I’m not going to go day by day. However, there’s a couple of other things I have to write down now before I forget. I’m been holding on to them for 2.5 weeks.
Post-Discipleship Renaissance
I read an article by Jeff Bridges about his own belief until a few years ago. He believed that he needed the gospel until he became a Christian, then needed discipleship from that point until death. This made him rather miserable and made his Christian walk an endless chore. He resolved it in part by recognizing that he needed the gospel his entire life. The rest, you can read for yourself. (Insert Link) I struggle to find out what it means for me in my own life as I have a much better idea of what I see as damaging than what I see as helpful. I see a three year structured program for new believers as helpful. I see the goal of teaching people to take their own spirituality seriously as good. I see the idea that each believer as the only one responsible for their walk with God as a good one. Still, what that looks like in a general sense is hard for me to imagine. I know what it looks like for me, but not so much for others.
I’m surrounded by many that believe that ICoC-style discipleship is the biblical ideal. I say ICoC style, but it’s really a light version stripped of any authority. As I continue to say, our form of discipleship comes from the Ft. Lauderdale Five that launched the Shepherding Movement. From those five, it spread into the Navigators, Campus Crusade (through Bill Bright), Churches of Christ (including Crossroads), and others. The sixties in Florida must have been really something. All of these connections start with these five men that decided to be spiritual minders to each other. Four of the five have denounced these teachings.
So what was discipleship like in the US in the 40s? That preceded the so-called biblical model of having a spiritual big brother, so I was interested in what was there. So far, the search have provided a model that has two of the three primary characteristics I espouse in discipleship. (Insert Link) Those two are structure and temporary duration. The third, voluntary participation didn’t seem to be there and it seems this program led to church problems.
(fragment) It seems that post-2003, discipleship can be determined in a few ways:
- Do what we always did.
- Be nicer about what we always did by removing some level or all authority.
- Do nothing.
- Make discipleship a team sport.
- Do something different.
I’ve seen all these optionsdone , but I will say that option 5 seems to scare people the most. I wish it didn’t.
More on that later, just had to write it down.
The next two are personally related, though they deal with ICoC issues. The first, I’ll just leave as is. The second, though is more important to me. Unity is still a big interest of mine, though I feel as if I have become more liberal that F. Lagard Smith in that regard. I could say that I’m sorta like Campbell who considered a Calvinist his brother in Christ(insert link).
Reap the Whirlwind
Not two weeks old, but troublesome. RD Baker has been pushed out of Phoenix. I won’t say more about it because I am not there. John Augustine might want to remove the good review written by RD. I’m sure that certain folks in Phoenix wish that Google could be ‘cleansed’. Oh well.
Who Is My Brother?
Chicago is doing a big thing on fellowship and inter-denomination dating. I hope this is an extension of reaching out to COC’s in the area. Naperville reached out to them back in 2003 and their minister even presented a paper at Douglas Jacoby’s ITS conference. I met Rich and he is a great guy.
However, I will say that from the UPC, all that can be said is that we can fellowship with those that believe in believer’s baptism, an inerrant Bible, unmistakable repentance (a quote), and discipleship that has some sort of challenge to a Christian (amongst other things) and you cannot believe in what is called hyper-autonomy. You can date someone outside the ICoC as long as they pretty much believe what the ICoC (Cooperative Churches) espouse in the UPC.
Any deviation from this and Chicago, the unofficial HQ of the ICoC (Cooperative Churches), will be invalidating its own documented beliefs. I know that it was designed to address churches within the historical ICoC, but any real meaningful cooperative efforts with non-ICoC congregations must be similar to the measures described in the Regional Partnership section (sans delegates), otherwise it is just lip service.
See, if you want a denomination, you have to go through the procedural channels to change to core document. After all, as stated in the clarifying documentation, you have to believe all of it in order to sign. If April 12 provides a different message, they will not be following their own rules. Granted, I’ll be delighted if they say something different, but the means do not justify the ends. Either go through proper channels and change the UPC or get rid of it altogether. The authors were the ones that put in the all-or-nothing provision in the first place.
(fragment)Who Is My Brother is the wrong question. Jesus clearly stated who is my brother. Whom can I marry is also the wrong question. The question is, are these two people ready for marriage. I felt prepared for my marriage because of the preparation given to us by an older couple that has been through everything at least twice. We also had the help of Family Dynamics. Despite a short courtship, we laid a foundation that has served us through all kinds of trials and major disagreements. This may not help everyone, but a rash marriage is unwise even if the two people has exactly identical beliefs.
Trying to front-load the question ahead of time by writing off entire denominations is similar to what the Pharisees did. In order to build a protective hedge, they would write off all kinds of things that were perfectly fine (Such as healing on the Sabbath) and prohibiting things that were actually good (Corban substitution trick).
As always, more on that later. Again, I will celebrate in the streets if the message on April 12 is different from the UPC. I hope that cooperation will begin with other churches in the area, RM or not.
More on the trip coming up later this week.