Getting Connected in 2011

It can be a little lonely and isolating starting a new kind of spiritual community from scratch. Those of us who have answered the call to take on such an uphill climb need the support of other alternative communities in order to press on in the creation and establishment of our own. With that in mind, I have been searching for networks of progressively minded spiritual communities with whom I can share the Living Vision experiment. One group that has really caught my eye, my mind, and my heart is The Center for Progressive Christianity.

To familiarize readers of this blog and the folks in the Living Vision Experiment with their network and ideas, I want to post what they call their "8 Points" in hopes that you will reflect upon them and respond to them using the "comments" icon below this entry. I'd really like to hear what you think of their fundamental principles and whether they seem compatible with the 7 principles I've outlined for Living Vision in my book The Way of Jesus: Re-Forming Spiritual Communities in a Post-Church Age.

Here they are:

The 8 Points of The Center for Progressive Christianity:

We Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.

We Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.

We Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus's name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples

           

We Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including ...

We Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe.

We Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes.

We Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his brothers and sisters.

We Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

 


Thanks for joining in the conversation! And don't forget, the folks of The Living Vision Experiment will be meeting each Thursday night from 6-8 pm at my house: 138 E. Sheridan (Apt. 5) in Petoskey, Mi. Everyone brings either some soup or bread to share and in the next 6 weeks we'll be bringing Bibles to study the fruits of the Spirit as they are delineated in Galatians 5 and in the life and teachings of Jesus. ALL are welcome. Just call me, Toby Jones, at 231-881-6734 and let me know if you're coming. See you Thursday!

Grace & Peace,
Toby Jones, founder of Living Vision