The Other Six Days: C3 – The Trinity and the Nature of the Church

The Other Six Days

Part One – A People Without 'Laity and Clergy': Chapter 3 – One God – One People

One God – Three Persons

…Like their God the people of God have ministry that is both creative (making) and restorative (mending); ministry is both unitive (connecting) and curative (correcting) – thus challenging the common evangelical preoccupation with the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20) as the exclusive definition of ministry, as important as that mandates is.

To this rich understanding of peoplehood and ministry each of the three persons of the Godhead contributes. The Father creates, providentially sustains, and forms a covenantal framework for all existence. The Son incarnates, mediates, transfigures and redeems. The Spirit empowers and fills with God’s own presence. But each shares in the others – coihneres, interpenetrates, co-operates – so that it is theologically inappropriate to stereotype the ministry of any one. But that is exactly what is done. (57)

Stevens offers this grid on page 58.

Stevens observes that denominations tend to favor one aspect of Trinitarian ministry over another.

• Father-denominations emphasize reverent worship and stewardship. (This would loosely correspond to the traditional mainline denominations like Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, UCC, Episcopal, etc.)
• Son-denominations stress discipleship and evangelism, thus furthering the work of the Kingdom of God. (This would loosely correspond to more Evangelical denominations.)
• Spirit-denominations promote gifts and graces. (This would loosely correspond to charismatic denominations.)

Stevens writes, "…we respectfully confess that the unit of the Holy Trinity is neither a homogenized unity that blurs the distinctions, nor a collective." (59) He is concerned that we remember the concept of perichoresis of the "being in one another" aspect of the Trinity. Just as we can talk of three inseparable persons of the Trinity, we can also speak of three inseparable calls to be a covenant, Kingdom, and charismatic community.

Communion or Union?

In the final section of chapter three, Stevens emphasizes that we are in Christ, but we are not lost in Christ. Christ is in us, but we are not Christ. Similarly, the church is not a collection of individuals but a community. Yet we are not lost in, or consumed by, community. Stevens makes the following observations about a perichoretic church:

• First, there is no such thing as an individual member…. (There is interdependence.)
• Second, there is no hierarchy of ministries….
• Third, all members of the laos of God belong to one another, minister to one another, and contribute to the rich unity and ministry of the whole. The church is not composed of those who minister and those who are ministered 'unto.'… (63-63)

This chapter concludes Part 1 of the book "People without 'Laity' and 'Clergy." These first three chapters have framed our problems and how we inherited them. The three chapters that makeup Part 2 examine what it means to be "Summoned and Equipped by God." Central to Stevens thinking in these coming chapters is the "backdrop" he has given us about perichoresis and the Trinitarian view of community and vocation.

Many theologians I have read in recent years have lamented the virtual eclipse of Trinitarian theology over the last few centuries. It strikes me that recovering a healthy ecclesiology is interconnected with a healthy view of the Trinity. 

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