Some unfortunate news — Tom Julien was to be the fourth member of our teaching/facilitating team for the interactive seminar: Guiding Principles for the People of God in a Postmodern World. Due to cardiovascular problems, however, Tom's doctor has asked him to put aside all responsibilities, so he will not be able to participate in Equip '07.
Tom has assured us of his prayers during the seminar. "The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective." And we will interact with some of Tom's thinking in the seminar. So he will be participating, just not as we had anticipated!
Kary, Matt and I know that God is sovereign and we are eagerly anticipating these two days of praying and dialoguing with sisters and brothers about Jesus’ idea of Church expressed in local churches.
Tom is one of the best eccesiologists that I know. My understanding of the Church has been powerfully impacted by his thinking. For example, just today he wrote:
"The church will always be caught in the tension of confronting culture while communicating with it. This tension nearly always manifests itself in one of two ways: isolation from the culture, resulting in legalism; accommodation to the culture, resulting in syncretism. In either case, the authentic church can be corrupted.
1. Corrupting the church through excessive form: death by asphyxiation.
This is the snare of the traditional church with its legalistic preservation of forms for their own sake. When form smothers function, the result is the suffocation of the essence of the church.
2. Corrupting the church through excessive freedom: death by amputation.
This is the snare of the emergent church in which many have crossed the line of despair in the loss of objective truth. When freedom ignores commitment [to Scripture as truth], the result is the dissipation of the essence of the church."
If you would like to check out some of Tom Julien's work, please see:
"The essence of the church," an extraordinary article in EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quarterly), April 1998.
Antioch Revisited: Reuniting the Church with Her Mission
"Tom Julien, drawing from decades of missionary service, recounts in story form some of his guiding principles for today’s church. The book also contains a manual to 'help you bring back together what God meant never to be separated—your church and her worldwide mission.' George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization, says, 'This book must be read.'"
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