Thanks! He’s a cool kid… just hope i don’t mess him up:)

This is really the reason why in the late 80’s and 90’s there were so many evangelicals moving toward the orthodox church and why now much of the emerging church is trying to rediscover those structured, liturgical, experiential elements.

I do believe we need doctrine and teaching… our problem in the evangelical wing of things is that we seem to think that comes first. When someone becomes a Christian- we put them in a class, have them read a book. We fill their heads and then hope that when we do get around to providing something experiential, they’ll dig in.

Maybe the first thing we should do is fill their hearts… send them to the urban poor, put them through a spiritual journey of disciplines, a fast followed by baptism… anything but a class and lecture. Maybe the class will mean more after they have some context in which to put that doctrine, some experiences and formative beliefs to process up against the church fathers…

Maybe instead of a new believers class that’s required, we do an old believers class you need to qualify for… interestingly enough, I’ll bet that would make people much more interested. :)

I don’t know- just thinking out loud.

b

bob hyatt
lead pastor: the evergreen community
www.evergreenlife.org