A New Kind of Church

I made a brief reference to the book, A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach by Dan Dick and Evelyn Burry in my sermon on Sunday:

I actually read it as part of the project I am writing for my ordination process. (See more details are in a previous post "Where is Pastor Will's Stole... And Where is Pastor Will?") The book really supports what I am writing about and what I have been talking about in different team meetings in the church, our need to take a more systematic approach to making disciples. As I say over and over, the church as a whole has forgotten about what happens to Christians after they make the initial decision to accept the grace the God offers them. In theological terms we talk of the grace that calls us into relationship with God prevenient grace. We talk of that moment (or moments) of "conversion" where we see who we are, accept our need for God and turn our hearts toward God as justification and speak of God's action in that as justifying grace. Practically, we are all pretty clear on that. However, John Wesley believed that God's work wasn't over. It is God's sanctifying grace that continues to work in us moving us on toward perfection in love, on toward re-creation in the image of Christ. Wesley believed that God did this work, but there was work we should be doing in the process, like praying, receiving communion, studying scripture, and meeting in community.

This is where I contend the church has lost some direction. This is where we need to follow Wesley's desire to have more systematic approach to helping people move on to and through this next stage. This is where the "ocean diagram" I bring up in just about every meeting we have comes in. It is simply a graphical way to see that they journey is not over when someone joins the church.

Anyway, this is some of what is going on in the book. As you can see I am pretty deep into this project, so I can't stop writing about this stuff. The book is really great though. It is a book I wish some other people were reading and asking about. If you are interested in how the church is evolving and changing to make disciples, give it a read and let me know what you think.

peace,

will