Chelsey Harmon
I am a Pastor at Christ Community Church in Nanaimo, BC. An American who has found her way north, I spend my free time enjoying the scenic outdoors, knitting, writing, and people.
In ministry, I feel very strongly a desire to be faithful to God and to help others do the same. I love being in the work of God's transformation and having the opportunity to introduce people to new experiences, practices and God's everlasting Truths in meaningful and life-shifting ways.
Posted in: The Trouble With "Authenticity" as a Faith Formation Goal
A number of our churches are engaged in learning about how to rightly understand godly authenticity through the Ridder Church Renewal Process. To continue to build on what you have shared, Syd, I'd like to share some of the insights from the Ridder Process.
True authenticity happens when you bring all of what you know about yourself to all of what you know about God. I find that this fits perfectly with what you share under #1. Such a life of reflecting and growing through various avenues of spiritual formation/practices leads to continuous transformation of our knowledge (as well as directly impacting how we live) of our self and of God; which is connected to your second point.
A third value to consider when discussing authenticity is the growth point to challenge our strident individual practice: authentic community, that is, a community of people who share and sustain a common purpose with one another. It is in these small communities of individuals supporting one another in the practice of authenticity that the Spirit works to admonish, challenge, encourage, and help one another in truth, with love and patience. (1 Thes 5.14) Others helps us see our blind spots, being in community helps us live in God's design (i.e. relationally) and helps us to experience the very fundamental Christian truth: transformation does not happen without submission. In particular, such communities are the only safe place to be authentic before others because they are the only place where we might hear that what we know of ourselves is not true in light of what we know of God.
When we "fill out" what we understand about authenticity in this way, we see that the key value is not simply saying what's so for you as you are right now, but coming to understanding and action surrounding where Christ through the Spirit is leading you to be transformed to the Father's design. In authenticity, we are coming to terms with the old that needs to go and the new creation that has come (or is coming!) (2 Cor 5.17)
Posted in: Need or Desire for a Repository of Worship Visuals?
I'd be interested to see what comes of this. At our church we've been trying to develop a guideline for our IT team for images on the screen. Needless to say, we haven't been very successful! Having a trusted source to send them to in the meantime would be quite helpful.
Posted in: R.I.P. Deep Thinking
Hey Allen, thanks for starting the discussion. A couple of things come to mind.
First, some people are more inclined to "deep thinking." Anyone who's taken a personality/spiritual gifts/strengthsfinder survey or test will remember seeing traits like "deep thinker," "learner," "theological reflection," "strategic thinker...." I happen to be one of those people, so I find lots of things on the screens that surround me that inspire and cause a stir within my heart, soul, and mind.
Second, what if we used the medium that seems to pose the challenge to deep thinking to actually foster it? Take, for example, this blog post; it appeared here on The Network, but also on your blog. You were hoping that someone reading this would be spurred to deeper contemplation.
But that doesn't really get at the skimming syndrome. One of the things I've tried to do is resource people with thought provoking, challenging, resources in a blog format that fits in a sort of skim format: http://cccfaithathome.wordpress.com/ I aim to post about ten minutes of material (time spent reading a post or watching a video), each week. I choose material that is pertinent to everyday life, and therefore has the potential to influence the way that readers live out their faith.
You're right, though, none of it matters unless the Spirit makes it take hold in someone's heart. Our job as pastors is to facilitate that work, helping people be open and ready to receive, walking alongside them as they put on Christ and faithfulness. It may start as a skim, but God can use the window shopping technique to strike a deep desire within.
Posted in: R.I.P. Deep Thinking
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the comment. I don't disagree with you at all. We are called to encourage and equip people to think more deeply and reflect on the wonders of our God in the world and in their lives. That's why I created the blog in the first place.
Perhaps I fell prey to the need to be short and to the point in my commenting... :)