Spiritual Discipleship and Faithful Apostleship

As our Bible study groups work to develop a working model of Progressive Church theology, participants have recognized a vital link that, prior to this time, they may have taken for granted.

The model starts with a basic definition of faith: Faith is fidelity to God's will. God's will is that revealed in Christ Jesus and can be referred to in various ways. Whether we think of it as establishment of the archetype of Crucifixion/Resurrection, following the Christ ethic or practice of Heavenly virtues, the core of God's will remains a selfless act that benefits others. Our fidelity, commitment and devotion are to those acts, whether or not they are decidedly "religious." We are called to be like Christ in service to others. We act on faith when we are bold enough to empty ourselves in acts that reflect selflessness as God's will.

Discipleship is the link between God's will and our fidelity to it. We are disciples - students of a particular master - when our commitment and devotion are to the teachings of that master. As we discussed in last week's post to The Shiloh Insider, this allegiance can be either spiritual or religious. That is, discipleship can be either rote, mechanical and external acceptance of some orthodoxy, ritual or practice or an internal, natural, spiritual response to acts of beauty and selflessness. Religion, it turns out, seeks to repair what is innately wrong or lacking in human nature, while spirituality seeks to enliven that which is naturally present in all living things.

This week, we take a further step in providing a model for Progressive Church theology. While the link between God's will and human fidelity to it is discipleship, the link between our fidelity and acts of faith that reflect it is apostleship. Apostleship is simply doing what we say we believe. It is embodiment of our discipleship. While discipleship can be understood as the potential of the Progressive Church, apostleship is its kinetics. (Some readers of The Shiloh Insider may recall a previous post about the nature of Trinity, in which we identified the second activity of Trinity as potential and the third activity as kinetic.) Put differently, apostleship is doing what the Progressive Church does, while discipleship is what it is doing. Discipleship is the noun of faithfulness' sentence and apostleship is its verb. God is object and those the church serves are its subject.

We may be so bold as to claim that faithful apostleship is the outcome of faithful discipleship. If we sit and learn at the feet of Christ as master (Lord), and if our fidelity is to those teachings, then our apostleship will faithfully reflect the message and medium of Christ. We will do as Christ does. We will act out the archetype of Crucifixion/Resurrection, live the ethic of Christ and practice the heavenly virtues.

One further layer remains in establishing our model of Progressive Church theology. Next week, we will differentiate between a "Life of Call" and a "Life of Law." It is not accidental, of course, that this distinction follows closely on the heals of a distinction between religion or spirituality.

Thanks for reading The Shiloh Insider, and thanks for your comments and opinions. Perhaps our growth together can be reflected in the spiritual evolution of the Church of Jesus Christ.