Our Vision as Disciples of Christ

Our Vision as Disciples of Christ:
To be a faithful, growing church,
that demonstrates true community,
deep Christian spirituality,
and a passion for justice.

“Learning to see the kingdom in the church with God’s eyes.”

Vision is about what we see as we look into the distance, out onto the horizon of our faith and future. The weather report often includes “visibility = 7 miles” which is really about how far pilots can hope to see while still below the clouds. How clear is the view? Can you glimpse the shining city of God in the far distance, or only the middle and near geography? Vision is less about what we are, than what we aspire to be – a snapshot, a “future story.” Its like asking the questions, “What do we want to be when we grow up?” only the focus is on God’s will and desire for us – we want to be whatever God has created, called, and charismed us to be.

At the beginning of the restoration movement which birthed the Disciples of Christ was a vision for unity of the Body of Christ – a vision born from reading and praying through the scriptures and hearing the call of God in the words of John 17 and Ephesians 4. Seeking this unity, Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone joined with other reformers of the church in quoting: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” The question remained, of course, “What are the essentials?” They practically concluded that the most practical answer was the narrowest, focusing on the simple profession of Jesus as the Christ to be the cornerstone of shared Christian faith. Agreeing that there certainly must be more to say, however, these early reformers proceeded to emphasize a focus on a scholarly study of the scriptures, believing that if faithful people would study the New Testament, they could come to agreement on its meaning. This proved to be naïve.

The early divisions in the movement were over church practice and structure, specifically whether to organize for mission and whether to use musical instruments in worship – as neither of these are specifically prescribed in the New Testament. One group sought to do only that which is commanded or expressly permitted, while the other believed faithful practice included avoiding those things expressly prohibited, and using reason to discern those things neither commanded nor prohibited. These groups began with the same vision, and took the same approach toward it, but ended up with very different conclusions on how to live out their faith. Only since the 1990s are these two streams of tradition coming back together for dialogue and growing in mutual appreciation.

While we as Disciples of Christ continue to aspire to the vision of Christian Unity, we also have an increasingly focused vision through which to pursue that calling:

true community,
deep Christian spirituality, and
a passion for justice.

True Community: The biblical witness to God’s work in the world focuses on the formation of a people set apart. Beginning with the call of Abraham and Sarah (GN 12) this peculiar people (1 PTR 2:9) understood their role as receiving blessings so as to be a blessing to the world. They grew to understand that this was not a gift and calling given to each individual, but a shared ministry and mission given to the community. Only as we grow to be “true community” are we able to fulfill our mission – “to be and to share the good news of Jesus Christ, witnessing, loving and serving, from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.” Jesus said that the way we love each other will be a direct witness to the world of Jesus’ active presence in our lives (JN 13). Paul talks at length about serving one another (1 PTR 4:10), honoring one another (RM 12), bearing with one another (COL 3), submitting to one another (EPH 5-6) out of love for Christ and each other. I think these virtues are particularly difficult to practice in cultures that are so individualistic and highly valuing of privacy and autonomy. We do not want other people in our affairs, and frankly would just assume stay out of theirs in the particular, even if we like to prescribe rules for others generally. The precondition for the specific submission of any one person to another is the shared commitment to practice mutual submission (EPH 5:21). Jesus models this submission for us in the incarnation itself, submitting his divinity to our humanity (PHL 2) and by the Master coming as a servant (LK 22). This service is foundational for our shared life as the Body of Christ (1 COR 12) as exemplified in the Last Supper when he washed the disciples’ feet (JN 13).

Deep Christian Spirituality: Many of teachings found in Exodus through Deuteronomy focus on how people are to treat their neighbors (LEV 19). Still others focused on how the people were to relate to God – i.e. to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength” (DEUT 6). Israel was given religious rituals, worship forms, acts of sacrifice, and prayers to shape their practice. Most of the Christian community has assumed that the specifics of those laws are left behind under the new covenant, though their spirit remains. The New Testament only has a very few specific mentions – such as the end of keeping a kosher diet (MK 7; ACTS 10), and the removal of the need for sin sacrifice with the death of Jesus (HEB 10). Many other spiritual practices are left for us to discern – prayer, fasting, study, singing, offerings of first fruits, tithe, devotion and vow. Jesus teaches on some of these, for instance in MTW 6 and LK 11. A deep Christian spirituality follows the example and teaching of Jesus, and is consistent with the spirit of the practices of Israel and the early church, even if it is not identical. Jesus regularly went to worship with others (LK 4) and regularly took time by himself to be with The Father in prayer (MK 1, 6). There is room for much variety of opinion regarding how we are to practice these spiritual disciplines. What is without doubt is that we are to take this aspect of our lives seriously and that our practice is to be both individual and communal.

A Passion for Justice: The bible recognizes a difference between helping those in need and doing justice. Both are called for. LEV 19 focuses on both by legislating that the fields must not be picked clean so that the poor have some access to gather food, and that business practices must be fair and impartial, not oppressing one group or favoring another. Economic practices that oppress the poor and favor the rich were apparently so common that these themes are repeated in DEUT 25, PROV 20, MIC 6, The two main sins of the Israelites, were idolatry, and oppressing the poor (2 Kings 21 & ZECH 7). In ISA 58 we hear the people complain that God does not honor their prayer, fasting and worship. The prophet names their sins of idolatry and oppression as hindering them from receiving God’s blessings – “9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”

Though the church seems to have been unable or unwilling to maintain the practices with the same intensity, the descriptions offered by Luke at the end of Acts 2 and 4 are often held up as models of how the church should look, of a vision of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Luke said this:

ACTS 2: 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

ACTS 4: 32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33 With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. 35 They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

We might ask ourselves why the church has not maintained this way. Whether we are meant to live our shared faith in quite that way, we certainly are called to be a peculiar people set apart through our faith in Jesus Christ to offer the world a new way to live in covenant love with self, God and one another. As we seek to grow to maturity in Christ, we will

become true community,
practice deep Christian spirituality,
and live our a passion for justice.

Dream Discovery Process Update from 08202012

The group met several times in July and August. The first item of business was to revisit the process as approved last summer and determine where we are in that process, what remains, and what to do. The group recognized that it elected to slow the process down significantly last Fall, believing that the proposed timeline was overwhelming at that time, particularly given that we had just begun our hosting of Family Promise. Slowing the process, we accomplished some but not all of the early action steps that would provide the seeds for our discernment process. This resulted in our not meeting timeline benchmarks of coming up with the “output” in the spring of 2012 because we did not have all of the necessary “input” up to that point. So in May the group identified several short term goals that fit with our overall vision and would be necessary for us to move forward.

  1. How can we strengthen our ability to care for one another within the congregation. The Member Care ministry convened: TF, CK, KR & SS to discuss:
    1. how we follow up with people in the church who miss several weeks
    2. how we support people during times of crisis, i.e. hospitalization, illness, injury, significant loss or other crisis (relationship, employment, etc)
  2. How can we strengthen our prayer ministry? DS and FB have accepted the responsibility for facilitating this conversation.
    1. Their first effort is to build an Emergency Prayer Chain so that people can call, text or email during the week and know that a group of folks will stop and pray for them then and that they will be lifted in prayer during the week.

Now that these projects, are underway, the DDP is returning its focus to the process. In particular, we recognize the fourfold exploration illustrated in the diagram above and based in Numbers 1-3 “Taking the Census” – getting to know one another and understanding our needs and resources; and Numbers 13 “Scouting out the Land” – getting to know our neighbors and understanding their needs and resources.

While we have done most of what was involved in Taking the Census, we still have much work to do in Scouting out the Land. The group recommitted itself to the process as originally agreed upon by the board. What remains:

  1. In Taking the Census, we still need to compile a comprehensive list of needs and resources so that they can be assessed and matched.
  2. In Scouting the Land, we have
    1. gathered significant demographic data on our community
    2. developed an initial set of discussion points for conversation with our neighbors
  3. We still need to
  4. Decide how and where we will have conversation with our neighbors, individually, in pairs or small groups, and as a larger congregation. We agree that this is not primarily about telling others about our church, but rather our goal is to get to know them, and communicate that we desire to serve our community. In particular, we might say,

    “We at Forest Grove Christian Church are aware that there is more we could be doing to serve our community. We recognize that people have unfulfilled hopes, desires, dreams and needs. We believe that God is calling us to respond to these things and help our neighbors live richer, fuller lives. We would love to hear from you what needs you see in your friends and neighbors, or even in your own family, and if you have any thoughts on how a church might respond to those needs.”

We believe that God does have a dream for us as a congregation. Part of that dream, we think, is to live out our commitment to join with other Christians by exploring how we can support the work of the kingdom in our community and beyond, including praying for and encouraging other ministries, because we are not in competition, but are all working together.

We would love to see FGCC host an open house, homecoming, revival, festival or other event this fall.

 

IN

Needs     & Resources

Member Care

Prayer

Worship

Teaching

Fellowship

Outreach

Disciple Making

Spiritual Formation

 

OUT

Needs & Resources

  • Demographics
  • Circles of Influence
  • Circles of Affiliation
  • “Fishing Ponds”
  • “We are here to learn from you. Please tell us what you see, hear, wonder, hope.”
  • Open house – community calendars – 10/18-21; 11/1-4; 11/8-11
  • 9/18 – AFCC – @ TML

Dream Discovery Process Update from 06052012

The group met Tuesday to make progress on the “Member Care” conversation. This grows out of the “Internal Needs” area of our diagram. At present, we are working on strengthening our response to internal needs, not because we are turning inward, but because we are aware that we cannot “love our neighbors as ourselves” unless we love ourselves, and self-love means self-care. If the Body of Christ is not internally healthy, then we have little to offer others. If we fail to “love one another as I have loved you,” then how can the world trust our words about God’s love for them?

The discussion included:

  1. How do people get connected to the congregation (New folks, or those who have been here a while but are [or are feeling] disconnected/neglected)?
    1. We need to know people enough to know what they can and desire to do
    2. We need to invite people to participate
    3. Some of us need to be willing to initiate contact through phone calls and other connections. We recognize that not everyone is comfortable with this aspect.
    4. People need to be empowered to take responsibility for their own involvement
  1. How will we care for the folks who are currently participating in the
    1. Coordination of meals in time of need – illness, bereavement, life crisis.
    2. Calling the congregation with time critical news – clarify what rises to the level of ‘time critical news’ and who needs what kind of contact – phone, email, text
    3. Prayer ministry expansion – begin the conversation and then spin it off to those who wish to develop it further
    4. Updates on participants so those providing/coordinating care have awareness of needs – this will involve coordination with clergy and elders
    5. Reaching out to people drifting away – again, how will we become aware of this? How frequently will this conversation happen and who will participate. Then, what are the follow-up options – who will contact and how

THE PLAN

WHO:     The Member Care committee – currently composed of TF (Chair), CK, KR & SS – and whoever they invite.

WHAT:     will meet to discuss and develop a plan for each of these items. They are encouraged to then share that plan with the elders and clergy for input and to see how they and others may be invited to participate in these plans.

WHEN:        Before July 10th

FOLLOWUP:    Will provide an update in two weeks (6/19) to fgccdreamdiscoveryprocess@yahoogroups.com

Dream Discovery Process Notes 05292012

Group listened to John 14, and then came up with the following theme words:

Son; promise; prepare; way; believe; helper; life; ask; love; peace; presence; arise; obey; know; keep; father; recollection; spirit; word; teach; go; come; hear; commanded; glorify; say; do; lord; Jesus; truth

Ken introduced a group meeting process called GROW:

G – goal/objective – what do we want to accomplish
R – Reality check – strengths & weaknesses
O – options – ideas
W – What will you do?– action steps

The group revisited the previous action steps of:

  • Back to basics study plan for the 2012-13 school year and
  • Member care and newcomer integration (As CK & CA had outlined several weeks ago)

Some discussion led to the decision to resume the study conversation on Tuesday, July 10th

O – Options: For now, the group will work next week on ideas for member care, and then invite those called forward by the nominating committee for the Member Care ministry area, and open the conversation to whoever in the congregation would like to participate. Some of the member care ministry ideas included:

  • Meals
  • Visitation
  • First friends
  • Prayer
  • Spiritual feeding

W: What will you do?– The group will be thinking about the needs of the congregation and how to address them so that when we reconvene next Tuesday, 6/5 @ 6:30, we will be ready to discuss. The group members were asked to be praying for the congregation participants by going through the church directory person by person and thinking about what each one may need.

A key take away is that we need to be caring for the folks who are here – responding to one another’s spiritual and relational needs – even while we are discerning and addressing the needs of the community and world around us.