philosophy

For us, philosophy is an attempt to make sense of the important thoughts in our lives together as Christians. We have put together a number of sections throughout this document that help to shape these ideas, put urgency to them, and relate them to a real Kingdom. At times their relationship to each other is clear and tacit, and at other times the threads and resulting associations are razor thin and loosely formed. What follows is our effort to summarize and provide order to the rest of this document; a variety of sections that point to the emerging reality of Case Mountain Community Church (CMCC).

The creed, like those of old, sums up important theological perspectives. It risks defining God and our relationship to him. In this endeavor it is an exercise of being as precise and vague as possible. We want to help those seeking Jesus to be better Kingdom citizens while refraining from alienating those who don’t (whenever practical). The mission is a single sentence that compels us to preserve focus. It is like a well-worn scrap of paper thoughtfully inscribed with a precious line to lift you in dark times. It humbles us when we get outside of God’s touch.

A people who love God can travel so many possible directions. The Word become flesh, Jesus, allows immense freedom in congregations, and so our values help to provide the compass for our micro world. We navigate big decisions as well as little acts of kindness with these characteristics. They are far from exhaustive, but they help us evaluate our integrity and our being.

Praxis is the section that looks at how we can live as a community. It stresses our values in action and reflects on those parts of living which are first level order; the urgent shards of our faith. It provides a narrative for people living as faithfully as possible in Christ. Likenesses is a section composed of glimpses that help provide insights into living lives that are good and true, seeking God through Christ. These are windows that augment Praxis and shed light on our creed. They offer clarity by way of poetry, art, photographs, sounds, etc. and aid in the articulation of Case Mountain Community ideals. These are things worth meditating on and emulating. Likenesses can provide quick looks that are as abysmal as they are lovely. They can teach us the horrors we are capable of as well as the amazing possibilities in Christ. Now is a collection of contemporary issues that are important, but do not easily fit within the other sections. As science and technology force us to evaluate what it is to be human and followers of Christ, this section helps in the navigation. It is part of the age-old struggle of Christians in every situation, context, and era to make sense of the Gospel in their world and in relation to their culture.

We want to be people of action as well as contemplation. Dreams provide the big picture directions and vision worth pursing. What is the Spirit saying in our people, in our community? What problems is God solving in our world? How does he want to change lives? What shall our energies and resources go toward? It stretches us to get beyond ourselves and into the good world God has created, redeemed, and loves. Our goals are found within the Dreams and are the means of putting feet to the mission, creed, values, likenesses, and expressions of now. In many ways they are the praxis nascent in vision. Goals take the written Dreams and engage life. How is God stretching us in action and service? They help us articulate context and wrestle with success. Goals provide points to rally upon and territory to cultivate. And, they offer vistas of joy from which to praise. They may be formal and project-based or more often than not, informal and strive for connections of intentionality.

Generally, a philosophy statement in this context answers the reason for particular practices or provides a mapping of scriptural relevance to precise theological understandings. It often provides a litmus test to determine if a congregation has proper beliefs. You will find pieces of this within all of the sections in this document. But we find ourselves struggling to separate these aspects into an isolated, unified account. We are convicted that right-belief is important, but that right-action sometimes doesn’t fit nicely into a belief structure. Many times doing the right thing can’t be theorized or produced in a cohesive model, but must be risked in relation to our God and those around us. Jesus’ actions were often misunderstood or attributed to heresy. From our perspective, to be his follower is to assume these same risks.

Over time, putting together a more standard philosophical statement may get easier, but we like the idea of starting at nakedness and newness, and asking afresh how to love God, how to love our neighbor, and how that all works in the Manchester region.