I've been trying to catch up with my Google reader account and the feeds to which I subscribe.
There was an item from Deep Church a group that continues to fascinate me for their relevance to my own thinking. (you can read the whole post here)
What catches me is are how much of the list of what Deep Church is and to which I simply say amen ...
... in dealing with "our ‘pathological ecclesiologies’ is the western tendency to describe the church in idealist terms – creating a vast gulf of disappointment between the reality we experience and the ideal that we hold ... Deep Church calls us to be more concerned with phronesis (practical wisdom), than theoria (abstract theological reasoning). ... For too long descriptions of church have been idealized, blueprinted, separated out theory and practice, and as a result, we have been more confident in using sociological descriptions, rather than bible, church tradition or theology based ones. ... Deep church is about being missional and outward, whilst being confessional and communal. This pattern of gathering and dispersal, like blood being pumping in and out, is the heart beat of ecclesial life, rather than alternative models of collapsing church into competing activities of post church social justice, or self indulgent aesthetic worship spaces.My trouble is, I look at Deep church and feel hope, and I look at the world around me and see more blueprint and solutions rather than "the possibility of the church and the christian faith built around the declaration of a God who is close and knowable, whilst mysterious and unfathomable." Go and read the posting... if you dare
If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32
