream will remain just that – a dream. God gave you this potential and, with the right environment, that seed potential will grow and develop into something quite magnificent. Dr. Myles Munroe speaks of these issues cogently:

“The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that God created everything with ‘seed in it according to their kinds’ (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.”

It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true mission and purpose. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the spiritual journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.

Our journey of discovering and developing our divine potential must begin with a commitment to excellence – an agreement with our Creator that we will walk in cooperation with the Spirit to become the best version of ourselves.

Necessarily, this commitment will involve personal challenges and, at times, a degree of personal discomfort. Spiritual growth involves change and change always requires stepping out of our comfort zone. Still, the process of realizing and manifesting our divine potential is one of the greatest adventures we will ever undertake.

Discovering Our Call To Purpose

Three terms that are often heard when discussing our “purpose” in life are purpose, mission, and calling. These words often used interchangeably and can mean basically the same thing. I think the confusion comes in when an author or speaker uses these three expressions to mean different things. With that thought in mind, whenever I use these words, I take them to mean basically the same thing. Our mission, our purpose, and our calling refer to our God-given reason for being here on this planet at this time. In addition, I firmly believe that God has a highly specific calling for each of us that has three primary aspects:

It is personal and specific to us;
It is related to our spiritual gifts
The realization and actualization of this mission is a major part of our spiritual formation and helps grow into the optimal version of ourselves.

In the next section we will talk about vision and it is important to understand how mission and vision are different. Our mission or purpose is far more general than our vision. Basically, you can say our vision is the specific way in which we will realize our mission.

We can say that your mission is your life calling, your reason for being here. It is not so much specific activities as it is the reason you perform those activities. Your mission gives your life meaning and gives you positive motivation to get out of bed each morning and, in positive faith, face the challenges that may come your way. Your true mission is a major motivator, something you enjoy doing, and something for which you have passion and enthusiasm.

Living With Vital Vision

As mentioned earlier, vision is intimately related to purpose but more specific. Put simply, vision is the method whereby you see yourself living out your mission to completion. Living with vital vision involves every area of your life and how those aspects of your life related to your personal mission. Your vision involves your family, friends, associates, and especially your choice of career. Ideally, all of these things come together in a harmonious orbit around the specific vision you develop for carrying forward your mission.

Arriving at your vision is a process, not an event. It requires much planning, organization, and flexibility. Most significantly, developing your vision involves deep, focused, and above all, consistent prayer. You cannot expect to discover what God wants you to do and the best way to do it without communing with Him on a regular basis. Pray that the Holy Spirit walks with you, guiding you, and challenging you to move forward with your vision, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. More than anywhere else in the process of growth into excellence, the phase of vital vision may require you to think out of the box.

A simple way to look at the relationship of vision and mission is as follows. Let’s suppose that three friends all have a mission to provide convenient, quality, fast-food to busy workers. One may decide to open a Burger King franchise, another a Pizza Hut. The third may have a vision of a Taco Bell. You see, the mission of quality fast-food is the same; the vision of each friend is different. I realize this example is overly simplistic, but I do think it serves our purposes of demonstrating how a vision is a specific plan for carrying forward a more general mission or calling.

Your Harvest of Glory

Your God-given potential began as a seed planted in you by the Creator before your birth. Further, he not only planted this great potential within you but also gave you all the talent you needed to discover this potential and, in concert with the Holy Spirit, connect your potential to a divine personal purpose – a call to a specific mission that was yours to carry forward. Once discovered, this mission hopefully gave you sufficient passion and motivation to develop and carry out a specific personal vision that allowed your talents and gifts to blossom and your personal vision to become a vital, living reality.

By realizing the manifestation of your mission you necessarily had to hone and develop your God-given talents and gifts and, in so doing, became more and more the optimal version of yourself. Now, walking in your personal excellence, creativity, and commitment, you are harvesting your personal glory.

We can see hints of this process in the Master’s great prayer in the 17^th Chapter of John’s gospel when he expresses that as he is glorified, the Father is glorified. And the reality is my friends, when we walk in our excellence – when we manifest and live as the optimal version of who we are, we glorify the Master.

As you see, we move from our seed potential to walking in our manifest glory. We do this not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify our Master, our Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit that has dwelled within us, walked along side us, empowered us, and made all this possible. When we come to walk in our personal glory, we are then able to be of true, selfless benefit to others while bringing glory to God.

This is our true aim and our ultimate calling – to be all that we can be; to give glory to our Creator; and to serve others with love. In the final analysis, we can ask for no greater destiny than this.

Not I, But Christ (Part Two)

Mick Turner

Walking in Our True Identity: Issues and Obstacles

Sometimes, when I sit down and reflect on the many gifts we, as Christians, have been given by the Creator I am literally overwhelmed. As the Old Testament scripture tells us, we can expect “showers of blessing.” When I really think about it, few of these magnificent outflows of God’s grace are as precious as our new identity “in Christ.”

Paul tells us clearly that the new has come and that the old has been swept away. The slate has been wiped clean, the old person was crucified with Christ right there on the cross and in a very real sense, sins’ power over us is gone. I think few of us believers fully comprehend the power of Paul’s teaching here.

The problem is so few of us, especially this Christ-follower, seem to walk in our new identity as if sins’ domination over us has been defeated. I often wonder why this is. Why do so few of us reach out with open hands to accept this undeserved gift from heaven? I think the answer(s) to this problem is complex. In the paragraphs below, I want to discuss just a few possibilities and, in subsequent posts, perhaps a few more.

In its most fundamental sense, the process of fully appropriating your new identity in Christ is the greatest gift you can give to the world. Operating under you old identity, you were spiritually dead, cut off from the source of your true life. You were under the control of your lower nature, what Paul referred to as “the flesh.” Furthermore, you were held under the sway of both the world and the enemy. Living under the burdensome limitations of your old self, there was no way you could possibly approach the dynamic creativity and productivity of your God-given potential.

Now, however, by taking possession of who and what you are “in Christ,” you can discover your divine potential, find your spiritual calling, develop you personal vision, and grow into the best version of yourself. In Christ, you are reborn – you are spiritually alive and capable of making your own unique contribution to the world. When you become the best version of yourself, when you walk in your glory, you are in reality a gift of God to a hurting world.

It kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it?

As Christians, we cannot underestimate the value of what God has done for us in this regard. Also, we cannot underestimate the value to God’s kingdom of having a cadre of committed believers that full well understand and accept exactly who and what they now are. We must realize, however, that there will be obstacles thrown in the path of our full appropriation of this new God-given and God-honoring identity.

In terms of the enemy and the world, these two forces often act in concert to minimize our awareness of what we have been granted in Christ. After all, the popular views of our culture are often in opposition to what God would have us do, whether it is in terms of our actual behavior or, at an even more subtle level, how we think and how we view the world. Let’s take a brief look at how these two forces, Satan and the world, might be a formidable obstacle when it comes to understanding our true blessings “in Christ.”

In today’s spiritual marketplace, the church is often assailed by the enemy in ways both manifest and subtle. One of Satan’s main strategies is to put forth teachings that contain a grain of scriptural truth and, at least on the surface, sound good, especially from a worldly perspective. For example, many contemporary Bible teachers focus on material wealth and prosperity. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with wealth and having possessions, so long as we are not controlled by them. However, these teachers often go to scripture to support their contentions and, in so doing, often miss the point of the particular verse or portion of scripture they cite. Most of the current prosperity gospel advocates justify their teaching by quoting Jesus in John 10:10:

I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

According to the prosperity teachers, Jesus was speaking of material abundance when he uttered these words. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Given the situation they were in, I doubt the early Christians were overly concerned with gaining material wealth. In the early days of the church, the prime focus was on solidifying the local church, spreading the gospel, and staying alive.

When Christ spoke of abundance in John 10:10, he was speaking of the fullness of life. Here Jesus is talking about the fact that through his mission, believers will now have the capacity to have the fullness of life that was lost due to the fall. In essence, He was referring to a restored humanity, now in proper relationship with God and ready to bear fruit.

The theological minutia surrounding the discussions of justification and sanctification can be both confusing and distracting. Although gaining an understanding of these concepts is important, for our present conversation going into depth about such matters would be an unnecessary distraction. For now, let’s just suffice to say that understanding and accepting who we are in Christ is central to the process of spiritual formation. Further, it is important that we see that our adoption into God’s family is an act of grace. Neil Anderson tells us:

Only as we see ourselves as sons and daughters of God can we really grow in holiness (see Romans 8:15). Only as we are free from the task of trying to gain a relationship with God by our own righteousness or cleanness will we be free to appropriate His righteousness and holiness for our growth.

Without Christ, his work on the cross and in rising from the tomb, we could not even begin to progress in terms of spiritual formation. In order to grow in spirit, we have to be connected to God. Just as a fish cannot thrive unless it is in water, we cannot thrive outside of our natural environment, which is proper connection with God. Christ’s mission accomplished this reconnection with our Maker and made all spiritual formation possible. Without the regeneration provided by the mission of Christ, we would remain in a state of separation from God. Listen to Neil Anderson as he so accurately elaborates this theme:

Spiritual growth in the Christian life requires a relationship with God, who is the fountain of spiritual life. Only through this relationship can we bear new seed or tap into the root of life. As in nature, unless there is some seed or root of life within an organism, no growth can take place. So unless there is a root of life within the believer – that is, some core of spiritual life – growth is impossible. There is nothing to grow.

The thrust of what is being said in this article is centered on the fact that we need to seize our proper identity in Christ, but in doing so, we must also understand the work of Christ on the cross and through his resurrection and ascension. Underlying this vital comprehension is that fact that we cannot be who and what we were intended to be without being in proper, intimate relationship with God. In order for that to be possible, our relationship must be restored. That’s where the Blood of Christ comes into play. Through his death, in some mysterious way Christ paid the debt for our sin and made reunion with the Father possible.

Beyond that, through his dying to self and rising in new life, we, too, may also die to our old way of being and rise in newness of life. But the story doesn’t end there. Christ, through his ascension into heaven, made possible the coming of the Holy Spirit. As Christ himself said, “Unless I leave, the Spirit won’t come.” As stated, Christ’s departure and his seat at the right hand of the Father make possible the Spirit’s presence in our lives. Now, just as the Father walked in the garden with the first couple, the Spirit walks along side of us. Even more important, he has also taken up residence within us.

It is not enough to die and rise again. We must also live in a new manner and it is the Spirit that makes this new way of thinking, feeling, behaving and relating possible. Grasp that, and you are well on your way of appropriating your new identity in Christ.

If we desire to keep the process of spiritual renewal moving forward – if we want to continue the process of replacing the old with the new – if we desire to get to the goal Paul described so well as living not as I but as Christ, then we have to engage the dynamic process of renewing our minds.

The Renewal of the Mind

Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that the key to personal and spiritual transformation is to renew the mind. The Apostle we must remember was a very learned man who studied with some of the greatest Rabbis of his era. It is therefore not surprising that Paul had deep insight into what made the human being tick, especially on a mental level.

Where we run into difficulty these days is with the psycho-spiritual technology necessary to follow Paul’s sage advice and effect a renewing of the mind. The most frequently heard strategy mentioned both in pulpit and pop Christian psychology is to immerse yourself in scripture. Certainly, this is a sound strategy and it can do no harm. Any time we spend in intimate relationship with scripture is time well spent. However, I have found that in order to fully appropriate the tools God has so graciously given us for transforming our minds, we need to develop at least a rudimentary understanding of the terrain of our minds and, armed with that knowledge, use scripture to its full advantage in the process of cognitive transformation.

(to be continued….)

InterSpirit Faith Alliance

Posted On March 3, 2009

Filed under Christian Education, Christian Kindness, Christianity, Church Renewal, Compassion, Culture, Discipleship, Evangelism, Global Church, God's Kingdom, God's Story, Gospel, House Church, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Missions, Morality and Values, Revival, Service
Tags: InterSpirit Faith Alliance, LifeBrook International

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LifeBrook International is please to announce that we have a new blog up and running here on WordPress. The site is associated with our newest and most active ministry project.

InterSpirit Faith Alliance is a non-denominational ministry committed to providing programs and materials designed to help the Church Universal, in all its manifestations, better navigate the changing waters of the spiritual and social landscape in 21^st Century America.

As the Body of Christ finds its way in our post-modern, post-Christian culture, we will continue to see major changes in the way the Church goes about its business. In addition to shifts in organizational structure and a reduced role of the ordained clergy, the churches that survive will be the ones that are innovative, transformative, and incarnational.

InterSpirit Faith Alliance, through innovative educational and service projects, seeks to assist congregations and other faith-based groups develop and implement missional strategies that meet what we have come to describe as “The Five Callings of Continuing Incarnation.” Briefly stated, these callings are:

The Calling to Consecration

The Calling to Connection

The Calling to Character

The Calling to Compassion

The Calling to Contribution

If the Church is to reach the growing post-Christian culture in ways that are relevant and effective, several things must be seen with clarity and focus. First, the primary question that must be answered is not, “How can we evangelize these people?” Instead, the relevant question must be, “How can I help you?” It is through this sort of proactive Christian service that the Church’s evangelistic witness can be best fostered. Secondly, the Church must reconsider how it can best present the truths of the faith in new wineskins that are more appropriate than the 19^th Century model that is commonly used, even today. We must re-introduce people to God, to Christ, to the Scriptures, and to the Church and this must be done in ways that are both practical and palatable, given the parameters of the environment in which the Church now lives, moves, and has its being.

We especially encourage our readers to visit the InterSpirit Faith Alliance site at:

http://interspirit.wordpress.com

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InterSpirit Faith Alliance

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