As I reflect on these interviews, I see three common themes
within each conversation. While I have
added some of my own thoughts to clarify the theological connections, I believe
that these theological connections greatly influence all of these
relationships.
1) God acts in communities around the world. God is not limited to our community. Where do we see God acting within
international communities? Members of
these international communities can help us see where God is acting and discern
how we are called to participate in God’s actions if we are willing to listen
to their wisdom.
2) We are basing our companion synod relationships not on
our giving and their receiving but on mutual learning. Churches in international communities carry
out certain relationships and ministries better than we do. As we build relationships with our Companion
Synods, we discern areas in which our Companion Synods can train us for
ministry in our communities. Our
Companion Synods are also discerning areas in which we can train them for
ministry in their communities. In the
near future, we hope that we can put groups living in different countries but
sharing similar interests in touch with each other so that they can share their
various strategies, techniques, and activities with each other.
Ultimately, we must remember that our model for these
relationships is the perfect unity between the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The three persons of the Trinity
share a perfect love which unites them as one God. The Trinity also draws creation into its
relationship and shares that perfect love with us. Therefore, we engage these members of the
Body of Christ not as victims of circumstance who need our financial and
material support but as equals. Instead
of pressing forward with various tasks which we must accomplish as soon as
possible, we focus on building these relationships and engaging in dialogues.
3) As we create the communication networks which will allow
many more people to be directly involved in these Companion Synod
Relationships, individuals and congregations can already participate in these
relationships in several ways. We can
pray for our Companion Synods. We can
read international news stories which reveal the major events and stories
within these countries. We can
participate in synod events and read synod announcements which discuss our
latest steps within these relationships.
Finally, we can study the language(s) spoken within our Companion Synods
and pursue the goal of conversing with our partners using their language.
Do you see other themes within this project? What do you take away from here after reading
through my reports?
Wow, Curtis! When did you have time to do all of this?
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with the movie "Larger than Life?"
Delete"Do you ever sleep?" "Oh yeah, slept last week!"
My serious answer is that I carried this out over several weeks. A conversation here, a conversation there, some writing here, some writing there...I may have published the posts within the past week, but much of the work took place in the prior six weeks.