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United Methodist Church Aims At Relevance and Global Service (Part Two)

L.D. Turner

(continued from Part One)

Stressing the need for an honest appraisal of our situation, the Foundation Document places great emphasis on the need for us to see ourselves in the larger context of God’s great story. Further, we are to find our own personal stories, both as individuals and as congregations, in the parameters of the Creator’s big picture.

We must prepare our hearts and minds by turning to God, placing all anxiety, loss, and grief before the One who is our ever present help in time of trouble. And, with God’s grace, we remember the story that guides and sustains us, holds us accountable, and gives us hope. It is the story that begins with God’s loving gift of creation and culminates in God’s promise of renewal for all. It is the story of the Word made flesh, the Incarnation, God’s presence with us. It is the story of Jesus’ ministry to the most vulnerable, his denunciation of violence, greed, and oppression, and his call to discipleship. It is the story of resurrection, of triumph of life over death, and the promise of new life in Christ. And it is the story of transformation, from old to new, from woundedness to wholeness, and from injustice and violence to the embrace of righteousness and peace.

When I first read these words and prayerfully reflected upon the vision of God’s great story of restoration and renewal, I experienced once again what I can best describe as “the passion of personal calling.” I sensed anew my reasons for being a Christian in general and a Methodist in particular. And as mentioned earlier, my own story, and yours as well, exists within the context of God’s great epic of healing and renewal. Humankind, however, has not always played its role to perfection and the document clearly points out some of our areas of chronic failure:

We have a role to play in this story, but we have not faithfully performed it. God entrusted us with creation. But instead, of faithfully caring for our peaceful planet and its people, we have neglected the poor, polluted our air and water, and filled our communities with instruments of war. We have turned our backs on God and one another. By obstructing God’s will, we have contributed to pandemic poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence. Around the world, we feel the effects of this interconnected trio in different ways and to varying degrees, but there is no doubt that we all are experiencing elements of the same storm.

The Foundation Document places emphasis on the fact that this trio of issues, poverty, the environment, and weapons/violence are all impacted in an interconnected manner and, as a result, the impact on one compounds the effects of the others. It is for this reason that programs and policies that address just one of these issues, although well-meaning, have little lasting effect. With the passage of time, this tragic reality has resulted in what the Council of Bishops refers to as webs of brokenness, including:

Resource scarcity elevated to warfare

Injustice against migrants

Energy crisis

Environmental racism

Economic globalization

Violence against the most vulnerable, especially women and girls.

God’s Promise and Our Purpose

It is vital that we remember that the title of this document, God’s Renewed Creation, also has a subtitle: Call to Hope and Action. Although the situation just described seems overwhelmingly bleak, it is important to recall that it is God who is still active and that despite appearances, we have great reason to hope for better days.

It is understandable to look out on this broken and suffering world and feel despair. But the brokenness and suffering are not the complete story. They are part of our experience, but not the sum total of it. Amidst corruption, there is honesty; amidst greed, there is generosity; amidst killing, there is compassion; amidst destruction, there is preservation; amidst apathy, there is righteous indignation, holy dissatisfaction, and a passion for the possible. If we look carefully, we see seeds of hope that can be cultivated by God’s Spirit.

I, for one, can see the vision described by the Council of Bishops. I, too, have a passion for the possible and firmly believe that the people of the United Methodist Church can and will rise to answer God’s call in this time of great challenge and unlimited opportunity. The following words from Jeremiah are often taken as relating to individual believers, but are equally applicable to humankind as a whole:

For I know I have plans for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11)

And I am also reminded of Paul’s words of wisdom in Romans 8:28:

For all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose.

Open Eyes – Open Hearts – Open Hands

As the Foundation Document transitions from problem to solution, the Council of Bishops reminds us that God is already at work in the world. Our task is to “open our eyes to see God’s vision, open our hearts to receive God’s grace, and open our hands to do the work God calls us to do.”

We engage in spiritual practices such as the classic disciplines which help open our eyes so that we may see God’s vision and what he is doing at this particular point in time. As the Foundation Document clearly states, as our eyes are opened we are better able to see the action of God’s Spirit and on a more personal level, we are better equipped to see our roles as channels for God’s blessing. Our vision becomes more holistic and encompassing:

When we open our eyes to God’s vision, we no longer see a listed of isolated problems affecting disconnected people, plants, and animals. Rather, we see on interconnected system that “groans in travail” (Rom. 8:22). We see that the threats to peace, people, and planet earth are related to one another, and God’s vision encompasses complete global health.

Many of us wander through our days in sort of a mental fog, beset by myriad concerns and multiple responsibilities. It is as if we are on automatic pilot, meandering along our habituated rounds in a state of awareness that is oblivious to the details of our surroundings. What is most unfortunate about this reality is the fact that God often chooses to speak to us through the events of our daily lives but we, far removed from what is happening around us, remain oblivious to the sanctity of these divine encounters. It is only through eyes that are open and sensitive to the movements of God and the ways of the Spirit that we can discern what God is doing in the world. When the Lord says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing,” it is tragic that instead of hearing his instructive voice, we are busy thinking about what we want for lunch.

In keeping with our church’s Wesleyan roots, the Council of Bishops connects the need for “open eyes” with John Wesley’s understanding of “the natural image of God.” Created as spiritual beings in the image of God, we have been blessed with a trio of gifts that Wesley saw as indispensable in relating to God and our neighbor, while at the same time remaining an independent being.

The first gift is the gift of reason, which enables us to organize things, make judgments, and perceive the world in a rational manner. The second gift is will and this, first and foremost, involves our capacity to consecrate our lives to God, as well as to make commitments to others and to follow through on goals, projects, and the like. Fundamentally, our will enables us to be responsible, trustworthy human beings. The third divine gift is our freedom. God was us to be moral free agents rather than robots. It is our freedom to choose or reject God’s offer of participation in the unfolding of his divine story and, because we have freedom, we are morally answerable for our choices. This freedom lies at the heart of Armenian thought and the Wesleyan tradition.

Wesley taught that it is precisely when we use these divine gifts that we manifest the natural image of God and this view is clearly stated in the Foundation Document:

…we reflect the natural image of God when we exercise our reason for accurate understanding and good judgment, and when we respond to God’s grace by freely exercising our will to choose good and resist evil. We open our eyes in order to perceive the world accurately, understand our roles and responsibilities, and exercise good judgment.

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

Personal Authenticity and Spiritual Worldview

Posted On August 28, 2009

Filed under Bible, Biblical Worldview, Change Your Life, Christian Living, Christian Mission and Calling, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Church and Culture, Compassion, Contemplative Spirituality, Creation Centered Spirituality, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, God's Kingdom, Grace, Holy Spirit, Identity In Christ, Incarnation, Inner Light, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Mainline Denominations, Ministry, Mission and Calling, Morality and Values, Mystical Experience, Obedience, Paul's Teachings, Personal Discipline, Personal Growth, Personal Renewal, Renewal of the Mind, Sacred Character, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Practices, Worldview
Tags: Authentic Personhood, Biblical Living, Christian Living, Discipleship, Integrity, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Values

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L. Dwight Turner

Spiritual transformation is not so much a process of creating a “new you” – but instead, is about becoming the “real you.” As we increasingly grow “in Christ” we are led by the Holy Spirit into a deeper level of self-evaluation and, as the Spirit reveals to us both our strong and weak points, we gain understanding into who we are and why we do what we do. It is sometimes a painful process as we begin to see who and what we are behind the various masks we create. Still, this is a part of the process that we must undergo if we are to become useful vessels in God’s kingdom.

In essence, it is all about becoming a person of “authenticity.” An authentic person is a person who is guileless and consistently exhibits impeccable integrity. If more of us displayed just these traits, an absence of guile and consistent integrity, think of how different life would be. Wouldn’t things be more pleasurable and less taxing emotionally if we consistently dealt with people who are trustworthy and responsible?

You see, that is exactly what would happen if we developed enough authenticity to operate without guile and lack of integrity. We could count on others being worthy of our trust and we could also reasonably expect them to do what they said they were going to do.

Many of you must be thinking that this is both naïve and unrealistic. In the real world where “look out for No. One” is the most fundamental moral principle, to think that people can be trusted or that we can expect them to be responsible is nothing more than pie-in-the-sky idealism. This is certainly a viable response, at least on the surface of things. However, I think we need to take a deeper look.

Think of it like this – if we can never expect people to become better than what the currently are, why bother? The fact is, people can become better, a good deal better. Spiritual growth is not only possible, it is practical and furthermore, we live in a universe that is both evolving and purposeful. As integral parts of that evolving universe, we humans, as a whole, are also subject to what amounts to a universal law: something either grows or it dies. As we look about the created order, we can see this principle at work. The minute something stops growing, it begins the process of disintegration. God created a purposeful world and that purpose is continuing to unfold. As part of that purposeful creation, we, too, must continue to grow.

I am always amazed at those people who contend that spiritual formation and the classical spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith are not “biblical.” The fact is, if we didn’t need to grow spiritually, we wouldn’t need a Bible. Further, the notion that we can do nothing to improve ourselves is, in my mind, the worst form of heresy. Not only does it confuse justification with sanctification, but it also slanders the consistent teaching of Jesus, Paul, and Peter. Moreover, it ignores the biblical fact that Jesus, Peter, Paul, and all the rest – prayed, fasted, meditated, and practiced spiritual disciplines such as solitude, celebration, and especially, selfless service to others.

At the end of the day, the purpose of spiritual transformation is to become more authentic and humankind is in the process, sometimes slowly and certainly with pockets of resistance, becoming more authentic.

If we are to, indeed, become more authentic persons the obvious question becomes, from a spiritual standpoint: How do I become more authentic?

Chances are if you ask this question of a dozen different people, you will get 12 different answers, depending on the spiritual framework or tradition a person identifies with and advocates. Still, I think it is vital that we find at least a few universal principles that will help us answer this important question. Regardless of our spiritual tradition, I tend to think we can begin our journey toward authenticity by laying the proper groundwork and this fundamental task is accomplished through the establishment of moral integrity filtered through a well-thought-out and internalized worldview.

Authentic personhood and its foundational spirituality begin and end with personal morality. As I have expressed in other writings, our own system of personal values and morals should serve as the foundation stone for our lives. For me, this means that I have to have a clearly defined worldview and, as part of that worldview, clarity of vision in terms of what is right and wrong. My personal value system serves as my North Star, guiding my actions and fostering better decision making as well as personal integrity. My personal worldview and its component system of morality serves as a matrix through which not only are decisions made, but also, a filter to determine and evaluate how disciplined I actually am. How consistent am I in terms of keeping my behavior in line with my system of personal morality?

A further connection between personal values and my overall worldview is the ability to judge behaviors, feelings, and thoughts in relation to my worldview. Is a particular action, for example, conducive to living by my code of ethics? Will a particular action or decision move me toward the goals that flow out of my worldview? In this sense, is a specific course of action productive or counter-productive in reaching my goals and manifesting my purpose and vision? In this sense, our worldview becomes the matrix through which we can filter our thoughts, feelings, actions, and the events we encounter in our daily lives.

As we have seen, the presence of an internalized system of values and moral integrity, coupled with and flowing from a well-reasoned, cogent worldview are necessary if we are to mature as authentic persons. All of these things, taken together, are intimately connected with one another and form a kind of “spiritual hologram.” By this I mean that each component, the value system, moral integrity, reasoned worldview, and authentic personhood, contains all the elements of the other components.

Granted, putting together a workable worldview involves dealing with intellectual abstractions, but even these cognitive pursuits have their base in every day living. For it is our worldview that gives our lives meaning, purpose, and direction. Further, it is our worldview that forms the basis for our decision making process. Few things are more “down to earth” than these issues.

Authentic personhood, personal responsibility, trustworthiness, and the other spiritual traits we have discussed all flow from the common source of moral integrity and this foundational integrity is anchored in our worldview. Without a worldview, we have no compass to guide our actions – no North Star to serve as a reference point as we attempt to navigate the uncharted waters of our current cultural drift. Using another analogy, it is like weightlessness. Using the metaphor of gravity, Elisabeth Elliot speaks to the importance of our calling to discipleship:

In space, astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that draws them to the center. The effort of performing ordinary activities without the help of that pull is often vastly greater than it would be under normal conditions (try pouring a glass of water, eating a sunny-side-up egg, or turning a screwdriver – water will not fall, the egg will not stay on your fork, the screwdriver will not revolve; you will). Where there is no “moral gravity” – that is, no force that draws us to the center – there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us where we never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is foolishness. Instead of gravity, flippancy. Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point will never serve to keep our feet on solid rock, for our reference point, until we answer God’s call, is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up. Paul calls them fools who “…measure themselves by themselves, to find in themselves their own standard of comparison.”

From what we have covered in this article, it should be apparent that we, as both a culture and a spiritual tradition, need more people who exhibit authentic personhood, personal integrity, and purposeful living. In fact, it is around such people that the emerging forms of the Body of Christ must be built. With Christ as the cornerstone and authentic people as the foundation, the church can not only survive – it can come alive and thrive.

Wise Words for Today

…a curious law of reversal seems to apply in matters of faith. The modern world honors intelligence, good looks, confidence, and sophistication. God, apparently, does not. To accomplish his work God often relies on simple, uneducated people who don’t know any better than to trust him, and through them wonders happen. The least gifted person can become a master in prayer, because prayer requires only an intense desire to spend time with God…..Faith appears where least expected and falters where it should be thriving.

Philip Yancey

(from Reaching for the Invisible God)

God Encounters: Sacred Silence

L.D. Turner

For many sincere followers of Jesus, the Master’s words about being with us always and about his love for us are little more than arid ideas with little emotional, experiential impact. This is due to the fact that so many times we are distracted by “busyness” and spend little time communing with the light and love that are the first emanations from Christ’s being. The only way to rectify this and turn God’s love for us into a living, life-changing reality is through regular periods of quiet communion. Contemporary spiritual director Jan Johnson speaks clearly to this issue, reminding us of the importance of our times of spiritual refreshing:

One of Jesus’ greatest promises was this: “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20), but we may not experience this. Instead, we keep praying, “God be with us.” That’s because we are distracted by life’s thousand demands and by our habit of filling in empty time slots with entertainment. Our mind flashes from one thing to another, always occupied. A weekly visit to church can’t begin to penetrate this busyness. Contemplation reconnects us with God in the midst of this scatterdness. Life pulls me in so many directions – between the demands of my work, my husband’s plans, the kid’s needs…..I may say I am “thirsty for God as the deer is for water,” but at the moment I need to get my hair cut. However, when I pause to contemplate and be with God, I sense that this God who holds the universe together can also hold me together. In the quiet, I recall how God has helped me in the past. Without the clamor of demands around me, I remember that I am one God so loves.

Contemplative practice can be far more than a powerful mode of mystical prayer – it can also be an exercise in healing. This is especially true in relation to psycho-spiritual issues. Jan Johnson discusses a few of the ways in which contemplative practice can help with personal healing:

The practice of contemplation creates a bond with God in which God can heal the scatterdness of our lives and these other unhealthy spiritual states you may be experiencing:

Spiritual dryness

Guilt and Shame

Lack of Direction and Purpose

I don’t know about you, but in my life, I can relate to all three of these negative psycho-spiritual states. And, like Sister Jan, I have found that contemplative prayer, in whatever form it might take, can be of immense value.

Evelyn Underhill, that master of the mystic life, vividly described the nature of her prayer life in its more negative aspects:

We mostly spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do. Craving, clutching, and fussing, we are kept in perpetual unrest. My jabbering prayers have been full of what I want, what I think I should have, and what I want God to do.

Johnson goes on to describe how our self-absorbed prayers have a tendency to lead us down the road of spiritual anguish and despair. In the end, it results in a sense of hopeless desperation and the irony of it all is that it stems from our own misguided notions of what prayer is to begin with:

Imagining He has let us down, we become estranged from Him. In a culture that teaches us to perform for rewards, prayer becomes one more place of defeat and God is one more disappointment. We may even keep going through the motions spiritually – going to church, helping others – but in our heart we wonder, “If God is good, wouldn’t He give me the good things I want? Because He doesn’t, either God is not good, or I’m hopeless….We come to a dismal place because we misunderstand prayer as a means to have our desires fulfilled instead of a place to encounter the compassionate, all-seeking God.

There are times, those special times when I sink deeply enough into the silence, when I come face to face with my own tendency to not pay close enough attention to what is going on in these “quiet times.” I love the way the writer closes out the paragraph with that stinging juxtaposition about whether we see prayer as a place where we have our desires filled or a venue where we encounter the compassionate, all-seeking God.

Sometimes I think we lose track of how incredible the whole concept and process of prayer is. I know I am guilty as charged. In my work at LifeBrook I once designed a two-day training, not on prayer as many people had asked, but on preparing for prayer. You see, I had come to the point of awareness where I saw that I had not been giving the practice of prayer the place of honor it deserved.

It is hard to express this in words, but I had a personal epiphany around this issue. It dawned on me, in my gut, that when I went into my prayer closet I was coming into the presence of that very being, that inexplicable intelligence responsible for putting together this incredible universe, with all its complexity, diversity, and finely-tuned balance. Friends, it literally took my breath away.

What made this prayer experience so profound for me was the reality that God, the divine being and creator of all that is and ever will be, not only wanted to spend time with me, but he actually loved me. And what is even more amazing was the fact that his love was not static, but instead, was dynamic – a genuine affection that provided me with provision, purpose, and passion for life. As I sat there in silence that blessed morning, the words of the prophet Jeremiah jumped off the page and penetrated my heart in a way both novel and life-changing:

For I know the plans I have for you…They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you…I will end your captivity and restore your fortune. (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)

As I said, this episode literally left me panting for breath, but it didn’t end there. As is my practice, I normally take a book of devotions with me into my prayer sanctuary, just in case the Spirit leads me to open and read, especially if my period of prayer seems do be without direction. I opened the book, a short collection of essays on scriptural themes. It was no coincidence that I opened the book to the page where I had placed book mark, totally at random, prior to beginning this period of prayer. You can imagine what I felt when I began to read these words by Lloyd Ogilvie:

Talk about a conversation opener! Imagine someone you love and admire and whose thoughts and opinions you cherish, saying to you, “You are constantly on my mind. And when I think of you they are wonderful thoughts of peace and future happiness for you. I’m pulling for the very best for you. What a joy it is to be your cheerleader!” I would not be difficult to find time for conversation with a person like that. Multiply the best of human care and concern for us a billion times and you’ve only begun to fathom God’s love for us as He calls us into conversation. That’s the whole point of time alone with God. It is to allow Him the opportunity to love us.

Rather than write more about this, let me issue you a challenge. Over the next week, spend a block of time each day, say 15-30 minutes, during which you reflect on just what prayer is and what it is not. Really spend time with this, keep a small journal of your thoughts, and especially consider just who and what it is you are encountering when you go into prayer.

Don’t approach this as an exercise in intellectual snobbery or any kind of effort at theological description. Instead, let your heart lead you into your response.

Be especially open and sensitive to meeting the incredible being that created all that is, even you, in all its incredible complexity.

If you persist with this exercise over a period of several weeks, I predict your prayer time will be forever transformed. Try it and see.

Spiritual Disciplines: New Wineskins for Ancient Wellsprings

Posted On July 14, 2009

Filed under Bible, Bible Study, Biblical Worldview, Change Your Life, Christian Mission and Calling, Christian Mysticism, Christianity, Church, Church Renewal, Church and Culture, Compassion, Contemplation, Contemplative Spirituality, Cosmic Christ, Creation Centered Spirituality, Discipleship, Emerging Christianity, Global Church, God's Kingdom, Interspirituality, Issues in Transformation, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Kingdom of God, Meditation, Metaphysical Christianity, Mind of Christ, Paul's Teachings, Personal Discipline, Personal Growth, Personal Renewal, Positive Faith, Positive Living, Renewal of the Mind, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Practices
Tags: Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Church Renewal, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, Jesus' Teaching, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation

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L Dwight Turner

Solomon wisely tells us in the Book of Proverbs:

Keep watch over your heart, for therein lie the wellsprings of life

The question that often comes as one reflects on these words of wisdom is simply this: How am I to go about keeping watch over my heart?”

Throughout the history of the faith, one of the primary ways that sincere followers of the Master have gone about keeping watch over the heart, the deepest part of ourselves, is through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Meditation, prayer, sacred study, self-examination, confession, service, worship – all of this classical spiritual traditions have a role to play in helping us become more aware of ourselves and our behavior and, as a result, have withstood the test of time as quality ways in which we can deepen our walk of faith.

As Christians, scripture tells us that we are to increasingly grow into the character of Christ – in other words – become more Christ-like. Left to our own devices, this would be an impossible demand. Tainted by sin and mostly dominated by our lower nature, who among us could generate even a sliver of hope of emulating Jesus in thought, word, and deed?

Fortunately, scripture tells us that we have an omnipotent ally in this process of spiritual formation. The Holy Spirit walks along side of us, giving us strength to offset our weakness, wisdom to overcome our ignorance, and divine love to gradually eradicate our extreme self-centeredness. It is this promise of the Holy Spirit that gives us a reason to proceed down the road of spiritual formation and further, provides us with a legitimate assurance of success.

Still, we cannot fold our arms, lean back, and wait for the Holy Spirit to magically turn us into exact replicas of Christ. Over the centuries countless numbers of Christians have tried this approach with predictable results. Scripture is clear in stating that we have a part to play in the attainment of what we here at LifeBrook call “Sacred Character.” Sacred Character is based on the character and integrity exhibited by Christ during his mission here on earth. By studying the character of Christ, we can gain valuable insight into what it means to live our own lives from the sure foundation of Sacred Character.

As Jesus walked this earth, he revealed the character of God. “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” said Christ and in this statement he revealed a profound truth. Christ was so intimate with the Father that his character and his behavior were perfect reflections of his heavenly parent. Our goal, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is to live in the same intimacy with Christ as he lived with the Father. If you want to gain a deep and abiding perspective on this kind of intimate relationship, I suggest that you prayerfully read through the 17^th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

In order to grow into this type of intimacy with Christ and increasingly manifest Sacred Character in our daily lives, we must engage in certain activities that foster spiritual development in a positive and proven direction. These activities have a long and valuable history in the Christian tradition. Here I am speaking of the classic Christian spiritual disciplines.

In some quarters, sincere believers become edgy just at the mention of spiritual disciplines. Steeped in the theology of God’s unmerited and unlimited grace, these well-meaning Christians believe that pursuing the practice of the classical spiritual disciplines is somehow “salvation through works.” This kind of thinking is both incorrect and unfortunate. It is incorrect in the sense that the spiritual disciplines are not related to salvation or the final destination of one’s soul. Pursuing spiritual disciplines is more concerned with placing ourselves in a position of receptivity to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is about allowing the Holy Spirit to form us into the image of Christ. Although this spiritual formation is ultimately a work of the Spirit, we are told to do all that we can to assist in the process. As the great Quaker writer Rufus Jones once said,

“The grace of God is like the wind blowing across the Sea of Galilee; if you want to get to the other side, you have to raise your sail.”

The notion that practicing the disciplines is “works” is also highly unfortunate in that this misguided belief has prevented countless Christians from availing themselves of the very thing they need in order to foster the deeper, more effective walk of faith. I am of the belief that the great “faith/works” controversy of the 16^th Century, although beneficial in many ways, gave birth to a trend in Protestant Christianity that resulted in pews filled with believers that were both powerless and confused. This tragic trend continues even today.

As the Body of Christ moves forward in this challenging age, establishing ministries focusing on vibrant, dynamic discipleship is of paramount importance. Unless the church develops consistent ways to grow its members deeper in the faith, it runs the danger of becoming, at best, irrelevant to the contemporary culture, or at worst, dead.

To begin, I think it is critical that we come to understand just what a disciple is. From all evidence, it would seem the church at large has lost touch with a crucial element of its mission – disciple-making. Just prior to his ascension, Christ did not tell his inner circle to “go and make converts.” No, he told them to go and make disciples. It is obvious that constructing a workable definition of a disciple is a high priority. Margaret Campbell gives us a great jump-start:

A disciple of Jesus is a person who has decided to live in attentiveness to Jesus. We live in attentiveness in order to become like Jesus on the inside and, thereby, able to do what Jesus would do on the outside. As maturing disciples we progressively learn to live in attentiveness, adoration, surrender, obedience, and thankfulness to God, and all of this, without ceasing. Through the hidden work of transformation, God writes his good way on our minds and hearts and this is very good. By his grace, our hearts are divinely changed. We are progressively conformed to be like Jesus in mind and will and soul and word and deed. What we say and what we do more consistently reflect the glory and goodness of God.

If that isn’t clear enough, let’s listen to George Barna:

True discipleship is about a lifestyle, not simply about stored up Bible knowledge. Often, churches assume that if people are reading the Bible and attending a small group, then real discipleship is happening. Unfortunately, we found that’s often not the case. Discipleship is about being and reproducing zealots for Christ. Discipleship, in other words, is about passionately pursuing the lifestyle and mission of Jesus Christ.

From these two definitions it should be clear that real discipleship, the kind of Jesus-following that makes a difference in a person’s life and the life of others, involves more than wearing a “What would Jesus Do?” bracelet.

It is apparent, however, that the church lost its focus on the practice of spiritual disciplines over the years. As mentioned in Part One, I think this is one of the unfortunate side effects of the historical “faith/works” controversy. The result has been a general sense of confusion on the part of the Christian community in terms of the spiritual technology available to those who desire a deeper walk of faith.

One of the primary reason today’s church is becoming less of a force in society and even in the lives of those professing to be Christian is the fact that for many years the Body of Christ as a whole had lost the real meaning of the word “disciple.” Dallas Willard speaks directly to this tragedy:

For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership – either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or local church. I would be glad to learn of any exception to this claim, but it would only serve to highlight its general validity and make the general rule more glaring. So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship is clearly optional.

This lack of emphasis on discipleship in the contemporary church has led to many unfortunate circumstances, not the least of which is that so many Christians are walking around feeling as wounded, depressed, and hopeless as those outside the faith. That this is so, however, should not be surprising. Christ did not call us to a “country club” religion. In fact, he didn’t call us to religion at all. He called us to relationship and mission. To participate in this life-giving relationship and to fulfill our mission as Christ-followers, we must indeed become just that – Christ-followers. Tragically, few realize that this involves far more than belief in a few arcane doctrines, tossing off an occasional prayer, and being a tithing member of a local congregation. And perhaps nothing is more essential in this challenging age than having an army of true Christ-followers. Willard understands this necessity:

Nothing less than life in the steps of Christ is adequate to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the drama of human redemption, deprives the hearer of life’s greatest opportunity, and abandons this present life to the evil powers of this age. The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.

The notion that deep discipleship was optional was not a part of the early church. Willard continues:

…there is absolutely nothing in what Jesus himself or his early followers taught that suggest that you can decide just to enjoy forgiveness at Jesus’ expense and have nothing more to do with him.

In Paul’s remarkable prayer to the Ephesians (3:19) he petitions the Lord that “you may be filled with the fullness of God.” Have you ever really reflected on the magnitude of what the Apostle is saying in these few words? Basically, what Paul is asking God is that the believers in Ephesus become like Jesus. Any close examination of scripture reveals that the goal of our development as disciples of Christ is to become Christ-like; in essence, we are to cultivate Sacred Character.

Later on in Ephesians (4:15) Paul goes on to say, “Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” This statement by Paul should not surprise us. Two verses earlier he flatly that in achieving maturity, we are to attain “the measure of the full stature of Christ.” I don’t know about you, but when I read this statement two things immediately occur within me. First, I am strongly convicted about how far I am from manifesting this kind of maturity in my daily life but, secondly, I am filled with hope that it is at least remotely possible. Paul would have never put it this way, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, unless it was indeed true.

In addition to the church’s general lack of focus on the spiritual disciplines and their strategic necessity in the life of the believer, two other problems seem to complicate the issue and result in either lackluster commitment to practicing the disciplines or, even worse, a general paralysis on the part of Christians when they attempt to make the disciplines a vital part of their walk of faith.

First, even though many churches are now speaking directly to the importance of the spiritual disciplines, it seems that this renewed focus spawns a loud and most often irrational outcry from fundamentalist believers who feel practicing the classical spiritual disciplines is somehow either a “New Age infiltration of the church,” or worse still, “the work of Satan.” This resistance is usually based on the general lack of understanding of what advocates of the spiritual disciplines are trying to accomplish. Writers such as Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Brian McLaren, and countless others are branded “arch-heretics,” “apostates,” and even “dupes of the enemy.” This is highly unfortunate because nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of leading people away from the truth of the gospel, these authors are, instead, making a compassionate attempt to direct people toward experiencing the very heart of the gospel.

The blather and fear-based banter of these self-appointed doctrinal “watchmen” only serves to confuse sincere Christians even more and many times prevents them from finding the true heart of the gospel message. Even worse, keeps them bound in the chains of a narrow, rigid world view which is devoid of spirituality and arid when it comes to Christian love.

A second problem stems from the fact that the classic spiritual traditions were formulated centuries ago and are often wrapped in language and tone that is quite alien from our 21^st Century world. I know from personal experience that studying the Christian mystics of the Middle Ages is a very fruitful endeavor, but can be quite a challenge due to the archaic language used in the texts. What is needed is a reformulation of the disciplines that is both understandable and engaging to the modern reader.

With this thought in mind, here at LifeBrook we have developed a method of exploring the principles that are contained in the classical spiritual traditions that is hopefully more pertinent and practical when it comes to life in the 21^st Century. In brief, we teach workshops, seminars, training programs, and e-courses based on the following breakout of the disciplines:

Discipline of Consecration

Discipline of Connection

Discipline of Cognition

Discipline of Contribution

Discipline of Community

Discipline of Comprehension

Discipline of Calling

Discipline of Cultural Engagement

Discipline of Cultivation

Consecration includes: decision, determination, diligence, commitment, perseverance, patience, etc.

Connection includes: prayer, meditation, contemplation, solitude, nature

Cognition includes: taking thoughts captive; tearing down strongholds; mindfulness; positive thinking; sacred imagination.

Contribution includes: sacred service; spiritual gifts; mission; sacrifice, and most importantly, continuing incarnation.

Community includes: our family and friends; our church; our community; our nature; our world.

Comprehension includes: sacred study of Scripture and other inspirational writings; understanding of God’s Great Story; realization of where we fit into the “Big Picture,” including the role of the church in the coming years.

Calling includes: discovery of where we, as individuals, fit into God’s unfolding story in terms of our calling, our mission, and our vision of how to live out our God-ordained destiny.

Cultural Engagement includes: making ourselves ready to incarnate God’s plan within the context of post-modern, post-Christian culture in general and our own unique cultural setting in particular.

Cultivation includes: ongoing growth in Christ-character by internalizing a Christian value system and acting in accordance with it; and the development of a Christian worldview, along with the capacity to have our actions consistently flow from said worldview.

We fully recognize that this methodology does not represent the final word as far as contemporary expression of the spiritual disciplines is concerned. We have found, however, that looking at the spiritual technology of the Christian tradition in this way helps students and seekers understand the disciplines more clearly.

It is my profound hope that an increasing number of churches will come to understand the importance of equipping congregants with practical, time-tested methods for deepening the Christian walk of faith. In addition, we here at LifeBrook have helped establish non-denominational, faith-based small groups in several states that are studying and applying the spiritual disciplines as outlined above. These groups, called LifeBrook Fellowships, are providing an ongoing venue in which interested persons may come together and share the Christian journey in a positive, well-organized, and fruitful way.

If you would like information on how to start a LifeBrook Fellowship in your area, please feel free to contact me at:

lifebrook@gmail.com

In Defense of Bishop Spong

L. Dwight Turner

Few names can conjure up negative responses as that of retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong. One of the leading advocates of contemporary liberal Christianity, Spong’s ideas have sent more than his share of conservatives and fundamentalists into fits of apoplexy.

Although I find myself disagreeing with some of Spong’s more radical ideas about the faith in general and about Jesus in particular, I find that my reaction to the writings of the good bishop to be less vitriolic. In fact, I find much of what Spong has to say to be both enlightening and highly pertinent. Further, I find Spong to be a man who thoroughly believes what he says and who has a genuine affection for the faith.

It is for these reasons that I encourage those readers who have an open mind to read the works of John Shelby Spong and to give this man a fair shake when it comes to his theology as well as his prescriptions for the church. Personally, I think Spong has much to offer the Body of Christ, if we will just put aside some of the things we have “heard” about him and discover for ourselves what he has to say.

For example, in the passage below Spong discusses how his concept of prayer has changed as he has adopted what he calls a “post-theistic” concept of God. On a personal level, he specifically discusses how his daily two-hour prayer sessions have been transformed into a far wider venue:

As I moved beyond theism to a post-theistic understanding of God, I discovered that my commitment to starting my day with this focused two-hour time slot did not change, but my understanding of what I was doing did – and dramatically. It made perhaps a 180-degree turn. The primary shift came in what I thought the prayer part of my day was. It ceased to be identified with these first two hours each morning and shifted to embrace the balance of the day. My actions, my engagement with people, the facing of concrete issues – all these became for me the real time of prayer. My prayer came to be identified with my living, my loving, my being, my meaning, my confronting, my struggles for justice, my desire to be an agent of the world’s transformation. That is where I met and communed with God. God was no longer found for me in the quiet places of retreat; now God was in the hurly-burly of a busy and sometimes troubling life. God was found not in the stable rocks but in the rushing rapids.

(from A New Christianity for a New World)

I find nothing in these words offensive or heretical. It seems the only folks that find the bulk of Spong’s work to be heresy are those believers, heretics themselves, who hold to the notion that the Bible is the Word of God and worthy of worship. I find bibliolatry to be a particularly vile form of apostasy, and a major cause of division and spiritual paralysis in the church. It is certainly far more deadly than what Spong is talking about.

(to be continued)

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.

Wise Words for Today

Have you ever offered your eyes to God? Have you ever asked him to pour his wisdom into your perception, his perspective into each gaze? Have you ever stepped back and prayed, “God, how does this look to you?” If you do, you’ll never look at others the same way again…..Without God’s eyes, people become invisible to me. The guy shining my shoes at the airport, the woman cleaning up my hotel room, the cashier at the grocery store, the police officer directing traffic in the rain – my human heart has little room for the barely seen. Not God’s! His heart overflows with concern for their welfare, and he wants to pass on to us the same concern and compassion.

Gary Thomas

(from The Beautiful Fight)

WellSprings and WineSkins

United Methodist Church Aims at Relevance and Global Service

Personal Authenticity and Spiritual Worldview

Wise Words for Today

God Encounters: Sacred Silence

Spiritual Disciplines: New Wineskins for Ancient Wellsprings

In Defense of Bishop Spong

An Effective Church: Consecrated, Gathered, and Synoptic

Characteristics of a Transformation-Centered Church

Wise Words for Today

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