Praxis Conference - Blog 1

Experiencing the First Praxis Conference

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            I attended what was named the “Praxis Conference” in Tulsa.  It was sponsored by Sanctuary Church in Jenks, Oklahoma just south of Tulsa.  Sanctuary Church is a union of two former churches in Tulsa that were and may be identified as Charismatic, but also have discovered lessons from the ancient church and its ways of encouraging spiritual formation.  I attended the conference as one who has not been part of the Charismatic movement, but has come from a different Evangelical background to appreciate similar lessons of spiritual formation that are valued by those who organized and presented the conference.  I will try in this blog and an undetermined number in a short series of blogs to present some of the themes presented at the conference.

            A number of speakers described how they reached points in their Christian ministries where they sensed a need, sometimes a desperate need for something more to offer their church members.  The desire for more led them to discovering the ways of the ancient church.  They found enrichment recognizing that the modern Church was a continuing part of a Church that has been alive for the entire two thousand years since the first Pentecost Sunday.  The modern Church is they learned part of something bigger than our own time and era.  It is often common among Evangelicals and Charismatics to view the word “tradition” almost like a cuss word.  But these speakers learned to differentiate a “traditionalism” which tends to be the dead faith of living people from “tradition” which is the passage way by which faith is passed from one believer to another and from one generation of believers to another generation through the words, lives, and ministries of the men and women participating in Christ’s body – the Living Church.  The discovery of a living church that spans the centuries has implications for how we can envision the church of our own day.  A number of the speakers reached a place where they realized they were not the first to build, plant, and minister to churches.  They began to learn that there was something to be learned from the ancients who had been too easily ignored for too long.

            I am pretty sure that most of the speakers would agree with one of the speakers who pointed out that in looking to the ancients’ one was not trying to rebuild the past, but that the goal was to reintegrate what the Church learned and practiced in the early centuries with modern practices in our own days and situations.

            The goals of the conference are set forth in this conference website page.  On this page the organizers of the conference listed as the goal of the event: “An event designed to explore, collaborate, and discover how using the ancient practices of the historical church such as communion, creeds, and common prayer can actually manifest encounters with the Holy Spirit and resurrection in our local church communities.”  One might add “the ancient church calendar” to that list as conference speakers expressed agreement with one another the discovery that congregational life is enriched by participating in recognizing at least the main events of the historic church calendar that had spread throughout much of Christendom by the end of the second century.

            Perhaps one of the things central to the matters discussed in this conference was how the ancient church managed to express and experience the faith as gathered congregations as well as individuals experiencing the grace and mercy of God.  For example if we take seriously praying in the manner and form of the Lord’s Father, praying “Our Father” reminds us that we never truly pray alone.  We pray in and through Jesus Christ, and we pray with His Church, the Church which is one in Him.  Evangelicals and Charismatics as Evangelicals have highly valued the need for individuals receiving and acting upon the faith they receive through their hearing of God’s Word.  But the experience of hearing the word and of being enlivened in the faith was an “us” experience in the ancient church with “one another” before “our Father” in fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I will try in these blogs to give expression to the general expression of the conference speakers.

            The conference was well thought out and planned.  It was a two day conference with speakers on June 6, 2014 primarily addressing historical, philosophical and theological concepts regarding the worship ideas to be reintegrated into Evangelical and Charismatic congregational experiences and then discussions of concrete ways this was being done by the speakers on the following day.  Speakers addressing those attending the conferences came from a wonderful mix of congregations from those of the church in Tulsa, along with speakers from churches in small towns, and in the metropolitan Burroughs of New York City.  The mix of speakers helped to show that reintegrating worship concepts of the ancient church into the milieu of modern and post-modern Evangelicalism could be done in a wide array of congregations.  The speakers at the conference believed the introduction of the practices of which they spoke could enrich congregational life across the entire spectrum of church life in America’s Evangelical and Charismatic communities.

            For me participating as a non-Charismatic, but also as an Anglican who had made a similar journey from an Evangelical background I found myself with people with whom I felt a sense of fellowship.  The conference organizers, and from what I could see the attendees for the largest part, were also desirous of seeing this platform be used to build bridges with churches from other denominations and traditions rather than to further divide Christian congregations.  As an Anglican I felt appreciated by those I met.  The Roman Catholic Church was represented at the conference by Father Stephen Vrazel who was well received and offered a simple blessing to as many as wished to receive it.  So for most in attendance considering the practices of the ancient Church was a bridge towards understanding the divisions of modern Christianity for in almost every instance those practicing the modern faith are divided over differing emphases that were often joined together in the experience of ancient Christianity.  Hopefully we will be able to express some of these things in days ahead, because what was being discussed has been a blessing to many already and will hopefully prove a blessing to many more in the future.