From the President

Our ministry at Disciples Home Missions is a ministry focused on strengthening the whole church so that the world may believe and come into a relationship with the living Christ. Here, in relationship with Christ, we encounter new ideas and take them seriously, develop the capacity to think critically and interdependently, discover deep interests and consuming passions, and define the type of church we want to be.

Such definition is necessary to our identity as a church. Without it we swing back and forth like the unending sway of the pendulum. We swing this way and then that way, ad nauseam, until we are no longer sure if there is a way. And if we are not sure, then certainly others will not be sure either. Lack of definition has brought the church to a critical crossroad in history. Will the church be the church - the ekklesia - those called out from the world and to God, so that God can transform the world? I hope so because if not, the church will become the lackklesia - those lacking the ability to find the way or follow the way. It should come as no surprise that the earliest followers of Jesus were called followers of the way!

There is not only a danger for the church becoming comfortable with lack of definition, but also in becoming overly reliant on opinion-based theology. I think this is one reason why so many prefer to call themselves 'spiritual' but not 'religious,' as though there is something divine and 'anything goes' about being spiritual and corrupt and limiting about being religious. Some years back, Huston Smith, our country's dean of comparative religion, was interviewed by Mary Rourke of the Los Angeles Times. During the interview Smith said:

"I have shocked people by saying that I believe not only in religion but in organized religion. For some people 'spirituality' is a good word but 'religion,' the institution, is a bad word. I disagree. If you are serious about your spirituality you'll dig in, organize, and get some traction on history."

In the interview Smith went on to call attention to the pursuit of theology. He said:

"There is the danger of downsizing the importance of theology so that we can get along. Any theology has to have some bite and definition. We have to keep these two concerns in polar tension."

Opinion-based theology, in my opinion, lacks bite and definition. It is based on one's theological opinion only and leads its parties to a circus of misinformation and ignorance. Too many of these circuses have played on the stage of the church and world and have given religion a bad rap. Let's rid ourselves of the theological eisegesis that has become so commonplace and become theological exegetes again, putting some bite and definition back into our church and its theology. We may, with God's help, inspire a whole, new generation of Disciples.  

Defining-ly  & theologically yours,