JBassett, Crafting a Rule: Lsn 4, Desires and Values

[jeffrbassett]

Harold John Ockenga and his friends had a passion to reclaim the culture, renew the mind, and reach the world. Which of these areas are you most drawn to? If not one of these, is there another area that tugs at your heart? Why?

I think I see the actual reclaiming of culture as a lost cause. Maybe this is because I have come out of the tail end of Ockenga’s movement and found it wanting to answer the deep questions and concerns of my heart (Possibly because it was hijacked or misinterpreted. That’s another discussion for another time).

So for me, I am most drawn to the notion of renewing the mind in order to develop small pockets which can reach the world in witness. I don’t expect them to have some sweeping impact, but I value reaching the odd or left-out folks who don’t fit anywhere else. I am most interested in renewing the minds of those who desire more of Christ with the message that the Church (in my context) has forgotten. This is a message of wholeness in prayer and attention to the things that matter most.

What I am convinced of is that Christ will use small communities of devoted and dedicated people to reach the world. The witness of the few is what keeps those things that matter most moving forward and unless the Church is serious about elevating all who desire it to holiness, we get caught up in a game of the lowest common denominator, washed out and ineffective in anything but numbers.

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