GlocalNet

What shape is your theology?  Of course, the Bible - we all say that and we all know that.  But what makes you focus on the parts of the Bible that you do and determines how you integrate that into life?  I was thinking yesterday, how our western theology really doesn’t prepare us for global engagement for the 21st century.  It’s all there, it’s all in the Bible, but we don’t talk about it a lot.  People who are into theology talk about their “tribal” theology based on their denomination or network or affiliations.  Why do I think like I do, what pushed me into seeing God as I’ve come to see him?  I think I’ve been through a few phases.

First, theology was about salvation for my friends, not even salvation for me.  When I accepted Jesus as my Savior as a teenager, I did so not as a theologian, but as a person seeking truth and God and in a personal way and he revealed himself to me.  My first stab at theology was trying to understand how salvation happens so I could lead my friends to Jesus.  It was the theology of the cross and the resurrection and forgiveness of my sin that kept me from God.  It was grace and mercy and atonement all wrapped up.  It was the Lamb of God.

Second theology was about the church and my tribe.  Was I to be a preacher and lead a church?  Then, in my 20’s I was always concerned about how to organize theology and what I believe, and how does it all fit together and make sense (systematic theology) and what did my tribe believe.  I focused on the where things didn’t fit, how do you make them fit.  How far do you take something - election and freewill, the second coming Christ, the role of the Holy Spirit - all of us believe in these things but there are nuances to each one - which did I take and why - had a lot to do with my tribe and what I would teach.  Often, what I believed had little to do with personal revelation and experience but much to do with study and security in what the tribe believed. 

Third, in my 30’s, my theology began to be developed by how I experienced God.  To know about him and understand him in a systematic theological way is one thing - but to know him personally and experience his fullness and power - that is another.  Personal worship took on a new dimension with me, the kingdom of God - not just the restoration of the individual but the reconciliation of all things - justice and mercy impacted how I read Scripture.  This caused me to read history to understand how the great theologians developed their theology and much of it had to do with how they experienced him be it Edwards, Calvin, Luther - it wasn’t just a matter of build a theological system - it was about the personal God. 

Fourth, in my 40’s, I began to understand God in a global context like never before.  We all say the church is global because of the Great Commission as if it starts and stops there. It doesn’t.  I believe one of the greatest challenges to us today is our Global view of God and theology.  I actually believe much of our theology is a hindrance to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  The reformers and others taught us things from God’s Word which are relevant to this very moment in time.  However, they were not comprehensive and complete.  God has given his complete revelation in the word, but the world is different with unique opportunities, challenges, and context for which theology is lived out.  When I see theology from each of the above 3 periods or dimensions I see God one way - but when I read the Bible and see God at work and present in the world it changes everything.  I see the key now not as the preacher and the church but as the disciple and the society.  Whereas my conversation had always been the church and how to start it, etc. - which it still is and we still do at a higher rate than any time in our history - the focus is not as much about establishing the church as much as it is making disciples not just teaching a planter how to gather a group for a Sunday event, and, the grid becomes the society, not church work or religious work.  We know how to do church and religion in the world as “Christians.”  We do not know how to live faith in a global multicultural, multinational, multi-tribal way where the gospel lays across all of them and believers converge based on that.  We don’t know much about speaking of faith in terms of a global faith with multiple faiths - we know a lot about competition of faith(s).  Paul was what he was and did what he did no doubt because he had a healthy theology that was global and he understood the world, cities, work, transportation, connectedness - all of it.  Wish we had his understanding today.