Jul 25 2007
summer institute hits home
Xenos in Columbus was swept along in the energy and tide of about 50 teenagers, college-aged and even middle-aged adults from NeoXenos. It was an invasion of epic proportions: last year almost 30 made the long trip, but we nearly doubled attendance this time!
Was it worthwhile?
“Oh Yes!” was the resounding conclusion. This year’s Xenos Summer Institute (XSI) featured a collection of national authors, speakers and leaders who provided an infusion of stamina and strategic insight. Not all sessions were equally powerful, some were exceptionally memorable.
Larry Crabb
As a psychologist Dr. Crab brought insight and emotional healing for Christian counselors for several decades, but his insights at the XSI were novel for his usual fare and greatly confirmed the model of discipleship and fellowship we so greatly enjoy in NeoXenos.
“How does God’s reality become our reality? Through the church!” he said. “The best model of community is the Trinity,” he said:
“They [the Trinity] get along so amazingly well, and we’re invited to join in…The communion between the Trinity should be flowing between us, but we’re so hidden behind our persona, we just can’t reflect that closeness! Like trying to make love with your clothes on.”
But unfortunately:
“We are naturally self-obsessed. I don’t care one bit about you apart from the grace of God. Every act of kindness is rooted in narcissism. From birth on, the energy in us is directly opposed to that which is in the Trinity. We live to protect what we value in ourselves rather than living to give what might prove valuable to another!” (from Thursday night).
This is what Crabb is passionate about:
“In Dante’s hell the entry said, ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here.’ Hope for what? For community! Isolation in our own needs is real death! …What is a truly spiritual community? Not individualism! Therapeutic movements have made a mess of therapy! ‘I just want to get control over my addictions… to feel better about who I am…’ If we make these the ‘first things,’ they become idolatry. Individualism defines the health of the individual over the community.”
Crabb specifically cited discipleship as the greatest need in Christian community:
What is the church?s mission? What is your vision? …To make them “little Christ’s” is the goal of the church. Our number one priority is to make disciples. How are we doing? … It means we need to have conversations that matter: this is how you make disciples.
Three key elements are needed for an effective, discipleship-oriented church:
- To “Enter the Battle Raging beneath the surface” in each other’s lives. “It?s not the battle for my self-esteem, to heal my wounds.” It is, in fact, the battle to get out of our narcissism and into other people’s lives.
- To “see the vision,” where each other’s “hurt becomes an occasion to shape the flesh. In the Body of Christ, there should be a twinkle of hope in your eye for me.”
- Finally, to “touch the soul with the spirit’s power,” and become “an agent of change” in another person’s life.
In the end, “it isn’t self-management, it’s God-trust that’s the battle,” Crabb said.
- Check out the slideshow of pictures from XSI.
- See Crabb - Change through Community for a collection of Crabb’s material from XSI.
- Up next: more sensational reviews!
The 3 Key Elements for a discipleship-oriented church are explained further in Crabb’s book “Soul-Talk” which some find cheesy, but I like it a lot and think it’s pretty helpful in having conversations that matter.