The book focuses on 6 principles of being an emotionally healthy church
1. Looking Beneath the Surface
2. Breaking the Power of the Past
3. Living in Brokeneness and Vulnerability
4. Receiving the Gift of Limits
5. Embracing Grief and Loss
6. Making Incarnation Your Model for Loving Well
My questions for us to think about as we start this journey are:
1. Which principle resonates within you as something you are sensing you need to take a deeper dive into?
2. Do any of these not make any sense to you?
3. Upon taking the inventory, what areas are your strength and what areas need some growth?
4. What are some ideas you have about your next step with that/those area(s)?
I would encourage you to take the inventory from the book (also a link on the blog). It will help this stuff make sense a little more
Feel free to post some of you own observations that make have little to do with this conversation starter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
1. Although I recognize that I should work on more than one of these principles, the one that stands out to me the most would be "breaking the power of the past". I need to take a deeper look at this as it applies with relationships.
2. When it says "making incarnation your model for loving well", is it talking about Jesus as an example of how we should love others?
3. I think the two areas I scored the lowest on the test were "receiving the gift of limits" and "embracing grief and loss".
4. I have realized for a while that I need to learn how to say no to different things. I think the next step would be to stop the guilt that comes from it, and to communicate in a clear and healthy way to others why I deny a certain request. I am a little unsure why I scored low on "embracing grief and loss". I have never lost a relative to death....
I need to think more about that.
I am honestly amazed that we are covering this in our church. It is a very good thing. I have actually become very aware of these principles in my life over the past year. In fact, God has been working with me on breaking the power of the past and embracing grief and loss over this past year. I know He's not done with those principles in my life yet. I've just started to scratch the surface with living in brokenness and vulnerability and receiving the gift of limits. I don't think I will be mature in making incarnation my model for loving well until He's done with the previous 5 principles for me.
Re: Beth
Is it possilbe to work on more than one at a time?
re: Kristi
What level of master of the first five skills do I need to have before I can attempt to make incarnation my model?
Thoughts on Incarnational Stuff
I think that he central fact of the incarnation is that while we were still sinners, Christ came to save us (Rom. 5:8). He did not wait for us to find Him. He did not wait for us to ask Him to save us. He took the initiative to come to us.
So, too, I must make the initiative to go to where people are, and make the effort to understand the world within which we all function
I think that is really hard and doesn't have a whole lot of definitive lines.
To become incarnational, I need to think through what I really believe and actually model about stuff like:
1. cultural customs
2. sexuality
3. how I use money
4. marriage and parenting
5. social justice
6. enviroment
7. politics
plus all the churchy stuff I think about when I think of what I mean when I say church
that's what I think, for now at least
I think reciving the gift of limits is most difficutl for me.
It seems that I am rewarded greatly by others in being able to do lots of things, help out lots of people, etc... whereas saying no often causes conflict
I find it difficult to live in the balance of saying no and being selfish. But even harder is discern the difference between good and best
Post a Comment