One more post on this topic of spiritual practices. Why? Because this is a key concept for the Luke Ten Community and the MRT Experiments. We don't invite people to be committed merely to values. Rather we invite them to be committed to concrete practices that embody our values.Alan Hirsch in The Forgotten Ways captures this way of thinking as he talked about his church in Australia. (p. 46-48)
We would not develop a philosophy of ministry per se, but rather a covenant and some core practices. Behind this thinking was the belief that when we talk about core values, the appeal is (only) to the head... What we wanted was to covenant ourselves to a set of practices that embodied the core value and demonstrated it. (Hirsch describes these practices as the DNA of the movement.)
Each group had to be engaged in a healthy diet of spiritual disciplines - the only way to grow in Christlikeness that we were aware of.
...the only other requirement to belong to the movement is that each group is covenanted to multiply itself as soon as it is organically feasible and possible. This ensures healthy multiplication and embeds and ongoing sense of mission.
This is exactly what the MRT 2.0 Experiment is about. A group of people committed to certain core practices for three months who share what they learn along the way. Thanks for being part of this community of practice!
Your thoughts on calling people to core practices?
John
The call for specific practices may suggest to some of us the dangers of legalism. This is understandable enough--I've certainly been wounded in that ditch.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, playing it safe by agreeing to values without specific practices is like saying yes to "breakfast" as a principle but refusing to commit to pancakes or eggs. It's a pathway to starvation.
Between these ditches is a road that includes commitment to practice the truths we are learning, and with openness to continue learning and refining our practice as we go.
I'm glad to be on the journey with this community of practice!
Practices/disciplines are a natural way to maturity and deep relationship with God. Our life consists of practices (work, sleep, meals, TV, etc.). Recognizing which ones are benevolent and which ones are not is in important necessity for anyone who seeks wholeness in God.
ReplyDeleteNext question is how to go about implementing benevolent practices. John's idea of entering an experiment seems to be one way to go. I'm sure there are other ways as well.
Definitely, no practice should exist without deeper meaning, often expressed in terms of covenant. A person enters a covenant and observes certain practices as a result of that.
It is also exciting to realize that there are people all over the world who observe similar practices. Praying Lk10:2b is another example alongside of MRT 2.0.
Anonymous - I like your idea of "benevolent" practices. I heard John Eldredge say that he has a sort of internal geiger counter that registers "life". (John 10:10 - I have come that you might have life.) So, benevolent practices are those that result in the life of Jesus growing in me.
ReplyDeleteApproaching all of this as an experiment helps with this perspective. We are not committing to these practices for the rest of our lives but only for the summer. This gives us a stopping place where we step back (both individually and as a community) and look at the fruit. "Are these practices resulting in the kind of "life" I'm hungry for? What's working? What's not? What changes do we need to make in the next season?
I'm glad to be doing all of this in community with the rest of you!