This past Sunday night, our small group at church invited our new worship minister to discuss issues surrounding OPCOC and the worship assembly there. After it was over several thoughts hit me that I wanted to express and try to formulate better. As our group sat there for at least an hour talking about worship, it occurred to me the we spent the entire time talking about the 30-40 minutes per week at church that we spend singing. Allen (our worship minister) made one comment about worship being a 24/7 endeavor but besides that, it was all about the one hour that has come to be known as "church." Our group spoke of "wanting more in worship" yet it was all in the context of the one hour. If worship truly is about honoring God regardless of the context, then a true understanding of worship would include the rest of the week. Are we "wanting more in worship" as employees, parents, sons and daughters, friends, etc. or have we become so entangled within the web of modern American Christianity that we can't see past it? A second related idea: It also seemed that some were saying that they were now able to worship because Allen is here (who by the way is one of the best worship leaders I've heard). Some of the comments were "Now I feel like I can worship." Maybe it is just me but this also seems to reveal a great deal about how we define worship. Modernity, with its very reductionistic approach, has shrunk the grand notion of worship to one hour/week and in doing so has squeezed a great deal of the life out of it. Words like "community" and "tranformation" have a very small place in our view of worship except in their relation to the Sunday morning hour and yet it is these two words that are most important to the writers of the NT. Worship, including the time on the first day of the week, is about God. It ain't about me. It ain't about you. It is entering into the presence of God AND leaving that presence changed in some way with fresh perspective, new realizations, true joy, unfettered peace, and Godly love. Worship is also done within the context of community - community does not equal Sunday morning - a context of the body of Christ that supercedes days of the week and dress codes and acts as a living breathing organism within the world. Worship should not only leave one with a new perspective about who God is but in light of that discovery, it should also shed light on who the person next to you is. Worship should make me love my brother and sister more because the God in whose presence I live created them in HIS image and despite their faults, they are part of the reason Jesus came. The longer I live the less I am concerned with HOW everything happens on Sunday morning. I don't care near as much about the singing and the sermon as I do the formation of a community who will BE the body of Christ seven days a week. This does not mean that Sunday morning is an insignificant time. On the contrary, it is a vital statement of unity and fellowship to gather together in the name of Jesus Christ as a visible community and together praise him. However, Sunday morning is only scratching the surface. The real worship occurs in doing the mundane activities of the week acknowledging that everything I do (including my sin) is an offering of worship. As it was put by Allen at group, the question is not whether I am worshipping or not. The question is which God am I worshipping?
The idea of Missional Church seeks to move away from this reductionistic version of worship. It seeks to place worship within the context of the larger mission of God and to form worshipping communities who see their lives as "Practicing the Presence of God" (Brother Lawrence) in all they do. Yet another reason why Missional Church makes so much sense to me. I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone besides me but these are a few thoughts lately. I hope they spark discussion.
Until He Comes,
Kyle
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Missional Church - Initial thoughts
For the past few weeks I have been trying to engage what is my foremost passion – ministry. I see myself as a minister in all that I do and my life’s passion is to minister to people through the avenue of medicine and to see my interactions with patients as places where the love, joy, and hope found in Jesus Christ can be expressed. I love ministry though I have very little interest in being a full-time pastor with a congregation. As part of my M.Div. training at ACU, I got to be a chaplain at a hospital – an experience that was extremely formative in my theological worldview. As I went room-to-room visiting patients, it became increasingly clear that God had better be working way beyond my skills as a chaplain. Before I went into a room, I had to believe God was already there working in the life of the patient and their family. And when I left each room, whether it was five minutes or two hours later, I had to believe God was still working. Such an experience forced me to think of the kingdom possibilities of each conversation, each moment, and each interaction throughout my day. It is for these reasons that I am so attracted to the idea of the Missional Church.
The question of what God is up to in the world is found most succinctly in II Corinthians 5:14-21 - one of the most theologically packed passages in all Scripture. In it, the mission of God is revealed to be that of reconciling all of creation back to himself through the sending of his Son Jesus Christ. It is this same ministry of reconciliation that God has given to his followers – called to be ambassadors of a kingdom characterized by the forgiveness of sin and righteousness found in Christ. Reconciliation is not some spiritual, abstract, psychological notion of inner peace. It is the possibility and means of bringing back into relationship with God what is now fragmented and broken – relationships, creation, families, etc. This passage and concept define my mission and allow the profession of medicine – all professions for that matter – to be Christian in that people can engage God’s mission from any field of choice. This is possible because the mission is found within the very nature of God.
"Mission is understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It is thus put in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the mission Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit is expanded to include yet another “movement:” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world."
- David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission p.390.
Trinitarian thought is essential to any theological attempt to define one’s ministry. Just as Christ was sent by the Father for a specific purpose, so I am sent – called if you will – on a mission to deny what I want and take up my cross for the sake of the kingdom of God. As a physician, what does that mean? Every patient is a human being created in the image of God? Every conversation is a locale for the Spirit to move in ways unknown to either conversation partner? This seems to work well individually but one thing is completely left out – community. At the very heart of the Trinity is community – three in one – unity without uniformity – distinct yet same. Medicine offers a tremendous opportunity for interaction with people at times of struggle though it also breeds the temptation of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Establishing a balance between medicine, church, family, friends, other priorities will be quite the challenge. I guess that’s why they say we are saved by the tremendous grace of God!
Another Question: My instinct is to call this “Trinitarian medicine” yet I wonder if this is even possible or exists? That sort of seems like crossing a line that either can’t be crossed or shouldn’t be crossed? Another time maybe!
Until He Comes... KRS
The question of what God is up to in the world is found most succinctly in II Corinthians 5:14-21 - one of the most theologically packed passages in all Scripture. In it, the mission of God is revealed to be that of reconciling all of creation back to himself through the sending of his Son Jesus Christ. It is this same ministry of reconciliation that God has given to his followers – called to be ambassadors of a kingdom characterized by the forgiveness of sin and righteousness found in Christ. Reconciliation is not some spiritual, abstract, psychological notion of inner peace. It is the possibility and means of bringing back into relationship with God what is now fragmented and broken – relationships, creation, families, etc. This passage and concept define my mission and allow the profession of medicine – all professions for that matter – to be Christian in that people can engage God’s mission from any field of choice. This is possible because the mission is found within the very nature of God.
"Mission is understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It is thus put in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the mission Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit is expanded to include yet another “movement:” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world."
- David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission p.390.
Trinitarian thought is essential to any theological attempt to define one’s ministry. Just as Christ was sent by the Father for a specific purpose, so I am sent – called if you will – on a mission to deny what I want and take up my cross for the sake of the kingdom of God. As a physician, what does that mean? Every patient is a human being created in the image of God? Every conversation is a locale for the Spirit to move in ways unknown to either conversation partner? This seems to work well individually but one thing is completely left out – community. At the very heart of the Trinity is community – three in one – unity without uniformity – distinct yet same. Medicine offers a tremendous opportunity for interaction with people at times of struggle though it also breeds the temptation of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Establishing a balance between medicine, church, family, friends, other priorities will be quite the challenge. I guess that’s why they say we are saved by the tremendous grace of God!
Another Question: My instinct is to call this “Trinitarian medicine” yet I wonder if this is even possible or exists? That sort of seems like crossing a line that either can’t be crossed or shouldn’t be crossed? Another time maybe!
Until He Comes... KRS
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Refreshed and Challenged
This summer has been one of renewal for me in many ways. I mentioned in the previous post that my passions are theology and medicine and ways in which they intersect. My first year of medical school was one in which many things were confirmed but also many things were challenged. I am more and more fascinated with the human body than I have ever been but the workload of the year chipped away my time to engage in deep theological reflection as it at times bordered more on sheer survival than anything else. Because I am now auditing the MBA classes I began at the beginning of the summer (a long story not worth telling), I have had time to catch up on some reading that has been a long time in coming. Here is a list of the books I have read this summer.
- A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren
- A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren
- The Story We Find Ourselves In by Brian McLaren
- Missional Church by Darrell Guder
- Treasures in Clay Jars by Lois Barnett
- The Continuing Conversion of the Church by Darrell Guder (currently reading)
- The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality by Alan Roxburgh (currently reading)
As you can see from the list of the books, I am purposefully swimming in the literature involving ministry in the postmodern culture as well as missional church material. The world in which we live in one of incredible uncertainty coupled with amazing opportunity for the good news of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed. Though difficult, every longstanding authority is in question and no one institution, including the church, sits atop the throne of American culture. To be faithful, the church of Jesus Christ must revision its identity, its calling, and its mission or it too will become obsolete. This is why I am excited about what the Missional movement brings to the table. The Missional Church material begins, not with the current context or tradition, but with the theological notion that God is on a mission to reconcile all things to himself and to call everyone and everything back under the realm of Jesus Christ. The Missio Dei (mission of god) is the fundamental notion of Scripture and it- not the church's goals or dreams - is what the church is called to follow. It is not an easy transition though it is in my opinion the path that offers the healthiest path for the church to follow. Everything the church does flows from who God is, what he did through Jesus Christ, and what he continues to do through his Holy Spirit to reclaim what has been lost. Notions of Kingdom, mission, grace, faithfulness, Scripture all have new meaning and new life as the leaders of this movement seek to proclaim His kingdom!
I am very excited about the relationship that has begun between the missional church leaders and ACU. Approximately 15 churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have agreed to begin the journey to becoming missional. A group of professors and missional church leaders have met with these churches and will continue to meet with their leaders on a regular basis over the next several years to monitor the effectiveness of this movement. I cannot wait to see what God does through these outposts of his kingdom in the DFW area!
The following are questions that come to mind and that I wrestle with continuously...
- How does the Trinity influence ministry, especially ministry within medicine?
- How do I engage a postmodern generation when the field I am entering relies heavily upon Enlightenment rationality and modernity?
- What would it take for a church - ex. the Sulphur Well Church of Christ in Springville, TN - to catch this vision and undergo this type of transformation?
- How does being a disciple of Jesus Christ affect my interaction with future patients?
- What exactly is a "Christian" doctor?
- Is there such thing as a Theology of Medicine? What would it look like? Is it necessary?
- At what points does the kingdom of God butt heads with modern medicine and how does a disciple of Jesus Christ navigate those waters when it does?
- Christian medical ethics? Is there such a thing? How does someone trained in theological ethics dialogue with a field of philosophical ethics?
- Is life sacred? Does being created in the image of God equal being sacred? What is the difference between being sacred and being holy? [In the medical field, most Christian arguments use this line as part of their argument against things like abortion and embryonic stem cell research. However, is this a true statement or is this idolatry?]
These are some of the questions and ideas that I continue to wrestle with and I pray this simple outlet will be something that will glorify God and point all of us toward a more healthy perspective of the world, a deeper faith in God, a greater admiration of Jesus Christ, and a greater dependence upon the Holy Spirit!
Until He Comes...
KRS
- A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren
- A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren
- The Story We Find Ourselves In by Brian McLaren
- Missional Church by Darrell Guder
- Treasures in Clay Jars by Lois Barnett
- The Continuing Conversion of the Church by Darrell Guder (currently reading)
- The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality by Alan Roxburgh (currently reading)
As you can see from the list of the books, I am purposefully swimming in the literature involving ministry in the postmodern culture as well as missional church material. The world in which we live in one of incredible uncertainty coupled with amazing opportunity for the good news of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed. Though difficult, every longstanding authority is in question and no one institution, including the church, sits atop the throne of American culture. To be faithful, the church of Jesus Christ must revision its identity, its calling, and its mission or it too will become obsolete. This is why I am excited about what the Missional movement brings to the table. The Missional Church material begins, not with the current context or tradition, but with the theological notion that God is on a mission to reconcile all things to himself and to call everyone and everything back under the realm of Jesus Christ. The Missio Dei (mission of god) is the fundamental notion of Scripture and it- not the church's goals or dreams - is what the church is called to follow. It is not an easy transition though it is in my opinion the path that offers the healthiest path for the church to follow. Everything the church does flows from who God is, what he did through Jesus Christ, and what he continues to do through his Holy Spirit to reclaim what has been lost. Notions of Kingdom, mission, grace, faithfulness, Scripture all have new meaning and new life as the leaders of this movement seek to proclaim His kingdom!
I am very excited about the relationship that has begun between the missional church leaders and ACU. Approximately 15 churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have agreed to begin the journey to becoming missional. A group of professors and missional church leaders have met with these churches and will continue to meet with their leaders on a regular basis over the next several years to monitor the effectiveness of this movement. I cannot wait to see what God does through these outposts of his kingdom in the DFW area!
The following are questions that come to mind and that I wrestle with continuously...
- How does the Trinity influence ministry, especially ministry within medicine?
- How do I engage a postmodern generation when the field I am entering relies heavily upon Enlightenment rationality and modernity?
- What would it take for a church - ex. the Sulphur Well Church of Christ in Springville, TN - to catch this vision and undergo this type of transformation?
- How does being a disciple of Jesus Christ affect my interaction with future patients?
- What exactly is a "Christian" doctor?
- Is there such thing as a Theology of Medicine? What would it look like? Is it necessary?
- At what points does the kingdom of God butt heads with modern medicine and how does a disciple of Jesus Christ navigate those waters when it does?
- Christian medical ethics? Is there such a thing? How does someone trained in theological ethics dialogue with a field of philosophical ethics?
- Is life sacred? Does being created in the image of God equal being sacred? What is the difference between being sacred and being holy? [In the medical field, most Christian arguments use this line as part of their argument against things like abortion and embryonic stem cell research. However, is this a true statement or is this idolatry?]
These are some of the questions and ideas that I continue to wrestle with and I pray this simple outlet will be something that will glorify God and point all of us toward a more healthy perspective of the world, a deeper faith in God, a greater admiration of Jesus Christ, and a greater dependence upon the Holy Spirit!
Until He Comes...
KRS
Introduction
My name is Kyle Randy Stephens. Born September 15, 1980, I am the son of Randy and Donna Stephens of Springville, TN. My father is a minister at the Sulphur Well Church of Christ in Springville and has bee for the past 28+ years. My mother has spent the past 25+ years within the banking industry and currently serves as the branch manager of First State Bank in Paris, TN. Both are devoted disciples of Jesus Christ seeking to be transformed more and more into his image and it is this legacy that I am most proud of. I have one youger brother - David - who is studying engineering and math at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. He is currently in Scotland serving as a youth intern for a church he has visited the past two Spring Breaks and the brief emails that we get indicate he is doing fine! :)
I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world - Jennifer Michele Stephens of Midland, TX. We were married on August 6, 2005 during a whirlwind weekend in which we decided to graduate, get married, move to Kansas City, MO, and begin medical school! Yep - all that in four days! We will celebrate our first year anniversary this coming August and we look forward to celebrating it with our son who will Lord willing be one month old when we celebrate. Yep - we found out the good news two months after our wedding that Jenn was indeed pregnant and we are expecting his birth within the coming week. It is going to be awesome to be a Daddy!
I am a 1998 graduate of Henry County High School in Paris, TN after which I attended Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN on a basketball scholarship where I double-majored in Biology and Biblical Studies with a minor in Chemistry. Upon graduating in 2002, I spent an additional year in the Graduate School of Biblical Studies before transferring to Abilene Christian University to complet my Master of Divinity in 2005. Because of my graduate school experience at Lipscomb I also received my Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. Upon graduation (and marriage) I started medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine and will begin my second year this fall.
My intent for the majority of this blog, however, is not so much to inform you of what is going on in my life (If you are interested you should check out www.kyleandjenn.blogspot.com to see the blog my wife and I do together) but rather to be a place where I can put together some thoughts about my passion - the intersection between theology and medicine! While I was at Lipscomb I was captivated by these two areas of study and my interest has only grown in the past few years. My master's work in theology on furthered my interests and it is these two fields of study that ignite something in me that will not let me go! I welcome all insights, questions, corrections, etc. in the hope that my thinking and my living will be impacted through such discussions.
Thanks for putting up with my ramblings and to God be the glory in every aspect of this journey!
Until He Comes,
Kyle Stephens
I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world - Jennifer Michele Stephens of Midland, TX. We were married on August 6, 2005 during a whirlwind weekend in which we decided to graduate, get married, move to Kansas City, MO, and begin medical school! Yep - all that in four days! We will celebrate our first year anniversary this coming August and we look forward to celebrating it with our son who will Lord willing be one month old when we celebrate. Yep - we found out the good news two months after our wedding that Jenn was indeed pregnant and we are expecting his birth within the coming week. It is going to be awesome to be a Daddy!
I am a 1998 graduate of Henry County High School in Paris, TN after which I attended Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN on a basketball scholarship where I double-majored in Biology and Biblical Studies with a minor in Chemistry. Upon graduating in 2002, I spent an additional year in the Graduate School of Biblical Studies before transferring to Abilene Christian University to complet my Master of Divinity in 2005. Because of my graduate school experience at Lipscomb I also received my Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. Upon graduation (and marriage) I started medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine and will begin my second year this fall.
My intent for the majority of this blog, however, is not so much to inform you of what is going on in my life (If you are interested you should check out www.kyleandjenn.blogspot.com to see the blog my wife and I do together) but rather to be a place where I can put together some thoughts about my passion - the intersection between theology and medicine! While I was at Lipscomb I was captivated by these two areas of study and my interest has only grown in the past few years. My master's work in theology on furthered my interests and it is these two fields of study that ignite something in me that will not let me go! I welcome all insights, questions, corrections, etc. in the hope that my thinking and my living will be impacted through such discussions.
Thanks for putting up with my ramblings and to God be the glory in every aspect of this journey!
Until He Comes,
Kyle Stephens
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