SALT
Tom Julien kicked things off by facilitating a discussion about SALT principles (incarnational and applied leadership training) and their application, especially within our established European GBCs.HERMENEUTICS
Brent Sandy sacrificed family time to be with us for an afternoon discussion about hermeneutics from his book, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks. This helped us to see that Scripture must be allowed to not only check our convictions and conclusions, but also the systems that we use to interpret the Bible.
We took turns leading discussions. Dialogue revolved around how our philosophical (idealism, critical realism, pragmatism) and cultural views influence our interpretation of Scripture. We especially focused on bounded and centered sets (based on a reading assignment: Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues by Paul Hiebert).
All of that may sound rather lofty, but it was very down to earth and applied (thanks John Pappas!). Interaction with Hiebert and Sandy's writings, and dialogue one with another helped us to realize that Scripture is perfect, but our understanding of Scripture is imperfect. We then wrestled with the implications of that realization in regard to disciple making, leader training and church planting.
"What if, rather than defining the boundaries of what it means to be Grace Brethren (in dichotomous, in/out terms), we sought to describe what the heart of being Grace Brethren is and pursued that?" we wondered. We discussed what markers are found in Scripture that indicate whether we are headed in the right direction on our journey toward the center, Jesus.
