Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

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Chur ch Mat ter s : Ret r i ev i ng the Great Trad i t i on

sense of the history of the body of Christ. What is needed today is a sense of perspective, i.e., coming to view and understand current events through the lens of God’s working through the church through the ages. Armed with a sense of history, we will be both encouraged and challenged that our current situation is neither unique nor unresolvable. Through the great movements of the Church, the Holy Spirit has shown that even in the face of schism, compromise, difficulty, and persecution, the people of God can learn, grow, and fulfill God’s plan for them. This workshop is designed to cover in brief the major periods of the history of the Church, including the Ancient Church, the Medieval Church, the Reformation Church, the Modern Church, and the Postmodern movements taking place today. I will emphasize the ways in which evangelical Protestants, especially those who are only loosely connected to a particular Church tradition, can be renewed and revived through a retrieval of the Great Tradition. Of great interest will be the elements, purposes, and ramifications of sharing a distinct spirituality grounded in that Tradition, and what the impact this sharing can have on our individual, family, and congregational lives. As a result of taking this course, each student should be able to: • Recite the main milestones of the history of the Christian church, from the age of the apostles to the current postmodern church age. • Provide theological rationales for the significance of the Great Tradition, and explain the way in which that Tradition embodies the creedal definition of the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. • Memorize and explain key verses dealing with the history of the Church, the Great Tradition, and shared spirituality. • Reproduce the three essential elements connected with reproducing dynamic evangelical church planting movements. • Know why viable Christian discipleship and ministry ought to flow from a shared spirituality rooted in the Great Tradition. • Articulate concisely the various purposes, elements, and advantages of sharing a spiritual journey in the context of a tradition and community.