Deep Dive: The Place of Belonging

Service Description

This course is a five-week, no-holds-barred look at what the American institutional Church believes and teaches about itself. We’ll be juxtaposing it with the data we find in the New Testament and history itself about what the church was, what it's become, and how it got there. Part of healing from the ways in which we were injured by the American institutional church involves seeing the difference between how it spoke about itself and what it actually is, especially in light of Jesus’ own words about what “the” church is for and how it ought function, let alone the rest of the New Testament. And a significant part of this process means "decolonizing" our understanding of what a church is. To do that, we're going to learn from the global Christians who both believed and practiced the concept of church very, very differently in different times and places. Why did the concept of 'church' cross cultures long before the Romans co-opted it, even though it was a regional religion? How did it bring together so many races, classes, and nationalities so quickly in spite of being an ethnically Jewish movement? What motivated it to be such a force for uplifting those at the margins? And what in the world happened to it? Does the thing we think of as 'church' today even qualify for the word? Together, we’ll reflect on the complicated, rich history of Christian community, wrestle with the struggles of modern Western church culture, and remember a healthier way forward. Whether you’re deconstructing, reconstructing, or just searching, you’re invited to join us!