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Sacramental Discipleship as a Pathway to Ecclesial Reformation in the Free Methodist Church in Canada PDF

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SACRAMENTAL DISCIPLESHIP AS A PATHWAY TO ECCLESIAL REFORMATION IN THE FREE METHODIST CHURCH IN CANADA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY CLIFF FLETCHER MAY 2011 GODDARD LIBRARY Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary 130 Essex Street South Hamilton, MA 01982-2361 Copyright ©2011 by Cliff Fletcher. All Rights Reserved. CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE Vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix ABSTRACT CHAPTER ONE: DISSONANCE BETWEEN WHAT SHOULD BE AND WHAT IS The Problem with Church Syncretistic Christianity The Narcissistic Church 1] Ecclesial Reformation 13 Discipleship 18 Sacraments 21 Statement of Thesis Topic 24 Methodology 25 Summary of Chapters 27 CHAPTER TWO: HEALTHY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AND DISCIPLESHIP 31 Christian Community: the Ideal 32 Christian Community: The Reality 40 How Can the Christian Community Be Transformed? 42 Cultural Transformation 47 Discipleship: A Solution to Transforming Basic Assumptions 52 Summary 60 CHAPTER THREE: SACRAMENT AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY 63 Sacrament of Communion: Old Testament 64 Sacrament of Communion: New Testament 69 Sacrament of Communion: Christian Perspectives 77 Sacrament of Communion: John and Charles Wesley 84 A Summary of the Purposes of the Lord’s Supper 88 The Marriage of Sacrament and Discipleship 89 iii CHAPTER FOUR: PRACTICAL DIVINITY — CONVERSATIONS ABOUT SACRAMENTAL DISCIPLESHIP 92 Step One: Conversations with Practitioners of the Faith 93 Step Two: Conversations with NLT 108 A Synthesis of Ideas 113 CHAPTER FIVE: FINAL SUMMARY AND SYNTHESIS 117 A Brief Review 117 Collaborative Inquiry & Interviews: An Observation & Suggestion 119 Collaborative Inquiry and Interviews: An Idea 124 Sacramental Discipleship: A Model 128 Four Requirements for a Discipler 129 Discipleship Questions 132 Conclusions 139 Epilogue 141 APPENDIX A: PASTOR DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 142 APPENDIX B: 2007 PASTOR SURVEY 143 APPENDIX C: PRACTICING LITURGY IN DISCIPLESHIP 145 APPENDIX D: DISCIPLESHIP QUESTIONS 147 BIBLIOGRAPHY 149 VITA 156 iv ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1. Figure 1.1 The FMCIC Growth Trends (Commitments) 2 2. Figure 1.2 The FMCIC Growth Trends (Attendance) 3 3. Figure 1.3 Sacramental Discipleship 30 Tables 1. Table 4.1 Focus Groups 94 2. Table 4.2 Desired Outcomes & Purposes 116 3. Table 5.1 Discipleship and Pratt 122 PREFACE The church I pastor is coming through a most difficult ministry season. One member experienced “prophetic dreams.” She insisted that, if we did not listen to her, the church would be “destroyed.” A second member accused a leader of a moral issue (non- sexual). The elders and other leaders investigated the allegations, determined them to be false and, in fact, the accuser to be in the wrong.! The person, however, stubbornly maintained her position. In both cases the church leadership approached the people with compassion and with a desire to resolve these issues. When the leadership offered steps of reconciliation, the first person and, months later, the second person declined. Both opted to do what many North American Christians naturally do: look for another church. Our leaders discussed at length the idea that the Apostle Paul would not do well in most western churches. He would wonder where our authority had gone (Hebrews 13:17). He would look for the restorative gift of discipline (Galatians 6:1), the value of a united body (1 Corinthians 12), the beauty of mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21), and the respect for leadership (1 Timothy 3:1). The Canadian Church, it would seem, continues to struggle with these values, partly and deservedly because it has abused them, and partly because the prevailing culture naturally resists these biblical patterns (spiritual authority, discipline, unity, mutual submission, etc.):? And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, [italics mine] but let God transform you into The Barrie Free Methodist Church elders / board “tested” with the following grid: 1. Scripture; 2. Prayer and fasting; 3. “Fruit test” in each party’s life: a) fruit of the Spirit and b) harvest fruit; 4. Appeal to the larger body of Christ (denomination, network of pastors, and discussion with other church and para-church leaders). 2Unless otherwise stated all Scripture references will be from the New International Version of the Bible. vi a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.? The church is constantly confronted by “the patterns of this world” that include rigorous independence and individuality, entitlement, materialism, and consumerism. Christians must stop conforming and start inviting more of God’s transforming grace. How will this transformation occur? Christian thinker Soren Kierkegaard wrote that “Christ came into the world with a purpose of saving it, not instructing it. At the same time — as is implied in his saving work — he came to be the pattern, to leave footprints for the person who would join him, who would become a follower.”* Christ is building the church as a footprint to follow. Church family° is His solution, and God’s Kingdom ethic is the new pattern. I belong to the Free Methodist Church in Canada (FMCIC). I believe the local church can be redeemed into the dynamic powerhouse we are called to be. The transformation the church must undergo requires a journey of rediscovery: rediscovering church reformation; rediscovering discipleship which was an essential component of the first one hundred years of the Methodist movement; and rediscovering gifts from Jesus that nurture church family, as we are as Methodists a sacramental people. These rediscoveries will enable Christians to be worshipers and missionaries for God. Specifically, the gift of Holy Communion which, as a movement, we believe is more than 3Romans 12: 1-2 (NLT). The NIV uses the term “patterns of this world”. “Soren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House, 1999), 85. *Church family will be the term used to differentiate the local church from the universal church. Paul the Apostle wrote to the ecclesia generally (universal) and specifically (locally). He chose several images to help believers understand the function of ecclesia including: the Body, an army, and family (the language of children, Father is used, as well marriage where the church is the bride). Church family then is a culturally relevant and doctrinally accurate phrase to help define and discuss a specific local church. vii an event. We believe the sacrament of communion is a dynamic encounter with God, and it is the lifestyle of the disciple wherein each believer is a Eucharist to other people®. And this sacrament should be reconnected to discipleship: sacramental discipleship. Sacramental discipleship is a pathway to much needed ecclesial reformation. °Rob Bell and Don Golden, Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto For the Church in Exile (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 158. viii ABBREVIATIONS BFMC Barrie Free Methodist Church Discipleship an intentional and organic process of formation through loving relationships marked by accountability, commitment, education, and encouragement to serve. Discipleship is lived within the context of church family. The primary purposes of discipleship are to help nurture vital Christian community, to foster proper worship of God and to help believers participate in His mission (worship-mission). EFC Evangelical Fellowship of Canada FMCIC Free Methodist Church in Canada NCD Natural Church Development Survey NIV New International Version of the Bible NLT National Leadership Team of the Free Methodist Church in Canada WFMC Whitby Free Methodist Church ix ABSTRACT In light of declining attendance and conversion patterns in the Free Methodist Church in Canada (FMCIC) this study explored discipleship and sacramental practices as potential avenues of renewal. First a definition of discipleship was developed based on Jesus’ model, history and current cultural realities (including a brief exploration of current adult learning theory and organizational theory). Secondly, Eucharistic themes and practice were explored theologically and historically with an emphasis on a Wesleyan world view. In both cases, interviews with FMCIC pastors and leaders were conducted to help establish common practice of discipleship and the Lord’s Table in the FMCIC. The model presented in this study is that discipleship is to be the channel through which the themes of the Eucharist are introduced into a believer’s life. The reason discipleship was chosen as a vehicle to introduce the Eucharist is that discipleship impacts the church at her most foundational level: individuals. Change is most effectively accomplished by introducing new information at a micro-level: the organization’s basic assumptions. The basic assumptions of any given local church are safeguarded in each individual. Therefore, a discipleship relationship is God’s opportunity to input His new Kingdom ethic into the church. Discipleship wed to the themes and practice of the Eucharist, or sacramental discipleship is completely accessible to FMCIC, which makes it potentially a potent and immediate reformation opportunity.

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