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IN THIS ISSUE....
*Abundant Giving in the Divine Economy
*Gathering 2009:
July 9-11
*Meet the EP: Kent McDougal and Christ Community Church
*Fasting, by Scot McKnight
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ABUNDANT GIVING in the DIVINE ECONOMY
We recently received a donation from the staff of Dayspring, a San Francisco based web design company headed by EP endorser Chi-Ming Chien. Since our 2009 Gathering will focus on rethinking economics, I want to share a few sentences from their accompanying letter. "We have been grateful for the work that The Ekklesia Project does in helping the Church think well about her identity and also for the gospel frienships that we have found there. As the wider world has its eyes fixed on the 'global economic crisis,' at Dayspring we are seeking to be shaped by an alternative understanding of God's economy, His abundance, and His good will at work in the world. ... As a company, we practice giving a tithe on our profits each quarter as a response of gratitude to God and an expression of trust in His provision. ... Please pray for us as we seek to bear faithful witness to God's economy in our marketplace context." We also received a gift from our friends at The Simple Way. I'm not highlighting these gifts to fundraise for EP, but to challenge us all to rethink economy in terms of the Kingdom of God. Brent Laytham, EP Coordinator | |
 GATHERING 2009: JULY 9-11
As mentioned above, this summer's Gathering -- July 9-11, 2009, "Wealth and the Household of God" -- will explore how the household (oikos in Greek) that is Christ's Body might faithfully engage economics. Confirmed keynote speakers include long time EP endorser Bill Cavanaugh speaking on creation; Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove of the New Monasticism movment speaking on Jesus and Jubilee; and noted New Testament scholar Katherine Grieb on Paul's collection for the Jerusalem community. Workshops are being organized around four types of congregational practice: congregations that run businesses together, congregations that do community organizing to deal with economic problems in their neighborhoods, congregations that share a common purse, and congregations that take up collections. For more on the planning process, click here.
Registration should open next month. Watch the newsletter for details. |
MEET THE EP: Kent McDougal and Christ Community Church
This month, we highlight our friends at Christ Community Church in Des Moines, IA. We tell their story in their own words:
"Christ Community Church of Des Moines, Iowa has enjoyed the peculiar friendship of
the Ekklesia Project since the initial "Declaration & Invitation" of 2001.
Pastor Kent McDougal, an early board member, and many of our congregants
have participated in yearly EP gatherings.
The influence of EP, however, goes back farther in our shared
history. Nineteen years ago CCC was born out of conflict and schism within a fundamentalist
mega-church. We found scant resources
within our tradition to chart a way toward the peace of Christ. Early on, the friendship and published works of
EP members challenged us to continue moving toward a deeper vision of the
Christian faith, embracing a more classical, catholic and radical discipleship.
Due in part to our EP friends, we are now a member
congregation of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA.
Our adoption into the Mennonite family has, for the past few years, drawn our
energies away from our involvement with EP.
But as we settle into our new denominational identity, we have once
again been moved by a desire to participate in the EP.
Our congregation has attempted to recover the importance of
theology for the life of God's worshiping people, and the importance of the
life of God's worshiping people for theology. To that end, we hope to become, in possible partnership
with the EP and others, a host community for the Schola Caritatis (School
of Charity), a place of
hospitality where the academy and the church could welcome each other in the
company of the poor."
We remain grateful for the friendship, witness, and work of Christ Community Church and invite others among the EP to get to know them as well.
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Fasting (Ancient Practices Series), by
Scot McKnight. (Thomas Nelson, 2009).
Just in time for the season of Lent, Thomas Nelson has released the newest book in its "Ancient Practices" series: Fasting by Scot
McKnight. This volume offers both a deeply rooted theological case for
fasting and a firm caution against the dangers that fasting poses to one's
health, if done excessively or without an understanding of how the human body
works.
The bulk of this book is spent examining the
variety of contexts in which fasting has been practiced throughout Scripture
and church history. The first such context is that of "body
talk," and
here McKnight emphasizes again that fasting should be a response to a "grievous
sacred moment," a way of communicating (or "talking") our grief through our
whole person. The next context is that of "body turning," which McKnight
notes is the most common form of fasting in the scriptures. Fasting
in this context is a practice of repentance, individual and corporate. He
notes here practices of fasting during Lent, during times when God seems
absent, at times when we realize our complicity, and at the time of conversion
and baptism. Fasting
has also been practiced as a regular practice of "body discipline." He is quick to emphasize however that excessive
body discipline can become "body battle," which is rooted in the "monster to be
conquered" variety of dualism and is very unhealthy. Another context of
the church's fasting is to remember seasons of the Christian year, particularly
Lent and the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Perhaps the most striking
context in which McKnight examines the practice of fasting is that of "body poverty": i.e., as a
response of grief to the injustices that occur around us. McKnight points
out that fasting in this context should often be accompanied by the twin
practices of generosity (given what we would have eaten in food to those who
need it) and solidarity. The final two contexts in which McKnight
examines fasting are as a form of worship or "body contact" - which comes as a
grievous response to the realization of "the superficiality of [our] intimacy
with God" (113) - and fasting as "body hope," a response to the deep longing
for the full realization of God's kingdom.
Reviewed by Chris Smith
The full text of Chris' review may be found on the Englewood Review of Books Website.
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FROM THE EDITOR
We here in "the EP newsroom" try to make this newsletter sufficiently informative to be worth reading and short enough that it will actually be read. With these modest goals in mind, in the months ahead we will be rotating themes and topics from issue to issue.
One item we plan to keep in the rotation is "news from endorsers and other EP friends," meaning articles about organizations, events (conferences, speakers), bookstores, congregations and local Christian communites, etc. that would be of interest to EP folk. Please remember to share such news with us by sending information and updates to Brent Laytham, Therese Lysaught or, myself, your editor....
John McFadden
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