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Influences: Roots, Trunk and Branches

Page (still!) under construction.

This is a page that describes some things that have influenced me.

You might also like to read my Spiritual Journey.

Evangelical

'Evangelical' is probably my key root. Strong points that have influenced us:

High view of the Bible as written version of God's revelation
Emphasise the need for personal relationship with God
Jesus Christ seen as really good news for 'salvation', not just a religious happening
Christ's death and resurrection are central to this
Emphasis on need for us to tell this good news to all
Therefore a strong emphasis on preaching, teaching

Some weak points of the evangelical tradition include:

Tendency to over-emphasise doctrinal belief
Tendency to de-emphasise God's creation
Tendency to over-emphasise preaching, especially traditional British forms thereof

Evangelistic

'Evangelical' means taking the Bible as God's written message; 'evangelistic' means proclaiming God's message, and in particular that message about Jesus being being what Christians call 'Saviour'.

I have been influenced by various traditions that have held that evangelism is probably the key activity for us to get involved in. Jesus gave his first followers what has become known as the Great Commission:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you."

- and that is what gives evangelism its priority. But, as we enter the twenty-first century, we need to give this a new slant.

Christian Brethren

While many of the Brethren characteristics have fallen away, points from that tradition that have influenced me include:

Everyone in the church of equal value ("the priesthood of all believers", rather than democracy)
Therefore emphasis on 'lay' rather than 'ordained' (special) ministry
Wide number and variety of people preaching, teaching, leading worship
Small group Bible study, prayer and worship
Informality and flexibility in worship
We have no formal membership structure
Baptism is largely kept for adults, for those who have made their own 'profession of faith'
The difference between 'real' and 'nominal' Christianity (the 'true' church is a subset of the visible, organisational church)

Weak points:

Informality can slip into irreverence
Having no formal membership means we cannot use legal means to define who can have a say in church affairs. (But maybe that keeps us more dependent on God himself?)

Anglican

In the Scottish Episcopal Church, and then in Highfield Church of England in Southampton, I value the following influences.

The importance of Holy Communion
Reverence for time-honoured patterns
Church is to serve and be part of community, not just be isolated

(It may be noticed that some of these points appear to conflict with others from the Christian Brethren tradition; we hold that there is truth, of God, in both.)

Charismatic

Strong points that have influenced me:

The importance of being 'in love' with God (intensity of individual relationships with the Living God)
The efficacy of a 'second touch' that intensifies the personal relationship with God (This is one of the results of what was known as 'Baptism in the Holy Spirit')
Worship-singing in which the intensity of personal relationship with God is expressed freely
The reality of miracles in daily life (and the expectation thereof)

Importance of the Secular

While the majority of the western church has always elevated the sacred over the secular side of life and the spiritual over the physical, there has always been a thin root that has tried to retain a true perspective on both the secular and the physical - interestingly that root is found in both Calvinistic and Celtic Christianity. It has influenced me.

Traditionally, among 'keen' Christians, prayer has been more important than politics, and the priest has been seen as more important than the plough-boy. This emphasis comes, not from God's message in the Bible, but from Greek intellectualism and the dualism that emerged from Plato. Many Christians, sadly, believe that we should not look after the natural world because it will all perish when God completes history.

But people like Francis of Assissi discovered that God loves his creation and that we should look after it. George Herbert, poet and Anglican priest, spoke often of the importance of 'ordinary' chores like sweeping a room. Booth and Shaftesbury worked hard for social justice, because of what the Bible told them.

So, we are following this thin root as one of our branches.

World-wide Mission

From my time at Crusaders, I have had a strong awareness of world-wide (non-Western) Christianity, and rejoices in the rapid growth of the non-Western church such that there are now more Christians in the non-Western world than in the West. Points that have influenced us include:

Recognition of God's work in other cultures
Recognition of the world-wide nature of God's plan
Seeing where being a Christian can mean life or death
Revitalised faith and worship
An outlook refreshingly free from dualistic thinking

Creation Responsibility

Because the Bible seems full of 'earthiness', and the clear message that God loves his creation. Not just the animals and plants, but also society, economics, etc.

The importance of God's creation (God loves "the world", not just human beings - John 3:16)
God gave humankind the responsibility and joy of stewarding his creation, in a loving way. (the 'cultural mandate' of Genesis 1, which God has never revoked and so it is still encumbent on us)
The scope of this mandate includes all aspects of living, including technology, politics, education, economics, social planning, land use planning, etc. as well as family life, private beliefs, worship, evangelism.
God wants his people to be "salt and light" in his world.
His kingdom thus permeates the world.
That is how God wishes it to be.

(Some have given this the label Kingdom - meaning God's rule and effective authroity in the affairs of humankind. But Kingdom can mean so many other different things that we have not used it for the title of this section.)

Some Core Beliefs

I am neither fundamentalist nor liberal in outlook, but rather evangelical - in the U.K. (Anglo-Celtic) sense rather than the American sense. Here are some of the things we hold dear, and which act as a kind of filter on our acceptance of influences from our roots, and as a guide to the exploration that is our branches.

The centrality of God, rather than human reason, justice or whatever.
The importance of God's creation.
The responsibility and priviledges of humankind.
The centrality of Jesus Christ, as 'Anointed Saviour'.
The importance of personal salvation and relationship with God.
The importance of justice for all.
The uniqueness and authority of the Bible.
The love of God.
The 'grace' of God (more than mercy or compassion: in 'grace' God works hard to do good even to those who deserve only his wrath)
The need for God to be in charge of all aspects of living, not just the religious parts.
Trust in God to act and take initiative.
.. and many more.

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Copyright (c) Andrew Basden at all dates below. ŠBut you may use this material subject to certain <őa href= Š"copyright.html"ő>conditions.

Part of his www.abxn.org pages, that open up Šdiscussion and exploration from a Christian ('xn') perspective. Written on Šthe Amiga with Protext. Number of visitors to these pages: Counter .

Created: . Last updated: 16 February 1997. 8 November 1998 some links renewed. 7 February 2001. 26 September 2008 redone as my own roots, rather than as those of my church. 12 August 2014 .nav, new .end, added link to spiritual.journey.