CWW - Where is the theological underpinning.

We have an internal broadsheet in the Co f S that is printed for ministers. Its an opportunity for ministers to share among themselves ideas and issues that are troubling them. Recently at least two ministers have written about their belief that there is no real theological underpinning in the Church Without Walls Movement. In the May issue one such minister questioned whether CWW was radical enough in its approach. He seemed to think that it was a centrally driven programme. Nothing of course could be further from the truth. It calls for the empowering of the local church. The CWW report came out of a great deal of theological thought and prayer. It calls the Church to follow Jesus. This in itself is a radical and challenging mindset to adopt. Perhaps though for some, to talk of following Jesus is too simplistic. Perhaps they want a bundle of teaching that is heavy and burdensome. However Jesus told us " My yoke is easy and my burden is light" The wonderful thing about the gospel is that it is a call to live in freedom knowing that the one who will judge you is the one who has saved you. Calvin in his Institutes, reminds us that repentance can only come about in the heart of the sinner because of the great hope that salvation brings. To repent without hope is to miss the grace and love of God. The cross always points to the hope beyond the suffering. Paul speaks of this in the Book of Philippians. So CWW calls the church to allow itself to be shaped by the Gospel and encourages us all to reflect at great length on the doctrine of justification by faith and to live lives that embrace the Grace of God. It reminds us that the church needs to become the "Friend of Sinners" following the example of Jesus and calls us to consider what it means to be a church shaped by friendship.To be a church that lives in and for the companionship of Jesus. It also calls the church be become engaged with the culture around but not to be "squeezed into its mould" as Eugene Peterson suggests in his translation. Finally the report calls the church to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in allowing the Gifts of the Spirit to shape its ministry and mission. This then is to invite local congregations to engage with Ephesians 4 and begin to consider what it means to "grow up into the full stature of Christ." The report further encourages the church not to forsake the call to stand for justice which the prophet Micah speaks of, but rather to engage with the issues of power and powerlessness with in the church and her structures and also within our society at large.. These to my mind are just a few of the theological issues that underpin the work and vision of CWW. The second minister in this months edition believes that many Church of Scotland ministers are afraid to engage their congregations with weighty theological issues. Indeed he believes that he is one of the few ministers who has been published in recent years and bemoans the fact that he believes that ministers are not reading substantial christian material. How he comes to know all these facts is beyond me. One more thing, I was somewhat saddened by this minister who wrote in the June edition, he was pointing out the moats in the eyes of his fellow ministers, yet omitting to see that he could be accused of having a very large plank called "intellectual superiority" sticking out of his own eye. I have come to the conclusion that it is not our intellectual rigor that will win men and women into the Kingdom, although that is important and must not be dismissed. It is surely the rigor of our daily lives that count. It is the epistles of our lives and actions that are being read by the watching world and not necessarily the epistles of our minds. So where is the theological underpinning in CWW? We're pinned to JESUS! By the Grace of God nothing will separate us, for he has broken down the walls of partition reconciling us to God.

CWW - Where is the theological underpinning.

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