Restoration

We have more to come on the Four Motions, but I'd like to take a moment and discuss the restorative nature of Project 29 and Missional Theology in nature.

If you know Calvinism, you think TULIP. The 'T' of which stands for 'total depravity'. Those who run with the evangelicals may recognize total depravity for the 'A' in their ABC's of faith. 'A: Admit that you are a sinner'. The Bible however, does not begin with total depravity, or sinful nature of man. It begins with God's goodness, holiness and perfect creation.

The Bible ends with the restoration of a world order that resembles the first. From a garden to a city, with a garden in the center. The nature of the Bible is restorative. (This is the base argument of those who are annihilationist but we don't embrace that).

As such, we must recognize the restorative nature of our mission. Just like Nehemiah was concerned with rebuilding the wall and the city, we must concern ourselves with not just building a city, but rebuilding a city. This may mean a few things.

1. We look to established churches. For some, church planting is the answer to that which perils American culture. I understand that we need church plants. In fact, we need many more churches planted than what we do. Our time, money and energy as churches should be on building a healthy church which can reproduce itself through church planting, not only build a bigger sanctuary. But we must not forget the established churches. They are a sleeping giant! The amount of energy it takes to wake the giant is potentially prohibitive, I understand. But the amount of resources that the giant sits on is simply far too great for us to ignore.

2. We look to different leaders. As far as I am concerned, there are only four things I look for in leaders (other than a shared scriptural/cultural worldview). They must be passionate, skilled, teachable and humble. Those four things alone are all a person needs. Their passion will drive them to be great, and make God's name great. Their skill is God's transitory gift that allows them to accomplish it. Their teachability will ensure that they are lifelong learners and keep them on the cutting edge. And their humbleness will keep them from becoming too headstrong. We cannot simply look to those who have certain denominational or cultural backgrounds (bible college, seminary, etc.) but must look within our own spheres of influence to awaken the leader in some without those. Bottom line: if I looked for the people with the best resumes I'd be ignoring God's ability to use anyone; including myself.

3. We expect more from our teens. The biggest lie that the world have ever fed us is that all teens are supposed to be rebellious. Another is that their attention span is 22 minutes long. Or that they are in a place in life where 'they need to be fed before they can make disciples'. Or that they won't understand or don't need to know theology. I wonder when youth ministry will grow up... our teens can reprogram a computer, learn a new video game (and beat it) in a day, ace their AP Bio exam, remember all their friends phone numbers, have time for school and sports and job and family and friends (but not for church). They can do more than they are being fed from a culture that has taught them to be apathetic. We must awaken them from their slumber.

I hope these help. More on the Four Motions to come.