Revdarth.com

Well, its been a long while since the last post. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I was out of town with my family for the week before Thanksgiving, then I was in hangover mode after the Buffs were spanked by Nebraska last Friday. Then to top it all off, we got our first real snowstorm this year and I discovered that the driveway (3 car driveway) and the corner sidewalk of our driveway takes a long time to snowblow/shovel. The 26″ drift on one sidewalk didn’t help either. So, not major news to report, but just checking in.

One thing that has come up is a clearer focus for my next DMin project. In focusing on the concept of “communication theology,” I think I have somewhat changed things about and focusing somewhat on the communication of theology. The two things aren’t totally unrelated. The major thing that has become clear to me is that the church hasn’t done a spectacular job in connecting theology to real life. How does the concept of the Trinity really matter? What about the doctrine of election?

I go back to one of the classes that I took when I was in seminary. It was a class focused on the doctrine of election - a subject that comes up time and time again in real life. However, when I sat down the first day and read the syllabus, there was one day - yes, one day - that said, “How this matters to the church.” Ironically, it was the last day of class - the day usually reserved for nervous students about finals or projects instead of serious, indepth discussion. It was a joke - we spend the entire semester in our heads - trying to figure out aspects of this very confusing and very un-solvable theological concept instead of spending time talking about how people experience this and deal with this in their daily lives.

The other side of the experiential side of faith is that people need to be given opportunities to live out their faith in vital, active, real ways. The church has for too long thought that it was enough to have beautiful music in beautiful sanctuaries with articulate and focused sermons. The churches that are growing and making a difference (a large number of which have some pretty goofy theology) are giving their people things that live their faith out - whether in small groups, ministry activities, outreach, discipleship, etc. The churches that are stagnant or shrinking are those that are still doing things as they have always been done before.

More to come as I further work the concept out and craft the project and application.