Vital practice for becoming a deeper person, in Christ
Thanks for coming along as we explore what it means to become people of depth together.
The Great Omission & the Three Primary Problems
Soil & Roots exists to explore and help solve what philosopher Dallas Willard termed "The Great Omission," that is, modern Christianity's desperate struggle to do what it says it most longs to do: make disciples.
We have already touched on several reasons why The Great Omission exists:
Unclear definitions of "disciple"
Post-enlightenment ideas that have slowly and harmfully reduced our understanding of both God and humankind
The West's preoccupation with breadth versus depth, mechanics versus hearts, and systems versus individuals
The Great Omission is further compounded by Three Primary Problems: the Discipleship Dilemma, the Formation Gap, and the Forgotten Kingdom.
Our capacity to know God is critically intertwined with our willingness to know ourselves, and vice versa. It's a theological concept called "double knowledge." Yet it is not easy to find a Christian institution today that emphasizes the vital importance of knowing our own stories. In many cases, the inward journey of exploring our hearts and histories is derided, ignored, or condemned. This creates our Dilemma.
Virtually every intentionally formative human experience involves five key elements: time, habits, community, intimacy, and instruction. We find them in abundance in child-rearing, healthy marriages, recovery programs, higher education, sports programs, the military, and many other settings. Any time we intend to be formed more like someone else, we naturally assume these five elements. Except that is, in modern Christianity, which tends to emphasize only one or two elements. The point of being a disciple is to be formed like Jesus from the inside out, yet many of us live in a type of Formation Gap.
Much of the West operates from and exports what is known as "the Reductionist Gospel." This is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, and it is indeed very good news. However, the primary theme of Jesus' ministry and the New Testament isn't simply His atonement on the cross, but the in-breaking of an entirely new reality, to be lived out and spread through His followers. He called it the Gospel of the Kingdom, and it has largely been forgotten today. If you don't believe me, line up ten people who know something about Jesus and ask them to define "the kingdom." Chances are, you'll hear 5-10 different answers.
How our hearts respond to that question has an enormous influence on who we are becoming and how we live our lives. The Reductionist Gospel tends to produce converts. The Gospel of the Kingdom tends to produce disciples. Converts wait to get to heaven. Disciples join Jesus in bringing heaven to earth.*
Komentar
Posting Komentar