Overture
The Next Awakening: grassroots movement of Spirit-empowered, 24/7 discipleship/mission
Our Holy and Living Triune God: Immanent vitality of love, holiness and unity; and economy of wisdom in the Missio Dei
First Movement
The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of adoption; the Spirit of Christ – always directing our attention to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Secures our eternal salvation: we are born anew from above, convicted and convinced of Gospel truth and led to repent and believe.
- Is the source of our character transformation as we go from “glory to glory” rooted in “grace upon grace” and activating “faith to faith”
- Creates the church and empowers her mission
- Animates our gathered worship and empowers our scattered work
- Is the power of the future made present
- Provides wisdom for mature understanding and awakens understanding, leading to contextualization of our local church’s identity, mission and impact
Second Movement
Economic Wisdom: a vital phrase underscoring the source of our understanding, liberation from ideological captivity and openness to both divine “books” for application
Why does this matter? Because effective discipleship is effective mission and the application of truth to our waking/working hours is a critical facet of witness.
- What is a healthy disciple? 5 Dimensions and the Outcomes Revolution
- Church planters and revitalizers: how will our people eat in 10, 20 and 30 years?
- Romans 12:1-2 and Colossians 3:17-24 end the religious/secular gap
- The Holy Spirit connects us to the full revelation of the Grand Narrative of God the Worker and humankind as stewards of His creation:
- The Design (Genesis 1-2; Psalm 8)
- The Devastation (Genesis 3 and Eccl.1-4)
- The Deliverance in Jesus Christ (Luke 4)
- The Destiny of the New Community (Genesis 21-22)
- A New Tapestry: the integrated life
Economic Wisdom: In a morally, politically and socially divided global/local public square, the Holy Spirit empowers the church as a prophetic voice of compassion and conviction, confronting both individual iniquity and institutional injustice and offering real-time, on-the-ground solutions for apparently intractable challenges, for “nothing is too difficult for You.”
4 Pillars (Believers will often differ on policy application; however, we can find substantive unity of the wisdom in Scripture)
- Stewardship and Flourishing – and ethos of integrity, service and future hope
- Value Creation – value over money, rooted in liberty and virtue
- Productivity and Opportunity – activating potential, producing more than we consume and transforming poverty into flourishing
- Responsible Action – universal principles and local context and control; public and private united and discovering good incentives for creativity and innovation.
Third Movement
The local church is still “Plan A” in God’s mission – real people, in a place with a divine purpose
“The church is the only voluntary agency that exists for its not members.” (Wm. Temple)
Our task: “Make Disciples” – who are women and men with
- Character: emotional, relational and spiritual health
- Charisms: general and specific vocations and understanding gifts, opportunities,
resources and skills - Competencies: always learning and economically nimble
- Capacity: growing fruitfulness
- Commissioned: ALL good work in both gathered and scattered contexts matters to God
The local church as economic actor and change agent for neighborhoods and nations
- Integrated into the oikos of the kingdom and geography
- Commissioning and celebrating good work in all domains, mountains and spheres
- Catalyzing and convening influences
Pastors and churches: new economic models
- Multi-occupational leadership will grow
- Supernatural “cities of refuge”
- Integrity of heart and skillful hands
Finale
John Perkins: “What the world needs now is Jesus and a good job.”
“Your Kingdom come” = righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…justice, reconciliation and purpose on Monday morning (Romans 14:17)