Breakpoint

BreakPoint Commentary: Platoons, Juntos, and Cabinets : the battle for our culture is really fought by what 18th century English statesman Edmund Burke called the “little platoons”—private, voluntary groups of people that shape the conscience of a nation. For example, in 1727, Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Society, a group of 12 people from a variety of backgrounds: printers, surveyors, a cobbler, a cabinetmaker, and a merchant. The group named Junto—after the Spanish word for “assemblies”—met regularly on Friday nights for 40 years. They discussed what they could do to improve themselves and their communities. .... Chuck Stetson, has latched on to this vision of small groups affecting change. He and a team of others have developed tools to facilitate the formation of even more “little platoons.” You can find these tools and resources on the Web at BetterHourGatherings.org. See ARTICLE

CATEGORY . The Better Hour Gathering: Purpose : No matter what your community concern -- unemployment, illiteracy and education, drugs, prostitution, violence, human trafficking, or any concern at all -- you can start a BETTER HOUR Gathering. Even though all know that one person can make a difference, there is no force so powerful as people gathered together to effect change. ....Ready to start? Find out why this is part of a long history of change makers. See ARTICLE

CATEGORY . The Better Hour Gathering: What is a Gathering? : One of our Centurions, Chuck Stetson, has latched on to this vision of small groups affecting change. He and a team of others have developed tools to facilitate the formation of even more “little platoons.” You can find these tools and resources on the Web at BetterHourGatherings.org...... See ARTICLE

CATEGORY . Charles Colson on Politics and the Christian Faith (DVD : This four-session DVD curriculum gives individuals or small groups the opportunity to hear neither a “religious right” nor a “religious left” perspective but balanced, clear, and biblically based thoughts on these important issues. Colson provides a great starting point for informed and thoughtful discussion and application to life in a political world on the following topics— See ARTICLE

CATEGORY . Worldview Church - By Rev. Robert Lynn 9/7/2007 : one of the primary places where significant worldview thinking begins is Lesslie Newbigin’s, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. I am sometimes tempted to say that no single book has influenced me as this book has. Newbigin’s impact on me can perhaps be measured by a section in my library that contains all the books Newbigin ever wrote, books written about Newbigin, as well as books that significantly shaped Newbigin’s own thought. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society is the best expression of his thinking on the missional challenge of the church in the West following his return to England after 40 years of missionary service in India..... “You shouldn’t hire anyone who hasn’t seriously engaged the work of Lesslie Newbigin. Thinking about the church and its ministry in Western culture is now dated pre- and post-Newbigin. To hire anyone who hasn’t engaged him would be like hiring a physicist who hasn’t read Einstein.”.... Next up is N.T. Wright. Recommending N.T. Wright is a bit more difficult in that I’m not sure there is one single volume that best serves as an introduction to the work of this remarkable New Testament scholar. ....Second, Paul in Fresh Perspective is a relatively brief (174 pages) look at the theology of Paul the Apostle......few theologians or Biblical scholars will stretch your notion of “gospel” as does the Bishop of Durham. If you have come to be suspicious and dissatisfied with a gospel that has been reduced to the limits of your “spiritual life” so-called, then you’re ready for Wright. Here you’ll encounter a gospel as vast as the cosmos God redeems.....If you want a real theological roller coaster ride, let me recommend Against Christianity by Peter Leithart. While written in a Nietzschean aphoristic style, Leithart is not (as you might wonder from the title) a cultured despiser of the faith. A conservative Presbyterian minister, Leithart has written a compelling book with such chapter titles as “Against Theology,” “Against Sacraments,” “Against Ethics,” and (rather unfashionably) “For Constantine.” .... Two other books need to be added to our list, Dynamics of Spiritual Life and Renewal as a Way of Life, both by Richard Lovelace. ..... See ARTICLE

CATEGORY . The Value of Christian Tradition for Modern Reformation and Revival By John H. Armstrong 9/7/2007 : You do not have to grant tradition an equal authority with Scripture to see very quickly that the “wisdom of tradition” may well have a great deal to teach us that will enrich our worship, spiritual formation, and mission. A balanced emphasis might well lead us to a new reformation and revival that does more than create another evangelical prairie fire that burns out in a matter of days. That is what I am praying for myself. See ARTICLE