over the next week or so, i’ll post slightly edited versions of the notes from our junior high pastors summit. they’re pretty fragmented for someone who wasn’t there, i’ll admit (they weren’t ‘taken’ for this purpose). but for those who would like to read, i’m excited to share them with you.

parts 1, 2 and 3 are the summaries of the morning scot mcknight spent with us. then, parts 4 - 8 are the pieces of our discussion. one bonus post will have the book recommendations from the group to one another (this is one of our traditions each year, to share two or three books we’d recommend to each other).

here’s part 1
and now for part 2…

Defining the Gospel
“The work of a triune God to create a community to restore cracked eikons for union with God and communion with others with a missional direction”
-to extend the gospel to all – to better the world
-It is the work of a triune God at work all the time (not something we do)
-create a community in which cracked eikons are restored through the life and death of Christ so that eikons will be in communion with God to better the world – it includes heaven but it’s not just about heaven – it’s about life on earth in accordance with the will of God

-The gospel is proclaimed and performed – every community of faith performs the gospel in such a way that the gospel is “seen” more than it is “heard” – we have to look at it and ask “what Gospel is seen by this community?” does it say “The work of a triune God to create a community to restore cracked eikons for union with God and communion with others with a missional direction”
-most people know…they are in a church and they don’t belong…
-most of our churches are for “already restored eikons” – we need to create an environment with permeable walls – so people can come in and not know where that threshold is

“Messy Spirituality” needs to be the norm

-people seek a church that allows authenticity

Marko – how do we respond to preaching “we’re all a mess- that’s who we are”? – how do we align that with a desire for right living?
Scot – we need to be authentic with people – we need to share stories
Marko – how do you respond to people that by talking that way gives people permission to sin?
Scot – we need to tell them that’s not what it’s about – we don’t leave room for healing and we need to do that when being authentic
Eric V - the system we have now doesn’t give incentive to get involved in the kingdom of God –
Scot - we create environments where people have to be clean and when they are not
Nate Rice – how do we articulate to the community this new way of thinking?
Scot – bring them into the culture

How we shape the Gospel

1) God – Perichoresis: the word we use for the trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit mutually dwell together to the place where we don’t know one without the other – is an interpenetrating trinity (relationship) – the dance of atonement – God is a community

2) Eikon: this is where we have to begin the gospel – we are eikons (Mr. Rogers taught us this) we are made as eikons – it’s to love God, self, others, and the world – so that we glow as representatives of God in the world –we are eikons in all four directions – in the fall we cracked our relationships in all 4 directions – Genesis 3 – most people preach a gospel that is only about God – self is taught in such a way that self (as an eikon) is bad – we need to allow people to love themselves – their eikon
God is first but we don’t live in a world that allows that – we have to take care of self and others first – the gospel can begin in any four of those areas – when we preach a gospel that is only about God – we create an environment where the only part of the gospel is God. When it is just restoration to God, we just then preach Bible reading and prayer as spiritual formation. Jesus DID NOT preach this. 1 Cor. 3 – “we are being transformed from one form of glory to another.”

– if we don’t have room for all 4 directions – we’ve aborted the gospel – Eikons is talked about in Genesis but not again till 2 Corinthians 4:4 – we are created to be eikons, we are cracked eikons, we need to be Christ-like eikons – it is the work of the Gospel to take cracked eikons and make them Christ-like (celestial) eikons.

3) Sin – we define it in a judicial way – sin is defined as an offense against the will of God, If this is true, when we are forgiven, it is over. Sin is that we have broken relationships in all four directions…is sin the same from gender to gender, race to race, country to country? – Sin has been defined in the western tradition – the ultimate sin in the western tradition as Pride – we have a segregated church…our world shapes what we see as biblical. Is sin the same for everyone? If it is pride, sin is defined in male terms. Men have a problem trying to be more than they are supposed to be, women have a problem being less than they are supposed to be. Hyperrelational distortion in all four directions is sin.

Pre-moral people don’t respond to Sin messages.
We need to respond to shame not just guilt.

Problem of Individualism – the gospel is about establishing an “alternative society” about where the Kingdom of God is lived out. The emphasis on the church in the NT is being ignored.
-SIN is hyper relational breakdown in all 4 directions (God, Self, Others and World)
Paul’s doctrine of of the Kingdom of God is the church, not soteriology. We need a bigger view of the Church.