I was recently involved in a conversation regarding the image of a church – that is to say, the image a church has of itself; its self-image. A chart was created by a friend of mine (Ron) for the purpose of helping a church understand its identity and thus help the church in determining what kind of programs, staff, events, etc. that it should peruse. During that discussion, I developed my own list of what I would want the identity of my own church to be. Each of the 14 categories defines, in super simple terms, my view on each. Here it is:
(1) God – The Dancing Trinitarian King and Lover
(2) Mission – The Kingdom of God – that God would rule and reign
(3) Bible – The story of God at work in Creation
(4) Method – Participate in God’s mission (join Him in whatever He is doing)
(5) Cohesiveness – Essential; community, dialog, participation, honesty
(6) Worship – Creating space for encounter (hearing, participating, and responding) by merging ancient and contemporary spiritualities
(7) Sacraments – Mysterious participation in God’s graces
(8) Clergy – Fellow traveler and local theologian
(9) Preaching – An encounter with God’s words to his people
(10) Membership – Open fellowship of those on the journey
(11) Evangelism – Open, authentic; an invitation to a journey
(12) Fellowship – Essential for love, support, understanding scripture…
(13) View of others – The beloved of God
(14) Theology – In all things not essential there should be liberty, in essentials there should be unity, and in all things charity.
