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