One of my best friends in the world is a real life flesh and blood theologian and last fall he published his first book on the subject of apologetics (defending the Christian faith). His name is Jeremiah Gibbs and he is the Chaplain/Director of the Lanz Center for Christian Vocation and Formation at the University of Indianapolis.
Episode 08 of the PostConsumer Reports Podcast features my interview with Jeremiah, where we discuss what it means to defend and tell the story of the Christian faith in today's world. We talk about the current state of apologetics and what nebulous words like "post-liberal" and "post-conservative" and "post-foundational" might mean. (You can go here to find out why I think those words are pretty funny). A couple of weeks ago I featured a conversation about worship music Jeremiah and I had, which you can find here: "I Don't Care If The Church will sing it in 2065". Before we go any further you can find Dr. Gibbs' book Apologetics After Lindbeck for sale on Amazon and his website and blog at www.jeremiahgibbs.com.
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I am an Anglican Christian within a group called the ACNA, the Anglican Church of North America. Anglicans divide themselves up (much like Roman Catholic Christians) into geographic regions known as dioceses. A diocese is headed by (or presided over by) a bishop, the elder of the region, the pastor to the pastors, shepherd to the shepherds. My congregation, Epiphany Anglican Mission (where I lead the music and teach from time to time), is part of the Diocese of Quincy, which consists of churches in central Illinois west of the Illinois river going up to the northwest part of the state where the quad cities is. In recent years the structure of Anglicanism has been changing, with some churches joining a diocese through affiliation rather than geography. This means that our diocese also has churches in Colorado, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, and the Chicago area. Oh, and I should add I'm in the midst discerning my call to ordained ministry; it's a bit of a slow process at the moment.
Recently, my pastor, Rev. Canon Gregg Lynn, asked me and some other pastors and leaders within the diocese to write some articles for the website. I wrote about the local church's call to mission in its community and one simple way we can start being missionally minded as a people. To be honest, I'm not naturally a very missional or evangelistic or charismatic person. I kind of like to keep to myself. But over the years of working together Greg has really built some principles into me and those in our community, so that it just becomes a natural part of the way we think and act.
You can view my article here:
Mission: It Just Takes One Simple Question
And you can view the other articles on ministry, focusing on youth ministry, prayer, and being Kingdom Minded, here:
The Diocese of Quincy: Voices
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Related Articles:
Discerning My Call to Ministry: A Task List
Slowing Church Down in a McDonald's Culture: A Review of Slow Church
I've Been Thinking of Getting Into Politics: N.T. Wright's Understanding of the Kingdom of God
Why I Cringe Every Time I Hear Someone Say "I Hate Christian Music"
