The Margins » Whitewashed
In her post, Erika Carney Haub asks “how do we measure a person: is it the orthodoxy of their speech or the orthopraxy of their life that matters the most? The whole of scripture commends to us that it must be both, yet I am saddened by how often I see doctrine trump a Christ-like character.”
Facinating question. One that I think demonstrates one of current church models that need to change. The article Transformation: Going To The Roots juxtaposes the old paradigm with a new missional paradigm:
The resources, practices, and services of the church — scripture, tradition, doctrine, worship, sacraments, preaching, program ministries, ecclesiastical structure, and communal life — are deemed useful to the extent that they serve as functional guides for the development and expression of individual belief, piety, devotion, morality, service.
VERSUS
The church’s resources, practices, and services cultivate a new people, a people learning and practicing the virtues, habits, and behaviors of the reconciling way of life disclosed in the words and deeds, ministry and mission of Jesus Christ. As a public, visible, and social reality of transformed relationships, this people exhibits the relational fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol.”
Technorati Tags: missional, church, orthopraxy, orthodoxy
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