The 5 (or 6) C's: Removing the Parentheses

Following are some thoughts courtesy of the Female Withrow...

I think it is time to remove the parentheses from C # Six. I am tired of being the frightened Church that we have become in so many ways. Let us recognize the real cost of truly dying to oneself. Let us rediscover what radical discipleship and love means. I am tired of comfort. I am tired of ease. Are we truly the Church if we are not suffering?


Also, in the Withrow's last entry he writes, "Do we need or want to have a vision and defined directions/purposes at this point or does that come later?" This is what I feel most excited about and called to right now. My short answer is "yes" and my hope is that is what's done in our cohabitation these next 2 years. My hope is that we truly answer these questions and decide who God is calling us to be. My fear that if this is not our first true work, then certain important and healthy parts of us becoming the Church will slip by us. In mind important, but in practice that importance becomes unconvincing.


Blogger kevingoldsberry responds with, "To be hesitant, as in lacking readiness is a good thing. Not hesitant in doing it, but hesitant before you approach something like forming community for the good of community because it can be such a hairy and great thing. Being too ready spoils sometimes." He also brings his always sage advice. I (of course) want to avoid the "overkill" that sometimes I have experienced where there comes a point when "vision statements" have been talked about so much that we forgot about living them.


The community in Philadelphia, The Simple Way, has both a Statement of Faith and a Statement of Action recognizing not only what they believe, but how they should live.


The Female Withrow

por ejemplo

Let's look @ a few examples of core values or guiding principles or defining visions or whatever you want to call them. Things that help describe and prescribe who we are (becoming). We have talked about our 5 (or 6) C's as potentially special and unique aspects of our particular community, so somewhere along the line we should also discuss what are universal requirements in every local community of Jesus followers and what are potential characteristics unique to a local community?

Mars Hill - Grand Rapids: (The following is taken from http://www.marshill.org/)

1.
<-- ROOTS

We affirm the central truths of historic orthodox Christian faith, seeing ourselves in a long line of generations taking part in the endless conversation between God and people. We believe the Bible to be the voices of many who have come before us, inspired by God to pass along their poems, stories, accounts, and letters of response and relationship with each other and the living God. To know where we're going, we have to know where we've been


2.
--> JOURNEY

We have great confidence that God will restore all of creation under the authority of Christ. We believe that every church has to ask the question: "What does it look like for us to live out that future reality today?" We are constantly exploring, questioning, and wrestling with new and creative ways to live out and communicate the teachings of Jesus. Because we see faith as a journey, change is assumed, innovation is expected, and rebirth is welcomed.


3.
-><- WHOLENESS

We believe that God wants to bring about a new humanity by redeeming every part of us. We embrace the salvation Jesus offers as the only hope for the healing of our relationships with God, each other, ourselves, and creation. We believe that all of life is spiritual, and that all of our fears, failures, and brokenness can be restored and made whole. We value the inner journey, because we want to be fully integrated people-mind, body, and soul, emotions and experiences all offered together to God.

4.
-->
--> COMMUNITY

We value the image of God in all people, everywhere. We believe that we were created to live deeply with one another, carrying each other's burdens, sharing our possessions, to pray for and confess our sins to each other, to suffer and celebrate together. It's in these honest, loving relationships that God transforms us and truth becomes a reality. The way of Jesus cannot be lived alone.


5.
<--> SERVING

We believe that Jesus is God in human form and that the church is God's ongoing presence in the world. Led by the Spirit of God, we are passionate about relieving suffering and fighting injustice, joining the God of the oppressed in living out the transforming message of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus calls his church to be a compelling force for good in the world, and we believe that the church is at its best when it serves, sacrifices, and loves, caring about the things God cares about. We were created to live for something larger than ourselves.


6.
^
| CELEBRATION

We take great joy in partnering with God to change the world, embracing the truth that all of life is sacred, hope is real and tomorrow can be better than today. We celebrate the divine in the daily, pursuing lives of hope, gratitude, and worship. God invites everyone everywhere into this way of life, and we believe it is the best possible way to live.


5 Identified Biblical Purposes by Purpose Driven Churches:

1. Worship
2. Fellowship
3. Discipleship
4. Ministry
5. Mission


5 C's of the Wilton/Withrow Discernment Process (initial thinking):

1. Community

committed to living out our life with God in the company of other Christ-followers and rediscovering the biblical concept of the family of God.


2. Compassion

committed to extending ourselves to those in need psychologically, spiritually, and physically.


3. Creation

committed to Earth-care as stewards and beneficiaries of God's good creation.


4. Creativity

committed to discovering and using all our creative gifts to live out a life of worship, both in private and in public, and in word, thought, and deed.


5. College

committed to Biblical teaching and the transformation of the mind for the glory of God.


(6. Cost)

committed to pursuing Christ in radical discipleship


The obvious advantages of the Mars Hill "Directions" in my mind include a language design virtually seamless with the surrounding culture. The Purpose Driven stuff doesn't seem to have been designed in an atmosphere where this was any sort of concern. Both the Directions and the 5 (or 6) C's seem to take the whole witness of Scripture more seriously than the Purpose Driven 5. I guess the obvious question for us is what are we trying to do? Do we need or want to have a vision and defined direcitons/purposes at this point or does that come later? What do we need to work on right now? How comprehensive? It isn't as if we can't change things later!

--The Withrow

?

Where to begin? I never know. It's the curse of an INFP (Meyers-Briggs). Shall we bring up the 5 C's? How about directions instead? See the 6 directions of Mars Hill in Grand Rapids --
Mars Hill. This to me is a much more appealing way of communicating visions for community and precisely which kind of community we are looking to become.

I know its already been done but is originality our goal? Not remotely! Our only real concern should be ownership. We need to build upon an idea and make it our own to serve our own particular circumstance(s).

In any case I propose we reveal our identity in terms of the community we would desire to become. Let's throw it out there and then do the work of forming and fashioning it into a coherent and meaningful whole not easily resisted.

--The Withrow

In Response to Conspiracy Theorists

Our vocal and persistent readership (of approximately 2, though this may be an overestimate) has demanded an explanation. Exactly who are these people who have taken over this blog and scintillated would-be readers with tales of discernment? And discernment of what?! Literally several emails have flooded our mailboxes from conspiracy theorists and wanna-be prophets trying to expose the truth.

For example, Fran from Omaha writes, “You’ve been found out, and I will not rest until I reveal your evil social experiment to all on the internet! Wilton/Withrow is an anagram for “THIN WRIT LO WOW” from which it is obvious that you intend to track the responses of your readers to your minimalist blog entry style (‘Thin Writ’) and lack of verbal or visual stimulus (‘Lo Wow’).”

Our dear friend Fran, Wilton/Withrow also is an anagram for “Who Nil Writ Two”, meaning that we haven’t written in two months, but only because we have been preoccupied “With Lint Or Wow” – that is, with domestic duties (‘With Lint’) and with exceptional circumstances (‘Or Wow’).

But we’ve come to change! The Wilton/Withrow discernment project is now officially public, and we expect to put out at least one or two new posts every week.

NEXT POST: Who and What revealed.