MIssional Holiness

Last week Dr. Tim Tennent, the president of Asbury Seminary gave his convocation address during chapel. As always, Dr. Tennant had powerful and deep words to share. In the address he compared the Church (in the United States) with Cracker Barrel. He stated that Cracker Barrel was selling more than food and trinkets, they were selling a feeling of the past. In fact, Dr. Tennent notes, Cracker Barrel is really a shrine to the past. And so are most of our churches. (I would add and argue that this goes for "contemporary" churches as well, but that will be another post for another day.) The Church functions on a "come and see" model, asking people to show up, enjoy the experience, attain a feeling, and then go on their way. The Church needs to function (as ministries like Young Life do) as a "go and tell" (or "go and do") model.

How do we move from one model to another? Dr. Tennent suggests, and I agree, that faith and fruit have to be wed. This is what we find in Wesley's theology. So much pop theology today ends with the death and resurrection of Christ: the beginning and end of our relationship with God is faith in Jesus. But Scripture moves past the Gospels and into Acts and the Epistles. Here we see that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church and the Church became the incarnation of Christ in the World...and it still is today! In other words, Faith in Christ is the beginning, but it must progress to an endless production of fruit in our lives by the Holy Spirit

The Church doesn't just proclaim what Christ did for the world, the Church is what Christ is doing in the world today! Because the Spirit has been poured out on the Church, we are made to be fruitful, to be Holy just as He is Holy (Lev. 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). As we grow in Christ, then the Spirit matures us and we become more and more fruitful. Faith and fruitfulness. Without fruit, our faith is meaningless (James 2:14-17).

One final note from Dr. Tennent's address: "Holiness is the mark of the Church. The world will not be won with unholy people." First God called Israel to be his holy people. That calling carries over to the Church, for in Christ we become Abraham's descendants and members of the Kingdom. If we refuse to carry the mark of Holiness, then we refuse to belong to the Kingdom of God. If we are not part of the Kingdom of God, how can we fight for it? This is Missional Holiness. Missional Holiness leads us from seeing church as something that we go to, to being something that we are.

If you want to hear Dr. Tennents address, click here, and look for the September 9th address. One note about the address: Pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit.

P.S. Sorry that my post is late this week. Only a week and a half into the semester and I already feel behind! I'll try to be on time next week.

This Weekend

This weekend is the first larger gathering for the Gainesville Church. Our partners in planting, Dan and Patti Cleere, are hosting a group at their home on Saturday. This will be our first meeting now that we have definitely decided to go to Gainesville. Technically then, I think that this is the very first gathering of the Gainesville Anglican Church!

Maybe it is a little too early to begin thinking about a name, but I can't help it. I am open to suggestions, so offer any bright ideas any of you may have. I have mixed feelings about naming a church,and since I process information by thinking out loud, I will think "out loud" while I'm typing:

On one hand there is the school of thinking that would say to shy away from anything that sounds too "churchy". No Saint names, no denominational tags, no biblical geography: Mt. Zion, St. Peter's, or anything that ends in Anglican Church (or Methodist, or Baptist, or whatever) would all be out of the question. The thinking is that all of these carry such negative connotations with un-churched or the disenfranchised. Names that are vague like South East Community Fellowship or The Journey are cool because they sound a little more open and don't suggest dogmatic, uptight, and hypocritical people reside on the inside.

And I can see the point here, I really can. But I have also really come to appreciate the art of naming something. Naming a church St. Patrick's carries with it the Celtic churches traditions, a church named St. Jame's hopefully would try to embody the truth of Jame's epistle, and so on. There is meaning in a name, and people and places live into that meaning.

OK. I really am no closer to coming to any conclusions. Maybe I should name it Gainseville's North Georgia Journey Anglican Community Fellowship. Any help?

Keep praying. Our meeting is at 3:00 on Saturday. We really are underway!

New design, new direction for Night Time Hike

As you may have noticed, I have taken about two weeks off from the blog. Now that God has clearly illuminated the next step in the path and we are working directly towards an Anglican Church plant in Gainesville, GA, I wanted to rethink the direction of the blog. For the past few months, the Night Time Hike has served as an update about the personal lives of the Fitzgeralds, a place to write out thoughts, express insights that God has given me, and give updates about to progress of our plans. In short, this has been a catch all place for whatever I wanted to write about on that particular night. This has been fun and I hope that all of you have enjoyed a peek into my life and my mind.

It is time now though for a change in Night Time Hike. I think that it is time for me to begin work as the pastor of this fledgling church. And while I cannot actually be present in Gainesville on a permanent basis until next summer, I can share the words and insights that God has given me right here. I can use this to blog to continue to report on the progress of the church, to update everyone on upcoming meetings (we will meet once a month in Gainesville until we launch next summer), and a place to ask help, prayers, and support. The plan is that I will be writing and posting updates on Mondays. Periodically, if I feel that there is something really pertinent (or just really funny), I will post when the mood hits.

Can I ask for your help? First, above all, pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit begins the work, first and foremost, in preparing the hearts of the people in Gainesville. Pray that God brings to this church the right people for the right jobs. And pray that I am able to handle all of this while finishing school, being an assistant swim coach at Asbury University, teaching art one day a week at a private school, and being the husband and father that God has called me to be.

Secondly, can I ask that you spread the word? Tell other people about this blog and about the mission of this new Church in Gainseville. I would love for word to spread all around about the work that God is going to do there. The more people that know, the more prayers will go up. I truly would love to have global prayer coverage. I know right now I have people faithfully praying in Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and here in Kentucky. How cool would it be to know that we had prayers in all fifty states and around the world being focused on Gainesville, GA?

You may have also noticed that the design of the blog has changed. I am experimenting around, so it may change a little until I get it right. I will be adding gadgets, videos, and a few other things as well. Hopefully it will end up looking polished and professional. Kinda the opposite of me on most days.

One last thought: When I served on staff with Young Life, I heard another staff person excitedly speak about the new area he had been assigned to and said with complete confidence, “God’s gonna blow this place UP, man!” With your help, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, that is exactly what God can do with this church to Gainesville, GA. God’s gonna blow this place UP!