To
understand the following information more thoroughly, I recommend
you read Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster.
In a very small nutshell, here are six main traditions of the
Christian faith:
1. Evangelical
These people love the word of God passionately. They memorize
scripture. They see scripture as extremely important and
usually inerrant. They firmly believe in the Great Commission
– to go into all the nations and preach the good news.
Primary Focus: Understanding the bible
and telling everyone about it.
2. Holiness
These people, beginning with John Wesley, take sin very
seriously. They value not only purity of behavior, but purity
of heart. If you love God, you will obey him fully.
Primary Focus: Living a life free from
moral laxity…living as purely as possible.
3. Charismatic
These people are very focused on the work of the Holy Spirit.
The power of the spirit drives all that they do. They want
God to be active in their lives and open themselves to his
power and guidance via the Holy Spirit.
Primary Focus: One guess…The Holy
Spirit
4. Incarnational
These people see every day and every daily activity as
the opportunity for worship of God. They try to joyfully
serve God in the midst of baking, teaching, raising families,
running their companies, etc. They believe God affirms the
goodness in the world.
Primary Focus: Cultivating a harmony/full
integration between faith, life, and work.
5. Contemplative
These people love to pray and fast and practice a variety
of the spiritual disciplines in an attempt to be with God.
This tradition originated with the Desert Fathers and Mothers
(if that rings a bell) and learns from their example in
the desert.
Primary Focus: Cultivating intimacy with
God
6. Social Justice
These people are all about how they treat others. They
try to have a major impact on disease and poverty. They
take seriously the call to care for the widows, orphans,
and the oppressed. Doing justice and loving mercy could
be their mantra.
Primary Focus: Exercising mercy and compassion
Time for reflection….
1. When you look at the six main traditions,
which one/ones were you primarily immersed in up to the
age of 18? (don’t look past 18, most formative
images of God arise in our youth)
- What image of God did your tradition(s) emphasize?
- What did your tradition say you should be like?
- What about your tradition(s) helped or hindered
your spiritual journey?
2. Which of the other tradition(s) intrigue you? Why
do you think they capture your attention?
Here’s the key…all these traditions
arise out of the life of Jesus. (Therefore, all have
a good foundation to them!) Take a look at one of the gospels
and you will see how each of these traditions was modeled
in how Jesus lived. What is interesting, though, is
that many churches today focus heavily on 1-3 of the traditions
and minimize the others. This has (at times) created
an unbalanced approach to the Christian life as well as an
unbalanced view of God.
With your community
this week….
Begin in your usual way…calling everyone together. (Do
you have your two people that “help the conversation
along”?
- Share with one another what tradition(s) you were
raised in.
- Share the image of God that was nurtured in your
primary tradition.
- Wonder aloud how being immersed in only a few of
these traditions shape one’s perception of God,
Christianity, and one’s self.
- See if there is any need for reclaiming balance
in viewing God and/or the Christian way of life. What
would need to be done to help balance be restored
in your life?
- Again, end in the way that seems most natural…pray,
sing, eat, sit in silence, whatever.
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Note: To begin to
understand other traditions, read Streams of Living Water
, look at Foster’s bibliography for further study, or
talk with a Spiritual Director/pastor. Blessings on your learning.
Journaling after: Take time to notice and write down
what you learned from other’s traditions. Also,
pay attention to any feelings you have toward people in your
group who grew up in a tradition different than yours.
FYI: The next individual exercise is the longest yet. You
will need to set aside 1 – 3 hours for it because you
will be reading the entire book of Mark.
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