Catechesis Week 1: What Makes a Belief "Christian?" (2017.10.01 Sermon)

October 2nd, 2017 | Daniel Read

“You Americans are waking up to the fact that people are sick to death of bad religion.” Michael Frost

Chris Morton opens up our nine week discussion series “Catechesis: What the Church Has Always Believed” by asking the question: “What makes a belief Christian?”

Quotes and Resources

• The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Alan Krieder. An in-depth look at the teaching on patience in the first three centuries, including explanation of early Catechesis.
• The Allure of Gentleness, Dallas Willard. A discussion on how to do apologetics in the manner of Jesus. Includes a basic introduction to common questions of faith from the perspective of a philosopher.
• “The Pharisees have locked Israel inside a pen of controlling legalism. The sheep are trapped, unable to flourish. Israel won’t follow their voices, because they are like strangers. Jesus voice rings true. They hear his message of freedom and their ears prick up. They want to be free.
  Jesus has come to set Israel free from the legalistic, fear-based, bad religion of the Pharisees and to lead them into a multinational, multiethnic, redeemed society drawn from every nation and tongue.
  …If we’re to lead our congregations like the Good Shepherd himself, surely our job is to lead people to freedom, to get them out of the restricting pen of anxious religion.” I am the Wild Shepherd, Michael Frost.
• “The body of Christ is that unique community of practice whose members own up to the fact that we don’t always love what we say we do—that the “devices and desires” of our hearts outstrip our best intentions. The practices of Christian worship are a tangible, practiced, re-formative way to address this tension and gap.” You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith

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