Spiritual Disciplines … for a Church 4

Quite the story in this chp: James Smith was invited to speak to a group of denominational leaders; they wanted him to speak about spiritual formation; he began with a funny story and then by listing the various “means of grace” that were part of the spiritual formation movement.

It all went downhill from there, including a leader standing up and turning his chair around to turn his back to Smith; a few left; 55 minutes into his four-hour session he took a break; he was told it was not going well; he asked to leave; they took him to the airport.

What to learn from this one? (Beside the obvious: learn the theology of the group you are addressing.)

James Bryan Smith’s newest book addresses corporate, or “church spiritual disciplines”: The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (The Apprentice Series). His 4th characteristic is that a good and beautiful community is characterized by unity with Christians because we are Christ-centered and in Christ we are one.

How can we practice more oneness? What steps are you, pastors, taking?

Here’s a tough one:

If we disagree, we must divide; we can only be united if we are united in theology. Why are we afraid of one another?

Here’s the next tough one:

We are one in Christ. That oneness means we can fellowship with one another.

Jesus: I pray they will be one. Paul: We are one in Christ.

There is one cup, one loaf, one body. We are to have one mind.

The final tough one:

In essentials we are to have unity; in non-essentials we can have diversity through charity. It’s not that things on which we differ are not important; it’s that they are not important enough to divide over.

We should be united in gender, race and socio-economic status.