It is fitting that Chad posted his brief article on Jesus being the radiance of God's glory just before I make this post, because Acts 29 mission begins with having a good and proper Christology. Christology answers the question, "Who is Jesus, and what has he accomplished?"
Chan Kilgore (Acts 29 planter of CrossPointe Church in Orlando, FL) led sessions 2 and 3 on Monday, and explained the theological foundations of the Acts 29 Network. The short answer to who Acts 29 is theologically is... first, Christians; second, Evangelicals; third, Missional; and fourth, Reformed. There are theological issues that are primary and there are some that are secondary. Acts 29 churches call these "closed-hand issues" and "open-hand issues". In the closed-hand are the things that are not up for debate. After careful study of Scripture these are things about which Acts 29 churches are unwavering. In the open-hand are things that the churches have convictions about, but are not willing to go to war for them. In the open-hand there is unity in a diversity of interpretations.
Closed-Hand >>> Some examples of things that are in the closed hand are: the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit); the inerrancy of God's Word (the Bible); Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation; the Bible speaks of a literal hell; total depravity (meaning, everyone is sinful and in need Jesus for salvation).
Open-Hand >>> Some examples of things you might find in the open hand are: styles of worship; charismatic or non-charismatic; eschatology (view of the end times); tongues and miraculous gifts of the spirit; when and how baptism is conducted.
Christology
As I mentioned above, before Acts 29 discusses ministry practice and methodology, there is heavy emphasis placed on Christology. This is because theology must determine your methodology. In order to plant a healthy and biblical church your methodology must flow out of your theology. Think of the importance of this point. If a church's theology is focused inward (me-centered, or us-centered), or focused on a soapbox issue, or ANYTHING but Jesus, who is the radiance of God's glory, then the direction and methods of said church will follow closely behind the theology. For instance, a church that focuses the majority of its theology on end-times will have ministries, classes, conferences, sermons, and songs that are centered around their particular view of the end times. A church that focuses the majority of its theology on the people of the church will tend to have ministries, classes, conferences, teachings, and songs that are centered around self-help or how-to-acquire things such as good health or prosperity.
The first four priorities in a God-centered theology are these:
The Father - His Redemptive Mission
>> His own glory
>> The GospelThe Son - Christology
>> Incarnated - "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
>> Exalted - One of the things we must come to understand is that today we do not worship the Christ incarnated, but the Christ exalted. Sometimes our only image and understanding we have of Jesus is from the incarnated years he spent on earth in humble surroundings. Because of this, many people learn that to be a Christian simply means you are supposed to be a nice person who loves people no matter what their lives are like by trying to identify with their cultural experiences and perspectives in a non-judgmental and empathetic way. But what appears to be lacking in our understanding of Jesus is that when we next see Him, He will not appear as a humble, marginalized, Galilean peasant. Rather, we will see the exalted King of Kings, with a tattoo down his thigh, a sword protruding from His mouth and fire blazing from His eyes, coming to make war on the unrepentant of the world. So in these days before Jesus' second-coming we are not merely to relate to people but also command them to repent of sin and bend their knee to the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Mark Driscoll says "we labor with the exalted Christ, which gives us authority to proclaim the gospel of freedom. And we labor like the incarnated Christ, which gives us humility and grace to creatively demonstrate and proclaim the love of Christ to fellow sinners in our culture." (Confessions of a Reformed Rev., p. 43)The Spirit
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)The Body - Ecclesiology
"...as the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)
>> Elders
>> Deacons
>> Members called to be on the mission of God (missionaries)
I will write some more on "ecclesiology" in the next post, but I will close this one with a quote from Chan Kilgore. He said, Christology and Ecclesiology are in essence one in the same; we are simply the body of Christ at work.
PART 3 >>> Mark Driscoll on Qualifications of the Church Planter





Recent Comments