A New Kind of Christian - Chapter 16

I want to work with everyone we can find who wants to pioneer what it means to be a new kind of Christian in a new kind of church in the uncharted terra nova that lies ahead of us. There are so few working at this exploration of faith into postmodern territory, and all of those who are, are exhausted because it is so difficult. I think God’s heart must be pained because so few are exploring beyond the edges of our modern maps and at how exhausted those few are.
In my mind the ideal seminary would be one part monastery, one part mission agency, and one part seminar. Here’s what I mean.
By monastery, I would want the seminarians to live in community of some sort, to experience a real sharing of life and of “the offices” of shared spiritual practices. It strikes me that a retreat is like a short-term monastic experience. It’s intense – and intensity is an undervalued key to spiritual growth – and it’s holistic: it’s not a matter of just adding some Bible onto a busy, fragmented life.
The mission agency part is closely related. In my mind, while modern Christianity was fixated on systematic theology, the erection of a conceptual cathedral that would comprehend all truth, so postmodern Christianity will focus on mission, on our role as agents of God’s kingdom. This would mean internships in churched, soup kitchens, youth center, refugee camps, church-planting projects, etc. My seminarians would be sent out on several missionary journeys during their apprenticeship.
The seminar part would be different form a traditional school, which assumes that people learn best by listening. My students would read or experience something and then they would discuss it with their fellow learners, with the teacher present. We wouldn’t stop with information transmission, of course; that would only be the beginning. More important would be integrating that information into our understanding of the story. By story, I mean the story of God’s work in the universe and in particular, the story of God’s work in the human community.
Ultimately this transition into the post-modern world is not about changes in musical style, preaching style, liturgy, or architecture, although all of those things may change. At heart, it’s about attitude, theology, and spirituality. Maybe that’s why the traditional-to-contemporary change was so disruptive – too often we tried to change exteriors without changing our attitudes, theologies, and spirituality.
I think you could be an architect of a new kind of faith community. I firmly believe that the top question of the new century and new millennium is not just whether Christianity is rational, credible, and essentially true, but whether it can be powerful, redemptive, authentic, and good, whether it can change lives, demonstrate reconciliation and community, serve as a catalyst for the kingdom, and lead to a desirable future.
In my thinking, church doesn’t exist for the benefit of its members. It exists to equip its members for the benefit of the world. To do that, it is about three things: community, spirituality, and mission.
Community means that we create a place of belonging where people can learn to believe the good news belong to a community that is learning to live it, and become together a living example of it. We accept anyone whom Christ accepts.
Spirituality focuses on the holy part. But it is not just about individual spirituality. The spirituality itself is communal. What we experience with God in secret must be brought to the community and shared like a common meal.
In my thinking, both spirituality and community flow into mission. We are sent not to be served but to serve, and we are sent not to the healthy but to the sick. The church doesn’t exist to satisfy the consumer demands of believers; the church exists to equip and mobilize men and women for God’s mission in the world.