This past weekend I was able to leave the city to go on a retreat with some of my faithful friends at PTS. It was hosted by the Evangelical Student Fellowship group and the theme was "What does it mean to be Evangelical?" More specifically "What does it mean to be Evangelical in light of the context of One Holy Catholic, Apostolic Church?" We were blessed to listen, think through, meditate, pray through and even apply what we were engaging in during our workshop time. Tim Baker and Matt Bell were our guest speakers. More than that, these faithful brothers in Christ helped us wrestle with and break through some of the barriers that we Christians face in a post modern world. They are post graduates of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and are both entrenched in their Ph.D. Studies in Patristics (the study of the writings of the church fathers). Their commitment to the Gospel and their burden for the church is obvious. This passion has led them to start the "Ancient Christian Faith Initiative." Their website is an interactive site or I guess it could be said that it's more of a resource for events,seminars and online classes. I highly recommend you take a look at the site and if possible take advantage of this awesome tool.
One of the most impacting truths I took away from this weekend was the reminder that we as Believers must hold together our deeply rooted traditions with our modern experiences. That is to say that being engaged in our world and culture should never come at the cost of letting go of or loosening the Biblical standards that we are called to. We can and should trust/submit to the teachings of God's word because God's word was entrusted to our Apostolic fathers. That and many subsequent works that offer rich understanding of the Bible by the ancient Christian fathers should be studied and learned. These sources have sustained time and the same truths laid out for Christians then, hold true for us all the more now.
One of the maladies that we discussed in the modern church was that of Inclusion. Inclusion is of course a loving and biblical concept. As we look at how Jesus extended himself to and cared for the marginalized, we know that that is something we then are called to do. We are instructed to care specifically for the widows and the orphans. Clearly we can look around our modern world and see the long withstanding tradition of caring for those who cannot care for themselves. We can observe that churches bring in people who are on the fringe. The early church was known for taking on "civic" reform and change just by obeying that command. They were doing things to care for the sick and for the elderly. It seems that some churches today are more concerned with not offending anyone or promoting the transforming work of the Gospel by discipling these very people who are clearly in need discipleship. In an effort to include and accept all, the church today neglects to practice authentic inclusion, which comes through instruction and truth. Of course these observations aren't to disparage our Brothers and Sisters in the Universal Church Body...but rather to identify ways to bring the intrinsic fuction of the Church back into the realm of our cultural climate.
These types of conversations matter. They matter especially to a room full of seminarians who are being equipped to go out into ministry...ministry in the church. We worked through some case studies and were able to draw truths from individual reflection and group discussion. What I appreciated most about these brothers who led us was that they care massively for the applications of these truths in ministry. We got to apply what we were talking about and lay hands on and pray for our brothers and sisters who were up against difficulties in the very Body of Christ. It was an encouraging and edifying time!
In my own personal meditation of everything we were learning, I had to praise God that He would affirm and confirm every foundational brick that He laid in my time being a part of FUSION (At New Hope Church). As the Matt and Tim emphasized the importance of Christian tradition and as they pointed us to the Gospel message on the Cross, I was brought to the FUSION mission statement which I had affixed to the back of my Bible. I was grateful to know that their is faithful teaching from Humble Pastors and teachers like Tim and Matt as well as my former Pastor Bryan McWhite, Pastor of Young adults at New Hope Church.I'll leave you with this from FUSION's Mission Statement:
The fusion community is a place for you to belong and to become.
We are committed to loving Christ and learning to live in his ways by hearing and doing his Word. We love modern worship and cultural engagement, but not at the expense of truly biblical teaching. We love to live in community, to invest in our small groups, and to serve the community together, but we want those things to flow out of a heart filled with God-exalting, joy-inspiring, love-producing biblical truth.
We're not about reinventing.
We're about rediscovering what has always been true.
I pray for the truth to grip the hearts of all church leaders today and to come.
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