clayton faulkner

“Revelation wasn’t written to us, but we hear it as a word for us, once we understand it as a word for them, and what it was saying to them.”

What are the 100 words that make us Christian? When you boil Christianity down to its essence, what are the words that remain?

In a very open-source move, Dr. Sweet is allowing people to submit ideas for this book project. Here was my submission:

MEAL…Not only do many Christian events include the “potluck”, but it is the central symbol that Jesus left us to remember Him by. The meal of Passover. The meal atop Sinai. The meal that became a miracle and fed thousands. The meal with the wrong kind of people. The meal on Thursday night before His crucifixion. The meal after the resurrection in Emmaus. The meal on the beach. And the meal that believers gather around a table to share every Lord’s day. God’s invitation to “eat and drink freely.”

You can join your ideas at the 100 words website.

Currently there is a growing awareness that worship is the central ministry of the Church: Worship is the center of the hourglass, the key to forming the inner life of the Church. Everything the Church does moves toward public worship, and all its ministries proceed from worship. Good worship creates community, evangelical warmth, hospitality to outsiders, inclusion of cultural diversity, leadership roles for men and women, intergenerational involvement, personal and community formation, healing, reconciliation, and other aspects of pastoral care. Because worship is itself an act of witness, it is the door to church growth, to missions and evangelism, and to issues of social justice. Worship now stands at the center of the Church’s life and mission in the world.

Robert Webber, Planning Blended Worship, Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, 1998, p. 29.

I have always been amazed at what can happen when we simply plant the good seed of God’s Word in the good soil of broken people. We have an expression in our movement: bad people make good soil – there’s a lot of fertilizer in their lives.

Neil Cole, Organic Church, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 2005, p. 72.

Faith is the building that depends upon both the foundation of Scripture and the columns of the sacraments. Both are the word of God.

Leanne Van Dyk, A More Profound Alleluia, Eerdman’s, Grand Rapids, MI, 2005, p. 75.