More on "Open Eyes"

I would like to describe my thoughts in more detail on what it means to be an )open( church.  See The Open Church for an introduction to the core values and beliefs.  For each of the core values, I will discuss:

1. Motivation (Why do we care about this?)
2. Open vs. Closed (What's the difference?)
3. Next Steps (How do we change?)

Open Eyes

1. Motivation (Why do we care about this?)

• Because the Great Commission, our mission to spread God's kingdom to the world, is not just a call to speak out on God's behalf, but is also a call to act on God's behalf.  We must see the world around us, feel the needs they feel, hear the cries and calls of the oppressed, and open our hearts to emotionally connect to others.  The world is our calling.  The world is God's kingdom on Earth, so may His will be done in this place.
• To know God is to know those he created, to appreciate them, and to see them through God's eyes.  Without this kind of vision and perspective, we are blind.  We must look outward (understand others) to see inward (understand ourselves) and see upward (understand God).
• In our dealings with others, we must see them and listen to them.  We should speak less and listen more.  We should not be afraid to see the world through others' eyes, walk in their shoes, and expand our perspective to best understand what it's like to be someone different or foreign than ourselves.  If we don't do this, we have no credibility, no relevance, and no understanding of how to act in a beneficial way.   Without Open Eyes we live in either apathy or ignorance.

Openness: We must look outward (understand others) to see inward (understand ourselves) and see upward (understand God)

2. Open vs. Closed (What's the difference?)

Open	Closed
Views the gospel as a call into the world, a call to care and act to bring substantial help to others.  This literally brings God's will into the world through our actions.  Our message of God's love flows out of our acts of love.	The closed view is more likely to focus on the message of repentance, where compassion and action (while often important) are viewed as simply aids to demonstrate our message.
Is not hesitant to bring focus to issues of need and injustice in our community and the broader world around us, especially for groups and nations that are different than us.  Concerned to avoid inwardly focusing on our own needs and wants.   Community and partnership with other believers is strengthened through working together toward a common cause.	Hesitant to bring attention to groups that are different than ourselves, and who don't conform to our ideals.  Focused inwardly on meeting needs of the community of believers.  Willing to ignore and neglect the world of non-believers, except to preach to them.  Community is strengthened through inward focus on belonging and conformity.
Recognizes the value of our resources for addressing our global mission.  Our power to heal is in our individual and collective  efforts led by God.  Our resources are our people, our communities (churches), our benevolence, volunteer hours, and grassroots global influence.  We can speak as a united voice and make a noticeable difference.	Uses resources of the church community to build the church system.  The focus of the majority (90%?) of financial resources is on keeping the lights on, paying the staff, running events, etc. (Just look at the actual budget for the list of highest priorities).  While making contributions to good causes, the focus is inward, on building for the benefit of the community.

3. Next Steps (How do we change?)

• Discuss issues.  Brainstorm on actions.  Engage through prayer.  Bring our resources to bear on problems.  If we bring humanitarian innovators, those with political savvy and influence, those with international connections and knowledge, those good at fundraising, etc., that are part of our church communities to work together to solve global problems instead of to build up our own system of Christianity, then we will unleash a major force for good upon the world.
• Teach compassion and diversity.  The best way to care is to understand.
• Teach the dangers of inward focus, and the importance of investing our resources in things that matter.
• Organize grassroots, volunteer activities, where the donated time of individual Christians can make a difference in the world around us.  Help start a contagious desire to actually do good works instead of talk about them.