Giving details about all the things we learned here is probably the hardest thing to blog about right now. We’ve covered so much over the last 2 months that I hope I’ll be able to do a good enough job on describing it all.
When we got here we were given the book Exiles, and expected to read the first three chapters within the first three days of us being here. The book is a critique on what the Church has become and a biblical approach as to what it could look like if we lived authentically. As we began to discuss the book, we looked at how the early Church lived. We read the gospels to pull out everything that Jesus taught on how we should live. We spoke about injustice and corporations, and about the environment. We learned bout community, and how Jesus calls us to live in it. The Church has seem to have lost the community that existed in the early Church, and it’s our job to once again become that community. I know it’s hard for us cause we’re used to our personal space, but Jesus didn’t live in a bubble, so why should we?!?
We also read the book Celebration of Discipline. The topics we discussed out of it were Prayer, Solitude, Simplicity, and Worship. Reading this book brought about a totally different view on these topics. Simplicity was the one that impacted me the most. It’s hard to live a simple life and not become legalistic. The truth is we have so much stuff that we can’t live the life Jesus lives. If we want to truly live as Christ did, then we need to be ready to give up everything at any moment. The chapter focuses on first seeking the Kingdom of God. If we do so we’ll follow the Spirit’s leading to wherever He wants to take us. We talked about money and possessions, and what Jesus said about them.
Across The Spectrum was another book we were given to read. It has to do with theology, and the different views on certain topics. That was probably the hardest week of teaching and discussion I’ve ever had! The five topics we read and debated were “The Inerrancy Debate”, “The Providence Debate”, “The Genesis Debate”, “The Women in Ministry Debate”, and “The Hell Debate”. I can’t even begin to go into detail about these topics, but I would recommend this book to anyone whose willing to read it with an open mind and wants to expand their knowledge about these constantly debated issues. We read this book the intention of making God bigger. We tend to box in God when we see him through the views discussed, and God is so much greater than what we try to explain, that I would be ignorant to confine Him to a certain view. I struggled with those discussions so much because our God can do anything, and our minds are so finite that we can’t even begin to see the picture God sees. Who are we, in our finite minds, to try and pull God into our time, and to believe that He actually works in ways that we can always explain? God showed me a lot more that week, but I don’t have the blog space, or time, to type it all up.
The last book we discussed was Crabgrass & Oak Trees. It was written by the director of this base. It speaks about the Kingdom of God and our response to it. The Church today is more like oak trees because we tend to be so focused on ourselves that we come to the point of even eating our own fruit. I would definitely recommend this book for everyone to read it, just please don’t buy it on Amazon because the authors won’t get money from it if you purchase it like that. Instead you can go to their publishing website www.rhizomepublishing.com and order it.
I know that a lot of you want details about all the things that we’ve learned, but the truth is I can’t really talk a little bit about each thing and truly do these teachings justice. All the things we’ve learned and discussed here are a lot more than just head knowledge, they’re slowly becoming a part of me, and that’s hard to put into words. I’m still processing all that’s been taught and what’s happened here over the last 2 months, and as I leave for Africa I know there will be so much more that will add to my already overloaded mind, so definitely pray for us as far as that goes.
I wish everyone would read the books we have, especially Exiles, Celebration of Discipline, and Crabgrass & Oak Trees. Jesus has called us to so much more than what we learn on Sunday mornings, but the things He calls us to aren’t easy. They call us to count the costs, give up everything, and follow Him! When will we take Jesus’ words for what He actually said, and stop watering down the things He calls us to so that we can have a life that’s comfortable?!? We’ve made Jesus’ commands to fit our schedules and services so that we don’t actually have to do anything! He never called us to an easy life, or a comfortable one for that matter. These are the things we’ve been learning, and by no means have we got it all down, but we’re a work in progress, and we serve the God of Grace. “God is made perfect in our weaknesses.”
I hope this blog helped you have a greater understanding of the things that we’ve learned and the ideas we’ve been wrestling with over the past few months. The wrestle continues, and I think I’ll probably come home after the next 6 months and not be able to talk about anything for like a month. God has been bringing everything into the bigger picture and I just want to be a part of His story. The story of His Kingdom on Earth.
Love you guys!
Jon
