Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

fighting because of certain victory through the Lord Jesus. Christians should long for home in the presence of God, not a trip back to some past earthly glory.

Defining Period The People of the Story appreciate the Holy Spirit’s at work in all the eras of the Church: Biblical, Ancient, Medieval, Reformation, Modern, and Postmodern (see Appendix 5, “Six Paradigms of History”). It may appear that the Ancient era (100-451) is idealized, as though the Ancients were more pure in their devotion than in other times. This is not the case. However, what is noteworthy about this period is that God the Holy Spirit led the Church to articulate, once and for all, the foundational beliefs and practices that have persisted throughout the Church Age. God’s work to establish the Great Tradition was a defining act that has empowered the Church to keep its footing for the last 1600 years. Those basic beliefs and practices of Christian faith will continue to guide the Church until Jesus returns.

All that now remains is to declare the gospel of the Kingdom and embody the Great Tradition among all people groups on earth.

No Common Antagonists While the Traditional, Pragmatic, and Emerging methods react to their own antagonists, the People of the Story have no common cultural antagonists. There is no desperation regarding Modernity, Postmodernity, secularism, loss of American influence, rise in multi-culturalism, illegal immigration, liberalism, Roman Catholicism, or even the advance of

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