Charis Associates and GBIM Europe teammates from Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Dublin, London, Paris, Dijon and Berlin gathered to cheer Julie Hawkins on during her 42k marathon!
We began our encounter with a day of listening to God. We were challenged to put everything on God's altar (personal and corporate strategies, methods and approaches, theological systems and constructs, possessions, spouses, children and self), allowing ourselves to cling only to “the whole Bible and the holy Trinity.”
Don't know about you, but mountains and surf help me listen
The crux of the encounter focused on the essentials of ekklesia (or as Tom Julien would say, the essence of the church).** We began listing essentials from the Word that Jesus’ local church should embody and practice.
Prof Mike gives a refresher course on "centered set" thinking
(see previous entry for more on bounded / centered sets)
(see previous entry for more on bounded / centered sets)
A non-exhaustive list of essentials of ekklesia
We then compared our list with biblical metaphors for the church.
Some Scriptural metaphors that Jesus wants His church to embody
It did not seem possible or necessary to focus on all of the essentials of ekklesia right now, but they provide a clear idea of what the Grace Brethren churches we are planting in Europe should ultimately do and be.
Now each teammate will determine which crucial elements to focus on, and develop concrete steps to pursue those in the coming months.
Lots to think about
** Stuart Murray’s book, “Church After Christendom” and Paul Hiebert’s “bounded/centered” set theory "pulled the roof off" of our ecclesiology, allowing us to “think different.”
1 comment:
I really appreciate your blog. It's very encouraging to read!
Post a Comment