imagining how the church can reorient around mission

This is part 3 of Immanuel’s Theological Vision. You can find part 1 by clicking here and part 2 by clicking here.

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This is part 2 of Immanuel’s Theological Vision. You can find part 1 by clicking here.

We live in such a fragmented society. At this point, almost every element of society is responding as a victim. Everyone is slighted to one degree or another. Everyone is polarized. As a matter fact, in my 59 years, I have never seen a more volatile moment in our culture’s history. Here are a couple of examples. read more

Your kingdom come, your will be done in Spokane as it is in heaven.

In Spokane as it is in heaven! That is how I always pray the Lord’s Prayer in regards to our church. read more

If you say you are a Christian, it is not an option – you must begin with theology (who is God, who am I before Him and what does He desire), rather than nationalism or partisanship (what is best for our country or the party I belong to) in discerning how to engage culture. While the latter is important, we must be the best of citizens; it MUST be subjugated to the will and ethic of the Kingdom. The most frightening thing for me is not our new President, or Russia or Islam or Fake News, or some other external influence, though each carry with them a reason for consternation. The thing that frightens me most is the famine of “believers” who recognize the collision of Kingdoms that is taking place around them.

This is unquestionably an indictment on the church for its lack of spiritual formation (a topic for another day). read more

What is required to do good theology (when I say theology, I am
referring to thinking or studying about God and His relation to the world)?

Surely, there is required an interest or curiousity in the subject (God). One also
needs a certain level of discipline and rigor to stay with important ideas. I
could also throw in aptitude, time, access to resources, etc. read more

(A blog I wrote before coming to Europe – a bit late, but better than never)

I got the chance to go to a couple of lectures a couple of weeks ago by Peter Rollins.  His latest book is entitle, Insurrection and has of late caught much of a certain stream of Christianity by storm. read more

By Troy

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      By Kayla     A few years ago, I had a close friend of mine question my faith in Christ. She was not raised in a Christian home and to her, Christianity was too much of a question mark to give it a chance. She posed the question to me, “How can you have so much faith in something you don’t know for sure is true?” It got me thinking about why things couldn’t’ just be more concrete. It seemed to me that unanswered questions that commonly arise from biblical analysis are nothing but a barrier to those who may otherwise have believed. In our society, we are so centered on answers. We want to know something is for sure before we invest our time, brainpower, or faith in it.             Some may see this as being a potential problem for the church. I think that many people have the same dilemma as my friend, there are just too many unanswered questions. So many of us wrestle with things like why did my loved one have to die? Why would an all-loving God subject innocent people to pain and suffering? What is Gods will for me? Does everyone go to heaven? These hard to answer questions are ones that pastors are commonly asked. This issue could easily be problematic for the church and has potential to interfere with ministry. However, I think that it can also be a blessing in disguise. Recently, I read a book called Jesus Mean and Wild by Mark Galli.  The author posed the idea that unanswered questions are a crucial piece in our pursuit of God. They bring us into conversation with our brothers and sisters in Christ and the search for answers keeps us actively invested in the gospel. If the church can embrace these hard to answer questions and treat them as starting points for education and discussion, I have hope that it may make a difference for those who are on the cusp of accepting Jesus.

When we talk about the idea of being "missional" we have to include the entire story of God. That means the narrative from Genesis to Revelation. The story obviously begins at creation and it ends at the new creation. In the middle God chooses to use a people. The headwaters of that story are found in Abraham. The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3) The charge to Abram was to be a blessing. In Christopher Wright's book The Mission of God's People he writes,

“The last phrase of Genesis 12:2 is actually an imperative in Hebrew – ‘Be a blessing!’, though it is most often translated simply as a consequential statement from the preceding phrases, ‘so that you will be a blessing.’ My own exegetical understanding of the structure of Genesis 12:1–3 sees it as two fundamental commands, each followed by three subordinate or explanatory clauses, climaxing in the last line of verse 3. The skeleton message of Genesis 12:1–3 is this: read more

Jacques Ellul wrote concerning prayer,

"Theology can tell us what prayer is, can enlighten us on the meaning of the revelation concerning prayer and on the place which prayer occupies in the revelation. It can describe for us accurately 'what man does when he prays.' But all this comes to nothing when man does not pray."