I am part of the body of Christ. That is much bigger than me, my family, my church, my town, my church family, my nation, in fact, it is bigger than my mind can comprehend as only God truly understands the magnitude, variety and importance of it.
One thing I see/hear newfrontiers being accused of is being too focussed on its "distinctives". In the wikipedia entry for newfrontiers there is a seperate section on the accusation of "exclusiveness".
I think being clear about who you are or where you are headed is certainly a strength, but not at the cost of a perceived undervaluing of our links, our connections, our unions, our heart joined, value shared "part of the body of christ"ness.
So I am going to blog about what I value about other traditions / groups / movements that I have experienced. What I love, honour and aspire to from other parts of this wonderful body we are priviledged to be part of.
My experiences are limited, my knowledge incomplete and my history sketchy in places, but here are a few thoughts for your perusal.
2 comments:
David,
Interesting. I had not read the wikipedia article. The notes at the top and in the discussion are significant in making the status of the article clear - it being at "Start" level with concerns that it is more of an advert.
It would be good to see some reflections from you responding to the exclusiveness comment. They could be added to wikipedia as citations for an alternative perspective.
I do have a small concern though. I recently heard a mostly excellent talk by someone from New Frontiers who talked about the Methodist tradition, it was good except that it attempted to claim the heritage while totally ignoring the present. To a conference with a lot of Methodists it was not exactly helpful to look at current Methodism as just a source of heritage and buildings for New Frontiers.
Dave, I will comment directly on that in a future post.
I have already prepared a post on anglicans and methodists. I will add a direct discussion of your point in a further future post.
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