If you go to a school of Martial Arts, there is a clear structure describing how you grow from a complete beginner to someone who has proficiency (helpfully marked out by different coloured belts). The same scheme applies in all sorts of other areas. It doesn’t really apply in the church, and I wonder if that is a problem. In other words, I wonder if a clear structure setting out how we understand what it means to grow as a Christian would be of some use. As a first sketch, how about this:<\/p>\n
Alpha<\/p>\n
Post-Alpha<\/p>\n
Confirmation course and confirmation<\/p>\n
House groups and regular attendance at worship<\/p>\n
Private prayer and becoming comfortable with silence<\/p>\n
Regular and formal bible study, also some doctrine and church history<\/p>\n
Service to church<\/p>\n
Service to community<\/p>\n
What do people think? What is missing?<\/p>\n
Of course, having something like this offends against all sorts of shibboleths, eg that we are all of equal value in the sight of the Lord (true, but irrelevant). It begs the question of whether it is possible to be more ‘advanced’ in the faith than others. Yet I don’t believe anyone actually thinks that there isn’t a difference – it’s just that it is only acceptable to talk about such differences when the people being mentioned are a long way away, either in time or space.<\/p>\n
I can’t avoid thinking that there is a distinct gap in our formation of new disciples, and we need something to plug that gap. (NB I’m aware that the Emmaus course covers much of this).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you go to a school of Martial Arts, there is a clear structure describing how you grow from a complete beginner to someone who has proficiency (helpfully marked out by different coloured belts). The same scheme applies in all … Continue reading