The weeks guest post is brought to us by Rex Schultz:

I have been reflecting on the church – the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church. I am influenced at the moment by Matthew Kelly’s book, “Rediscovering Catholicism” (©2002, published by Beacon Publishing, Cincinnati, OH) and the discussion with some Catholics in my neighborhood. I am not a member of the Catholic Church but he reminds me that more than two thousand years ago, a small group of people began to follow & proclaim the teachings of Jesus – became known as “Christians”. They were the original members of “the church” – the seat of and for holiness. God is the Source and He provided a mechanism for the practice of holiness; the infrastructures of forgiveness, grace, and service. God has seeded the assembly with practitioners to encourage, exhort, guide, etc. the faithful (and not so faithful).

Kelly writes, “the Church, like so many other things in life, is not something we inherit from generations past or take over from our predecessors. The Church is on loan to us from future generations.”

In my quest for critical thinking, I have developed a habit of trying to put issues into perspective. On the issue of “the church”, here is my perspective:

As humans, we have four important and integrated aspects – physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. God created us that way; it is part of His design. It is impossible to separate them into distinctly different and separate dimensions –  to isolate one from the others. So, the spiritual aspect of our lives causes us to seek congruence and alignment with the physical, emotional, and intellectual. As a whole person then I search for authentic guidance and development of my spiritual using the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects.

My spiritual hunger leads me to the church. Jesus revealed the church to Peter, in Matthew 16:18 when He said He would build His church on a heavenly-taught confessor of a faith – that Jesus is the Christ. Peter confessed that the Messiah of the Old Testament was personified in Jesus of Nazareth!
Kelly’s book reminds me that we live in a time of great moral and ethical confusion. Is it not interesting to note that some people confuse the confession while others seek the truth and the authentic?

In a personal study of “conscience”, I listened to a broadcast of R.C. Sproul on “building a Christian conscience”. Sproul says that the confusion between ethics and morality is based on a lack of understanding between the two words. Ethics comes from the Greek ethos which deals with foundational values and is concerned with “oughtness” – the imperative right that we ought to be doing. Morality, on the other hand, is derived from mores or customs and habits within normal behavior. It is descriptive “isness” and describes what people actually do. The consequence of this confusion, according to Sproul, is the emergence of statistical morality – the normal becomes the normative. We determine what people are doing and when enough people are doing the same thing, we declare that behavior to be normal or acceptable. A new morality is born that ignores Biblical ethics.

What has that got to do with the church?  Is the church teaching, preaching, encouraging, and discipling people in ethics or morality? Is there any confusion in the Mission and Vision of your Church?

Rex Schultz is Discipleship Pastor on staff at a Reformed church in Colorado Springs. A lifelong learner, Rex has been a Christian since 1958. By his own admission, he did not completely surrender his life to Christ until 1992. He and Sue have been married 48 years and they have four children and twelve grandchildren. -CQMissional

Rich Davis is an illustrator of  children’s books. He lives in Siloam Springs AR.

“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.”    Romans 1:20 (NLV)

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
He created a beautiful “living picture” for us to live in with nature telling us about Him…what He is like and how powerful He is.  And God said no man would be able to say to Him, “it’s not fair!  I didn’t know about You!”  God invented the power of visual communication and every human being that has ever lived or will live has been wired to be able to understand it’s message.
It is speaking to us about Him all the time.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”
Psalm 19: 1-3 (NKJV)

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Consider how often you have dreamed at night…and the unexplainable explosion of creativity that happens inside you as these “picture stories” unfold…without you even trying to make them happen.  Dreaming is a universal experience.  Everyone is interested in dreams because we want to know what they mean…how to translate their bizarre stories.

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Not only do we dream at night while we sleep, but we also make pictures in our minds all day long through the incredibly powerful tool God has placed in us called the “imagination”.  He gave us a way to be creative and visualize ideas before they become tangible.  It allows us walk through stories that just come to us from deep inside.  Consider how “memories” activate the imagination and allow us to revisit something from our past with vivid color and intensity…like replaying a video clip or movie.  Countless POW’s speak of mental and emotional survival through the agonizing conditions of prison life by using the imagination to go through happy memories or daily things they enjoyed doing such as playing a round of golf.

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Every person begins with a pencil or crayon drawing on paper.  There is great enjoyment in doing it and great satisfaction.  It’s just fun!  In those early years there is no judging of whose is more beautiful or better…everyone just loves doing it….and every child has ideas tumbling out onto their paper with unabated freedom.  Put a piece of paper and pencil in front of a 5 year and they are off to the races.  What has spoiled this beautiful enjoyment that everyone began with?  I hope you will consider this….and consider it in relation to the things I have written above.

God has called and put the desire in me to help others reignite the desire to speak visually again.  To see it’s place in our everyday lives….it’s power to communicate and etch His wonderful truth and love in our world.
I hope I can share some more how God is leading me in doing this.  I love it.
And perhaps, some of you reading this will feel His nudge that He has something for you to do as well…

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good…” Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)

“How has God spoken to you today personally through some kind of visual communication around you?”
(if you can’t think of anything, perhaps ask the Holy Spirit to speak something to you today…express your desire to Him.)

Rich is a talented artiest, and has a unique gift for helping kids find the creativity that God has given them. He is available for workshops at schools, libraries and other organizations, as well as freelance illustration. Check out what he does at www.richdavis.freewebspace.com. He has also created a game called Pick and Draw. (It’s fun, I’ve played it!). If your feeling creative check out his blog of creative drawing and imagination exercises. – Ben