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A Circle of Hope
In the last thirteen years the world has been changing and Circle of Hope in Philadelphia has been surfing that change toward their goal of becoming the next generation of the Church. This book is a memoir, a manual, a call to change and a dialogue about the collection of proverbs this young group of Jesus-followers have gathered during their journey.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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August 25, 2009Welcome to the Book!
A Circle of Hope,, the book, is a bit like a salad, which is a bit like us – lots of flavors all mixed up and tasty. Enjoy.
1) It is based on the “proverbs” of Circle of Hope; so sometimes, it may read a bit like the book of Proverbs in the Bible – a somewhat random collection. You won’t find too much systematic theology here.
2) It follows parts of the story of how Circle of Hope, the people, developed over the past decade or so; so sometimes it has the flavor of a memoir. You’ll find all sorts of references about what’s been going on for the past decade, and more than just what’s happened on MTV!
3) It is all about trying to put into practice what Jesus is teaching in the here and now; so most of the time it reads like theology done in community, because that is how the book got written. You may have some things to add that will get built right in, since this is about the sixth rewrite that includes what all sorts of people have added before you. We hope we are all contributing to what God is doing next (see chapter 4!).
There is no way to write about the Church, much less Circle of Hope, as if the Church is a concept, or a past historical fact, or an image trapped in time - or anything else that usually appears in a book. The church is an organism or it is dead (see chapter 8!). So keep in mind that whatever is in this book is part of a developing story. We’re telling the story, but, as you can tell, we doubt that the last chapter has even begun!
We’ll trust you with all that.
How this got going
We’ve done a lot of thinking about how to be the church in the East Coast Megalopolis. A few years ago, I (Rod White, the first pastor) was encouraged to “write it all down” so people could track with us. We decided we could base our story on the “proverbs” we’ve accumulated over the last decade that describe who we are and what we care about.
We’re kind of a tribe, so we definitely need “lore.” The proverbs began to spontaneously collect when we realized we had some lore to preserve. They went through some permutations and then got organized by Joe Snell. A couple of years ago, I was challenged to speak on the sections and then make the speeches into the chapters of this book. In the public meetings where I gave the speeches, there was some talking back, too — that’s usually part of how we do speeches, so the ideas entered into some more dialogue (see Chapter 9!). When the speeches were turned into book chapters, I called together a group of seminarian-types to talk them over — a lot more dialogue ensued. So what follows has been a big group project over years and that is how we like it. And it isn’t the final word! What you add as you get in step with us on the journey will likely help determine the destination.
We’re all about revealing Jesus, so letting ourselves be known in this way is sort of like Jesus going to the Capernaum synagogue when he decided it was time to make his mission public. He took out the scroll of Isaiah and announced, “This is what I’m all about.” (Luke 4:16-18). Just because Jesus did that and the record of him doing it got into a book doesn’t mean everyone understood Jesus. But it needed to be done. We don’t expect everyone to understand us, either. But we need to make Jesus in us known. We’re telling our story. It is better to tell one’s story personally (see Chapter 3!) but this way gets it out there, too. We hope it contributes to the many ways God is building the next rendition of the Church.
A Circle of Hope,, the book, is a bit like a salad, which is a bit like us – lots of flavors all mixed up and tasty. Enjoy.
1) It is based on the “proverbs” of Circle of Hope; so sometimes, it may read a bit like the book of Proverbs in the Bible – a somewhat random collection. You won’t find too much systematic theology here.
2) It follows parts of the story of how Circle of Hope, the people, developed over the past decade or so; so sometimes it has the flavor of a memoir. You’ll find all sorts of references about what’s been going on for the past decade, and more than just what’s happened on MTV!
3) It is all about trying to put into practice what Jesus is teaching in the here and now; so most of the time it reads like theology done in community, because that is how the book got written. You may have some things to add that will get built right in, since this is about the sixth rewrite that includes what all sorts of people have added before you. We hope we are all contributing to what God is doing next (see chapter 4!).
There is no way to write about the Church, much less Circle of Hope, as if the Church is a concept, or a past historical fact, or an image trapped in time - or anything else that usually appears in a book. The church is an organism or it is dead (see chapter 8!). So keep in mind that whatever is in this book is part of a developing story. We’re telling the story, but, as you can tell, we doubt that the last chapter has even begun!
We’ll trust you with all that.
How this got going
We’ve done a lot of thinking about how to be the church in the East Coast Megalopolis. A few years ago, I (Rod White, the first pastor) was encouraged to “write it all down” so people could track with us. We decided we could base our story on the “proverbs” we’ve accumulated over the last decade that describe who we are and what we care about.
We’re kind of a tribe, so we definitely need “lore.” The proverbs began to spontaneously collect when we realized we had some lore to preserve. They went through some permutations and then got organized by Joe Snell. A couple of years ago, I was challenged to speak on the sections and then make the speeches into the chapters of this book. In the public meetings where I gave the speeches, there was some talking back, too — that’s usually part of how we do speeches, so the ideas entered into some more dialogue (see Chapter 9!). When the speeches were turned into book chapters, I called together a group of seminarian-types to talk them over — a lot more dialogue ensued. So what follows has been a big group project over years and that is how we like it. And it isn’t the final word! What you add as you get in step with us on the journey will likely help determine the destination.
We’re all about revealing Jesus, so letting ourselves be known in this way is sort of like Jesus going to the Capernaum synagogue when he decided it was time to make his mission public. He took out the scroll of Isaiah and announced, “This is what I’m all about.” (Luke 4:16-18). Just because Jesus did that and the record of him doing it got into a book doesn’t mean everyone understood Jesus. But it needed to be done. We don’t expect everyone to understand us, either. But we need to make Jesus in us known. We’re telling our story. It is better to tell one’s story personally (see Chapter 3!) but this way gets it out there, too. We hope it contributes to the many ways God is building the next rendition of the Church.
January 7, 2009
It's a book, it's a blog, it's a blog-book! The original author, Rod White, acts as a facilitator and invites you, the reader, to participate in writing this ongoing story by adding your comments to the chapters. This is the story of God's ongoing work with Circle of Hope. The story goes on, and you are invited.
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