Stanley Grenz

In Spirit Produced Corporateness

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Naval Academy Rowing Team

As I reflect upon the need of our church to constantly cultivate community among those within our congregation, as well as between those already part of the congregation and those who have newly arrived, I am pondering the poignancy of this statement by Stanley Grenz, from his book Theology for the Community of God:

“Only in our Spirit-produced corporateness do we truly reflect to all creation the grand dynamic that lies at the heart of the triune God. As we share together in the Holy Spirit, therefore, we participate in relationship with the living God and become the community of Christ our Lord.”

Fellowship of Jesus’ Followers

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Community Collage

Stanley Grenz wrote, in Theology for the Community of God:

“The fellowship of Jesus’ followers is not merely a loose coalition of individuals who acknowledge Jesus. Rather, it is a community of disciples who seek to walk together in accordance with the principles of the kingdom. As Christ’s church, we desire to live out in the present the final reality that will come at the end of history, namely, the reconciled community. This forms the ultimate reason why the goal of evangelism is disciple making. The Spirit directs his great creative work toward establishing the eschatological community, a people who are bonded together by their mutual obedience to the God revealed in Jesus. It is their commitment to living as Jesus’ disciples which facilitates the mutuality that characterizes the community they form”