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.
4 comments:
Very exciting to see what God is doing through His team in Europe.
"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.
does not Cor. warn against sectritarianism. I'm encouraged that you recognize you are off center! adherance to the purity of the Gosple and following Jesus is the highest duty of man. No easy thing, Paul described it as a fight to the end!
Maybe you should be asking,"what the heart of being a Christian is and pursued that?" I believe you will get better results with your eyes on Him rather than yourself.dean
I remember reading years ago about the GBC ministry in England focusing on a town called Solihull. What has become of that effort?
The "Shirley" church is the "Solihull" church (see Birmingham blog above). The church simply had to move a few miles to an adjacent community (Shirely) because they were no longer permitted to meet in the facility they were renting in Solihull. Paul
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