An Old Model for the Post-Emerging Church part 4
An Old Model for the Post-Emerging Church Part 4
Let me make a leap in this discussion regarding authenticity. Since I’m so philosophically unsophisticated, I’m not quite getting the philosophical rejection of Foundationalism and the embrace of the post-mod metanarrative contamination by the story teller blah-blah-blah. So if I want to be part of an authentic Christian community I’m not sure how far it can progress if the authenticity of God’s letter to us is in doubt. In Nehemiah 8 the Levites who assisted Ezra made the Law of God clear and gave meaning so the people could understand what was being read, v.8. A well led small group makes progress with some meandering yet doesn’t drive off the cliff theologically. The small group leader, shepherd, facilitator trusts the Holy Spirit to guide his people, and embraces the Priesthood of all believers, yet always remains on guard for wolves who come to destroy and angels of light who will bring apostasy. To rip Paul out of context, anything is allowable but everything isn’t beneficial. But in order to focus on what’s beneficial a leader needs to have foundational principles to work from.
One of these café churches I pointed to yesterday refers to ministry leaders as “Waiters.” It’s intriguing and lacks religious baggage yet loses something that the Church added to the concept of deacons. Servant leaders in church are not waiters in the sense that the wish of the people is their command. Instead they are more like Nutritionists. Servant leaders provide what is healthy and needed and do not provide what is unhealthy. Deacons/servant leaders/nutritionists/facilitators/shepherds study the manual/love letter/field guide and interact with God and evaluate their subjective interaction by the objective, foundational document and model all of that. That is my single sentence summary of the letters to Timothy and Titus which are prescriptive forms of the descriptive life of Jesus.
Let me make a leap in this discussion regarding authenticity. Since I’m so philosophically unsophisticated, I’m not quite getting the philosophical rejection of Foundationalism and the embrace of the post-mod metanarrative contamination by the story teller blah-blah-blah. So if I want to be part of an authentic Christian community I’m not sure how far it can progress if the authenticity of God’s letter to us is in doubt. In Nehemiah 8 the Levites who assisted Ezra made the Law of God clear and gave meaning so the people could understand what was being read, v.8. A well led small group makes progress with some meandering yet doesn’t drive off the cliff theologically. The small group leader, shepherd, facilitator trusts the Holy Spirit to guide his people, and embraces the Priesthood of all believers, yet always remains on guard for wolves who come to destroy and angels of light who will bring apostasy. To rip Paul out of context, anything is allowable but everything isn’t beneficial. But in order to focus on what’s beneficial a leader needs to have foundational principles to work from.
One of these café churches I pointed to yesterday refers to ministry leaders as “Waiters.” It’s intriguing and lacks religious baggage yet loses something that the Church added to the concept of deacons. Servant leaders in church are not waiters in the sense that the wish of the people is their command. Instead they are more like Nutritionists. Servant leaders provide what is healthy and needed and do not provide what is unhealthy. Deacons/servant leaders/nutritionists/facilitators/shepherds study the manual/love letter/field guide and interact with God and evaluate their subjective interaction by the objective, foundational document and model all of that. That is my single sentence summary of the letters to Timothy and Titus which are prescriptive forms of the descriptive life of Jesus.
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