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Ministry Focus Paper Approval Sheet

This ministry focus paper entitled

EXPLORING A BIBLICAL, SYSTEMATIC, HISTORICAL, AND PRACTICAL THEOLOGY FOR UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCING UNION WITH CHRIST

Written by

KEITH SCHERER

and submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Ministry

has been accepted by the Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary

upon the recommendation of the undersigned readers:

______Gary Sattler

______Kurt Fredrickson

Date Received: August 5, 2016

EXPLORING A BIBLICAL, SYSTEMATIC, HISTORICAL, AND PRACTICAL THEOLOGY FOR UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCING UNION WITH CHRIST

A MINISTRY FOCUS PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

BY

KEITH SCHERER AUGUST 2016

ABSTRACT

Exploring a Biblical, Systematic, Historical, and Practical Theology for Understanding and Experiencing Union with Christ Keith Scherer Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2016

The goal of the project presented in this paper was to present a biblical, systematic, historical, and practical theology to a church so that members might increase their understanding regarding union with Christ and grow in their experience of that union. It is suggested that such a focus is an appropriate response to the broader cultural issues of materialism and consumerism, busyness and pace of life, and concerns specific to the suburban Christian. This project was conducted at Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois during the season of Lent in 2012. Five weeks were devoted to the ministry focus. The presentation of biblical theology was primarily through the sermon series. The remainder of the worship service elements also delivered some biblical theology. However, the focus was more on the experience of union with Christ. Systematic and historical theologies were presented in the single weekly adult education class. The class also covered practical theology along with the opportunity to exercise that theology through devotional guides given to the congregants. This project found that those who engaged in the ministry focus did find benefit and expected to change their actions to include a stronger pursuit of experiential union with Christ. Further research would be needed to determine if there was actual change in individuals in both understanding and practice. Choosing to intentionally focus on union with Christ is commended to the larger church, particularly in the conservative evangelical and Reformed traditions.

Content Reader: Gary Sattler, ThD, PsyD

Words: 239

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank: The congregants at Naperville Presbyterian Church who willingly participated in this project; the Doctor of Ministry department and Academic Affairs Committee at Fuller Theological Seminary for creating the space for me to complete this project; Jim Plueddemann who first taught me to weave together content and experience through shared praxis; Tim Phillips who first inspired in me a love for theology; Jim Wilhoit who offered valuable feedback and essential encouragement on the writing of this project; Gary Sattler and Tom Schwanda, my mentors in the Christian Spirituality cohort at Fuller, who deeply impacted my thinking about and experience of my own life in Christ. Finally, thanks be to Jesus Christ, the one to whom I am in unmerited union through his mercy, grace, and love. Soli Deo Gloria .

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

INTRODUCTION 1

PART ONE: MINISTRY CHALLENGE

Chapter 1: COMMUNITY CONTEXT 8

Chapter 2: CHURCH CONTEXT 25

PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION

Chapter 3: LITERATURE REVIEW 43

Chapter 4: THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH 65

Chapter 5: THEOLOGY OF UNION WITH CHRIST 82

PART THREE: STRATEGY

Chapter 6: GOALS AND PLAN 104

Chapter 7: IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS AND EVALUATION 122

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 138

APPENDICES 144

BIBLIOGRAPHY 182

iv

INTRODUCTION

Union with Christ is a theological and experiential area that is often not well understood, at least in some portions of the Church. Intentional teaching and the application of certain spiritual practices can rectify this lack. This project endeavors to accomplish this through a systematic approach with a single, local congregation.

Target Audience and Location

Naperville Presbyterian Church (hereafter NPC) is a congregation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America (hereafter PCA), a conservative, Reformed denomination. The church, located in the western suburbs of Chicago, is composed primarily of White, middle-class families. The busyness and pace of life in the community and church is full, fast, and overcommitted. While the membership maintains a strong intellectual assent to the truths and moral values espoused in conservative, evangelical Christianity, many do not find the time to significantly develop and grow their relationship with God. The church is certainly typical of many White, suburban congregations.

Specific Ministry Need

Congregants at NPC seem to approach their life of faith as just one more part or slice of their life. Spiritual growth questions are relegated to a list of activities, events, and practices to do. To be spiritual is to devote a bigger piece of the pie to items on the spiritual list. The problem with this approach is that it only deepens the problem with busyness and pace of life while offering little in the realm of real change.

1

The Sunday sermon is at the heart of the pastor’s and elders’ vision for the church. Most sermons focus on understanding a biblical text coupled with a call to believe and act on that text. A simple narrative version of the Gospel is included in every sermon and is exclusively focused on substitutionary atonement. Unfortunately, this means that the Gospel becomes merely a transaction and not the life-transforming Good

News it should be. Furthermore, the call to share this Gospel with others, a regular element in the sermons, is based more on duty and legalism than as an outflow of a vibrant spiritual life.

What is needed is a paradigm change. Rather than seeing the elements of the spiritual life as tasks to be performed, the congregation needs to discover more fully what it means to encounter God through the elements of the spiritual life. The congregation also needs to live into a fuller and deeper understanding of the transforming Gospel. An embraced theology, in all its fullness, of union with Christ can provide the needed paradigm change.

Why the Topic Is Important

Union with Christ has been a neglected focus in many conservative, Reformed churches such as the PCA. This is unfortunate since this area of theology has been an integral part of the Church throughout church history. Recent books such as Covenant

and Salvation: Union with Christ by Michael S. Horton and Union with Christ: In

Scripture, History, and Theology by Robert Letham are part of a movement to recapture

this focus. As shown in J. Todd Billings’s Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and

Ministry for the Church , union with Christ is not just an ivory towered theological notion.

2

Rather, it is eminently practical for shaping a fully orbed spiritual life. Along with the associated themes of participation, adoption, engrafting, and spiritual marriage, union with Christ may be the best and most central scriptural paradigm for viewing the

Christian life. This paper assumes the centrality and importance of nurturing union with

Christ.

The invitation to union is at the core of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus

Christ. This invitation is so much more than just the forensic aspects of salvation. In fact a mere forensic view is undoubtedly reductionist in its presentation of the Gospel. A fuller Gospel includes the invitation to union with Christ that is enabled by this forensic view of salvation. Forgiveness is not the end itself but is a means to the end goal of union. Imputed righteousness is necessary but is not the sum total of salvation. Rather, this gift equips one for the further gift of union. The Gospel is not just a doorway to a new, but static reality; it is the doorway to ongoing progress in the dynamic experience of the believer being in Christ and Christ being in the believer.

Reasons for My Interest in the Topic

In 2005 I was finding my own personal spiritual experience to be constricted and

lacking life. While I continued to be committed to a set of beliefs that were broadly

evangelical and yet essentially Reformed, I was not finding the answers I needed for my

inner life in that context. I began a pilgrimage to look at and examine various Christian

practices and theologies that do not strictly lie in the evangelical and Reformed heritage. I

discovered areas that were different, especially in trajectory, than my own background,

but were not necessarily contradictory.

3

Readings from over the centuries on mystical union were intensely challenging and appealing to me at the same time. During the late-medieval period, John Ruusbroec

(1293-1381) in The Spiritual Espousals , Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361) in Sermons ,

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) in Showings , and Catherine of Genoa (1446-1510) in

Purgation and Purgatory and The Spiritual Dialogues wrote on aspects of mystical union

with Christ. For all of them, there was the possibility of nearly unmediated union or

divinization through some form of asceticism that led to an intense connection to the love

of God.

As attractive as these late medieval descriptions seemed, they were often

accompanied by and built on theological premises that were in opposition to Reformed

theology, which is the theological tradition in which I minister. It was then that I turned

to John Calvin (1509-1564) and his Institutes of the Christian Religion and

Commentaries and John Owen (1616-1683) and his Communion with God . In these

works I found a Reformed approach to the theology and experience of union with Christ,

which Calvin referred to as, “The indwelling of Christ in our hearts — in short, that

mystical union,” 1 and which Owen referred to as communion. This was the overarching paradigm I had been looking for, for my own life and for those to whom I ministered.

Thesis of the Project

The thesis of this project is that through worship services, adult education, and devotional guides, the congregation of NPC would grow in their understanding and experience of a Reformed theology of union with Christ as it relates to the Gospel and

1 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), 737. 4

that would bear fruit in growing outward expressions of the internal spiritual life. The scope of this project was for all adult congregants at NPC. All elements of the worship service, including the sermon, had a unified focus on union with Christ for the five weeks of the project. The sacrament of communion, normally monthly, was observed each week. There was one adult education class on Sunday mornings devoted to the theme. A weekly devotional guide was provided which gathered the worship service and adult education elements along with resources for individual growth and exploration. This project took place during the first five weeks of the season of Lent in 2012.

Overview of Project Content

Biblical theology was explored primarily through the sermons each week. The

pastors preached on five themes related to union with Christ using appropriate texts.

Those themes were adoption (Eph 1:3-14; 2 Cor 5:17), spiritual fruit (Eph 2:10; Jn 15:1-

17), the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:1-11; Jn 14:16-17, 25-26), community (Jn 17:20-26), and the

sacrament of communion (Mt 26:26-29). Biblical theology was further supported by

Scriptures used throughout the worship service. Finally, suggested daily readings from

Scripture were provided in the devotional guides.

Systematic, historical, and practical theology was explored interactively in the

adult education class. The works of Calvin, highly regarded in conservative Reformed

circles, provided the necessary access point for expanding the understanding of the

Gospel and union with Christ at NPC. A systematic theology of union was slowly pieced

together over the five weeks of class. Historical theology was brought to light by using

the works of Calvin, Owen, Augustine of Hippo, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Isaac

5

Ambrose. (Calvin was also used in the worship services in conjunction with communion.

There was a short devotional from Calvin on the nature of the Sacrament and its relationship to union with Christ.) The focus of the Lenten season of 2010 was the spiritual disciplines. These were reviewed and tied to the practical pursuit of union with

Christ. Those disciplines were reading Scripture, prayer, examen of conscience and consciousness, rest and Sabbath, and service. Suffering, a discipline not previously referenced, was added in the final week.

The success of this project was entirely contingent on the engagement of the congregants at NPC. If this project merely provided content and did not lead to transformation and spiritual growth, then it would not accomplish its purpose. On the other hand, if the congregation participated fully in corporate worship, reflected on the teaching both in worship and the education hour, used the spiritual disciplines as a means of pursuing God, and explored the possibilities before them, then the expectation was that there would be authentic life change.

6

PART ONE

MINISTRY CHALLENGE

CHAPTER 1

COMMUNITY CONTEXT

NPC is located in Naperville, a far west suburb in the Chicago metropolitan area.

This chapter provides a simple overview of the basic demographics of Naperville. It also

discusses some relevant cultural values and lifestyle choices. In particular materialism,

consumerism, busyness, and pace of life are addressed in the context of American and

suburban culture. Finally, this chapter notes the impact of these values on American

suburban Christianity as part of the community context.

Demographics

Population numbers, combined with ethnic percentages, give the most basic

demographic profile of Naperville. Naperville is the fifth largest city in Illinois with an

estimated population in 2012 of 143,684 based on the 2010 census number of 141,853.1

In 2010 the largest self-reported ethnic categories were 76.5 percent as White alone, 14.9

percent as Asian alone, 4.7 percent as Black or African-American alone, and 5.3 percent

as Hispanic or Latino which included the 3.5 percent of the total population also

1 United States Census Bureau, “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012,” US Department of Commerce, http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2012/ PEPANNRES/0400000US17.16200 (accessed April 7, 2014). 8

reporting as White alone. For comparison, the State of Illinois had a response of 71.5 percent White alone, 4.6 percent Asian alone, 14.5 percent Black or African-American alone, and 15.8 percent Hispanic or Latino including 7.8 percent also reporting as White alone. 2 Nationally, the numbers are 77.9 percent White alone, 5.1 percent Asian alone,

13.1 percent Black or African American alone, and 16.9 percent Hispanic or Latino with

14.9 percent also reporting as White alone. 3 Examining these numbers and comparing

Naperville to the Illinois and U.S. averages shows significantly higher percentages of

White non-Hispanic or Latino (73.0 percent vs. 63.7 percent and 63.0 percent) and Asian

(14.9 percent vs. 4.6 percent and 5.1 percent) and lower percentages of Black or African-

American (4.7 percent vs. 14.5 percent and 13.1 percent) and Hispanic or Latino (5.3 percent vs. 15.8 percent and 16.9 percent).

A second important demographic area is that of economics. Numbers comparing

Naperville with the state and the nation support the conclusion that Naperville as a whole is above average in terms of economic wealth. The median household income between

2008 and 2012 was $108,252 as opposed to $56,853 in Illinois and $53,046 in the United

States. For the same time period the median value of owner-occupied homes between

2008 and 2012 was $384,500 with a home ownership rate of 77.0 percent in Naperville as compared to $190,800 and 68.0 percent statewide and $181,400 and 65.5 percent nationally. Also in the 2008 to 2012 time frame, 3.8 percent of the population of

2 United States Census Bureau, “Naperville (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau,” US Department of Commerce, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1751622.html (accessed March 28, 2014).

3 United States Census Bureau, “USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau,” US Department of Commerce, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/ 00000.html (accessed March 28, 2014). 9

Naperville lived below poverty level with Illinois having 13.7 percent and the United

States 14.9 percent.4

Finally, numbers related to education and work show part of Naperville’s profile.

In terms of education, 96.5 percent of persons 25 and older in Naperville are high school graduates or higher; 66.1 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. For the state the percentages are 87.0 percent and 31.1 percent; for the nation they are 85.7 percent and

28.5 percent. For those living in Naperville, the average travel time to work for workers age 16 and above is 33.9 minutes. In Illinois it is 28.1 minutes. In the United States it is

25.4 minutes. 5

Using the statistical methods suggested on the United States Census website, 6 and the data from the webpage “Selected Economic Characteristics: 2008-2012 American

Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,” 7 the average travel time to work differences between Naperville and Illinois and between Naperville and the United States are statistically significant at the 99.9 percent confidence level. This particular piece of data is part of the reality of the presence of a rapid pace of life discussed below. Albert Hsu has suggested that the work commute is just one form of the suburban commute: “Even those who don’t commute to a city for work still commute. Many of us live in one

4 United States Census Bureau, “Naperville (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau” and “USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.”

5 Ibid.

6 United States Census Bureau, “ Instructions for Applying Statistical Testing to the 2010-2012 ACS 3-Year Data and the 2008-2012 ACS 5-Year Data,” US Department of Commerce, http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/data_documentation/Statistical_Testing/ 2012StatisticalTesting3and5.pdf (accessed April 7, 2014).

7 United States Census Bureau, “Selected Economic Characteristics: 2008-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,” US Department of Commerce, http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/ table/1.0/en/ACS/12_5YR/ DP03/0400000US17|1600000US1751622 (accessed April 7, 2014). 10

suburb, shop in another and work in a third. We commute between several different kinds of suburban settings day in and day out.” 8 The very nature of suburban sprawl requires a

lifestyle of commuting. This is consistent with Hsu’s assertion that suburbia is mainly

commercial as opposed to urban industry and rural agriculture. 9

Naperville is a community that lacks ethnic diversity with the two most

significant ethnicities being White and Asian. The city is economically above average

with median income and home values roughly double state and national values. The level

of education in Naperville is significantly higher. This is shown in the fact that the

percentage of those who have received a bachelor’s degree or higher is more than twice

that of the state or nation. Finally, the time spent commuting for the average worker is

more than either Illinois or the United States and is coupled with an increase in all forms

of commuting. All of these statistics show a community that is fairly homogeneous, well

off financially, highly educated, and having longer commutes.

Materialism and Consumerism

The economic structure based on capitalism in the United States is both predicated on and a source of a materialistic and consumerist oriented culture. As the structure and culture have continued to interact over time, there has been a natural increase in the degree of materialism and consumerism. Juliet Schor relates this increase to social class: “Belonging to a particular social class now entails consuming a requisite set of goods and services. In such a world, there is always a dynamic process by which

8 Albert Y. Hsu, The Suburban Christian: Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006), 55.

9 Ibid., 74. 11

that requisite set of goods and services is upgraded, expanded, and modified. Within economics, this dynamic process is variously referred to as status, relative, positional, or, in my language, competitive consumption.”10 She goes on to assert that since the

presence of a culture built around neighborhoods has declined, such as in the suburbs, the

drive to keep up specifically with the neighbors in material acquisition also has declined.

Instead, with the increase in television watching, individuals are now aspiring towards the

materialism of even higher economic classes. Schor calls this upscaling. 11

Naperville illustrates this rising materialism and consumerism well. This has been

observed in the changes over the last two decades. Downtown Naperville, once the home

of several small, independent businesses, is now a destination for higher-end consumer

products from known and respected chains. As Naperville continues to build out, the new

homes are ever larger in square footage and number of garages. Increasingly, properties

with older and smaller homes in the more historic areas of Naperville, are purchased so as

to tear down the house and replace it with a much larger house. Hsu explains that houses

are not just an example of consumption; they also contribute to a broader lifestyle of

consumption. He says, “The very housing structures of suburbia itself contribute to

consumer culture because of the primacy of the single-family home. Rather than the

homestead being a place of production, the single-family home is a place of consumption,

necessarily fueled by wages to support a consumption-centered lifestyle.” 12 The suburban

10 Juliet Schor, “What’s Wrong with Consumer Society,” in Consuming Desires: Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness , ed. Roger Rosenblatt (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1999), 41.

11 Ibid., 43-45.

12 Hsu, The Suburban Christian , 75. 12

culture is one where materialism and consumerism seems to be caught in a self- reinforcing loop.

The seemingly universal presence of materialistic and consumerist values does not exist in a vacuum. They impact and interact with other important areas as well. James

A. Roberts and Aimee Clement cite two helpful definitions of materialism:

The Oxford English Dictionary defines materialism in its common usage as “devotion to material needs and desires, to the neglect of spiritual matters; a way of life, opinion, or tendency based entirely upon material interests.” Richins and Dawson (1992) consider materialism “a value that guides people’s choices and conduct in a variety of situations, including, but not limited to, consumption arenas” (p. 307). 13

Of particular note in the first definition is the impact on spiritual values. In both

definitions the implication is that materialism has a wide impact on all of life.

Roberts and Clement write, “As noted by Belk (1983), virtually every major

religion views materialism as conflicting with religious fulfillment. In addition, a

growing [p.79] body of empirical research has shown that materialism has adverse effects

on individuals and society (Kasser, 2002).” 14 In their literature review, they find, “Money does not buy happiness. Even among samples of adults with greater financial resources, strong materialistic values continued to relate negatively to well-being (Kasser and Ryan,

1996). Actually attaining one’s materialistic aspirations does not increase well-being

(Kasser and Ryan, 2001).”15 As a result of their own direct research, they came to a

13 James A. Roberts and Aimee Clement, “Materialism and Satisfaction with Over-All Quality of Life and Eight Life Domains,” Social Indicators Research 88: 1 (May 2007): 79.

14 Ibid., 80.

15 Ibid., 82 13

similar conclusion as they state, “Materialism and quality of life, when both are measured as a whole, are negatively correlated.”16

If this is true, then the culture that is present in Naperville is negatively impactful and works in opposition to Christian aims and values. Roberts and Clement point out that materialism negatively impacts “self-esteem, well-being, quality of life, and satisfaction with life in general, . . . physical and psychological difficulties, . . . the environment, decreases involvement in communities, leads to less charitable donations, and decreases time spent together as a family.” 17 It is possible to view each of these areas from a

Christian perspective. For instance John 10:10b records Jesus saying, “I came that they

may have life and have it abundantly.” 18 When understood in the context of union with

Christ, this abundant life should be marked by proper “self-esteem, well-being, quality of life, and satisfaction with life in general.” Theologies of suffering, healing, the cultural mandate, the Church, tithing and giving, and family responsibility address the other concerns listed above.

For Roberts and Clement, intrinsic goals are better than extrinsic ones for overall well-being. 19 With this in mind, the theological assertions of Christianity, especially that

of union with Christ, are uniquely situated to address the broad cultural context and

problem of materialism and consumerism. Spiritual formation towards internalization of

Christian values and truths can move spiritual motivations from extrinsic to intrinsic.

16 Ibid., 87.

17 Ibid., 80.

18 Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.

19 Ibid. 14

Indeed, the societal context of materialism and consumerism calls for such an intentional transformative process.

Busyness and Pace of Life

In an insightful article entitled “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”, Steven

Lagerfeld said, “The people most likely to be putting in longer hours on the job are not

hard-pressed blue-collar workers but a small minority of highly educated and highly paid

professionals who have careers known to consume large quantities of time and now

profess themselves shocked at the outcome.” 20 This description matches the demographic norm in Naperville. Given the economic and education demographics of Naperville, the longer commutes associated with Naperville are likely coupled with longer working hours. This can be observed with individuals staying longer at work, adding work hours in the evening and on weekends at home, and travelling more frequently and for longer periods of times. However, the issue of busyness is not exclusively the domain of numbers related to work.

In a conversation with the author on April 3, 2014, Donald Phelps, Professor of

Social Work at Aurora University in Illinois, said, “When I was younger, if you asked a stranger how they are, they would usually say, ‘Fine.’ Nowadays, fine isn’t good enough.

When you ask a stranger how they are doing, the most popular response is ‘Busy.’”

Phelps went on to explain that this has become the socially normative and expected reply.

People’s lives are no longer fine. Rather, their lives are busy and that is the new normal.

20 Steven Lagerfeld, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?,” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 22, 1 (Summer, 1998): 63. 15

Phelps’s assertion is not just anecdotal, but is also supported by research. Brigid

Schulte has explored this issue more fully in her book, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and

Play When No One Has the Time . The chapter “Too Busy to Live” is particularly

relevant. 21 Schulte believed that she might find some answers in rural America to the implied question of her title. Instead she found confirmation of the problem in Ann

Burnett’s research on “busyness and what she calls the ‘great speed-up’ of modern life.” 22

This research was based out of North Dakota State University in Fargo and was implemented exclusively with individuals from Midwestern small towns.

For Schulte’s research for the book, Burnett brought together a sample group to dialogue with Schulte. When asked what was the force behind their busyness, they replied, “Being busy makes them feel productive and important. . . . Admitting you take time for yourself is tantamount to a show of weakness. The thought of leisure time makes them feel . . . guilty.” 23 One of the members of this group, Dawson, is a fifty-nine year old woman with a full and busy life. She used to attend the local Presbyterian church but does not anymore. She speculates whether going might help life be less stressful by

“being in a place of God where you can regain perspective about your place in the world.

Yet I don’t seek it out. Because I’m too busy.” 24 This group illumined a common theme of not necessarily choosing what would be most helpful in life due to the necessity of being busy.

21 Brigid Schulte, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time (New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2014), 41-55.

22 Ibid., 43.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid. 16

Burnett’s research focused on an extensive multi-year examination of Christmas letters, the kind of summary of the last year that many send out at Christmas time either with or in lieu of their Christmas cards. Burnett discovered that “Some writers even appeared to be boasting about their busyness, living life ‘constantly on the go,’ as if showing off their near superhuman ability to cram an ever-greater number activities and achievements into a finite amount of time.” 25 Burnett later said, “My God, people are

competing about being busy. It’s about showing status. That if you’re busy, you’re important. You’re leading a full and worthy life.” 26 Boasting and competing about

busyness were the noted actions of the subjects of the study. The question remains as to

why an individual would wish to do so and what changed to bring this about. She writes:

What changed is the cultural imperative not just to have it all, but to fit it all in on the fast track, packing in a multitude of work, activities, and obligations until life feels, as one researcher put it, like an exhausting “everydayathon.” Somewhere toward the end of the twentieth century, Burnett and other researchers contend, busyness became not just a way of life, but glamorous . Now, they say, it is a sign of high social status. 27

Naperville is just such a community where social status is expressed in a lifestyle of

activity, involvement, work, and obligations. Naperville, with its higher education and

wealth is a community that is marked by a competitive, boasting, glamour seeking

busyness.

This pursuit of busyness proves to be a barrier to pursuing actions that might be

more life giving. Schulte states:

25 Ibid., 44.

26 Ibid., 45.

27 Ibid. Italics from the original text. 17

Everywhere, even in rural America it seems, people strive to be busy. They tell pollsters they’re too busy to register to vote. To look busy and important – or because they can’t help themselves – people obsessively check their smartphones every ten minutes. In surveys, people say they’re too busy to make friends outside the office, too busy to date, too busy to sleep, and too busy to have sex. 28

Individuals in the Naperville community repeatedly use the litanies of busyness. Almost invariably these litanies are accompanied by an expressed desire to be much less busy.

The question is, “Why do people choose or allow themselves to be busy when no one really likes it.” Schulte says, “It’s a question that Edson Rodriguez, a sociologist who studies frenetic families in L.A., has been puzzling over. To Rodriguez, the drive for busyness has become a powerful cultural expectation. The human urge is to conform to it.

‘Culture is more powerful than the individual people who partake in it,’ he told me.” 29 It

seems that the need for cultural conformity is more influential than the desire for

happiness. The culture of busyness entraps individuals into lives where they do not

pursue what is nourishing to them or those around them.

This culture of busyness can also be found in and applies to the current American

experience and expectation of leisure. Lagerfeld says, “Americans are good at work. It’s

leisure they stink at.” 30 He asserts that Americans are effective in achieving work- oriented goals, but ineffective in the broad area of leisure. Lagerfeld later expands on this thought:

Americans in the late 20 th century treat leisure much as they were once said to treat social problems: they study it and they throw money at it. And they don’t get much satisfaction from it. The evidence suggests that they don’t have a lot of good ideas about what to do with it. They don’t enjoy it; they work at it or they

28 Ibid., 48.

29 Ibid., 47.

30 Lagerfeld, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?,” 66. 18

waste it watching television. Yet they constantly complain that they don’t have enough of it. 31

He suggests that the most successful leisure activities are those that are most like work.

However, while they may be enjoyable, “they carry with them the implication that they

are both the consequence of and a preparation for work.” 32

This adult approach to leisure ends up being transferred to children. Lagerfeld notes the changes in childhood leisure that have developed:

Sunday was once a day for stepping outside time, and in the 20 th century Saturday morning became a kind of secular twin for children, with its long, idle hours watching TV in pajamas, ranging through the neighborhood, or joining in whatever game was going on. But now children are hustled off to soccer games, to piano lessons, to play dates, to the mall. After-school play is even more thoroughly regimented. 33

Lagerfeld cites Peter Esgocue’s solution as, “‘Playgrounds, open fields, and tall trees for

climbing.’ Play at random is the best elixir, he suggests.” 34 However, he goes on to note that forces that contribute to more busyness such as the lack of stay-at-home moms, suburban sprawl, and fears for safety are likely to be barriers to changing the busyness culture for children.

America has increasingly taken on a culture of busyness with a rapid pace of life.

The broad shift is not exclusively due to increased work hours or commutes, although these contribute significantly in communities such as Naperville. Rather, the shift is similar to and may flow from the rise in materialism and consumerism. As individuals

31 Ibid., 67.

32 Ibid., 69.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid. 19

seek a higher status, busyness has become one of the norms in society by which to measure that status. People boast and actually compete about their busyness, even though life fulfillment is not particularly found in that busyness. This busyness is across ages and locales. However, a community such as Naperville especially exhibits this phenomenon.

It is essential to address this contextual reality. Busyness is a barrier to a deeper

Christian life. The story above of Dawson somewhat shows this anecdotally. The works of Lagerfeld, Rodriguez, and Schulte show that there is cultural conformity to busyness that trumps the pursuit of that which aids in human flourishing. This project is built on the premise that the pursuit of experiential union with Christ is an essential part of that flourishing. This pursuit may be the needed antidote to the culture of busyness.

Christianity in the Suburbs

Expressions of Christianity in American suburbs such as Naperville seem to be

more impacted by the culture of materialism, consumerism, busyness, and rapid pace of

life than being impactful on that culture. These cultural values have crept into the life of

the American Church and are continuing to implicitly shape how Christians choose,

consciously or unconsciously, to live out their lives in Christ. Thomas Reeves suggests,

“The faith has been overwhelmed by the culture, producing what may be called cultural

Christianity. This is not a question of mere influence; acculturation takes place at all

times and in all places. Christianity becomes cultural Christianity when the faith is

dominated by a culture to the point that it loses much or most of its authenticity.” 35 As

David Goetz says in Death by Suburb , “Busyness and efficiency stalk the deeper,

35 Thomas C. Reeves, The Empty Church: Does Organized Religion Matter Anymore, (New York: Touchstone, 1996), 67. 20

spiritual life.” 36 He also states, “I think my suburb, as safe and religiously coated as it is,

keeps me from Jesus. Or at least, my suburb (and the religion of the suburbs) obscures the

real Jesus.” 37 The implication of these statements is that the broader culture’s impact on

Christianity has led to a lesser form of Christianity or even one that is not real or true.

This cultural Christianity is present in Naperville. The deep influence of values

and thinking that are not consistent with and sometimes antithetical to Christian values

and thought is subtly pervasive throughout the Christian subculture of the community. In

his reflections on Christian life in the suburbs, Patrick Knaak, former assistant pastor at

NPC, also has seen the impact of consumerism on American Christianity in the suburbs:

“One of the very real difficulties of ministering in a suburban environment is that most

people approach their spiritual life the same way they shop at the store. They pick and

choose a little of this and a little of that to put into their shopping carts – engaging

worship, some ‘deep’ theology, a program that fits their needs or their kids’ chosen

lifestyle of the moment.”38 Knaak is not alone in his assessment. Reeves give this

shopping cart mentality the name Consumer Christianity:

What we now have might best be labeled Consumer Christianity. The psychologist Paul C. Vitz has observed, “The ‘divine right’ of the consumer to choose as he or she pleases has becomes so common an idea that it operates in millions of Americans like an unconscious tropism.” Millions of Americans today feel free to buy as much of the full Christian faith as seems desirable. The cost is low and customer satisfaction seems guaranteed. 39

36 David L. Goetz, Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 24.

37 Ibid., 5.

38 Patric Knaak, e-mail message to author, May 6, 2014.

39 Reeves, The Empty Church , 67. 21

Mike Erre gives his own description of this problem in the title of his book, The Jesus of

Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle? He writes, “The

refashioned Jesus of the American church—the Jesus of Suburbia—would have us live a

life of leisure and comfort, escaping the trouble and distress around us.” 40 Whether it is shopping cart spirituality, Consumer Christianity, or the Jesus of Suburbia, the result is the same: less true and authentic Christianity.

In addition to the impact of consumerism, Goetz posits what happens to the spiritual life in the midst of the busyness aspect of this culture:

Add to that the suburban environment of security, efficiency, and opportunities— and the overindulged self, which desperately needs all three—and spirituality morphs into activities: Bible studies, small group meetings, reading yet another best-selling book on the key to victorious Christian living, even serving at the local homeless shelter. It’s the reverse, though, of what should happen. Such activities or practices should open our eyes to the larger world. Instead they can obscure it. 41

Christian spirituality has been recast in the shape of American culture and values. The explicit curriculum of these varied activities may present a positive vision. Unfortunately, the implicit curriculum of the methodologies used can work against that very vision.

Goetz implies this when he writes, “Religion in the ’burbs tends to be more a program to join than it is an experience that changes your life.”42

Erre notes that even models of spiritual formation using the spiritual disciplines do not seem to be successful in bringing about transformation:

40 Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle? (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2006), 149.

41 Goetz, Death by Suburb , 14-15.

42 Ibid., 108. 22

We are witnessing the rebirth of an emphasis on spiritual formation in the American evangelical church. Whole shelves of bookstores are devoted to the study of how we grow spiritually. The term spiritual disciplines is no longer foreign to our Christian vocabularies. And yet the church looks pretty much the same as the world around it. For all our talk of transformation, we see very little evidence of it. 43

Perhaps the life giving promise of the disciplines has been short circuited as people

approach them as individuals who are embedded in the busyness culture. As this

unconscious approach allows the disciplines to degenerate into ends in themselves, they

lose their transformative place and cease to be a means to authentic Christian spirituality.

This cultural impact of materialism, consumerism, busyness, and pace of life is a

significant problem for Christians in communities such as Naperville. Erre raises this

question as he asks, “Will we choose the Jesus of Suburbia – the gift shop, swimming

pool Jesus who exists to provide us with health, wealth, comfort, and happiness? Or will

we press on to find the Jesus of Nazareth, the most dangerous and radical man ever to

walk the face of the earth?” 44 Goetz similarly says, “To go deep into the presence of

Christ, I must go within. I must learn to surrender my self. I find God through my self, in that place where there is union with the True Reality of the Universe. This suburban practice is a journey of prayer unlike any other prayer.” 45 The pathway to counteracting the negative impact of the existing cultural context on suburban Naperville is a deepening understanding and experience of union with Christ.

43 Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia , 117.

44 Ibid., 15.

45 Goetz, Death by Suburb , 44. 23

CHAPTER 2

CHURCH CONTEXT

The specific context of Naperville Presbyterian Church had a strong impact on shaping this project. The project itself was designed partly to counteract the cultural values of materialism, consumerism, busyness, and pace of life. But those very values could work against the project itself. The specific values and leadership structures at NPC had a deep impact on the actual design of this project. Fortunately, some of the history of the church served to support and reinforce this experience in 2012.

Naperville Presbyterian Church’s History

NPC was founded in May of 1984 by Michael Marcey as a church plant within the PCA. He continued as the senior pastor until August of 2004. Sunday attendance peaked at about 1,200 under Marcey’s leadership, but then dropped to about 1,000 by the time of his departure. After nearly two years of transition without a senior pastor, NPC called its second senior pastor (hereafter SP)1 who began in April of 2006. Average

1 Given the nature of the critique given in this paper, SP will be used in place of the SP’s actual name. 24

actual attendance has subsequently dropped from 803 in 2006 2 to 559 in 2014.3

Attendance averaged 602 during the six weeks of this project during 2012.

As a member of the PCA, NPC holds to the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the standards for doctrine. This commitment locates NPC as a Reformed and confessional church. The PCA’s Book of Church Order defines the Presbyterian Church polity to which NPC is committed.

Under Marcey’s leadership NPC sought to be, using his oft-repeated words,

“winsomely reformed.” The church’s focus was primarily and intentionally on the grace of God offered and received. The Shorter Catechism begins, “Q: What is the chief end of man? A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”4 John Piper, a

Reformed Baptist, has made a modification to the answer when he writes, “The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.” 5 This changed answer served as a

foundational principle in approaching the knowledge and experience of God’s grace

during Marcey’s years at NPC. The practical theologies of justification and sanctification

were rooted in grace and relationship from beginning to end. During most of these years,

NPC saw many individuals come to a place of faith in Christ for their salvation and for

their life.

2 Suzanne Riddle, e-mail message to author, March 30, 2014. Riddle is the director of community life at NPC.

3 Suzanne Riddle, e-mail message to author, February 13, 2015.

4 “The Shorter Catechism,” in The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms: As Adopted by the Presbyterian Church in America , (Lawrenceville, GA: Christian Education & Publications, 2007), 355, http://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ShorterCatechismwithScriptureProofs.pdf (accessed February 3, 2015).

5 John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist , (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1986), 14. 25

While the SP continued to use the language of grace when he came, he brought a heightened sense of duty, obedience, works of righteousness, and following strict interpretations as to what it means to be a PCA church. As an example, conservative

Presbyterian churches practice fencing the table at communion services. The purpose is to ensure that only individuals deemed appropriate by the Session participate in communion according to both the theological standards and church polity documents mentioned above. Marcey regularly approached the fencing as an opportunity to invite. In short he would say something like, “If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are welcome at the table.” On the other hand, the new SP would give a list of things that exclude from the table such as not believing, having a hard heart, being too young, or having a struggle with sin. He would tell these people not to come. Occasionally he would fail to actually invite those who could come. While I cannot determine whether these different approaches affected the number of people who partook of communion, they presented two different faces of Christianity and the Church, one more gracious and the other more legalistic.

Vision and Ministry Goals of NPC

At the time of this project, the purpose statement of NPC was to “INFECT all people with JOY in God’s Glory and PASSION to become like Him.” 6 This statement was written by the SP. As explained by him, the three-fold statement was one that focused on evangelism, the supremacy of God’s glory, and growth in living right as

6 Naperville Presbyterian Church, “Naperville Presbyterian Church,” LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Naperville-Presbyterian-Church-1821977/about (accessed December 31, 2014). 26

disciples. These themes were regularly presented in his sermons. While this particular statement was fairly strongly disliked by much of the congregation, it was used to support ministry directors’ ministry plans when presented to supervisors for evaluation and approval. Unfortunately, the statement was constructed in such a way as to make evaluation of ministry results extremely difficult and highly subjective.

The stated core values can also be looked at as an expansion of the vision of the church. They were:

We believe: (1) God, through the Gospel, transforms individual lives, relationships, communities and culture. (2) God’s grace permeates every aspect of our life together. (3) Worship is central in the life of the believer. (4) God calls every believer to wholehearted discipleship. (5) The Christian life is only lived in the context of relationships. (6) The local church is a mission outpost. (7) Effective ministry must be biblically-based as well as culturally relevant. (8) Kingdom-building ministry is best accomplished through trained and empowered lay people. (9) That Naperville Presbyterian Church is an ongoing ministry to current and future generations. 7

The core values, which are a part of vision, were actually a holdover from when Marcey

was the senior pastor. They did not appear to directly shape any decisions or the

leadership of the SP in the life of the church. He often worked at cross purposes to some

of these values. When other ministries in the church, such as adult education or worship,

sought to follow these, the SP would not offer support and at times would even be

antagonistic. Furthermore, these values were never before the congregation, and thus did

not shape the congregation at the time of this project in any intentional way.

From my and my colleagues’ perspective, actual core values looked very

different. Based on how faith and practice was lived out at NPC, first was an over-

arching value: The pastor was the most important person and the sermon was the most

7 Ibid. 27

important thing. Given this new emphasis, it appeared that there emerged a de facto new

list of core values could be characterized in this way: It is not necessary to significantly

address transformation, grace does not permeate every area, worship is not central, God

calls every believer to wholehearted discipleship, relationships need not be emphasized,

the local church is a mission outpost, effective ministry need only be biblically based,

culture is irrelevant, lay people simply need to get behind the agenda of the SP and do not

need to be trained or empowered, and NPC is not a ministry so much to those who are

current as it is to those who are not yet part of NPC. While the items above might sound

harsh, they represent the new unstated values and vague ambience of NPC as I and my

colleagues experienced them following the transition in leadership at NPC. The only

original core values significantly upheld, at least in words, were those on wholehearted

discipleship and being a mission outpost. The instantiation of these values, however, was

based on personal effort and obedience. Little to nothing was done to help congregants to

access the gracious, transforming work of God that brings about wholehearted

discipleship and a life of mission.

Ministries

NPC had many of the ministries present in a typical conservative, evangelical

church. Sunday morning provided a worship service that included a sermon which ranged

between 35 and 50 minutes in length. There were educational experiences for children,

youth, and adults offered during and between the two worship services. On Sunday

evenings and during the week, the church offered youth groups for high school and

middle school, children’s clubs for elementary students, and women’s Bible study. Small

28

groups, or Growth Groups, met weekly or bi-weekly and chose their own studies and priorities as a group. A small missions team partnered with other churches to follow up on ministry opportunities in Haiti. The deacons led in ministering in concrete ways to the needy.

There was very little to no cooperation between these ministries, whether staff or lay led. While the leadership encouraged ministries to not be a “silo” all alone, there was no push, modeling, or mentoring towards the extra effort of cooperation. It seemed that most staff and leaders were more concerned with simply meeting their own responsibilities. Performing the task of ministry was just as affected by the culture of busyness and pace of life as the context described in the previous chapter. Given the lack of known core values and a non-embraced purpose statement, each ministry simply did what they thought would be best. Often these were driven by the passion of the leaders of those ministries. Rarely were they an intentional extension of the purpose statement for the church, except in the afore-mentioned ministry plans.

Leadership and Decision Making

For years, the approach at NPC was to be a church where the elders established vision and the staff would implement it. This process was done collaboratively both within the elder board, which included ordained pastors, and with the rest of the staff.

According to the Book of Church Order , it is the ruling elders who are to oversee the church and to ultimately make the decisions shaping it. When Marcey was the senior pastor, or teaching elder, he functioned as the key leader who was most responsible in

29

shaping the area of vision. However, he still had to persuade the ruling elders and could not work around them. Generally, the board followed his leadership, but not always.

When the SP came, he explicitly rejected the Book of Church Order on matters of authority. He let the ruling elders know that he was going to be in charge and for all of them to get on board with it, which they did. From this time, the SP became the

“Decider,” to use his own term.

While the SP would state that all were a team, he meant something different from what might be expected. He used the image of a wedge to describe his leadership style and what he believed should be the leadership style of all pastors. He was at the point of the wedge and it was the job of everyone to get behind him within the wedge and follow him where he was going. That is the team. There was no actual place for team input or disagreement. The team simply followed the SP.

The SP would often state that he welcomed dialogue. However, as with the concept of team, in practice he meant something different. In such meetings between the

SP and another, both would state what she or he thought or believed. The SP’s expected result of all such meetings was that the other person would then change his or her view to his. If an individual did less than a full change, they were subject to the SP’s displeasure and subsequent relational reprisals. If the other person was a staff member, at times this included threats to fire her or him. 8

The “Decider,” the wedge, and the approach to so-called dialogue all illustrate the

over-arching actual core value that the SP was most important. This meant that the SP

8 These experiences of displeasure and threats were shared in conversations between staff on a fairly regular basis. 30

was the most important leader and other voices were irrelevant. When the SP wanted

NPC to have a new vision statement, he formed a task force to work on crafting it. When the task force was done, he rejected all input and wrote his own which is given above.

This story, focusing on only three aspects of the shift in values and emphases on theology, leadership, and ecclesiology, demonstrates anecdotally the subsequent pastor’s leadership style, and the issues this project addresses.

Theological Convictions

The most extensive stated theological convictions for NPC can be found in the

Westminster documents mentioned above. The leadership at NPC affirms that they hold

to these convictions. However, NPC names a few beliefs as most central. These are

Scripture’s inspiration and inerrancy, the Trinity, the fall of humankind in Adam,

substitutionary atonement made by Christ and appropriated by faith, God’s sovereignty

and majesty, the full divinity and humanity of Jesus, the indwelling Holy Spirit, God’s

final judgment for both believers and unbelievers, that God conforms the believer to

Christ, and Covenant Theology. 9 These stated convictions were also actual convictions with the inerrancy of Scripture and substitutionary atonement being the ones most highlighted.

One of the ways to access NPC’s actual theological convictions is to look through the lens of how the SP presented the Gospel message in nearly all of his sermons. The following selection comes from February 12, 2012 in a sermon entitled Remembering

Your First Love . The SP preached:

9 Naperville Presbyterian Church, “Our Beliefs,” Naperville Presbyterian Church, http://www.npchurch.org/about#about-our-beliefs (accessed February 3, 2015). 31

Before Jesus, I was someone who only had one future ultimately and it was death, destruction, and hell. That was my future. Because that’s what people who rebel against God deserve, and I was certainly that. That was my future. That’s what I deserved. But God in His love and grace became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life. I didn’t live a perfect life. At the end of his perfect life, he went to a cross, and on that cross, he took on all of my sin. All of my rebellion. Everything that God could judge me for, Jesus took upon himself and gave me credit for his righteousness. And he rose on the third day to show that he had paid that price completely. The transfer was complete. My sin was gone; his righteousness was now my clothing. And this is what Jesus did for me. At what cost? His life. 1 John 3:16 says this is what love is, that one lays down his life for his friend. He laid down his life for us. You see I start there. I remember, I remember the love that Jesus has for me. And then I remember his kindness and grace. I remember the blessings that he gives to me. And I try to repent and turn back in that direction. I pray, “Lord, help me to remember, help me not to forget the love that you have shown to me.”10

The movement illustrated was consistent throughout the SP’s preaching. It always began

with the statement that we are sinners deserving hell. God sent himself as Jesus Christ.

Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins. His resurrection proved that

he accomplished it. Knowing all this, we then respond by trying to repent and live right.

We ask God for help with what we will do.

The SP was consistent in basing the justification aspect of salvation on grace.

Each presentation of the Gospel in his sermons refers to God’s grace. When the

substitutionary atonement is referred to within the central beliefs of NPC, it is called the

“gracious plan of salvation.” Under Covenant Theology it says, “God is gracious and

faithful to His people.” 11

While most of what the SP regularly said in regard to the Gospel is accepted in conservative Reformed churches, it is at best somewhat reductionist when compared to a

10 SP, “Remembering Your First Love,” Naperville Presbyterian Church, MP3 file, 35:54, http://npchurch.org/sites/default/files/content/sermons/audio/ NPCSermon20120219.mp3 (accessed December 31, 2014).

11 Naperville Presbyterian Church, “Our Beliefs.” 32

more robust theology of the Gospel from the same theological home. As an example,

Robert A. Peterson Sr., Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Seminary, the denominational seminary for the PCA, has suggested that Calvin used six biblical themes when describing the Atonement, a central part of the Gospel. First, Christ is the obedient second Adam. Christ’s work was the antithesis of the results of Adam’s fall into sin.

Where Adam brought spiritual and physical death, “Christ through his actions brought righteousness, grace, and life to his people.” 12 Second, Calvin strongly acknowledged that the atonement includes the work of Christ as victor. Christ is triumphant over the devil, death, sin, and the world which stand against the kingdom of God. 13 Third, Calvin taught that Christ was the legal substitute for his people, both fulfilling the works of the law for them and taking on the punishment due for their sins. 14 Fourth, Calvin names

Jesus Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice. In this case Christ fulfills the sacrificial system of the law as the Lamb of God. 15 Peterson notes that these last three themes were the most important to Calvin. 16 Fifth, Calvin saw Christ as being the merit of his people.

He said, “Jesus Christ redeems his people not only by taking away their sins, but also by

meriting grace and salvation for them.” 17 Sixth, Calvin does acknowledge that the atonement includes Christ being the example. However, Calvin did not allow that this

12 Robert A. Peterson Sr., Calvin and the Atonement: What the Renowned Pastor and Teacher Said about the Cross of Christ (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 1999), 61.

13 Ibid., 69-70.

14 Ibid., 79.

15 Ibid., 91-2.

16 Ibid., 79.

17 Ibid., 101. 33

was the means by which people are brought to salvation. Rather, this aspect of the atonement was to provide an example of how to live as a Christian. 18 These six themes provide a range of biblical ways to view the atonement that can be found at the historical beginning of Reformed thought.

Many of the points the SP would make in his presentation of the Gospel, such as in the sermon excerpt given above, could have served as an entrance point to any of the six atonement themes. Consistently however, he focused exclusively on forensic justification. The truths of the Gospel were rooted solely in a substitutionary atonement view of the cross. Avoiding hell was always given as the reason for people to respond.

The cross was the great exchange of Christ’s righteousness for guilt and sin.

Sanctification was generally not connected to the cross or shown to be a product of grace.

On rare occasions the SP would indicate that sanctification is made possible by grace, but then he would undermine what he just said by proceeding to describe sanctification in a way that suggested implicitly that works are done primarily by one’s own efforts.

Ultimately, the SP’s focus was more on sin, boundaries, and exclusion than on the full invitation of the Gospel for sanctification. It is this lack of attention to the process of transformation and the belief that grace permeates every area that suggested the first two actual core values given above.

At worst the SP’s teaching could contradict the theology he claims to hold and actually served to work against his deepest desires for NPC. In particular he wanted to see the church become more effective in outreach. However, his sermons implicitly and explicitly called for outreach as a response of guilt, duty, and obedience, rather than

18 Ibid., 107. 34

flowing from an inner spiritual life and relationship with Jesus Christ that fuels the works of evangelism and outreach. The church has not significantly responded to this call due both to the nature of the call and the cultural context as described in Chapter 1. Guilt, duty, and obedience alone are rarely sufficient motivators for lasting change. The cultural addiction to materialism, consumerism, busyness, and pace of life in the suburb of

Naperville calls for a deeper transforming work than that offered by the SP.

Naperville Presbyterian Church Relationship to the Broader Context

Naperville Presbyterian Church is even less racially diverse than the community

in which it resides. Suzanne Riddle, Director of Community Life at NPC, estimates that

out of the total universe of 1,001 at the church at the end of 2014, 15 are Asian and 10 are

African-American. The universe is defined as the following: “The total of all those who

have attended 5 times or more and have attended at least once in the previous 6 weeks.” 19

For the universe, 97.5 percent of the individuals are White, 1.5 percent are Asian, and 1.0

percent are African-American. Riddle indicated that there was no economic data

available on the congregation at NPC.

NPC is no exception to experiencing the cultural impact of materialism and

consumerism. Many in the congregation participate in the upscaling described in Chapter

1. Homes are typically large and display evidence of the consumption-centered lifestyle

described by Hsu. It is common for individuals to see these material goods as a central

part of God’s blessings. However, budgets still end up being tight and over-extended,

leading to stress and anxiety for many. This is consistent with the findings of Roberts and

19 Riddle, e-mail message to author, February 13, 2015. 35

Clement that suggest that material abundance may be negatively correlated with the experience of abundant life in Christ. Apart from gratefulness for God’s blessings, at a minimum materialism is not coequal with the abundant life, nor does it contribute to that life.

Congregants at NPC are even more caught in the thrall of the culture of busyness with their full and fast lives. Work hours are long for many. Participation in many activities, especially for children, is extensive. Schedules of the majority are over- committed. “Busy” is the most common answer to, “How are you?” This busyness impacts participation in church experiences. For those who do participate, they increase their level of time commitment so as to be even busier. For those who do not, the busyness in the rest of their life becomes a barrier to participating in a church experience that could be life giving.

The broader American and suburban culture has deeply influenced NPC. While it

would not be accurate to say that NPC has lost its core authenticity to a cultural

Christianity, the church certainly struggles with the pursuit of spiritual depth and

relational intimacy with God. Knaak’s shopping cart illustration was largely formed by

his observations of the church community at NPC. While not explicitly stated, many

implicitly believe and act as if Jesus “would have us live a life of leisure and comfort,

escaping the trouble and distress around us,”20 to revisit Erre’s words. This view leads to a consumerist approach to church experiences that reduce them to programs that impact schedules. For example, a challenge to participate in spiritual disciplines is received as a call to a program with a series of tasks. This has generally been true even when the

20 Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia, 149. 36

transformational opportunity of the disciplines has been taught. Richard Foster wrote,

“God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace.

The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.” 21

However, the more commonly observed task-oriented approach at NPC often serves as a barrier to this reception of grace and spiritual transformation. Rather than being relational, the disciplines are programmatic and sometimes experienced as a work of righteousness rather than as a means to experiencing God.

Even the SP’s approach to presenting the Gospel message can be experienced as a program for consumers. There are truths declared, steps to follow, and a transaction made. The resulting forgiveness is the expression of the love of God. To be sure this is true, but the SP rarely shows that God’s love includes more than this forgiveness and that this love is something to be experienced in daily life. God’s love is simply something to know and believe.

As a caveat, these critiques do not apply to the explicit curriculum of the church, even when understood in the broadest sense; they apply to the implicit, hidden, and null curriculums. 22 The way life is lived as a community within the broader community, with

all of its consumerism, materialism, busyness, and extreme pace of life, makes it difficult

to see how the communication styles, structures, and programs at NPC implicitly

21 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth , rev. ed. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 7.

22 The implicit curriculum refers to that portion of the educational moment that is not explicitly present in the curriculum but that nevertheless impacts the educational outcome. The implicit curriculum is generally intentional and can include environment, choice of language and style, pedagogical methods, etc. The hidden curriculum refers to what is received in the educational experience but remains hidden from and unknown by the educator. The null curriculum refers to what is unintentionally taught due to the absence of certain content or experiences. 37

reinforce these cultural values. The null curriculum of the SP’s teaching has contributed to a growing lack of spiritual depth and intimacy at NPC that remains largely unnoticed.

Naturally, these critiques do not apply to every individual or ministry instantiation. Many individuals do enjoy a grounded spiritual life that is full of the grace and love of God.

There are those who find the spiritual disciplines to be life giving. Some ministry experiences, including sermons, transcend the issues noted here. However, overall these critiques form a foundation for discerning the ministry needs at NPC.

Obstacles and Opportunities for the Project and the People

Given the project’s focus on the growth of an intimate relationship with the living

God, the presence of consumerism, busyness, and pace of life would be the strongest obstacles to the project’s success. First, at minimum congregants needed to be present on

Sunday mornings for the sermons and worship services. However, this would not be enough. In order to experience the fullest unpacking of the focus on union with Christ, they needed to choose to partake in the optional adult education class. More importantly, for congregants to be fully engaged, they would have to make use of the devotional guides that were provided. Furthermore, they needed to approach these guides not as mere tasks to be performed; they needed to use the material in such a way as to encounter

God, meet with Jesus, and deepen their relationship with him. Naturally, the deep cultural embeddedness of the values given above would work against full and complete participation, especially with the most essential parts. Should a congregant merely attend the worship services, they might do so simply as spectators; they would miss out on the transformational opportunity before them. These concerns would be addressed by

38

inviting the congregants to a deeper and more intimate relationship with God instead of a program. In addition this would take place during the first five full weeks of the season of

Lent with the adult educational component continuing through the sixth Sunday in Lent..

NPC has used Lent as a special season for several years and many congregants looked forward to what each year would bring. Ultimately, it was up to each individual to decide his or her level of involvement.

Assuming that my understanding and critique of the “spiritual culture” of NPC is accurate, there were certain constraints and restraints within which this project had to be implemented. This project had to be carefully crafted to fit within the values and leadership style of the church. No part of the experience could undermine the centrality of the sermon and the SP. All content portions would need to be completely within the theology of the SP. This was made more difficult due to the topic of union with Christ having been neglected at NPC. As a result, it was important to nuance the relationship of union with Christ and the Gospel message as presented by the SP. Union with Christ could not be presented as a goal of the Gospel; it could be presented as a sure benefit of the Gospel. Fortunately, there are many strong Reformed advocates of the importance of union with Christ, both in history and currently. While the SP seldom referred to union, he would be comfortable with the historical theologians to be referenced: Augustine of

Hippo, John Calvin, Bernard of Clairvaux, 23 John Owen, and Isaac Ambrose.

In addition to the theological concerns, no decisions could be made for the project that were not within the SP’s “wedge.” While he normally preached exegetically through

23 Bernard of Clairvaux could be seen as an unexpected choice. However, Calvin looked very highly on Bernard and this is known to the SP. 39

a book of the Bible, he occasionally chose a topic for a series. The preaching was still exegetical but not confined to a single book. He was asked whether he would be willing to have his texts and topics determined for him by this author for the project. He said yes.

This would allow the sermons both to stay central and support the project. There was no guarantee that the SP would go in a direction that was helpful, however. While agreeing to tailor his sermon topics to the Lenten project, he was not willing to receive any more input than text and topic. In addition to sermons, the SP was asked if the frequency of communion could be increased during the project. He suggested changing from monthly to weekly for the first five weeks of Lent. In fact the SP rightly noted that communion is both a sign and experience of union with Christ. These two areas of openness from the SP seemed to indicate a level of support for the project by him.

Associate pastor Nate Conrad was in charge of adult education. In order to stay within the decision making structures of the church, he was asked whether there could be a single class devoted to union with Christ during the season of Lent instead of the normal array of three or four classes. He said yes both to the class and to allowing this author to be the teacher of the one hour class.

Naperville Presbyterian Church did not have a set liturgy for its worship services.

The only elements that had to be present were a welcome, sermon, offering, announcements, and blessing. Everything else within the service could change week to week. As the Director of Worship, this author would be able to design flexible worship experiences that were consonant with the thrust of the project, and were intended to directly impact the congregation’s understanding and experience of union with Christ.

40

In 2010 NPC had a similar unified experience during the season of Lent. The theme that year was the spiritual disciplines which were referred to as spiritual rhythms.

Worship services, sermons, a single adult education class, and a devotional guide were all tied together to help congregants develop their spiritual practices. The five themes were

Rhythm of Nourishment: Scripture, Rhythm of Relationship: Prayer, Rhythm of

Noticing: Examen of Consciousness and Conscience, Rhythm of Withdrawal: Rest and

Sabbath, and Rhythm of Engagement: Service. Some of these themes had been previously taught in an adult education class in the spring of 2009. Some of them were revisited in another class in the fall of 2010. These exact themes were repeated as part of the devotional guide during Lent of 2011. This past teaching and experience is one of this project’s foundations. These practices are ideal to include in any teaching on the pursuit of union with Christ. Including them would be review rather than entirely new and different topics. For this project, the fourth and fifth rhythms were combined on the fourth week. A sixth rhythm, suffering, was added for the fifth week. The rhythm of the week was reviewed in each week’s adult education class. The devotional guide included the main content on the week’s rhythm and shortened reviews of each of the previous rhythms so as to aid ongoing practice of the rhythms during the week.

I was able to design and implement three of the four elements of this project: worship services, adult education class, and devotional guide. Furthermore, he was able to determine the texts and topics for each of the five sermons, the fourth element. Each of the sermons would be delivered by one of the three pastors. Through this project, it was hoped that the context and culture would be impacted rather than the other way around.

41

This would only happen as congregants were fully involved in all parts of the ministry opportunity so as to grow in their understanding and experience of union with Christ.

42

PART TWO

THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION

CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this chapter is to review a few resources that significantly shaped

this ministry project. The first three provide a theology of union with Christ or

communion with God from a Reformed viewpoint. Two are historical works of John

Calvin and John Owen. The third, by Todd J. Billings, is a contemporary theology with

implications that draws on the first two as well as other resources. The last two are

resources that connect the spiritual rhythms or disciplines to experiential union with

Christ.

Historical and Contemporary Reformed Resources on Union with Christ

Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a significant resource in the understanding of union with Christ from a Reformed perspective. Calvin’s Institutes are

the foundational text out of which this project was created. While the themes of the full

work are beyond the scope of this project, union with Christ is central to Calvin’s

thinking, particularly in Book Three and that portion of Book Four devoted to the

44

sacraments. Calvin’s thesis on this theme is that forensic or judicial salvation is of one piece with union with Christ and is made possible by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, while all of this saving and uniting movement originates in God, there is still a necessary place for the participation of the believer who is united to Christ.

Book Three, entitled “The Way in Which We Receive the Grace of Christ: What

Benefits Come to Us from It, and What Effects Follow,” 1 begins with a section called

“The Holy Spirit as the bond that unites us to Christ.” 2 In this first section Calvin begins by inextricably tying together the notion of salvation and justification with union with

Christ. He writes, “First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us.” 3

Calvin uses the imagery of the marriage bond to describe this union. 4 Marriage

has both a legal and relational aspect, inseparable. Christians are legally joined to Christ

(forensics) and made one with him (union). In employing this image from Ephesians

5:30-31, Calvin affirms that this union is a matter of substance and not mere metaphor.

In using the imagery of being engrafted, Calvin develops further what the

experience of union with Christ looks like.

For we await salvation from him not because he appears to us afar off, but because he makes us, ingrafted into his body, participants not only in all his

1 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , 537.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid., 541. 45

benefits but also in himself. . . . But since Christ has been so imparted to you with all his benefits that all his things are made yours, that you are made a member of him, indeed one with him, his righteousness overwhelms our sins; his salvation wipes out your condemnation; with his worthiness he intercedes that your unworthiness may not come before God’s sight. Surely this is so: We ought not to separate Christ from ourselves or ourselves from him. Rather we ought to hold fast bravely with both hands to that fellowship by which he has bound himself to us. 5

Calvin here deftly weaves together both forensic salvation and union with Christ. But he does not leave this as a merely abstract theological construct. Rather, these words establish early in this third book within the Institutes that there is a place for cooperation with the saving work of God. It is possible for solely forensic or legal approaches to exclude the place for cooperation. But here Calvin calls for participating with the relational process of union by using the striking concrete imagery of holding “fast bravely with both hands.” He affirms that the goal of salvation is not just the transference of commonly named benefits, but of being a participant in Christ.

Calvin insists that this participation in Christ is eminently practical and experiential. After briefly listing certain aspects of forensic salvation and union, Calvin says:

We experience such participation in him that, although we are still foolish in ourselves, he is our wisdom before God; while we are sinners, he is our righteousness; while we are unclean, he is our purity; while we are weak, while we are unarmed and exposed to Satan, yet ours is that power which had been given him in heaven and on earth [Matt. 28:18], by which to crush Satan for us and shatter the gates of hell; while we still bear about with us the body of death, he is yet our life. In brief, because all his things are ours and we have all things in him, in us there is nothing. 6

5 Ibid., 570.

6 Ibid., 793. 46

Calvin details here what it means that, in being united with Christ, one gains all the benefits attached to him, which then answer the believer’s deepest needs. There is a forensic need for salvation due to being sinners, unclean, weak, and dead. But believers are not given righteousness, purity, power, and life; they are given Christ and in Christ they have all those things which are to be lived out in daily life.

In Book Four of the Institutes , Calvin connects the sacraments of baptism and the

Lord’s Supper to union with Christ. He says that “through baptism Christ makes us sharers in his death, that we may be engrafted in it.”7 This is union language for Calvin.

He also applies union language to the Lord’s Supper: “Now Christ is the only food of our soul, and therefore our Heavenly Father invites us to Christ, that, refreshed by partaking of him, we may repeatedly gather strength until we shall have reached heavenly immortality.” 8 For Calvin, the Lord’s Supper is not only representative of union with

Christ, but is a concrete experience of and participation in that union. In fact there is a

strong correlation with Calvin’s thoughts from Book Three. Forensic salvation and union

with Christ go beyond mere belief to include experiential participation. The sacraments

go beyond water, bread, and wine to a partaking of union with Christ.

Calvin provides a strong biblical and systematic theology of union with Christ

from an historical Reformed perspective going far beyond the brief points outlined here.

Calvin’s theology can be very helpful in introducing union with Christ to a Reformed

congregation less familiar with the concept and the experience. He uses a variety of

biblical images throughout including adoption, engrafting, and spiritual marriage, which

7 Ibid., 1307.

8 Ibid., 1360-61. 47

provide multiple entry points to examining union with Christ. Perhaps the most significant contribution that Calvin makes is the centrality of participation for experiencing union. Throughout Book Three he addresses both fundamental attitudes and specific practices for experiencing union. Of particular note is Chapter XX which is entitled “Prayer, Which Is the Chief Exercise of Faith, and by Which We Daily Receive

God’s Benefits.” 9 This is the longest chapter in the Institutes and is where Calvin

explicates both a theology of prayer and gives aids to the practice of prayer. Undergirding

this chapter is the belief that the spiritual practice of prayer is vitally connected to the

experience of union with Christ. The second longest chapter, Book Four: Chapter XIX is

entitled “The Sacred Supper of Christ, and What It Brings to Us.” As discussed above,

Calvin explicitly connects this practice to the experience of union with Christ.

Calvin does not really explain how the experience of union with Christ works. For

some this might be seen as a weakness. However, for Calvin to do so would be to

undermine his belief that all of this is ultimately a mystery. In beginning the section on

the Lord’s Supper called “Involved solutions of the mystery rejected,” he says, “Now, if

anyone should ask me how this takes place, I shall not be ashamed to confess that it is a

secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare. And, to speak

more plainly, I rather experience than understand it.” 10 Both for the Lord’s Supper and the overall theology of union with Christ, Calvin is committed to the underlying mystery.

Calvin provides a Reformed understanding of mystery that can support a commitment to

9 Ibid. 850.

10 Ibid., 1403. 48

creating space for God to be at work through prayer (and other spiritual disciplines) and the Lord’s Supper in growing congregants’ experience of union with Christ.

Finally, with Calvin there is still a limit with his suggestions on how to experience union with Christ. While Calvin’s teaching on prayer is very helpful, particularly in his rules for prayer and the extensive section on the Lord’s Prayer, he limits what is appropriate for prayer and consequently what are legitimate ways to pray. For Calvin, appropriate prayer is exclusively supplication and thanksgiving. He says, “But even though prayer is properly confined to entreaties and supplications, there is such a close connection between petition and thanksgiving that they may be included under one name.” 11 Whether due to historical context or explicit theological commitments, Calvin

does little to expand on the possibilities of what this central practice of prayer might

mean other than the inclusion of singing in prayer privately and in church. One needs to

look elsewhere for a more expansive, yet still practical, way to experience prayer as an

aid to union with Christ.

Communion with God by John Owen

“Union with Christ became the most important theme in Puritan spirituality, as it

had been for Calvin himself.” 12 John Owen, as a seventeenth century English Puritan,

stood firmly in the Calvinist tradition. J. I. Packer states concerning Owen:

In his own day he was seen as England’s foremost bastion and champion of Reformed evangelical orthodoxy. . . . His interest lay in broadening and deepening insight into the realities that orthodoxy confesses, and a humble and

11 Ibid., 888.

12 “Puritan Spirituality,” in The New Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality , ed. by Philip Sheldrake (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press 2005), 519. 49

humbling awareness that his present understanding, though true (so he believed) as far as it went, was deeply inadequate to those realities pervades all that he wrote. In this, as in most things, he was more like John Calvin than was any other of the Puritan leaders. 13

Owen’s ministry and writing was marked by this humility. As Packer puts it, he was a

“great Puritan pastor-theologian.” 14 In light of his pastoral focus, Owen gives more help

in pursuing the practical side of union with Christ.

Owen’s Communion with God: Fellowship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit from

1657 is technically not about union with Christ. However, Owen’s notion of communion

with God is built on the theological foundation of that union. He states, “Now,

communion is the mutual communication of such good things as wherein the persons

holding that communion are delighted, bottomed upon some union between them.” 15

Where Calvin talks about participation in relationship to union with Christ, Owen uses the language of communion. Owen’s thesis is that communion with God is the mutual relationship between those who are in Christ and God as revealed in all three persons of the Trinity.

For Owen, the primary communication from God in this relationship is simply

God. He says, “Our communion, then, with God consists in his communication of himself to us, with our return to him of that which he requires and accepts, flowing from that union which in Jesus Christ we have with him.”16 Owen goes on to highlight the

13 J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), 81.

14 Ibid., 29.

15 John Owen, Communion with God: Fellowship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Heritage, 2007), 31.

16 Ibid. 50

dynamic nature of communion in noting that in this life the experience is incomplete and will only find fulfillment in the life to come. Communion is not about mere communication of information; communion is about God in God’s true being and humanity in humanity’s true being as intended by the Creator and how they can and do relate.

The way and means, then, on the part of the saints, whereby in Christ they enjoy communion with God, are all the spiritual and holy actings and outgoings of their souls in those graces, and by those ways, in which both the moral and instituted worship of God consists. Faith, love, trust, and joy are the natural or moral worship of God, whereby those in whom they are have communion with him. 17

Owen does not limit the concept of communion as merely positional; he places the experience of communion within lived action.

For Owen, communion with God is communion with each person of the Trinity and has a reciprocal component in each case. Communion with the Father is characterized most uniquely by love. The reciprocal relationship is simply to receive and return that love. Communion with the Son is a communion shaped by grace. This grace, which is purchased by the Son, leads to being adopted, experiencing sonship, and being engrafted. These are forensic truths that have a consequent spiritual reality that can well be described using marital imagery. This leads to an experienced communion wherein delight is reciprocated between the Son and those who are in Christ. Finally, the Holy

Spirit is essentially the comforter or consoler. The reciprocal relationship lies there in the opportunity to truly receive comfort and consolation. In all of these reciprocal relationships, looking unto God, the intentional gaze on the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit, is one of the key means by which to experience communion with God.

17 Ibid., 35. 51

The greatest strength of this text for this project is that at the conclusion of each section devoted to the members of the Trinity, Owen provides substantial practical helps on how to commune with each member of the Trinity. He details just what it means to commune with the Father in love with subsections entitled “Preoccupy Yourself with

Everlasting Love,” “Believe That the Father Loves You,” “Return Love for Love,” “Do not Think Hard Thoughts of God,” “Taste and See that God Is Good,” “No Excuses,”

“Run to the Father for Comfort,” and “Be Holy as He Is Holy.” 18 He devotes well over

half of the book to communion with the Son. Owen offers the images of mutual

commitment in a marital relationship, 19 adoption, sonship, and engrafting 20 as an avenue

to understanding how to commune with the Son in grace. 21 He also offers five series of practical digressions on why and how to walk with Jesus. 22 These are more devotional

and pastoral than some of the other theological portions of the text. Owen focuses on

looking at Christ, knowing God, knowing one’s self, and walking with God through Jesus

alone. Finally, Owen concludes the book with aids on communing with the Holy Spirit

centered on worship and faith.23

The only real limitation of this resource for this project is a result of its strengths.

There is so much depth, theological development, and expression of practical steps for communion with God, that the work in its fullness would be overwhelming for the

18 Ibid., 63-74.

19 Ibid., 99-106.

20 Ibid., 323-44.

21 Ibid., 317-22.

22 Ibid., 107-89.

23 Ibid., 421-31. 52

congregation. This requires selecting and choosing just a small portion of the richness of

Owen’s thinking and writing in order to keep the material accessible and genuinely helpful.

Union with Christ by J. Todd Billings

J. Todd Billings’s Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the

Church looks back to the emphasis on union with Christ in the sixteenth century

Reformation era, especially Calvin, the English Puritans, the Dutch Reformed, and the

Reformed tradition through the eighteenth century to provide a foundation for answering what he sees as the contemporary “need for a renewed theology of union with Christ.” 24

Billings sees much of current Christian expression as being focused on the self and the

benefits received by individuals in salvation. His thesis is that salvation is first and

foremost “a restored communion with God and neighbor.” 25 Billings places this thesis on the foundation of a strong Reformed theology of union with Christ that yields a profound transformation of the believer in that union.

Billings’s first three chapters develop a theology of union with Christ. The first looks at adoption in Christ as being an essential paradigm for salvation that is equivalent to union with Christ. In using Pauline references in the New Testament, Billings shows that adoption includes “both the legal dimension of being transferred into God’s family and the transformative dimension of growing in God’s family.”26 Billings believes that

24 J. Todd Billings, Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 8.

25 Ibid, 9.

26 Ibid., 20. 53

this is an important challenge to those who would assert that salvation is only about justification and the forensic aspects of the work of Christ. Billings shows that this view of a double grace, or “duplex gratia,” for forensic justification and lived sanctification is found consistently in historical Reformed teaching on adoption and union with Christ.

The second chapter provides two alternatives: Total depravity in sin versus total communion in Christ. Billings states:

While it’s true that both justification and sanctification are received in union with Christ (not achieved by the sinner autonomously), this reception is an activating one. In other words, sinners are moved from death to life, from passivity to activity, as they are enabled by the Spirit to participate in Christ. The new life of the Spirit in sanctification is received as a gift. But it activates our capacities. 27

Here is where he begins to explore the role of the believer in relationship union with

Christ. A key word that Billings employs is participation, a central theme he established

in his first book, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The Activity of Believers in Union with Christ . Billings affirms the teachings of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin on the bondage of the will. He goes on to say that this theological stance is necessary for a right view of salvation: “Reformed teaching does not subscribe to a negative view of humans by affirming the bondage of the will but upholds a high and exalted one: humans were created for communion with God, and redemption involves a restoration of communion with God through the double grace of union with Christ.” 28

The third chapter is a look at mystery in union with Christ. Billings shows that

God’s “stooping over in accommodation” 29 is what allows for God’s transcendence and

27 Ibid., 46.

28 Ibid., 61

29 Ibid., 69. 54

immanence to meet in the mystery of union with Christ. Archetypal knowledge, God’s perfect knowledge of God, and ectypal knowledge, humankind’s knowledge of God through God’s self-revelation, are connected through the differentiated union with God that believers have in their union with Christ. Billings indicates that this set of beliefs can be found in patristic and medieval sources, in Calvin, and in later Reformed theologians.

“All revelation is accommodation because all revelation is an act of condescending love that seeks fellowship and, to some extent, mutual knowledge of the other. God’s knowledge of the creature will always surpass the creature’s knowledge of God, but the fact that the creature has any knowledge of God at all is due to God’s astonishing, condescending love.” 30

The final two chapters deal with the implications of this theology. Chapter four looks at the relationship of union with Christ and the law of love, as well as the Lord’s

Supper. This relationship is the practical outworking of what it means to participate in union with Christ. Living the law of love is ultimately Christocentric as it is made possible and activated by being in Christ. Billings states:

If we accept the claim that justice must ultimately be christologically defined as it is pursued in union with Christ, the liberal Protestant program of reducing the gospel to our acts of justice will not do. Neither will it do to fall into an evangelical reduction of justice to an optional add-on for Christians who want extra credit after properly performing “essential” Christian duties that relate to the life of the soul. 31

This law of love is to be lived out in a life of justice, expressed in the Lord’s Supper, and

enabled by union with Christ.

30 Ibid., 72.

31 Ibid., 115. 55

Finally, in the fifth chapter Billings looks at the implications of union with Christ for the ministry of the church. The first half of the chapter is devoted to a critique of the contemporary notion of incarnational ministry. Billings argument is essentially that the incarnation of God in Christ is a unique event in salvation-history; as such, it is not an appropriate event to be imitated. He then goes on to call for ministry built on the concept of participation mentioned earlier. He says, “Rather than imitating the act of becoming incarnate as a model for ministry, Christians are called to witness to God’s unique Word,

Jesus Christ, in a way that reflects conformity to his life of obedient servanthood.” 32

Billings work provides an excellent foundation for understanding key themes in union with Christ as it relates to salvation in all its fullness. The theological development of adoption and communion will be very helpful in grounding the basic teaching on union with Christ in a way that will be amenable to the leadership at NPC. Furthermore, the language of service, the teaching on the Lord’s Supper, and the call to ministry grounded in union with Christ will also be well received.

Not everything in the book will be helpful to the project. The emphasis on mystery in chapter three could actually be a barrier to reception. The leadership is very leery of and often opposed to anything using the word mystery. This will not preclude some discussion of mystery, but it will have to be limited. Furthermore, the full development of the themes in this chapter goes beyond the necessary scope of this project both in terms of content and practicality with time available. Similarly, the critique of incarnational ministry is out of the trajectory of this project and would unnecessarily divert attention from the main themes.

32 Ibid., 152. 56

Resources on Spiritual Practices and Union with Christ

Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton

Ruth Haley Barton’s Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual

Transformation is about creating space for God to bring spiritual transformation. This is

done “by developing and maintaining a rhythm of spiritual practices that keep me open

and available to God.” 33 She intentionally uses the word rhythm as being more life giving

and flexible than disciplines. Barton believes that the call to these rhythms comes from an

inner longing for more. She states:

“It is your desire for God and your capacity to reach for more of God than you have right now that is the deepest essence of who you are. There is a place within each one of us that is spiritual in nature, the place where God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit about our truest identity. Here God’s Spirit dwells with our spirit, and here our truest desires make themselves known. From this place we cry out to God for deeper union with him and with others.” 34

Using practical language, Barton makes clear that God is the initiator of this desire through God’s relationship to us, a relationship that can be described from a union with

Christ perspective. Her thesis is that believers make space for God to bring about spiritual transformation through their relationship with God in Christ experienced in the sacred rhythms.

The bulk of the book is then devoted to eight areas of spiritual rhythms and how to engage with God through them. The first rhythm is solitude. This is no surprise given that her first book is entitled Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s

33 Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006), 12.

34 Ibid., 24. 57

Transforming Presence . Barton makes the connection to union as she says, “The longing for solitude is the longing for God. It is the longing to experience union with God unmediated by the ways we typically try to relate to God.” 35 For Barton, solitude is about learning to rest in God.

Scripture, the second rhythm, is to be read for relationship according to Barton. It is through this relationship that reading moves beyond information to transformation. She introduces the practice of lectio divina as a tool to approaching Scripture in this way. For

Barton, lectio divina is a movement of reading 6-8 verses in the Bible 4 times through,

reflecting on a portion of those verses, responding in prayer to God, and resting in God.

Her approach seems typical of many contemporary suggestions on how to practice lectio

divina . However, it is presented somewhat inflexibly.

Barton presents prayer, the third rhythm, as also being fundamentally relational.

While she does not explicitly use the terms union with God or union with Christ, her descriptions of prayer are essentially the experience of that union. Like Owen, she does ground prayer in communion with God. She writes, “Simply put, prayer is all the ways in which we communicate and commune with God . The fundamental purpose of prayer is to deepen our intimacy with God.” 36 While Barton offers several possible practices of prayer such as centering prayer and breath prayer, perhaps her most essential teaching is that all of life can be prayer. She says, “The longer I journey in the spiritual life, the more

I experience all of life as prayer and the other disciplines as different ways of praying.” 37

35 Ibid., 32.

36 Ibid., 63.

37 Ibid., 75. 58

Barton’s remaining five rhythms build on these first three. Honoring the body is

“a sacramental approach to life,” 38 supported by the incarnation of Christ, that involves

caring for, listening to, and praying with the body. Self-examination, the prayer practice

of the Ignatian examen of consciousness and examen of conscience, leads to “an

awakening to the presence of God as God really is and an awakening of ourselves as we

really are. . . . Self-examination is the Christian practice that opens us to the love we

seek.” 39 Discernment “is the journey from spiritual blindness (not seeing God anywhere

or seeing him only where we expect to see him) to spiritual sight (finding God

everywhere, especially where we least expect it).”40 Barton presents discernment from an

Ignatian spirituality perspective with attention given to consolation, desolation, belief in the goodness of God, the call to love, belief in the present communication of the Holy

Spirit, and the prayer of indifference. Sabbath is the rhythm that allows extended rest in

God through excluding work, buying, selling, and worry and including the Sabbath day as a day “set apart, devoted completely to rest, worship and delighting in God.” 41 Finally,

the rule of life is the rhythm that holds all these rhythms together; it should be personal,

realistic, and balanced.

Barton makes the crucial connection between the spiritual rhythms and

experiential union with God. She does this both generally and specifically with individual

rhythms. Her descriptions of these rhythms are very helpful in seeing how to present

38 Ibid., 81.

39 Ibid., 93.

40 Ibid., 111.

41 Ibid., 134. 59

them to the congregation at NPC. In fact five of her eight rhythms were used in the project: Solitude as resting in God, Scripture, prayer, self-examination, and Sabbath.

Furthermore, her broader assertions about the initiating work of God, the relational aspect of these rhythms, and the transforming power of the rhythms are congruent with the theologies of union with Christ found in Calvin, Owen, and Billings and as such, are appropriate for this project.

However, the direct use of Barton’s work would be problematic with the leadership of NPC, especially the SP. Prior to the arrival of the SP, the staff of NPC were meeting monthly with Ruth Haley Barton to discern their path during the absence of a senior pastor. The SP joined the staff at one of those meetings after his arrival.

Afterwards, he promptly discontinued all future meetings with Barton claiming that she was too Eastern and too Catholic. In addition to not referencing Barton, advocating the spiritual rhythms of honoring the body, discernment, and some aspects of solitude must be avoided as the SP would see them as too mystical and Catholic.

Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson

Marjorie J. Thompson states in Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian

Spiritual Life that her “purpose is to help people of faith understand and begin to practice some of the basic disciplines of the Christian spiritual life. Disciplines are simply practices that train us in faithfulness.”42 For Thompson, this spiritual life is the place where the Holy Spirit is at work “moving us toward communion with both Creator and

42 Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), xv. 60

creation. The spiritual life is thus grounded in relationship.” 43 This relationship is marked

by the transforming work of God causing those who are in Christ to be formed into

Christ’s image. Using language similar to Calvin’s teaching on participation, she goes on

to say, “Spiritual growth is essentially a work of divine grace with which we are called to

cooperate. . . . Opening ourselves to the work of the Spirit requires effort and

discipline.” 44 Like Barton, Thompson says that the engagement with the disciplines for the sake of relationship with God only occurs if there is a sufficiently strong desire on the part of the believer. Thompson’s thesis is that the classic spiritual disciplines are a means of growing the spiritual life of the believer in faithfulness and in communion with God and creation.

The remaining eight chapters are devoted to suggested spiritual practices and have significant overlap with Barton. The eight practices are spiritual reading, prayer, worship, fasting, self-examination, spiritual direction, hospitality, and developing a rule of life.

Spiritual reading’s primary focus is Scripture. Arguing that the purpose of reading is for formation, Thompson commends the practices of biblical meditation and lectio divina .

Prayer is presented as freely entering a relationship of communication and communion with God, for the sake of knowledge, growth, and mutual enjoyment.” 45 Since prayer is

communication, Thompson stresses the importance of listening to God in Scripture,

creation, others, circumstances, dreams, journaling, and the inner work of the Holy Spirit.

Communion with God comes when prayer is experienced as “being present to the

43 Ibid., 6.

44 Ibid., 8.

45 Ibid., 32. 61

presence of God.” 46 Worship is part of Sabbath and rest. It involves both gathering with

the community and growing in personal worship, all from the heart. Fasting is to find

where there are attachments in life that are in contradiction to communion with God.

Thompson suggests that Lent is a particularly appropriate season for the discipline of

fasting: “For the early church, Lent was just the opposite of a dreary season of restriction

and self-torture. It was understood as an opportunity to return to normal human life – the

life of natural communion with God that was lost to us in the Fall.” 47 Later Thompson

described this communion as being “more responsive to God’s life in and through and

around us,”48 which is another way of expressing union with Christ. Self-examination

includes the practices of the examen of consciousness and the examen of conscience.

This spiritual discipline builds on the truth that God loves and humankind is broken by

sin. The practice of self-examination is for the sake of communion and transformation.

Spiritual direction is presented as the opportunity to find a spiritual guide for the journey

of the spiritual life, especially in relationship to these other disciplines. Hospitality is

presented as receiving and giving love that grows as a result of the spiritual disciplines.

This love finds concrete expression in relation to God and one another at home, the

workplace, the neighborhood, and church. Finally and also like Barton, Thompson

suggests a rule of life as a way to bring the commitment to the spiritual disciplines in a

life giving way.

46 Ibid., 33.

47 Ibid., 72.

48 Ibid., 80. 62

The strengths for this project of this text by Thompson are similar to those of the

Barton text. She connects the practice of the spiritual disciplines to the experience of communion with God. She identifies these disciplines as the way to cooperate, or participate, with God in the spiritual life. Thompson’s description of the various disciplines is essentially relational. This focus allows for the use of Thompson’s material in the teaching of the disciplines, or rhythms, in this project focusing on union with

Christ. Barton and Thompson provide the necessary practical theology portion in a substantial way.

The limitations of this resource are not significant. Given Thompson’s commitment to provide a broadly ecumenical approach to the topic, there is little that would create problems with the leadership of NPC. However, time constraints for this project would not allow for a complete presentation of all the disciplines found in

Thompson. Spiritual reading, prayer, and self-examination were directly included in the project. Hospitality was a small part of the spiritual rhythm of service. Fasting and worship were a part of the project as a whole but were not presented as separate disciplines. Spiritual direction and developing a rule of life were not addressed at all.

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CHAPTER 4

THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH

This chapter looks at a theology of the church from a variety of perspectives. The first section presents what can be said about the theology of the church within the ministry context of this project, that of the PCA and its Reformed heritage. This theology is very briefly evaluated in light of union with Christ along with a focus on the actual theology held at Naperville Presbyterian Church. This chapter then turns to presenting several possible models for the Church. The model of the Church as a witness is embraced as one appropriate both for the ministry context and the topic of this project, union with Christ. Finally, this model is given a brief theological underpinning from

Scripture.

PCA and Reformed Heritage

The foundational theology of the church held in the PCA is found in The

Westminster Confession of Faith . The key chapter is devoted to confessional statements regarding the Church. The following chapter on the communion of the saints is especially pertinent to this project. Both of these chapters are very short with the majority of space

64

being given over to the proof texts that support the confessional statements. Chapters follow on the sacraments, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church discipline, and synods and councils.

Following is a summarizing paraphrase of the chapter on the Church: The universal Church is both invisible and visible. The invisible Church is comprised of all who are elect. This Church is made one in Christ, the head of the Church, his body and spouse. The visible Church is universal throughout the world by virtue of the gospel message. Those who profess the gospel, along with their children, are members of the visible Church, which is the kingdom of Christ. Ordinarily, salvation is found within the visible church. Christ has given to the visible church teachings, ministry and service, and ordinances for the edification of his Church. Their purpose is to bring together and sanctify members of the body; this is made possible by Christ’s presence and the Spirit’s work. The universal Church can be at times more or less visible. Individual churches can be more or less pure depending on how they teach the gospel, administer the ordinances, and perform public worship. Even the most pure can degenerate to the point of no longer being a church of Christ; yet there will always be a church on earth. The Lord Jesus

Christ is the only head of the Church.1

The chapter on the communion of saints can be paraphrased and summarized as

follows: All true members of the Church are united to Jesus Christ by the Spirit and faith.

1 “The Confession of Faith,” in The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms: As Adopted by the Presbyterian Church in America , (Lawrenceville, GA: Christian Education & Publications, 2007), 123-28, http://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/WCFScriptureProofs.pdf (accessed September 2, 2015). 65

In this union they share “in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory.” 2 They are also united to each other in a communion of love to serve the mutual inward and outward benefit of all the saints of the church. This communion is expressed through shared worship and all spiritual acts of service performed for mutual edification, both inwardly and outwardly. This communion is to be shared and given to any and all who call on Jesus’s name. The saints’ communion with Christ does not mean that members of his body share in the Godhead’s substance or are equal to Christ. Finally, the call to serve others’ outward needs does not preclude the possibility and appropriateness of personal ownership of goods and possessions. 3

The sacraments are “holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ, and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him.” 4 There is a spiritual relationship between the signs of water, bread, and wine with what they signify. The grace given through a sacrament is made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only two sacraments and must be administered by an ordained teaching elder. Baptism is a sign and seal of one’s

“ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto

God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life.” 5 Baptism is for those who profess

faith in Christ and for their children. The Lord’s Supper is for the “perpetual

remembrance of the sacrifice of [our Lord Jesus] in his death; the sealing all benefits

2 Ibid., 128.

3 Ibid., 128-30.

4 Ibid., 131.

5 Ibid., 134. 66

thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body.” 6

The Book of Church Order is primarily concerned with church polity, church discipline, and directives for worship. The PCA has a Presbyterian church polity. In the local church the officers are teaching and ruling elders and deacons. The Session is comprised of pastors and associate pastors (teaching elders) and ruling elders; it is where power and authority is found within the church. Note that this power is “only ministerial and declarative”7 and may not be used to bind the conscience. The Presbytery is a regional collective of churches represented by teaching and ruling elders and is the council above church Sessions. Finally, the General Assembly is the national council above all Presbyteries. The vast majority of this material in the Book of Church Order provides the practical ways that Presbyterian church polity is enacted. The sections on church discipline and worship are similar in that regard.

However, chapter 4 on “The Particular Church” contains two helpful statements that point the way to ascertaining the model of the Church that the PCA embraces. The first statement says, “ A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians,

with their children, associated together for divine worship and godly living, agreeable to

6 Ibid., 138.

7 The Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America , 6th ed.. (Lawrenceville, GA: The Office of the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 2015), Preface: Preliminary Principle 7. http://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2015BCO-Reprint- with-bookmarks.pdf (accessed September 2, 2015). 67

the Scriptures, and submitting to the lawful government of Christ's kingdom.” 8 The second states, “The ordinances established by Christ, the Head, in His Church are prayer; singing praises; reading, expounding and preaching the Word of God; administering the

Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; public solemn fasting and thanksgiving; catechizing; making offerings for the relief of the poor and for other pious uses; and exercising discipline; the taking of solemn vows, and the ordination to sacred office.”9

These two statements provide a working definition of the church and a description of

what the church does.

Evaluation in Light of the Topic

Observation of the senior pastor has shown that he certainly holds to the theology

and practice of the church as presented in The Westminster Confession of Faith and The

Book of Church Order . However, in practice the SP does deemphasize some of the points through neglect. Two such areas are pertinent to note for this project. The section under the communion of saints relating to union with Christ and communion between followers of Christ is one of those areas neglected. In the years since the SP’s arrival, the topic has never been presented to the congregation in a significant way through a sermon or other teaching venue. Occasionally, the theology has been mentioned as a passing reference when a text was being exegeted toward a different point. The same neglect was given to the sacramental nature of the Lord’s Supper. While the associate pastor would use words

8 Ibid., 4-1.

9 Ibid. 68

that spoke of real presence and means of grace, the SP invariably would only use language of memorial and remembrance.

Alternatively, this neglect might be seen as consistent with the Confession , in which the theologies of union with Christ, communion between believers, and the Lord’s

Supper are given very little space. In fact every thought on those topics from the

Confession has been included in the brief section above. In creating this confession, the

Westminster Assembly Divines lost the explicit centrality of those theologies such as could be found in the work of John Calvin during the previous century.

The Westminster Confession of Faith has the foundation present to allow for robust theologies of union with Christ, communion of the saints, and the Lord’s Supper and their relationship to a theology of the church. However, it does little to make that connection. What is needed is a fuller understanding of the Church that builds on the scant material found in the Confession .

Models of the Church

Avery Dulles presents five classic models of the Church in his book Models of the

Church . These models are the Church as institution, mystical communion, sacrament, herald, and servant. He evaluates each of these from a Roman Catholic perspective.

Dulles concludes by offering as a sixth model the Church as a community of disciples.10

From March 16 to 28 of 1988 as part of the Wheaton College Graduate School’s course

The Nature and Ministry of the Church , Timothy Phillips gave five lectures presenting

10 Avery Dulles, S.J., Models of the Church (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1978). 69

and evaluating these same models and the conclusions of Dulles from a Reformed

Protestant perspective. It is this perspective that is presented in brief here.

The Church as an institution is a visible society of believers that through the visible and enduring apostolic college founded by Jesus Christ carries out the work of

Christ. The Church’s authority is based on apostolic succession and lies in the apostolic college. The Church reflects the incarnate nature of Jesus Christ uniting the human and divine. Matt. 16:18 provides biblical support along with images in Scripture of hierarchical relationships in the churches. These include Ephesians 2:1, Hebrews 8:8-10,

Revelation 2, 1 Peter 2:9, and Galatians 3:29. Phillips critiques this view first by asserting that this model negates the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit by elevating humans to God’s role. This model lacks a robust view of the priesthood of all believers. When the essence of the church is defined as historical apostolic succession, historical categories are mixed with God’s categories. Phillips uses 1 Peter 2:9-10 to support the concept that the Church is created out of God’s act and initiative which is not bound to the legal, historical category of apostolic succession. Finally, this model can devolve to churches being more consumed with legality than the Christian law of love. 11

The Church as a mystical communion is a community that experiences an internal reality of connection vertically with God and horizontally with other believers. Strengths of this model include a strong view of the priesthood of all believers. Individual believers have access to God through the Holy Spirit on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ. This model treats the kingdom of God and kingdom realities seriously with the new fellowship

11 Timothy Phillips, “Models of the Church Part 1” (lecture, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 16, 1988). 70

with God and others. This model also follows biblical teaching on the body of Christ such as in 1 Corinthians 12:12-24. However, Phillips noted that this model can be better used as a theme within the Church rather than as an overarching model. As a model, this view can lead to a separatism that does not engage with the world as a witness. With the emphasis on the communal, the lordship of Christ can be de-emphasized or even absent.

Eventually, the vertical can be reduced to simply being a function of the horizontal such as in liberation theology. 12

The Church as a sacrament means that the Church is a visible sign that demonstrates a spiritual reality and is a means to accessing the invisible, God’s grace.

Partaking in the Church begins the process that God completes through grace. Since the

Church is an extension of Jesus’s being, the Church makes Jesus present to believers.

This view fits with the nature of humans who have visible flesh and invisible spirits.

Even so the church is both visible and invisible. Phillips points to Ephesians 5:23-32;

Ephesians 3:4-6, and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 as biblical support. The Church as sacrament can lead to a narrow conception of worship with the singular focus on celebrating what God has done for humankind in Jesus Christ. This model can leave out reverence, awe, and adoration if it looks only at what is received. Furthermore, the

Church as sacrament lacks an intrinsic call to the proclamation of God’s Word or of

12 Timothy Phillips, “Models of the Church Part 2” (lecture, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 21, 1988). 71

obedience and service to God. This aspect of worship involves serving men and women as an act of obedience. 13

The Church as herald proclaims God’s redemptive actions in Jesus Christ. God acts through this Word, Jesus Christ and Scripture with the Holy Spirit, when God chooses. God’s redemptive power is not possessed, contained, or controlled by the

Church but is both the creator of and the authority over the Church. The Word calls for repentance through faith in order to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. The Church as herald is an instrument of the Word as the Church proclaims and preaches the Word. This model has a strong view of God acting. However, it can have a problem with the power given to the preacher. The preached Word is supposed to be God’s Word which is to be accepted in faith. The preacher must distance the self from identification with the Word.

Furthermore, this view lacks a necessary visible structure since it is built on an event.

Finally, while preaching in the New Testament is essential, it does not stand by itself.

Being a full witness also includes the call to love and social action. 14

The Church as a servant involves itself with humankind by helping others from a

powerless position as demonstrated in Jesus Christ’s engagement with the world. In this

model the Church does not establish norms or standards. Instead, the Church is shaped by

the world into which the Church enters with respect. The key strength of this model is the

embracing of Jesus Christ as an exemplification of true humanity and following Him in

the way described in Philippians 2:3-7. Weaknesses include a propensity towards

13 Timothy Phillips, “Models of the Church Part 3” (lecture, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 23, 1988).

14 Timothy Phillips, “Models of the Church Part 4” (lecture, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 25, 1988). 72

universalism and the problem of using the world as the norm rather than the Word.

Where the Church as sacrament model is directed solely internally, the Church as servant is solely directed externally. 15

Prior to presenting his own model, Phillips summarized each of the five models from the previous lectures. The essence of the Church as institution is external structure.

The weakness is a dualism between the hierarchy and the laity. The strength is the visibility of the church. The essence of the Church as mystical communion is internal structure. The weakness is a dualism between the visible and invisible. The strength is the necessity of the internal reality of love. The essence of the Church as sacrament is the external as an expression of internal reality. The weakness is a dualism between being internally directed and externally directed. The strength is the concern for worship. The essence of the Church as herald is the Word’s action. The weakness is a dualism between evangelism and social action. The strength is that the Word is the norm. The essence of the Church as servant is service to the world. The weakness is both the internal and external direction dualism and the dualism of evangelism and social action. The strength is that mission involves more than being a herald. 16

Phillips did not present and evaluate Dulles’s model of the Church as community of disciples. In its place he offered his own model of Church as a witness which incorporated and advanced Dulles’s model. Phillips grounds his model on Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my

15 Ibid.

16 Timothy Phillips, “Models of the Church Part 5” (lecture, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, March 28, 1988). 73

witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Being a witness involves three things: Jesus Christ as the norm, eschatological realities in community, and external service. Using this foundation, Phillips gives five key points for this model. First, Jesus Christ is the source and norm which builds on the strengths of the herald model. Eschatological realities of the kingdom of God are made present through the work of Jesus Christ. The Church’s task is to bear witness to those realities which are qualitatively different from what is available in the world. Second, this witness depends on the existence of an eschatological community. Third, the believer’s life depends on this community. This reality overcomes the dualism of the sacrament and servant models and embraces the strengths of the Church as mystical communion. Fourth, the mission of the church is both evangelism and social action, overcoming the dualism of the herald and servant models. Fifth, in overcoming the dualism of the Church as institution, the task of the church is to cultivate its members so they can be effective witnesses. 17

The Church as witness is entirely consonant with an evangelical, Reformed theological perspective. While Phillips indicated that the Church as herald is perhaps the most typical Protestant view, the Church as witness maintains the strengths while fleshing out more fully other essential components of what it means to be the Church.

The SP at Naperville Presbyterian Church holds a view of Church as herald. However, the SP supports all the theology inherent in the Church as witness model. As mentioned earlier, it is more a matter of neglect than disagreement on these issues at NPC.

More importantly for this project, the model of Church as witness has a much more significant place for union with Christ than any of the five models individually or

17 Ibid. 74

the short foundation available from the Westminster Confession of Faith . Any theology or

experience of union with Christ must look to Jesus Christ as its source and norm. It is

Jesus who brings about the eschatological reality of union with him by his life, death, and

resurrection. As the body of Christ where eschatological realities are brought forth, the

Church is an essential locus for experiencing and participating in union with Christ as a

community and as individuals. Participating in union with Christ has the spiritual fruit of

being transformed into the image of Christ. To be so transformed, the Church and the

individual are set on mission to the world proclaiming the invitation to this union and

serving as Christ would serve. It is in the experience of this transforming union that

members grow to be effective witnesses. For the Church to cultivate members towards

effective witness, the Church needs to cultivate members towards subjectively

experiencing union with Christ.

Thomas Torrance affirms a necessary relationship between the union of Christ

with his body, the Church. He says:

The Church of the new covenant arose out of the indivisible union of the Messiah and the people of God he came to redeem and raise up; it grew out of the concrete way in which he lived his divine life within their human existence thereby transforming their whole way of life; it took shape and form in every act that he performed, and derived its essential structure from the way in which he fulfilled his ministry on their behalf. 18

Later, Torrance describes the result of the Church’s union with Christ on the shape of the

Church’s life and ministry. Torrance states:

The Christian Church is what it is because of its indissoluble union with Christ through the Spirit, for in him is concentrated the Church and all ministry. Because

18 Thomas F. Torrance, “Foundation of the Church,” in Theological Foundations for Ministry: Selected Readings for a Theology of the Church in Ministry , ed. Ray S. Anderson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 208-9. 75

Christ fulfilled his ministry by sharing the life of the people of God, the Church is what it is through sharing in his life and ministry, living by the very Gospel it proclaims. Because the Person and Work of Christ, what he was and what he did, are inseparable, what the Church is in him and what it does in proclaiming him, its being and its ministry, are inseparable. 19

Although he does not use the specific designation of the Church as witness, this

description is quite consistent with that model.

The model of the Church as witness is essentially one of experiencing, proclaiming, and demonstrating believers’ union with Christ. To be united to Christ as the Church is to be a visible institution, mystical communion, sacrament, herald, and servant all wrapped together as witness. These models are ultimately based on the person and work of Christ as experienced in union with him.

Theological Grounding for Church as Witness in Light of Union with Christ

The New Testament supports a theology of the Church as witness. Furthermore, there is both the explicit and implicit connection to union with Christ. As stated above,

Acts 1:8 is the foundational text for this model for the Church. When Jesus states, “You will be my witnesses,” he is speaking to those on whom the Holy Spirit will fall with power on the day of Pentecost. They will be the first members of Christ’s church.

Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, says, “We, though many, are one body in

Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:5). Here Paul is specifically connecting the reality of the church with union with Christ when he uses the phrase “one body in Christ.” This union is both an individual and a corporate one. Furthermore, this

19 Ibid., 215. 76

union not only has a vertical component with Jesus Christ, but it also has a horizontal one with the fellowship of believers.

In just these two brief verses, the three aspects of being a witness mentioned above are present. Jesus Christ is the norm. The Church can be defined as those who are in Christ as his body. The Church experiences eschatological realities through individual membership of one another. The Church engages in external service as it is a witness to

Christ.

Hebrews 10:19-25 also captures these three aspects of witness in the church:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This passage is built on the normative character of the person of Christ and his work. The blood, flesh, and priesthood of Christ are the foundation for this call to the Church.

Fundamentally, this is an encapsulation of gospel realities. The call to draw near to God in light of these gospel truths places Christ at the center. This movement towards God is built on the gospel truths of changed hearts, full faith, and the cleansing of consciences.

The ability to hold to the confession of the Church is made possible by the faithfulness of

Jesus. The passage then moves to a call to being a community that flows from these realities. The Church is called to encourage each other, grow in love, and grow in good works. These are the eschatological realities to be experienced in the body of Christ. The writer even ties that to those realities in the phrase “all the more as you see the Day 77

drawing near.” Finally, this passage explicitly calls for external service. The acts of encouraging and loving are external acts, especially when given outside the Church. Jesus said in John 15:23, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The act of love is being a witness.

Perhaps the strongest passage for connecting the witness aspect of Jesus Christ as the norm is Colossians 1:15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Paul extols Christ for his acts of creation, supremacy, resurrection, deity, and work of

reconciliation. Right in the middle of these verses is the key statement, “And he is the

head of the body, the church.” This is an unequivocal assertion that Jesus must be the

norm for the church.

In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he presents the second aspect of being a

witness, some of the eschatological realities that ought to be present in the Church. He

specifically prays, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give

you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of

your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:17-18). Later in verse

23, after asserting the eminence of Christ, Paul describes the church as “his body, the

fullness of him who fills all in all.” This union with Christ is the means by which

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eschatological realities become present. In Ephesians 4:25-32 Paul presents a practical list of what eschatological realities look like. He grounds these in the reality that the church is formed of those who are “members one of another.” (Eph. 4:25) This list concludes in verse 32 which states: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The source and model for all these eschatological realities are found in Christ. Later, in Ephesians 5:22-32, Paul compares the mystical union of the Church and Christ with the relationship between a husband and wife. Verses

25 and 26 say that Christ loves, sacrifices himself for, sanctifies, and cleanses the Church.

He does so because the Church is united to him as his body (Eph 5:29-30). The Church’s response is to submit. Through this submission, the Church begins to experience the promised eschatological realities and to grow in external works of service.

In Ephesians 3:8-10 Paul points to the third aspect of being a witness, external service. “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” This third aspect is not restricted to the proclamation of Christ that Paul names here. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden . . . Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:14, 16). Bearing witness to Christ involves both word and deed.

Finally, Paul again weaves these truths together in Romans 7:4-6:

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Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul addresses the church in Rome and draws attention to the reality of their union with

Christ. They have died to the law because of their union and participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. By virtue of that union, they are united to each other. The stated goal is that they might “bear fruit for God.” In verse 6 Paul provides an alternative phrasing by saying, “we serve in the new way of the Spirit.” There is congruence with the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8, our foundational verse for this model: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The fruit of union with Christ and the communion of the Church is to be Christ’s witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When contrasted with the presentation of a theology of the Church in the

Westminster Confession , the model of the Church as a witness matches up quite well. The model as developed here does extend beyond the Confession as it gives more significance

to union with Christ. However, it is in no way contradictory to the core beliefs embraced

within the PCA or NPC. Rather, this view can aid in the desire to reach all peoples with

the truth of the Gospel of Christ.

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CHAPTER 5

THEOLOGY OF UNION WITH CHRIST

Understanding a biblical and systematic theology of union with Christ is the

necessary first step for this ministry initiative. Given this ministry context’s deep

connection and rootedness in historical Reformed theology, also looking at an historical

theology of union with Christ will deepen and expand on the knowledge from the first

step. This understanding will then lead to a practical theology that engages with the

possibility of actively participating in union with Christ or experiencing communion with

God. Finally, the practice of the spiritual disciplines will be presented as an avenue to

experiencing union with Christ.

Biblical and Systematic Theology of Union with Christ

J. Todd Billings in Union with Christ points the way to discovering a biblical theology of union. He states:

The imagery of union with Christ receives its fullest development in two New Testament locations: Paul’s letters and John’s Gospel. In Paul, union with Christ in his death and resurrection is one of the most comprehensive images used for salvation itself, undergirding his nearly ubiquitous claim that believers can now

81

find their life ‘in Christ.’ In John’s Gospel, union with Christ is connected with both faith and obedience – abiding in Christ, as a branch abides in a tree. 1

Given the extensive nature of Paul’s use of “in Christ,” a thorough development of a

biblical theology of union is certainly beyond the scope of this paper. However, looking

at certain key passages in Paul and John, including 1 John, leads to some central biblical

tenets regarding union with Christ.

Galatians 2:20 captures a great deal concerning union with Christ in its three short

sentences. It reads, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of

God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Those who are united with Christ

experience a death to self and a new life received from the indwelling Christ. Union with

Christ means the reception of the love of Christ and the ability to live for him. Paul

echoes these thoughts even more simply in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where he teaches that

those who are in Christ are new creations.

Being united to Christ means receiving Christ’s blessings. In Ephesians 1:3 Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” and says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

In verse 5 Paul names “adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” as one of those blessings.

In verse 7 he goes on to say that it is in him where redemption and forgiveness is received. Still later in verses 11-13, Paul says that in him is where one obtains their inheritance of salvation. Finally, verse 13 also says that it is in him that believers receive the Holy Spirit. Other passages in Paul teach that those who are in Christ experience no

1 Billings, Union with Christ , 35. 82

condemnation (Rom 8:1), becoming the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21), knowing

Christ’s love (Eph 3:17-19), and being raised from death to new life (Eph 2:1-6; 1 Pet

1:3-4).

Union with Christ does not only mean benefits and blessings received by those who are united to Christ. Union also leads to fruit and transformation as a response to those gifts received. Paul ties these together in Ephesians 2:8-10. He says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in

Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” The gracious salvation that is received is to lead to the fruit of good works. Jesus makes this same connection in the upper room as he is speaking with his disciples on the night before he died. In John 15:1-17 he uses the analogy of abiding in a vine to describe union with him. In verse 4 he uses the language of union when he says, “Abide in me, and I in you.” Throughout the surrounding verses, Jesus ties this union to bearing fruit and obeying his commandments. The one explicit commandment that Jesus gives is in verse 12 where he says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Through union, experiencing the love of God leads to the fruit of loving others. John reaffirms this teaching in his first letter. He says in 1 John 2:3-6, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same

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way in which he walked.” 1 John 4:12-13 says, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Just a little later in verse 16

John also says, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” John has shown both in his Gospel and Epistle that union with or abiding in Christ has a subjective participation component marked by obedience and love.

Paul develops this in a more systematic way when he writes to the Roman church.

He articulates the issue in Romans 6:1-11:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

These verses are laden with language of union with Christ: Baptism, buried, united in death, united in resurrection, crucified with him, died with, and live with. The fruit of this union is to truly die to sin and to “walk in newness of life.” In Colossians 2:6 Paul uses language that shows that the walk of the believer is part of being in Christ: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

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A biblical theology of union with Christ must also name the importance of the role of the Holy Spirit. Paul talks about those who are in Christ in Romans 8. For them, the reception of the benefits leading to the fruit of obedience and love is described as being dead to the flesh and alive to the Spirit. Romans 8:5 says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Note that this is not just the action of the believer. Rather, these things are enabled by the agency of the Holy

Spirit. In verses 10-11 Paul says, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised

Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” For Paul, to be in

Christ is to be in the Spirit and for Christ to indwell means the Spirit is indwelling (Rom

8:9). Jesus also speaks of the indwelling Spirit. In John 14:16-17 he says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John reiterates this teaching in 1

John 3:24 which says, “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

A biblical understanding of union with Christ is not only about the relationship between the individual believer and Jesus Christ. This gift of union extends to the creation of a community that is in union with each other. In the upper room Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer:

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“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20-23).

This oneness and union is tightly tied to union with Christ and to Christ’s union with the

Father. Furthermore, it includes love as an essential element throughout. The result of this aspect of union with Christ is that the Church, the communion of saints, will bear fruit in its witness. Paul includes this theme in his letter to the Romans. Romans 12:4-5 states,

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.” Paul links this reality of being one body to the work of the Holy Spirit. 1

Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one

Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

Scripture reveals a unique connection between the Lord’s Supper and union with

Christ. Matthew 26:26-28 recounts the institution of the Lord’s Supper: “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus uses intriguing language when he invites his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. The words imply an ingesting or taking in of Jesus. This is Christ in the disciples. The question is whether this 86

is language of union. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Paul refers first to the vertical aspect of union with Christ as he speaks of participating in the body and blood of Christ. He extends this teaching to include the horizontal aspect of union as he points out that it is the one body that partakes of the one bread. At a minimum the Lord’s Supper is a rich picture of the fullness of union with Christ. Even more for those holding a sacramental view, the Lord’s

Supper is considered an actual participation in that union. It is this view that is a part of

NPC and its Reformed theological heritage.

Those who are united to Christ have moved from death to life. They have received Christ’s blessings of adoption, redemption, forgiveness, salvation, inheritance, the Holy Spirit, becoming the righteousness of God, and knowing Christ’s love. The fruit and response to this union is a life marked by obedience and love. These are the marks that there is a true union. The Holy Spirit is the agent through whom union is accomplished objectively and experienced subjectively. This work of the Holy Spirit creates a communion of saints formed of all who are united to Christ as one body.

Finally, Scripture teaches that the Lord’s Supper is a unique picture and experience of union with Christ.

Historical Theology of Union with Christ

The PCA and NPC have a strong connection to historical theology as it relates to

Reformed thinking. Those theologians who are admired and embraced provide a deeper

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understanding of the doctrine of union with Christ through their writings and legacy. The

Reformer John Calvin and Puritan John Owe n are particularly important for this project and have already been presented in Chapter 3 as important resources. Calvin looked back to both Augustine of Hippo and Bernard of Clairvaux who each provide more helpful theological perspectives. Finally for this project, Isaac Ambrose is included as a Puritan contemporary of Owen who also had a profound interest in the theology of union with

Christ.

John Calvin (1509-1564)

For Calvin, the opposite of death is not life as one might think of it. Rather the opposite of death is union with Christ where one receives the benefits of true life. The goal of salvation is not eternal life. Instead the goal of salvation is union with Christ with the benefit of eternal life. He states in his commentary on Ephesians 2:1-6, “As spiritual death is nothing else than the alienation of the soul from God, we are all born as dead men, and we live as dead men, until we are made partakers of the life of Christ.” 2 Calvin continues, “Let this, then, be held as a fixed principle, that the union of our soul with God is the true and only life; and that out of Christ we are altogether dead, because sin, the

cause of death, reigns in us.” 3 As Calvin comments on the phrase “made us alive with

Christ” in verse 5, he says, “The meaning is, that there is no other life than that which is

2 John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians , trans. William Pringle (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009), 219.

3 Ibid., 220. 88

breathed into us by Christ: so that we begin to live only when we are ingrafted into him, and enjoy the same life with himself.” 4

Calvin talks about both the work that God does in drawing people into union with

Christ and the responsive participation of those people in the experience of union. God is the source of forensic justification for the purpose of entering into union with Christ and followers are invited to cooperate in that experience of union. As previously quoted in

Chapter 3, Calvin states:

For we await salvation from him not because he appears to us afar off, but because he makes us, ingrafted into his body, participants not only in all his benefits but also in himself. . . . But since Christ has been so imparted to you with all his benefits that all his things are made yours, that you are made a member of him, indeed one with him, his righteousness overwhelms our sins; his salvation wipes out your condemnation; with his worthiness he intercedes that your unworthiness may not come before God’s sight. Surely this is so: We ought not to separate Christ from ourselves or ourselves from him. Rather we ought to hold fast bravely with both hands to that fellowship by which he has bound himself to us. 5

Calvin uses the language of benefits to refer to what is received in union with Christ.

Fundamentally, these benefits are given through the gift and reception of Christ himself.

While this is God’s work, Calvin still implores that “we ought to hold fast bravely . . . to that fellowship.” This call from Calvin is intended to be subjective and experiential.

Elsewhere he says, “Let us therefore labour more to feel Christ living in us, than to discover the nature of that intercourse.” 6

Calvin felt that it was important to stress that union with Christ implied a

differentiated union with the Godhead. In the Institutes Calvin responds to Osiander who

4 Ibid., 224.

5 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , 570.

6 Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, 325. 89

asserted that the believer is indwelled by Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Calvin acknowledges that this is true but not in the way that Osiander intended. Calvin says concerning Osiander, “For he ought to have considered the manner of the indwelling— namely, that the Father and Spirit are in Christ, and even as the fullness of deity dwells in him [Col. 2:9], so in him we possess the whole deity.” 7 Calvin did believe that the role of the Holy Spirit is key for union with Christ. He says, “To sum up, the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself.” 8

Calvin uses several words and images as alternative ways of speaking of union

with Christ. Some of the most common ones in the Institutes are engrafting, communion,

fellowship, spiritual marriage or sacred wedlock, union with God, becoming one,

adoption, regeneration, partakers of Christ, and mystical union. All of these taken

together help round out one’s understanding of Calvin’s concept of union with Christ.

John Owen (1616-1683)

John Owen uses the language of communion with God to describe the experience that results from being in union with Christ. This is essentially equivalent to Calvin’s use of participation. Owen is highly relational in his view and moves from the objective truths of union to the subjective experience of communion with God. As mentioned in

Chapter 3, one of the most significant contributions of Owen to this topic is his practical helps on communing with each member of the Trinity. For each member of the Trinity,

Owen names the characteristics that are most embodied in one’s relationship with them.

7 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , 730-31.

8 Ibid., 538. 90

He is careful to say that all characteristics are shared by each member, but that with some of the characteristics, they are most clearly seen in the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

For Owen, communing with the Father is marked by love received and reciprocated. He writes, “Now, to complete communion with the Father in love, two things are required of believers: that they receive it of him and that they make suitable returns to him.” 9 Owen makes it clear that this communion is made possible through

Christ and, by implication, one’s union with him. He states:

We believe in God through Christ (1 Peter 1:21); faith seeks out rest for the soul. This is presented to it by Christ, the mediator, as the only procuring cause. Here it abides not, but by Christ it has an access to the Father (Eph. 2:1)—into his love; finds out that he is love, as having a design, a purpose of love, a good pleasure towards us from eternity—a delight, a complacency, a goodwill in Christ—all cause of anger and aversation being taken away. The soul being thus, by faith through Christ, and by him, brought into the bosom of God, into a comfortable persuasion and spiritual perception and sense of his love, there reposes and rests itself. 10

This is not merely an abstract or mental notion for Owen. There are real life, pastoral ramifications of this truth. He writes, “Let, then, this be the saints’ first notion of the

Father—as one full of eternal, free love towards them: let their hearts and thoughts be filled with breaking through all discouragements that lie in the way.” 11

Owen spends the most time detailing what it means to commune with the Son.

Grace is revealed most clearly in the relationship with the Son. This is a grace that has been purchased by the Son leading to adoption and sonship, which are part of the language of union. The experience of this communion is characterized by the reception of

9 Owen, 51.

10 Ibid., 53.

11 Ibid., 64. 91

sweetness, delight, safety, and comfort and the response of delight, valuation, compassion, and bounty. Owen says of Jesus, “Thus, in the first place, does he manifest his delight in his saints—he communicates his secrets to them. He gives them to know his person, his excellencies, his grace, his love, his kingdom, his will, the riches of his goodness, and the bowels of his mercy, more and more, when the world shall neither see nor know any such thing.” 12 Owen goes on to describe the response to Jesus: “In return

hereunto, for the carrying on of the communion between them, the saints delight in

Christ; he is their joy, their crown, their rejoicing, their life, food, health, strength, desire,

righteousness, salvation, blessedness: without him they have nothing; in him they shall

find all things.” 13 Owen calls on believers to respond by valuing Jesus above all, to respond in faithfulness to him, and to be obedient. Owen moves beyond mere statements to a heartfelt, pastoral plea. Here is but a brief selection:

You that are, perhaps, seeking earnestly after a righteousness, and are religious persons, consider a little with yourselves—has Christ his due place in your hearts? Is he your all? Does he dwell in your thoughts? Do you know him in his excellency and desirableness? Do you indeed account all things ‘loss and dung’ for his exceeding excellency? Or rather, do you prefer almost anything in the world before it? 14

These words are especially needed today, especially in light of the context and culture

detailed in Chapters 1 and 2. For Owen, the pursuit of communion with God built on

union with Christ is not just a warm feeling in the heart but impacts everything in life.

12 Ibid., 195.

13 Ibid., 200.

14 Ibid., 97. 92

Owen names the Holy Spirit as the central person of the Trinity to persuade, convince, make alive, and console. The response is both consolation and joy. Owen describes consolation as an act of the soul. He says:

Comfort or consolation in general, is the setting and composing of the soul in rest and contentedness in the midst of or from troubles, by the consideration or presence of some good, wherein it is interested, outweighing the evil, trouble, or perplexity that it has to wrestle with. . . . Suffering and consolation are opposed, the latter being a relief against the former; so are all the promises of comfort, and all the expressions of it, in the Old and New Testament still proposed as reliefs against trouble. 15

The Holy Spirit comforts us against our afflictions, sin and concerns of life. He comforts

us with the love of the Father and the grace of Christ. Our response is simply to not

grieve, quench, or resist the consoling, communing work of the Holy Spirit. When

consolation happens, joy is the result.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

Augustine of Hippo is a favorite Church Father for those holding to a Reformed

theology. One of his most famous quotes speaks of union: “You have made us for

yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” 16 Augustine goes beyond the draw to union as he says this later in the Confessions :

And I sought a way of gaining the strength necessary for enjoying you, and I could not find it until I embraced that “Mediator between God and Man, the Man Jesus Christ, who is over all, blessed forevermore” (1 Tm 1:51; Rom 9:5), calling to me and saying, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6), and who united with our flesh that Food which I lacked the strength to take. For the “Word was made flesh” (Jn 1:14) that by your wisdom, through which you created all things, He might give its milk to our infancy. For I was not humble enough to hold the humble Jesus as my God, nor did I know what lesson was taught by His

15 Ibid., 390.

16 Saint Augustine, Confessions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 3. 93

weakness. For your Word, the eternal truth, exalted above the highest parts of your creation, raises to itself those who are cast down. He built for Himself here below a humble dwelling out of your clay through which He might bring down from themselves and bring up to Himself those who were to be made subject, healing the swollenness of their pride and nourishing their love so that instead of progressing in self-confidence they should put on weakness seeing the deity in the weakness it had put on by sharing the tunic of our skin (Gn 3:31), and being at last weary, they might cast themselves upon His humanity and rise again in its rising.” 17

Augustine believed that the incarnation was necessary for Jesus to be the “Way,” and not just the “Truth” and “Life.” For this to be true, Jesus had to have the dual natures of being fully human and fully divine to allow for the possibility of humankind’s union with him.

The deity had to share in the “tunic of our skin” in order for believers to experience union with Christ and to die and rise with him. For Augustine salvation does not come simply through mental assent or belief of right doctrine. Rather salvation comes through being united in the death and resurrection of Christ.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Bernard of Clairvaux is known for preaching 86 sermons on the Song of Songs during the last twenty years of his life. For Bernard, union with Christ was best described in terms of spiritual marriage. It was through this lens that Bernard approached the Song of Songs. In one of his sermons, Bernard says:

This is the way; this is the order. First we cast ourselves at his feet and deplore before God, who made us, the evil we have done. Second, we reach out for the hand that will lift us up, that will strengthen our trembling knees. Last, when we have obtained that, with many prayers and tears, then perhaps we shall dare to lift our faces to the mouth that is so divinely beautiful, fearing and trembling, not only to gaze on it, but even to kiss it. For “Christ the Lord is a Spirit before our

17 Saint Augustine, “Confessions: Book Seven,” in Augustine of Hippo: Selected Writings , trans. Mary T. Clark (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984), 75-76. 94

face” [Lam. 4:20]. When we are joined with him in a holy kiss, we are made one with him in spirit through his kindness.18

Bernard frequently used the image of the holy kiss from the Song of Songs to speak of spiritual marriage and oneness with Christ. Consequently Bernard’s view of union with

Christ is very experiential. Where Calvin speaks of participation, Bernard speaks of desire and seeking God. He says:

“All night long in my little bed I sought him whom my soul loves” [Song of Sgs. 3:1]. It is a great good to seek God; I think nothing comes before it among the good things the soul may enjoy. It is the first of its gifts and its ultimate goal. None of the virtues approaches it, and it yields place to none. What could be better when nothing has a higher place? To what could it yield place, when it is the consummation of all things? What virtue can be attributed to him who does not seek God? What limit is there for him who seeks him? “Always seek his face,” it says [Ps. 105:4]. I think that, even when it has found him, the soul will not cease to seek him. God is sought not on foot, but by desire. And the happy discovery of what is desired does not end desire, but extends it. The consummation of joy does not consume desire, does it? Rather, it is oil poured on flames, which itself catches fire. Thus it is. Joy will be fulfilled. But there will be no end to desire, and so no end of seeking. Put from your mind, if you can, the absence of God as the cause of this eagerness to seek him, for he is always present, and anxiety in the search, for you cannot fail to find his abundance. 19

For Bernard, desire and seeking God never ends. However, God is continually found moment after moment as desire and seeking continue. Participation in union with Christ is dynamic and not static. It is not enough to speak of the objective reality of union. There is a subjective dimension that for Bernard is experienced as desire and seeking within the spiritual marriage to Christ.

18 Bernard of Clairvaux, “Sermons on the Song of Songs: Sermon 3,” in Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works , trans. G. R. Evans, (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 223.

19 Bernard of Clairvaux, “Sermons on the Song of Songs: Sermon 84,” in Bernard of Clarivaux: Selected Works , trans. G. R. Evans, (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 274-75. 95

Isaac Ambrose (1591-1664)

In his book Looking Unto Jesus: A View of the Everlasting Gospel; or, the Soul’s

Eyeing of Jesus, as Carrying on the Great Work of Man’s Salvation, from First to Last ,

Isaac Ambrose presents several aspects of Jesus’s work of salvation including eternal beginning, promise in the Old Testament covenants, birth and incarnation, life and teachings, suffering and death, resurrection, ascension and session, sending of the Holy

Spirit, ongoing intercession, and coming judgment. After each separate aspect, Ambrose helps the believer see how to know Jesus better by considering, desiring, hoping in, believing in, loving, joying in, calling on, and conforming to Jesus. Ambrose connects these to experiential union with Christ. “O Lord, I have longed for thy salvation, I am ready to swoon for further union, and clearer manifestation of my share and interest in this covenant of grace come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” 20 Like Bernard, Ambrose uses the language of desire and spiritual marriage.

O, come with these pantings and breathings after God; put forth thy desires in these and the like impressions ‘O Lord, thou hast said, I will betroth thee unto me for ever,’ Hos. 2:19. And what means this, but that the conjugal love of Christ with a gracious soul, shall never be broken? what means this but that the bond of union in a believer to Christ is fastened upon God, and the Spirit of God holds the other end of it, and so it can never be broken? 21

This love and desire, grounded in love, moves to joy. “Now, love consists in union, and joy in fruition, for what is fruition but a joy that we find in the possession of a thing we love?” 22 Similarly to Bernard, Ambrose describes both the fulfillment and the ongoing

20 Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus: A View of the Everlasting Gospel; or, the Soul’s Eyeing of Jesus, as Carrying on the Great Work of Man’s Salvation, from First to Last (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1986), 140.

21 Ibid., 140-41. 22 Ibid., 154. 96

incompleteness of this desire and joy. “Thou art my solace, and soul delight; whom have

I in heaven but thee? And whom desire I upon earth in comparison of thee? And yet I am not satisfied; not only fruition of thee, but union with thee, is that which my soul longs after; not only thy presence, but thy embraces, or my embraces of thee can give content. 23

Like Calvin, Ambrose affirms that that one’s union with the Godhead is a

differentiated union. Humankind’s union with Christ is made possible by God becoming

human in Christ. This then allows for a differentiated union with the divine nature.

Ambrose describes it this way:

There is a spiritual union of Christians with God in Christ; O the wonder of these two blessed unions! First, Of the personal or hypostatical union. Secondly, Of this spiritual or mystical union: in the personal union, it pleased God to assume and unite our human nature to the Deity: in this spiritual union, it pleased God to unite the person of every believer to the person of the Son of God. This union is mystical, and yet our very persons, natures, bodies, souls, are in a spiritual way conjoined to the body and soul of Christ; so that “we are members of the body of Christ, and of the flesh of Christ, and of the bones of Christ,” Eph. 5:30. And as this conjunction is immediately made with his human nature, so thereby we are also united to the divine nature, 2 Pet. 1:4. Yea, the person of the believer is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God. 24

For Ambrose, this union is made possible by the work of the Spirit. He says, “Union is the ground of our communion with Christ; and the nearer our union, the greater our communion. If Christ were only in a believer by the habit of grace, the union would not be so great, but if Christ be in us by his Spirit, the union is nearer, and therefore the communion will be greater.” 25

23 Ibid., 459.

24 Ibid., 183. 25 Ibid., 549. 97

Ambrose believes that there is both an objective and subjective dimension to one’s union with Christ. Objectively, union with Christ is made possible by the work of

Christ. The union is a mystical reality that also includes differentiated union with the divine nature. It is the Holy Spirit that makes possible this bond between believers and

Christ. Subjectively, the believer can participate in deepening that union by looking unto

Jesus as deeply as possible. The believer will then experience the fruits of love and joy.

Practical Theology of Union with Christ and Spiritual Practices

The insights from the historical theology section point to some foundational statements for a practical theology of union with Christ. All of the historical theologians make objective statements about union with Christ in terms of what it is, how it works, and what is the positional place of the believer who is in union. But they also speak concerning the subjective, experiential aspect of union with Christ. Calvin calls for participation. Owen uses the language of relational communion. Augustine begins his

Confessions with a naming of the restless heart that will only find rest in God. Bernard stresses the acts of desiring and seeking in the context of spiritual marriage. Ambrose enjoins his readers to know Jesus better and deeper that they might move into fuller union. The themes of love and joy abound throughout theses writings on union with

Christ.

The most basic foundation underlying all this theology is the person of Christ.

Union with Christ means that there is a subjective, experiential, and relational encounter with the living Christ. Marcus Peter Johnson says in in his book One with Christ: An

Evangelical Theology of Salvation , “To be saved by Christ, Calvin kept insisting, means

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to be included in the person of Christ . That is what salvation is. ”26 Johnson uses several scriptural texts to support the conclusion that “our union with Christ is ‘vital’ because

Christ is our life.” 27 Through life in Christ “we participate in the life, love, and fellowship

of the Trinity.” 28

Johnson firmly places sanctification within a theology of union with Christ. He states that sanctification is both definitive and progressive. The believer as one who is in

Christ is sanctified because Christ is the believer’s sanctification. This benefit of union is relational and cannot be severed from the person of Christ. This definitive sanctification is the foundation for progressive sanctification. Johnson says that “to be progressively sanctified in Christ means that believers experience the gradual, continual benefits of having already been sanctified in him. This means, most importantly, that we are being continually transformed, through a process of lifetime growth and struggle, into the likeness of Jesus Christ.” 29 Johnson names faith, Scripture, the body of Christ, the Lord’s

Supper, and God’s law as essential practical means to sanctification.

When they properly and fully engage in spiritual practices or disciplines, the followers of Jesus have the opportunity to grow in their experience of all of the subjective, relational components of union listed above. Spiritual practices are not intended to be workings out of some kind of religious law. Instead, they should be the means to encountering the person of Christ, to look unto Jesus, to participate with him,

26 Marcus Peter Johnson, One with Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 12. Italics from the original text.

27 Ibid., 48.

28 Ibid., 42.

29 Ibid., 131. 99

and to allow for the transforming work towards love and joy that is the fruit of union with

Christ. Spiritual disciplines are the practical means to subjectively experiencing the objective truth that Christ is in the believer and the believer is in Christ.

The available choices of which spiritual disciplines help most are staggering.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun lists sixty-two of them in her book, Spiritual Disciplines

Handbook: Practices that Transform Us . But it is possible to say something about what is most essential in choosing spiritual practices. Since the experience of union with Christ is grounded in a developing relationship, having an authentic dialogue between Jesus and the believer is essential. Scripture and prayer must be present within the disciplines chosen. They are the most basic components necessary for communication. Engagement with the body of Christ through shared worship, partaking of the Sacraments, and service to one another fits with a fuller biblical understanding of union with Christ as being connected to the Body of Christ. Finally, anchoring these practices to real experience, such as looking authentically at one’s brokenness or responding to personal suffering, will pave the way for being transformed into the image of Christ rather than a false image of the so-called perfect Christian.

Union with Christ has both objective and subjective components. Objectively it is the work of God in Christ that allows humankind to be united to him. Subjectively it is an experienced relationship with Jesus marked by growing love, joy, and transformation into his image. This is a journey for a lifetime.

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PART THREE

STRATEGY

CHAPTER 6

GOALS AND PLAN

The goal of the following plan was that the congregation might grow in their understanding of union with Christ through biblical, systematic, and historical theology and that they might deepen their personal experience of union with Christ by implementing a practical theology of union geared to that end. To facilitate this goal, an educational approach blending content and experience would be employed. Content would be delivered both explicitly in spoken and written word as well as implicitly through experiences that were provided. The experiences to be provided were corporate worship, opportunities for personal reflection, and the practice of spiritual disciplines or rhythms. Most importantly, content and experience would be brought into a sort of dialogue with each other during the various parts of the ministry focus implementation.

The planned ministry project would consist of five weeks devoted to the ministry focus during the season of Lent in 2012. The components of the project would include

Sunday sermons, Sunday worship services, Sunday adult education, and a devotional guide spanning the five weeks beginning on Sunday, February 26, 2012 through

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Saturday, March 31, 2012. The adult education class would add a sixth week as review, conclusion, and feedback opportunity on Palm Sunday, April 1, 2012.

For each week, the members of the congregation would be given a 5.5 inch by 8.5 inch booklet as they entered the worship service. This booklet would contain all the information needed for each component of the project. Space would be included for reflective writing and the taking of notes. Appendix A contains the pages from the first week’s booklet, February 26, 2012 as an example.

Sermon Texts and Themes

The sermon was planned to be the primary delivery component for a biblical theology of union with Christ. The themes and texts selected follow directly from the biblical theology section in Chapter 5. The SP gave permission to have the sermon texts and main themes chosen for him for the duration of this project. However, he did not allow for any more input past those choices. He retained all other aspects of preparation, development, and content choice for himself. The provision of supplementary texts was to allow for more biblical development either in the sermon or at a later time by members of the congregation.

The first week’s sermon was entitled “Union and Adoption: Christ’s Blessings.”

The primary sermon texts were Ephesians 1:3-14 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. The supplementary sermon texts were Romans 5:12-21, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Ephesians 2:1-

9, and 1 Peter 1:3-4. The second week’s sermon, “Union and Fruit: Christ’s Commands,” would be based on Ephesians 2:10 and John 15:1-17. The supplementary texts were

Romans 6:1-11, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 2:6-7, 1 John 2:1-6, and 1

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John 3:6. The third week had Romans 8:1-11 and John 14:16-17, 25-26 as the texts for the sermon, “Union and the Holy Spirit: Christ’s Spirit of Truth.” 1 Corinthians 3:4-6, 1

John 3:24, and 1 John 4:13 were the supplementary texts. For the fourth week, the sermon “Union and Community: Christ’s Body” would use John 17:20-16 as the primary texts. The additional texts were Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, and 1

Corinthians 12:27. Finally, the fifth week’s sermon, “Union and Communion: Christ’s

Meal,” would use Matthew 26:26-29 as its primary source. The extra texts were 1

Corinthians 10:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 11-23:29.

The booklets would include a section devoted to the sermon. This would begin with the message title and would be followed by the primary Scripture texts in the New

International Version. Space would be provided for taking notes followed by the complete texts of the supplementary Scriptures.

Worship Service Design

Since I was serving as the Director of Worship for Naperville Presbyterian

Church, I had a great deal of freedom in designing the worship services for this project.

While the worship services and sermons involved the entire congregation, it was in the worship service design and implementation that I would be able to directly determine all the elements in light of the ministry project. This section will contain the most detail within this chapter in light of this level of participation and ministry project input.

The worship services would maintain the same basic structure as was the norm at

NPC for a communion service. The normal components were welcome and opening prayer, opening worship in song, prayer, and Scripture, sermon, song of preparation for

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communion, communion with congregational singing, offering and announcements, and dismissal song. Beside the specific choices for worship elements, there would also be some minor changes to some of the pieces. Normally, a worship song served as the call to worship following the opening welcome and prayer. During this ministry project, an appropriate Scripture text on union with Christ would be used as the call to worship.

Before the song of preparation for communion, a reading on the sacrament of communion would be given from Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion . Finally, normally NPC celebrated communion once per month. For the worship services during this ministry project, NPC would celebrate communion weekly.

The goal of the worship services at NPC was primarily to facilitate a relational encounter with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worship, being a spiritual discipline, can be a place where one has an experience of union or communion with

Christ. Each aspect of a theology of union as given in Chapter 5 influenced the selection of texts, songs, and experiences. For this reason, the worship services would not only be an outworking of a practical theology of union but would also serve secondarily to instruct the congregation theologically concerning union with Christ.

The first service, on February 26, 2012, would begin with a reading of Ephesians

2:4-7 as the call to worship. The congregational song “Be the Centre” by Michael Frye

would follow. This song focuses on the centrality and work of the indwelling Jesus. The

next worship element would be a reader’s theater juxtaposing the text of Ephesians 2:1-9

in both the English Standard Version and The Message and Galatians 4:4-7 in just the

New International Version. The final element before the sermon would be the song “The

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Father’s Love” by Joel Sczebel. This song focuses on the theme of adoption by the Father as well as the benefits one receives in Christ as the adopted child of the Father. These benefits include forgiveness, love, grace, salvation, mercy, hope, and the gift of the Holy

Spirit.

Following the sermon would be the words of preparation for communion using two short readings from Calvin on communion. The first quote says, “Now Christ is the only food of our soul, and therefore our Heavenly Father invites us to Christ, that, refreshed by partaking of him, we may repeatedly gather strength until we shall have reached heavenly immortality.”1 The second quote from the Institutes expands on this

theme:

And so as we previously stated, from the physical things set forth in the Sacrament we are led by a sort of analogy to spiritual things. Thus, when bread is given as a symbol of Christ’s body, we must at once grasp this comparison: as bread nourishes, sustains, and keeps the life of our body, so Christ’s body is the only food to invigorate and enliven our soul. When we see wine set forth as a symbol of blood, we must reflect on the benefits which wine imparts to the body, and so realize that the same are spiritually imparted to us by Christ’s blood. These benefits are to nourish, refresh, strengthen, and gladden. 2

These quotes from Calvin focus on the nourishment and benefits of the sacrament of communion. The song “We Hunger and Thirst” by George Romance and Alex Crouch would serve as the song of preparation for communion. This song would be sung each week of the project either as the song of preparation for communion or as a song during communion. In this song the themes of hungering and thirsting for Jesus are connected to the bread and cup of communion. The songs during communion would be “Blessed Is the

1 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion , 1360-61.

2 Ibid., 1363. 106

One” by Doug Plank, “His Forever” by Pat Sczebel, and “Before the Throne” with lyrics by Charitie Lees Bancroft and music by Vikki Cook. These songs are full of the benefits obtained by being in Christ including grace, steadfast love, being hidden in Christ, finding refuge, forgiveness, freedom, eternal security, and righteousness. The last of the communion songs specifically would connect union with Christ to his work on the cross.

Finally, the song of dismissal would be Jordan Kauflin’s “All I Have Is Christ,” which is a celebration of the centrality of Christ within one’s life. This song would be sung each week and would serve as a theme song for the entire ministry project.

For the March 4, 2012 service, Psalm 1:1-3 would be used as the call to worship with its themes of delighting in God’s law and being like a fruitful tree with plenty of water. While this does not speak of union with Christ, it can be used as a descriptor of those who are bearing fruit because they are united to Christ. At the same time a painter from the congregation would begin to paint on a large canvas on the stage. “All Who Are

Thirsty” by Benton Brown would be the first congregational song. The song points out that those who are thirsty, weak, in pain, and in sorrow can come to the mercy of Jesus to quench their thirst. The song concludes with an invitation for Jesus to come. This song was chosen to set up the next element. A brief reflection on the image of the tree of life would be given. Special attention would be paid to the notion that the tree bears fruit because it draws up nourishment through its roots. This would be given as a parallel to the nourishment that comes from being in union with Christ and the subsequent fruit that is borne in the believer’s life. By the time this reflection would be concluded, the ongoing painting would be revealed to be a representation of the tree of life full of fruit and with

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deep roots. Finally, “Breathe” by Marie Barnett would be sung as a response to the reflection and a bookend to Psalm 1:1-3 and “All Who Are Thirsty.” The song speaks of one’s desperate need for God’s presence and words.

These words by Calvin from the Institutes would be used as the words of preparation for communion:

God has received us, once for all, into his family, to hold us not only as servants but as sons. Thereafter, to fulfill the duties of a most excellent Father concerned for his offspring, he undertakes also to nourish us throughout the course of our life. And not content with this alone, he has willed, by giving his pledge, to assure us of this continuing liberality. To this end, therefore, he has, through the hand of his only-begotten Son, given to his church another sacrament, that is, a spiritual banquet, wherein Christ attests himself to be the life-giving bread, upon which our souls feed unto true and blessed immortality. 3

The song of preparation for communion would be “Everything” by Tim Hughes. Hughes

used Colossians 1:27 as the beginning to writing his song about longing for God to be

present in every area of life because of the presence of Christ, the hope of glory, within.

The first song during communion would be “The Wonderful Cross.” The hymn “When I

Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts serves as the verses for “The Wonderful

Cross.” The words of the hymn are based on Galatians 6:14. The verse speaks of sharing

in Christ’s crucifixion, a theme of union with Christ. The additional words by Chris

Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, and J.D. Walt serve as the chorus. The chorus names the death and

resurrection in Christ of those who come to Christ. The second communion song, “We

Hunger and Thirst,” would be repeated from the previous week. “All I Have Is Christ”

would again be the song of dismissal.

3 Ibid., 1359-60. 108

Romans 8:1-2, which would be used as the call to worship on March 11, 2012, names the work of the Spirit in setting free from sin those who are in Christ. “All Who

Are Thirsty” by Benton Brown would be repeated from the first week. However, this time the alternate chorus would be added which includes an invitation for the Holy Spirit to come. A brief time of reflection would follow on being attentive to the Holy Spirit.

This would both be spoken as an invitation and given as a quiet opportunity within the service. Finally, before the message, the song “Come, Holy Ghost” based on the ancient hymn “Veni, Creator Spiritus,” would be included as a congregational call for the Holy

Spirit to fill their hearts and bestow grace and love.

The quote from Calvin to be used as the words of preparation for communion focuses on the many benefits given to those who are in Christ. Calvin sees the sacrament of communion giving the believer assurance of these gifts of God. He says:

Godly souls can gather great assurance and delight from this Sacrament; in it they have a witness of our growth into one body with Christ such that whatever is his may be called ours. As a consequence, we may dare assure ourselves that eternal life, of which he is the heir, is ours; and that the Kingdom of Heaven, into which he has already entered, can no more be cut off from us than from him; again, that we cannot be condemned for our sins, from whose guilt has absolved us, since he willed to take them upon himself as if they were his own. This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us, that, becoming Son of man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us, that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness.4

The song of preparation for communion would be the third time “We Hunger and Thirst”

would be included in the worship services. The classic hymn “O Sacred Head, Now

4 Ibid., 1361-62. 109

Wounded” would be the first communion song. Before the singing of each verse, the

Scriptures on which the verses were based would be read over musical accompaniment:

Isaiah 53:3 and John 19:2 before the first verse, Isaiah 53:5 and John 10:11 before the middle verse, and Luke 24:26 and 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57 before the final verse. This hymn was chosen to be paired with the earlier quote from Calvin. The second half of each verse focuses on the benefits received from Christ. The second planned communion song, “In Christ Alone” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, would be treated in a similar manner. Philippians 2:8 and 1 Peter 3:18 would precede verse one, Romans 5:6-8 would be before verse two, and Romans 5:9-11 would be before the third and fourth verses. This song also names many of Christ’s benefits: hope, light, strength, support, love, peace, comfort, forgiveness, new life, freedom from sin, and eternal security. This service would conclude with “All I Have Is Christ” by Jordan Kauflin as the song of dismissal as in previous weeks.

For the fourth week, March 18, 2012, Psalms 133 and 95:6-7a would all be used as the call to worship. These verses emphasize the community of faith and the act of corporate worship. They were chosen to complement the focus on the body of Christ as an element of union. Rather than using it as the song of dismissal, this service would use

“All I Have Is Christ” as the first worship song. The placement was to emphasize the theme of union before moving into three separate acts of nonmusical corporate worship.

The congregation would speak the ancient “Te Deum Laudamus” as an act of corporate praise. This was would be followed by corporate proclamation with the speaking of the

“Nicene Creed.” The third element in this section would be a sharing together in

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corporate prayer by praying “The Lord’s Prayer.” This portion of the service would be closed with the singing of “Be the Centre,” also to be sung in the first week’s service.

The purpose was to bookend the corporate acts of worship with a recalling of the centrality of Christ. Furthermore, the lyrics would be changed from the first person singular to the first person plural to focus on community and the body of Christ.

The quote from Calvin to be used for the words of preparation for communion draws a connection between partaking of the sacrament of communion and the body of

Christ. Calvin says:

Water is sometimes drunk from a spring, sometimes drawn, sometimes led by channels to water the fields, yet it does not flow forth from itself for so many uses, but from the very source, which by unceasing flow supplies and serves it. In like manner, the flesh of Christ is like a rich and inexhaustible fountain that pours into us the life springing forth from the Godhead into itself. Now who does not see that communion of Christ’s flesh and blood is necessary for all who aspire to heavenly life?

This is the purport of the apostle’s statements: “The church . . . is the body of Christ, and the fullness of him” [Eph. 1:23]; but he is “the head” [Eph. 4:15] “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by . . . joints . . . makes bodily growth” [Eph. 4:16]; “our bodies are members of Christ’ [1 Cor. 6:15]. We understand that all these things could not be brought about otherwise than by his cleaving to us wholly in spirit and body. But Paul graced with a still more glorious title that intimate fellowship in which we are joined with his flesh when he said, “We are members of his body, of his bones and of his flesh” [Eph. 5:30]. Finally, to witness to this thing greater than all words, he ends his discourse with an exclamation: “This,” he says, “is a great mystery” [Eph. 5:32]. It would be extreme madness to recognize no communion of believers with the flesh and blood of the Lord, which the apostle declares to be so great that he prefers to marvel at it rather than to explain it. 5

The song of preparation for communion would be “Presence” by Peter Furler, Tim

Hughes, and Steve Taylor. This song uses the image of being filled up with God’s

presence as being filled and washed with water from a well of mercy. It was chosen to

5 Ibid., 1369-70. 111

pair with the first part of Calvin’s quote above. The communion songs would be repeats of “Blessed Is the One” and “We Hunger and Thirst.” The lyrics for “Blessed Is the One”

would be changed from the first person singular to plural. The song of dismissal would be

“Christ Is Risen” by Matt Maher and Mia Fieldes. The central theme of this song is that

in one’s union with Christ there is a connection to Christ’s resurrection and one’s new

life in him.

Finally, for the fifth week, March 25, 2012, Psalm 78:8-9 would be used as the

call to worship. These verses were chosen to be an expression of need for God’s mercy,

deliverance, and forgiveness. As in the previous week, “All I Have Is Christ” would be

the first song. This song, which would have served as a musical thematic center for the

project, was chosen to affirm the theme of union with Christ for this final week of the

project. After this song, the congregation would be invited to reflect on ways that they

were able to discern their existential desperation for God along with an ever deepening

experiential union with Christ. Sung previously on the second week of the project,

“Breathe,” which focuses on desperation for God, would be the song following this

reflection. Finally, this portion of the worship service would conclude with the hymn,

“Be Thou My Vision.” The order of the verses would be changed so that verse two was

the final verse. As a result, the final two lines, “Thou and Thou only first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art,” would serve as the closing to the song with

the connection to experiential union with Christ.

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The final quote from Calvin for the words of preparation for communion was chosen to be an encapsulating statement for the connection between union with Christ and the sacrament of communion. Calvin says:

I do not see how anyone can trust that he has redemption and righteousness in the cross of Christ, and life in his death, unless he relies chiefly upon a true participation in Christ himself. For those benefits would not come to us unless Christ first made himself ours.

I say, therefore, that in the mystery of the Supper, Christ is truly shown to us through the symbols of bread and wine, his very body and blood, in which he has fulfilled all obedience to obtain righteousness for us. Why? First, that we may grow into one body with him; secondly, having been made partakers of his substance, that we may also feel his power in partaking of all his benefits. 6

“We Hunger and Thirst” would again be the song of preparation for communion. For this week, a great prayer of thanksgiving would be used to move the congregation into the time of communion. This prayer includes the traditional elements of greeting, sursum corda , preface, sanctus and benedictus , remembrance, words of institution, offering and anamnesis, epiclesis, and doxology and great amen. NPC only uses this type of prayer one or two times a year for special Sundays. It was chosen to mark the fifth and final week of observing the sacrament of communion during this project. The first communion song would be “Jesus Messiah” by Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse

Reeves. This song connects themes of communion with the benefits the believer receives by their union with Christ. It also includes a declaration of placing all of one’s hope in

Jesus. The final two communion songs would be “Presence” and “Before the Throne,” both to be repeated from previous weeks. The service would conclude with a shortened

6 Ibid., 1372. 113

version of the ministry project’s theme song, “All I Have Is Christ,” as the song of dismissal.

Adult Education

The adult education class would be scheduled for one hour between the two

worship services. During each class, a historical theologian’s teaching on some aspect or

aspects of union with Christ would be presented through lecture and discussion. The

lecture would use their thoughts to present both an historical and systematic theology of

union with Christ over the course of the class. Lecture outlines including primary source

quotations would be included in the handout booklet. Discussions were planned to allow

for a dialogical hermeneutic between the content of the historical and systematic

theologies and the experience of one’s personal practical theology of union. Finally, each

class would conclude with a review of select spiritual practices that might aid in the

experience of union with Christ. With the exception of the fifth week’s focus on

suffering, all the spiritual practices, or rhythms, had been the focus of the Lenten season

in 2010 at NPC. These rhythms were also reviewed and repeated during Lent of 2011.

The class notes for the first week of the project, February 26, 2012, can be found within

appendix A. The class notes portion of the booklet for the following five Sundays, March

4 through April 1, are provided in appendices B through F.

The plan for the first class on February 26 was to begin with John Calvin even

though he would not be the theologian of the week until the third Sunday. John Calvin’s

theology is highly respected within the PCA and at NPC. The goal was to build a strong

bridge to history with this most popular of Reformed theologians. Calvin’s words would

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be used to present the connection of union with Christ and receiving the Christ’s benefits, the notion that the purpose of salvation is union with Christ where eternal life is a benefit, and that Calvin saw union with Christ as a mystery. This last point had been generally ignored at NPC. It was hoped that using Calvin to present this idea would take away any barriers to receiving it well.

Augustine of Hippo was chosen as the actual historical theologian for this first week. Augustine’s thought is used a great deal within conservative Reformed groups such as the PCA and provided a way to include a church father within the historical theology teaching. Given that so much time was given to Calvin, only Augustine’s connection of the incarnation to union with Christ would be presented.

The first week would conclude with a practical connection of reading Scripture to the experience of union with Christ using John 1:1-14 and Col. 3:16. This would culminate in presenting anew the spiritual rhythm of reading God’s Word. The notes to be provided were the same as those used in 2011 which were also given as a review. The focus of these notes would be to enter into lectio divina , but without using the Latin

phrase. Instead a simple four-fold movement of read, reflect, respond, and rest and

receive would be given.

Bernard of Clairvaux would be the historical theologian for the second week,

March 4, 2012. Bernard could possibly have been a challenge for the leaders and

congregation of NPC to receive given the possible perception that he was too Roman

Catholic. However, the congregation was familiar with the hymn “O Sacred Head, Now

Wounded.” Bernard is the probable author of the original Latin words. This would be

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stressed along with the fact that Calvin and the Puritans strongly appreciated Bernard.

This week would present Bernard’s view that spiritual marriage was a key way to understanding union with Christ. This aspect would be further developed by using

Bernard’s connection of the experiential love of God to the response of desire and seeking God.

Prayer was the spiritual rhythm chosen for this second week. This review would stress the relational and dialogical aspect of prayer, especially in connection to the first week’s spiritual rhythm of reading God’s Word. The four-fold movement of lectio divina would be applied to the rhythm of prayer.

The third week, March 11, 2012, would be devoted to John Calvin. Calvin’s teachings on differentiated union and the place of the Holy Spirit in union would be presented. This would be followed by a listing with examples of many of the words and images that Calvin uses for union with Christ. These include engrafting, communion, fellowship, mysterious and incomprehensible, not a mixture of substances, one flesh and spiritual marriage, mystical union, growing together and becoming one, union with God, adoption, regeneration, and partakers of Christ.

This week would end with an invitation to press into union with Christ in light of

Calvin’s teaching on participation. The spiritual rhythms of God’s Word and prayer would be named as the foundation for this work of pressing into union. The spiritual rhythm for the week, examen, would be reviewed as a way to build on the foundation and to become more spiritually attentive. Both examen of conscience and examen of consciousness would be included.

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John Owen was chosen as the historical theologian for March 18, 2012, the fourth

week. While he would be unfamiliar to most people at NPC, the fact that he was an

English Puritan would allow for easy acceptance of his theology. Owen focuses on

communion with God as the experiential way in which one relates to God. His teaching

would be presented as a way to find personal applications for Calvin’s view on

participation. The key components taught would be Owen’s view on what it means to

commune with each member of the Trinity. Communion with the Father is marked by

reciprocal love. Communion with the Son begins with received grace and a response of

delight in Christ. In communion with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit persuades,

convinces, makes alive, and consoles leading to a response of consolation and joy. For

this class, Owen would provide both a systematic and practical theology relating to union

with Christ.

For this week, three spiritual rhythms would be presented. In previous years they

had been spread out over two weeks. Rest and Sabbath would be the first two and are

related to each other. The third rhythm was service and would serve as a helpful contrast

to the interior direction of the first two.

March 25, 2012, was the final week of planned new content in the adult education

class. Isaac Ambrose, another English Puritan, was chosen as the final featured historical

theologian. An overview of his work, Looking unto Jesus , would be given as a way to further develop one’s approach to participating in union with Christ.

The last spiritual rhythm taught would be suffering. This rhythm had not been a part of the focus on spiritual rhythms in previous years. It was included this time due to

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its unique connection to union with Christ. Romans 5:1-4 calls believers to rejoice in their sufferings. Romans 8:16-17 and Philippians 3:10 both speak of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Hebrews 12:1-2 names Jesus as a model for enduring one’s sufferings.

Participants in the class would not be invited to pursue suffering itself, but rather to pursue transformation in light of their union with Christ when it did come.

The adult education class on April 1, 2012, was a late addition to this ministry focus plan. During the implementation of the project, the pastor of adult education realized that nothing had been planned for that Sunday. He asked if I could extend the classes. This final class would be used to review the previous five weeks. The Ladder of

Monks by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk in the twelfth century, would then be presented.

This work does not address union with Christ. However, it does develop the practice of

lectio divina , which was a significant part of the practical suggestions in this ministry

focus. Finally, the class participants would be given an opportunity to fill out a survey

concerning this ministry focus. This survey will be discussed in Chapter 7.

Devotional Guides

The devotional guides would be included in the congregational booklets to be

distributed each week of the project. The primary feature of the guide would be a list of

suggested daily Scripture readings to use throughout the Lenten season. Sunday would

not be included. Each week would have a brief intro in the booklet followed by the

Scripture references with space given for writing. The secondary feature of the guide

would be a set of reflection questions following the elements of worship printed in the

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booklet. The first week’s devotional guide elements can be found in appendix A as an example.

Each day would have three suggested Scripture readings. The first reading would be a Psalm that includes the theme of God as refuge and strength. While not strictly about union with Christ, there is a thematic correspondence between these Psalms and union.

The second reading would be a set of verses from the New Testament on union with

Christ. Most of these would also be used in the worship services. The final reading would be from the upper room discourse from John 13:35-17:26. These verses would be given so as to include Jesus’s teaching on union and abiding in the upper room as well as a preparation for the journey to Good Friday and Easter. The readings for February 27-

March 3 would be Psalms 2, 14, 31, 57, 71, and 118; Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 5:12-21,

2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Ephesians 2:1-9, 1 Peter 1:3-4, and Galatians 4:4-7; John 13:31-

35, 13:36-38, 14:1-4, 14:5-7, 14:8-11, and 14:12-14. The readings for March 5-10 would be Psalms 5, 16, 34, 59, 73, and 119:113-120; John 15:1-17, Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans

6:1-11, 1 Corinthians 13:5-10 and Galatians 2:17-21, Colossians 2:6-15, and 1 John 2:1-6 and 3:4-10; John 14:15-17, 14:18-24, 14:25-27, 14:28-31, 15:1-6, and 15:7-11. The readings for March 12-17 would be Psalms 7, 17, 36, 61, 91, and 141; Romans 8:1-4,

Romans 8:5-8, Romans 8:9-11, John 14:16-17 and 25-26, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, and 1 John

3:24 and 4:13; John 15:12-15, 15:16-17, 15:18-21, 15:22-25, 15:26-27, and 16:1-4a. The readings for March 19-24 would be Psalms 9, 18, 37, 62, 94, and 142; John 17:20-23,

John 17:24-26, Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 and 27, Ephesians 2:11-22, and

Ephesians 4:4-5; John 16:4b-7, 16:8-11, 16:12-15, 16:16-18, 16:19-24, and 16:25-28. The

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readings for March 26-30 would be Psalms 11, 25, 46, 64, 104, and 144; Matthew 26:26-

29, John 6:51-52, John 6:53-59, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 1 Corinthians 11:25-26, and 1

Corinthians 11:27-29; John 16:29-33, 17:1-5, 17:6-10, 17:9-13, 17:14-19, and 17:20-26.

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CHAPTER 7

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS AND EVALUATION

The implementation of the project followed very closely to the plan given in the previous chapter. As will be mentioned below, in the case of adult education, the plan was finalized in the midst of implementation to allow for weekly adjustments. Evaluation occurred through personal observation and a final survey. Observational evaluation will be presented together with the descriptions of the implementation of each of the project’s components. Finally, results of the survey and an observational evaluation of the project overall will be given.

Sermons

Prior to the start of the ministry focus, I gave the sermon texts and titles to the senior pastor. This concluded my direct input. The SP delivered sermons for the first, second, and fourth weeks of the ministry focus. These were “Union and Adoption:

Christ’s Blessings,” “Union and Fruit: Christ’s Commands,” and “Union and

Community: Christ’s Body.” The assistant pastor gave the sermon for the third week,

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“Union and the Holy Spirit: Christ’s Spirit of Truth.” The associate pastor delivered the final sermon, “Union and Communion: Christ’s Meal.”

Each sermon was exegetical in nature, which has been the typical approach at

NPC since the arrival of the SP. However, I have observed that rarely has the exegesis been in depth. Instead, the feel has been more like a sequential commentary as the preacher moved through the text making observations and applications. This observation is not to disparage the approach. Rather, it is simply meant to be descriptive. It is possible, however, that this approach did not serve the ministry focus well.

Each of the preachers ignored the supplemental texts given and only focused on the primary text or texts. The purpose of the supplemental texts was to allow the placement of these various views of union with Christ within the larger biblical context.

In fact the SP’s sermons did not talk about union with Christ very much at all. Instead he used the texts to talk about adoption, the fruit of good works, and the body of Christ.

While these themes are clearly related to union with Christ, the SP only minimally helped the congregation to understand that relationship. The sermons provided by the assistant and associate pastors did a much stronger job of focusing on union with Christ as it related to their specific themes. Unfortunately, the net result was that the desired common thread of union with Christ in the sermons was more in name only than in actual textual development and presentation.

It is interesting to note that the SP gave away two of the sermons. The SP has stated quite clearly that he does not like to give away sermons and believes that he should preach nearly all of them. In a typical year the SP would allow the associate pastor to

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preach around six times, which is just over 10 percent of all the sermons. For this ministry focus he gave away 40 percent. While one doesn’t wish to read too much into this fact, it may indicate a lack of engagement with the ministry focus by the SP.

Certainly the specific sermons he gave away come as no surprise. The SP has specifically said that the Holy Spirit should be deemphasized and almost ignored. For the SP, the sole role of the Holy Spirit is to point to Jesus. Given this view, one can perhaps see why he gave away the sermon focusing on the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the SP does not approach communion in a sacramental way. This is in stark contrast to the teachings of John

Calvin. The SP ended up giving this sermon to the associate pastor who does treat communion sacramentally.

Overall, the sermons were somewhat helpful for the ministry focus. However, they were not as helpful as desired. Without a strong thread tying the five sermons together around union with Christ and without the use of the supplemental texts, the delivery of a biblical theology of union with Christ was somewhat truncated.

Worship Services

All five worship services were planned in their entirety before the start of the ministry focus. No adjustments seemed to be needed during the ministry focus so the implementation followed the plan exactly as given above. I elected to be the worship leader for each of these five services; whereas normally I would give away almost 50 percent to volunteers I was mentoring. Functioning as the leader allowed me to introduce and comment on any worship element so as to make connections to the theme of union

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with Christ in light of the ministry focus. Furthermore, I was able to observe congregational engagement in worship as I was leading from the stage.

NPC’s congregation has generally been very engaged in corporate worship,

whether in direct participation such as through singing or in giving their attention when

receiving such as the various readings. Their engagement during the ministry focus was

no exception. Overall, the worship services were very similar to all worship services.

Only a few things were unique: Scripture as the call to worship, Calvin readings before

communion, and weekly communion. Even these elements were not truly foreign.

Worship services regularly included Scripture reading as well as readings from other

sources. Communion has always been observed at least monthly.

The shift to Scripture for the call to worship seemed to be effective. The texts were short and very quickly moved to an opening song. As such the congregation easily participated in these elements. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Calvin quotes on communion. Despite the texts being projected on the screen as well as printed in the booklet, there was a visible measure of disconnect with several in the congregation.

I suspect that this was due more to the dense nature of Calvin’s writing than to the actual content. It also may have been exacerbated by following immediately after the sermon, more words after a lot of words. Perhaps it would have been better to briefly summarize

Calvin’s thought and then provide a short quote from within the larger quotes. The screen could have projected the short quote while the booklets could still have the longer texts for future reflection. To set it apart from the many words of the sermon, I might also have had the band playing an extended intro to the upcoming song while I spoke and read.

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The experience of weekly communion was a first for NPC. The congregation appeared ready to participate throughout the project. In fact as I observed the congregation, the enthusiasm for communion seemed to rise as the weeks of the project continued, culminating on the fifth week when it was the theme of the sermon and a great prayer of thanksgiving was used. Anecdotally, several individuals sought me out to say how much they appreciated having weekly communion.

The five worship services did have a thread of union with Christ that tied them all together. This thread was provided through the consistent use of Scripture on union with

Christ, songs on theme that were repeated, special elements that highlighted the theme, and the weekly presence of communion. The special elements of reader’s theater, painting, reflection, and spoken corporate worship were not out of the ordinary for the congregation. Using them pointed beyond a focus on the special elements to an experience of the theme of union with Christ. As I evaluate, I believe that the worship services were successful in implicitly and explicitly teaching about union with Christ.

Furthermore, I know anecdotally that many claimed to have an experience with Jesus.

However, it is impossible to discern to what extent the congregants at NPC had what could be called a practical experience of union with Christ through the worship services.

Adult Education

Just as with the worship service leadership, I chose to be the sole teacher for the

adult education class. This was particularly important since I had planned to adjust the

classes weekly as the ministry focus continued. In fact I only did the most basic of

planning before the beginning of implementation. In advance of the actual

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implementation, I chose the historical figures, themes, some of the quotes, and spiritual practices that would be used each week. Actual plans were created during the specific week for each class.

Class attendance ranged between fifty and eighty participants. The class took place in the worship center. The worship center features fixed padded seating and feels like an auditorium with a definite front composed of the large stage. The arrangement was a hindrance to both large and small group discussion. The class was scheduled for one hour each time. However, the class ended up always starting fifteen minutes late while waiting for a sufficient number of participants to arrive. As a result, the available time was reduced significantly to between forty and forty-five minutes.

On teaching the first class I discovered that I had significantly more material than could be taught in the time available. The amount of material was also due to my own excitement over the various theologians and their theologies. The result was that I tried to fit it all in by talking faster, and I already am a fast talker. I also limited discussion and moved more to a straight lecture format. The experiential component of participating in the spiritual rhythm of the day, lectio divina , was shortened as well.

For the following week, I made an adjustment by adding a review of the previous week’s lesson. I jokingly referred to this as “unpacking last week’s fire hose.” This addition proved to be helpful to the project as each week I was able to highlight what I deemed most important from the previous weeks. Appendices B through F each contain what was chosen for review at the beginning of each class.

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Every week I continued to have too much planned material. However, by the third week I entered each class with a plan on what to skip should time become a factor, which it invariably did. I decided to continue to include all the possible material in the booklet since some individuals might benefit from it at a later time. Also, by this third week, I did slow down my rate of speech so that it was easier for participants to engage with the material.

However, I never did find a way with the amount of material and the available time to provide significant opportunities for discussion and processing, whether with the large group or smaller ones. The spiritual practices ended up getting significantly less attention that I desired. While I did review the material which they had seen in previous years, I ended up providing only minimal time to experience the spiritual practices during the class.

In retrospect it might have been better to fundamentally change the class. Given the actual circumstances, I would greatly reduce the material planned for a class. This would allow for both large and small group discussions where individuals could wrestle more deeply with a lesser amount of material. These discussions would not be focused on understanding per se. Instead, they would focus on exploring the interface between the content delivered and their own experience. Educationally, this type of dialogue is more likely to lead a participant to take in the material for their own. I would also have allowed ten to fifteen minutes for entering into the specific spiritual practices of the week. For the material that would no longer be taught through lecture, I would write an article containing that material and include it in the weekly booklet.

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Overall, the adult education classes were a qualified success. They certainly could have been planned and implemented in a more effective way. However, the lectures that were given did make connections between content and experience. Participants were invited to think about the type of issues that would relate their own experiences to the material at hand. Based on responses from individuals in the class, my evident enthusiasm for the material was contagious. The class did achieve its goal of delivering an historical and systematic theology of union with Christ. However, the goals of facilitating a dialogical hermeneutic between this theology and life and experiencing the spiritual practices anew were not explicitly achieved in any significant way. An individual might have continued processing the material so as to personally experience these goals, but this was in no way assured.

Devotional Guides

The booklets that contained the devotional guides were distributed by the ushers as individuals entered the worship service. They were also made available at the adult education class in case individuals were attending the worship service afterwards. They included reflection questions on worship service elements, an introduction to the suggested daily readings, and the readings as given in the previous chapter. The readings were chosen prior to the start of the ministry focus. The reflection questions and introduction were written weekly as the project proceeded.

There is little to say by way of evaluation. While the questions and texts chosen were on theme for the ministry focus, the effectiveness of the guides was dependent on a person’s use of them and their ability to reflect on what was provided. It is my opinion

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that if a person did use the guides thoughtfully in conjunction with the named spiritual practices, they would be likely to grow in their understanding and experience of union with Christ. Some of the survey results below support this opinion.

Survey Results

A survey concerning the ministry focus on union with Christ was given to the congregation on April 1, 2012. This was the week of the final adult education class, but a week later than the last worship services of the ministry focus. Congregants were given the survey within their worship booklets for April 1. During the service announcements, congregants were asked to take the time to fill out the surveys before leaving if possible.

There was a complete lack of response with zero surveys turned in this way. The surveys were also given out during the adult education class. Time was given in the class to complete the surveys. Seventy-one surveys were returned at the end of the class time.

Therefore the survey sample is limited to individuals who attended the sixth adult education class.

A copy of this survey can be found in appendix G. The survey was composed of two parts. The first part asked questions concerning one’s level of participation in the ministry focus. The second part dealt with what one’s response was to the ministry focus.

Given that these survey questions involved self-report, the answers are subjective to each person’s experience. Even though the surveys were completely anonymous, it is possible that the data is skewed higher as individuals might wish to be seen in a more positive light, whether by themselves or others.

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The first part of the survey asked about attendance at the worship services and the adult education class. Of the five worship services the mean attendance was 3.70 with a standard deviation of 0.88. Of the six adult education classes, the mean attendance was also 3.70, but with a standard deviation of 2.00. Given the timing of the survey, this number includes attendance at the sixth class. However, the implication would be that the mean attendance for the first five adult education classes was 2.70. The self-reported attendance was actually 3.00 with a standard deviation of 1.67. This can be explained by the fact that some people who were in the sixth class did not check their attendance for that day on the survey.

The next four questions concerning participation were about the extent of one’s use of the “Lenten Journey Guide.” A Likert scale was used from 1 to 5 where 1 was not at all, 2 was rarely, 3 was sometimes, 4 was frequently, and 5 was regularly. The mean for the use of the whole guide was 3.17 with a standard deviation of 0.88. The mean for doing the suggested Scripture readings was 2.96 with a standard deviation of 1.36. The mean for revisiting the worship service elements and the reflection questions was 2.59 with a standard deviation of 1.10. The data supports the conclusion that the “Lenten

Journey Guide” was used sometimes on average. However, the standard deviations indicate that actual responses were not clustered around this average but were more spread out among the possible answers.

The next two questions dealt with understanding of the notion of union with

Christ. The first question asked, “How well did you understand the notion of union with

Christ before this Lenten focus?” The second question was a variation asking, “How well

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do you understand the notion of union with Christ after this Lenten focus?” A 5 point

Likert scale was again used where 1 was not at all, 2 was not very much, 3 was somewhat, 4 was well, and 5 was very well. For the first question, the mean was 3.14 with a standard deviation of 0.79. For the second question, the mean was 4.06 with a standard deviation of 0.70. Performing a two-sample assuming unequal variances t-test yielded two-sample t(134)=7.16, p=2.42E-11. These numbers indicate that the difference between the means of the two sets of responses were statistically significant. This analysis shows that respondents’ self-perception was that they understood more after the ministry focus. This does not measure whether they in fact did so.

The following two questions addressed the importance given to the notion of union with Christ using similar questions as above. The first question was, “How important did you think the notion of union with Christ was before the Lenten focus?’

The second asked, “How important do you think the notion of union with Christ is after the Lenten focus?” The Likert scale of 1 to 5 referred to not at all, not very much, somewhat, important, and very important. The mean for the first question was 3.96 with a standard deviation of 0.95. The second question’s mean was 4.79 with a standard deviation of 0.44. The same t-test as above resulted in two-sample t(94)=6.63, p=2.11E-

09. As above, this result shows that the difference between the means between the two sets of responses was statistically significant. The respondents indicated that they attributed more importance to union with Christ after the Lenten focus than before.

Five questions were asked related to participants’ perception of value for each of the components of the ministry focus. The overall question asked, “To what extent did

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you find the following valuable to your relationship with Jesus Christ and your growth in union with Him?” The specific areas were worship services, sermon series, weekly communion, education class, and Lenten Journey Guide. Again using a Likert scale from

1 to 5, the possible answers were not at all valuable, not very valuable, valuable, very valuable, and extremely valuable. The mean for worship services was 4.16 with a standard deviation of 0.80. The mean for sermon series was 4.01 with a standard deviation of 0.88. The mean for weekly communion was 3.99 with a standard deviation of 0.97. The mean for the education class was 3.98 with a standard deviation of 0.97.

Finally, the mean for the Lenten Journey Guide was 3.62 with a standard deviation of

1.02. These mean numbers indicate that the average response was that each of the project’s components was seen as very valuable, some more than others. However, the standard deviations do suggest that there was a spread in responses.

For the next three responses, the guiding question was, “What, if any, impact has this focus on union with Christ had on your practice of the following spiritual rhythms?”

The three rhythms named for response were Scripture, prayer, and attentiveness. The 5 point Likert scale had responses of a lot less, somewhat less, about the same, somewhat more, a lot more. The mean response for the spiritual rhythm of Scripture was 3.81 with a standard deviation of 0.74. Prayer had a mean response of 3.85 with a standard deviation of 0.72. Attentiveness had the highest mean response with 4.00 and a standard deviation of 0.71. The self-report of participants indicates that overall they increased their participation in each of the three spiritual rhythms as a result of the ministry focus.

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The last two questions focused on overall response to the project. The first asked,

“How beneficial has this overall focus on union with Christ been to you?” The 5 points of the Likert scale were defined as not at all beneficial, not very beneficial, beneficial, very beneficial, and extremely beneficial. The mean response was 3.89 with a standard deviation of 0.86. The final question asked, “Are you more or less likely to pursue experiential union with Christ?” The Likert scale was assigned to a lot less, somewhat less, somewhat more, and a lot more. The mean response was 4.43 with a standard deviation of 0.69. These responses show that the overall opinion was that the focus had been beneficial to very beneficial and the further pursuit of experiential union with Christ was somewhat more to a lot more likely for participants.

Running correlation coefficients for the survey questions yielded further evaluative data for the ministry project. Attendance at the worship services or the adult education classes were not even moderately correlated with any of the response questions on the survey. Most correlation coefficients approached 0.00 which indicated no correlation. The only positive moderate correlation including participation was between responses on the extent of use of the Lenten Journey Guide and the responses concerning how beneficial the focus had been. The correlation coefficient of 0.61 indicates slightly more than a moderate correlation between the responses to these two questions. Also, participation in the suggested Scripture readings portion of the guide was also moderately correlated with perceived benefit with a correlation coefficient of 0.55.

The level of perceived benefit of the ministry focus was moderately correlated with several of the other responses: Participants’ perceived degree of understanding

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union with Christ (0.54), value of weekly communion (0.51), value of education class

(0.59), value of Lenten Journey Guide (0.68), the impact on practicing attentiveness

(0.66), and being more likely to pursue experiential union (0.67).

Finally, the responses to the perceived value of the education class were positively correlated with the perceived value of the Lenten Journey Guide. The correlation coefficient is 0.63. This perceived value of the education class was also moderately correlated to being more likely to pursue experiential union with Christ with a correlation coefficient of 0.51.

While this survey data does not give information about the congregation as a whole, it does reveal information about those who participated in at least three of the components of the project: Sermon series, worship services, and adult education class.

The data reveals that those in this category believed that they understood more about union with Christ, attributed more importance to it, felt that all the components of the ministry focus were valuable, had increased their participation in spiritual practices, felt that the focus had been beneficial, and expected to continue to pursue experiential union with Christ. Of particular note is that the highest correlation that responses to perceived benefit had was with the value placed on the Lenten Journey Guide. Close behind was the correlation between benefit and use of the guide. This suggests that those who participated in all four parts of the project including the Lenten Journey Guide were the ones that saw the most benefit in the ministry focus.

On the back of the survey, participants were given an opportunity to leave any comments concerning the ministry focus that they would like to share. Twenty-eight

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individuals chose to do so. The responses were overwhelmingly positive and affirming of both the aspects of the ministry focus and of my part in implementing the focus. These comments have been gathered unedited in appendix H.

Overall Evaluation

The congregation seemed to be engaged throughout the ministry focus. However,

it was a smaller percentage that participated in the third and fourth components, adult

education and Lenten Journey Guide. This is consistent with the normal life of the

church. For those who did participate in adult education, the data shows that the ministry

focus was a positive one and had an impact on their understanding and ascribed

importance of union with Christ. This positive impact seems to have been most marked in

those who participated in all four elements.

Observationally, I believe that the ministry focus did deliver helpful teaching on a biblical, systematic, and historical theology of union with Christ. The focus was not as helpful in its exploration of a practical theology of union with Christ. While it was certainly addressed, this particular area would have benefited from opportunities that allowed individuals to pursue their personal experience of union. In particular the adult education class could have been much stronger in this area. The only significant opportunity was the possible experiences that may have occurred during the worship services. However, this was not measured and any statements of effectiveness would only be conjecture.

For many congregants, it is possible that the ministry focus was received more as a program than as a transformational event of content and experience. Those who only

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participated in the worship services and sermon series, the vast majority, would have simply been exposed to this new theme and may not have moved to the internal processing that allows for a full embrace of the topic. There is no evidence to support this one way or the other.

The SP’s attitude towards this ministry focus ended up being a strong disappointment. Prior to the actual implementation, the SP seemed very supportive of the entire project. In fact it was the SP who first suggested weekly communion. Given his stated views above, this was surprising and taken as a very positive sign. However, when the project began, the SP’s enthusiasm turned sharply downward. This can be seen first in his approach to the sermons described above. As far as the education class, he attended the first two. He was sharply critical and did not return. This is a change from previous classes I had taught that he attended. He was positive towards those classes. I do not believe that there was any significant difference in the way I taught during this focus and for previous classes. One hypothesis is that the SP was reacting against the material.

While the actual material was in the SP’s stated theology, much of it was outside his experience. Furthermore, while he did not say so, he may have felt that the material was too Roman Catholic. He never did say and I have no certainty either way. It is true that following the ministry focus, all language on union with Christ and the various related images completely dropped out of the SP’s speaking. This was a thorough return to language used prior to the ministry focus. Given the SP’s leadership style, it was clear that the ministry focus would have no further impact on actual ministry at NPC. A focus on union with Christ did not become part of the warp and weft of the church.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

I have discovered that I am associated with the concept of union with Christ in several individual’s minds. This continues still at this writing four years later. I believe that the union with Christ ministry focus had a positive and transformational impact for a number of individuals. However, the project does not seem to have had any ongoing impact on NPC as a whole, whether with the leadership or the shape of the church experience.

Summary and Insights Gained

Overall the ministry focus on union with Christ was positive. The project achieved the goal of teaching a biblical, systematic, historical, and practical theology of union with Christ. Both observation and data support the view that a number of individuals benefited from the focus and had a consequent commitment to pursue their experience of union with Christ. A person’s engagement with all components of the project, especially the Lenten Journey Guide and the featured spiritual practices, created the possibility of an encounter with God that could be described as experiential union with Christ.

If an individual were to enter into that experience, it is hoped that would serve as a partial antidote to the issues of materialism and consumerism, busyness and pace of life, and the issues of the suburban Christian experience discussed in Chapter 1. It would have been helpful to explore the impact on these issues for participants in the project. This could be done qualitatively through interviews or questionnaires. Quantitatively, a questionnaire or survey could be used to gather numerical data on a person’s perception 137

of how they are impacted by each of the issues. It would be best to gather information before and after the ministry focus so as to determine whether there was a statistical difference between the respective results. An instrument that was both reliable and valid would yield the most significant data. However, this type of research was beyond the scope of this project.

One of the helpful aspects of this project was the synergy created through the four components: Sermon series, worship services, adult education, and devotional guides.

Incorporating other church ministries into the ministry focus would yield a more robust project. A small group discussion guide could have served the various adult small groups that met during the week. Resources for the children’s and youth ministries could have extended the range of the project to include more than adults for all the components. A family discussion guide could have moved the theme more fully into the daily life of the congregants.

As noted in the previous chapter, inadequate time was given to the area of experience, whether in reflective discussions or in practicing the featured spiritual rhythms. This proved to be an imbalance for the entire project. Participating together in these discussions or practices could have highlighted and amplified the communal aspect of union with Christ. The adult education class would have been the most logical place of the project to bring this experiential emphasis. Alternatively, in the past at NPC,

Wednesday evening contemplative sessions have been offered. These could have been offered again so as to allow for more focused participation in the spiritual practices together.

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The actual ministry focus was fairly intense. Each of the Sunday morning ministries that included adults were shaped by the focus. Over a period of five weeks, six including the final education class, a great deal of material was delivered almost exclusively around the theme of union with Christ. Then the topic was completely dropped. Without the ongoing reinforcement through the various church ministries, the lasting impact on NPC was lessened. There are several changes that might have been helpful to increase the effectiveness of such a ministry focus.

First, it would have been helpful to truly get the leadership in support of the ministry focus before the beginning of the project. While it seemed that the support was initially there, that did not prove to be true. A better way might have been to work a year or so in praxis around the theme of union with Christ with key individuals including the

SP. These individuals could then be deployed as teachers or small group leaders once the project began. If it would have been possible to get the SP authentically in support, the sermons might have dealt with union with Christ in a more straight forward and helpful manner.

Second, any content focus fades away without follow up. To facilitate lasting impact, it would have been important to have further moments in church life that returned to and reinforced the theme of union with Christ. For instance, it would have been natural to return to the theme during Advent and focus on the essential connection of the incarnation of Jesus to union with Christ. Perhaps the program itself could have been split into multiple instantiations. This would have spread the material out over a longer period of time and allowed for individual growth in the intervening spaces. The worship services

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and sermon series could have been offered in one time frame and the adult education at another. Perhaps a Wednesday night contemplative experience could have followed the completion of the adult education classes to bring the material into individuals’ experiences.

Implications for NPC

Unfortunately, there are no actual next steps or implications for NPC. The SP essentially rejected any ongoing impact of the ministry focus. Given the leadership structure at NPC, the elders and other leaders have followed suit. Also, I no longer serve at NPC since January of 2013. As a result, there is no champion for either the content or processes presented during the project. The ministry context described earlier in Chapters

1 and 2 remains unchanged with the same spiritual needs as before.

Had I had the opportunity to implement some next steps, it would have been to return to the theme in various contexts. Perhaps the theme would return to a given worship service, particularly if communion was being celebrated. An adult education elective would be offered at some point. Returning to the theme in a more limited way in

Lent of 2013 would have been a natural choice. The first significant teaching on spiritual practices occurred in Lent of 2010 and was repeated to a lesser extent in 2011 and 2012.

Implications for Larger Christian Community

Union with Christ is an essential theme for the Church. While many parts of the

Church do engage well with the topic, until recently the conservative evangelical wing has largely ignored the topic. This holds true for the conservative Reformed churches that form the backdrop for this project. 140

Rankin Wilbourne has outlined several reasons for this neglect in Union with

Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God . First, he states that it is difficult to talk about

union with Christ. The theme lacks clarity. This is no surprise given that the Bible uses

metaphors like marriage, a human body and head, and vine and branches. 1 Second, the

concept is an “Enchanted Reality and We Live in a Disenchanted World.” 2 He goes on to say, “Union with Christ Displaces Us from the Center of Our Lives and We Live in a

Self-Centered World.” 3 His fourth point is that “Union with Christ Depends on the Holy

Spirit and the Spirit Remains Anonymous, Unknown, and Underappreciated.” 4 Finally,

Wilbourne says, “Union with Christ Is Irreducibly Mysterious and We Live in a Sound-

Bit Culture that Prefers Simplistic Answers.” 5 All of these points are consistent with the

context issues described in Chapter 1. They may even explain part of the SP’s disconnect

from this project.

Ultimately, these are not reasons that the Church should ignore teaching a

theology or facilitating an experience of union with Christ. They merely explain why it

might and point out some barriers to doing so. Wilbourne says:

“Union with Christ has become a hot topic in academic circles today. But the one place it’s not a hot topic is the one place it most needs to be—in the seats and pews, the home and offices, the apartments and cubicles of so-called ordinary Christians. . . . Union with Christ is strong precisely in those places where we in our secular age tend to be week. It gives us an ability to speak into the void

1 Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God (Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2016), 116.

2 Ibid., 117.

3 Ibid., 120.

4 Ibid., 122.

5 Ibid., 124. 141

created by our disenchanted, self-centered world, which has only narrowed our vision and caused us to forget who we are. 6

A ministry focus on union with Christ such as this one can facilitate this needed move from the academic world to the everyday life of churches and congregants. This project certainly had a number of flaws and areas that could have been improved. Yet the setting aside of time to speak with intentionality to the congregants on union with Christ did bear positive fruit. The Church does not need to address this subject perfectly. The Church simply needs to regularly talk about union, model union, and grow in its experience of union with Christ.

6 Ibid., 127. 142

APPENDIX A

CONGREGATIONAL BOOKLET FOR FEBRUARY 26, 2012

[143]

[144]

[145]

[146]

[147]

[148]

[149]

[150]

[151]

[152]

[153]

[154]

APPENDIX B

ADULT EDUCATION PORTION OF BOOKLET FOR MARCH 4, 2012

[155]

[156]

[157]

APPENDIX C

ADULT EDUCATION PORTION OF BOOKLET FOR MARCH 11, 2012

[158]

[159]

[160]

[161]

[162]

[163]

APPENDIX D

ADULT EDUCATION PORTION OF BOOKLET FOR MARCH 18, 2012

[164]

[165]

[166]

[167]

[168]

APPENDIX E

ADULT EDUCATION PORTION OF BOOKLET FOR MARCH 25, 2012

[169]

[170]

[171]

[172]

APPENDIX F

ADULT EDUCATION PORTION OF BOOKLET FOR APRIL 1, 2012

[173]

[174]

[175]

[176]

APPENDIX G

SURVEY

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APPENDIX H

SURVEY COMMENTS

The following twenty-eight comments were each given as a response to the survey statement on the back of the survey which said, “If you have any comments at all, please feel free to share them here.” They are presented here unedited.

1. I appreciated the emphasis on the theology/Reformed history/core throughout the Lenten season. While NPC does belong to the PCA, the church is atypical in that I don’t hear Reformed anything often - - except from Keith (thank you!). I love his use of the Heidelberg Catechism – so much more eloquently written than the Westminster. I’ve appreciated this emphasis as I fear we don’t always “push” the congregation to question what/why we believe. The church service needs more of this type of depth.

2. Keith was great!!

3. I wish the S.S. class had been much more practical. Also, some of the services had way too many readings. I appreciate Keith’s heart and effort.

4. Well done! Great explanation of complex ideas. Loved the small group activities. Great job!

5. Concept and materials are very valuable. Thank you! I have not had discipline to use materials off Sundays. But have kept them and will hopefully use at some time.

6. I really appreciated all the immersion in the old philosophers and theologians. I was able to pick up many pieces and nuggets to memorize and post on my mirror and desk to remember. Thank you!

7. This has fed my hunger for a personal relationship with Christ and to enjoy Him.

8. Thanks. Even if I didn’t refer to the guide during the week, it’s important still.

9. Sermon content should be much more Christ-centered & Christ-focused. Much more. And needs to follow through to the teaching of who we are because of Christ and why we as believers can live in Christ everyday – (New creation, New life). The disconnect between worship & teaching vs. the sermon is STARK and falls flat. Union w/Christ and new life is what is unique & distinct from all other man-made religions. Why tamp it down or distract from it. Emphasize our union on Sundays! More could be said about the freedom (from guilt, should’s, society) 178

we have because we are in Christ and what that looks like. Examples of what union w/Christ looks like in 2012 – Bringing in present spiritual leaders – (women?) Otherwise well done, Keith.

10. Keith’s thorough research & knowledge and enthusiastic presentation is very powerful in encouraging me to pursue this study & stay in the Word.

11. As my comments indicated, a sporadic attendance in this class and a lack of discipline in my part alone has lead me to not fully take advantage of what this course had to offer. The course has definitely rejuvenated a desire to jump wholy into scripture and has engauged my desire to learn/know Christ. Well done, Keith, this is a solidly written well-grounded guide that I have found and am sure, will be further proven to be very helpful as I revisit what you have written. Cheers!

12. Thank you Keith! It was my own fault for not pressing in more. Your class was great & I realize how much I’m missing, and hope to use these more!

13. Thank you. This class has been a blessing and encouragement to me. It has contributed to my life in terms of theology, behavior and relationships both vertical and horizontal.

14. The depth of content & simplicity of presentation was extremely helpful: Having written booklet with “boiled down” concepts; Repetition of concepts each week; content for week – Keith’s attitude in sharing material was also Refreshing & encouraging. It came from an overflow of his love, experience - & seasoning in those things. Demystifying
Engaging. Thank you.

15. Keith. This has been an extremely beneficial study – thank you so much for sharing your passions & knowledge with us. You are a very good teacher – but even more importantly – a disciple. Thank you. Shalom.

16. Keith – You’re a wonderful teacher. You bring in serious material. Don’t let my lack of response make you think you’ve failed me. I’ll do better.

17. The depth of research and material has been rich for me in combination with Keith’s passion, realness and heartfelt delivery of the material, which is clearly not just an assignment or scholastic pursuit, but something that impacts and changes his life personally – and those around him who are his friends.

18. Historical view was very helpful. Provides connection to past practices – Makes u realize good ideas are not always a 20 th century invention.

19. It’s not the understanding or being drawn to it, but the lack of discipline & practice. Would like to focus on coming apart & spending gobs of time with my Father. Good job. All was very helpful & needed.

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20. You are a Great teacher. As always, love your enthusiasm – it is contagious.

21. Busy mom who has not made enough time for lent this year – lots of life circumstance, distraction, taking time to adjust to new transitions. This is helpful, very helpful. Please note answers to questions are heavily based on above. Thank you for your efforts.

22. Always need reminded to press into Christ. It’s where real life is found. Thanks for the encouragement.

23. Love the material. The lack of action is my fault, not the materials or presentation. I am lazy.

24. Review each week was very helpful. Good job, Keith. Love your enthusiasm & sense of humor.

25. Thank you. This is the third course/class Keith has done where I attended. They have all been a challenging, refreshing, & grace filled time.

26. Great – Really learned about missing pieces in my daily devotions.

27. Excellent study. Important concepts/practice. Enriching.

28. Excellent. I hope we continue to have this format every Lenten Season. Thank you Keith!

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