To be truthful- it probably should have been a podcast or a series of blog posts instead of a book.

Written as the men came together to form a small church, this book talks about Christian faith and community. The colors used are

blue (for “Gospel Faith”),
green (for “Healthy Living”),
red (for “Inclusive Community”), and
yellow (for “Cultural Engagement”).

This book refers frequently to the writers’ church, which is called neXus. This kept reminding me that I was listening to people who all knew each other and were speaking of a specific place of reference. I often felt neglected. (This is one of the reasons I think it would be fantastic as a blog post or podcast – live feedback and interaction with people) I didn’t mind, though, as the book was very familiar to me- I’ve been wandering around in the “emergent” world for a long time.

This book is a great primer for someone looking to explore a different approach to faith, God, and spirituality. It is gentle, and approaches things with less of the law, and a lot of grace. It is perfect for someone who is just beginning to ask deep questions about their faith, or what they really believe. It is also a great book for someone to be able to find the freedom or “permission” to begin to ask those questions and dive into their exploration.

But it’s not much for anyone else. It doesn’t have a hearty enough theological substance (for some), and it’s lack of deep exegesis will turn off many people who would probably never touch a book like this one anyway. If you want to share it with someone who wants to know more about an “emergent church” – this is the kind of book they would expect- and critique.

For those who have asked a lot of questions and wandered around in their own faith, this book will seem too simple. It neatly packs up (via colors) the different issues they approach, and while they are still open-ended, they often seem closed at the same time. This would have been a fantastic book for me back in the beginning stages of my “emergent” journey. I think it can be for others just beginning to struggle, as well.

The first book is one written by several key members of a Canadian church. It is called The Colors of God which is based on several colors that make up the core values of what the church is about. Additionally, this book is mainly written as a conversation which supposedly was done in a hotel room if I remember correctly(although it sounds like serious preparation had to of been made before doing this if that was truly the case!).

This book is mostly made up with the background of how their church came to be and what the central tenets are that they value in a church. Sounds like a recipe for success and truly a gift for a faithful member of their congregation as well? Unfortunately, however, much of it seems to fall short in ending up with much substance or much that they truly get behind. As is becoming more and more customary of writers today, they are quick to say how much they are not like most evangelical churches and how all are welcome regardless of what they’ve done, etc. With the latter, while that should sound like something fantastic, it seems that based on their response to sin(lackadaisical at best) that there need not be much of a repenting or turning away from sin. Not only a turning away from sin but a turning towards God. No, they seem quick to offer unhelpful grace at the expense of much and it ended up leaving somewhat of a foul taste in my mouth. I never would have thought a couple of years ago that I would be the one representing the side against excess grace and more focus on sin(although contextualizing that would take much longer than this post) but I believe there is a somewhat clear line of what is appropriate and when it is not. Kids that do not have any sort of discipline in their life don’t turn out for the better because of it. It is either in spite of it or not at all.

I truly did want to like this book. I am as open to innovation in the church as much as anyone, however when it is done while substance is foregone then it brings up many different questions. Additionally, all that said, I do believe they can and probably do serve an important niche in the community they’re in and believe God is able to work through them and connect with folks that otherwise would have nothing to do with church. Unfortunately this is a book review and the content combined with several typos made for a somewhat frustrating read.

The list of problems in churches is familiar.

For starters, preaching has become ineffective. What pastors talk about either seems of little consequence, or seems rooted in small-minded bombast. And that’s when the preaching is comprehensible at all.

Also, community has deteriorated. Churches become busy without producing deep change in people’s lives. Believers complain about the shallowness of church relationships, or about constant bickering. Most worrisome, there is a sense of unreality about interactions at church, a sense that we can’t deal honestly with our failings and that church isn’t safe.

Deeper, Christians are paralyzed by guilt. The weight of secret sins, the anxiety of paying lip-service to “values” without really knowing what those values entail, the general sense that God is displeased and angry, have all conspired to produce the opposite of what the Gospel promises — joy and thankfulness.

Colors of God is written by three men who started a church called neXus in Abbotsford, BC. Randall Mark Peters, Dave Phillips, and Quentin Steen have been influenced by the Emerging church movement in the areas of how to preach, how build community, and how to deal with the moralism of today’s evangelicals.

The book’s strong point is honesty. The authors are transparent about their struggles, both emotionally and intellectually, and gracious in describing how they believe churches are broken. I found many points to admire in their prescriptions. Their emphasis on God’s grace, and their clear doctrinal understanding of it, are indeed the antidote for evangelicals’ guilty consciences.

But I found the book unreadable.

I think the authors’ decision to print, in effect, a transcript of a round-table discussion emptied the book of drive. Their representation of aspects of church life with four different colors, far from clarifying their points, required too much explanation. It seems to me that a book needs both analytical and narrative logic to propel the reader to the end. And this reader did not make it. The organization of the book seemed both fussy and murky.

And to some extent, this toying with presentational niceties as a way of expressing values is emblematic of the evangelical malaise. Pastors are forever worrying about what’s wrong with “preaching.” The fact that most preachers couldn’t give a clear, compelling public address on any subject should figure into the analysis somewhere.

If evangelicals are going to strengthen their churches, at some point they will have to regain enduring competencies. Colors of God has some contributions to make on that score, contributions that would be brighter in a book not burdened with the pretense of being a transcript.

“Colors of God” is a thought-provoking, compelling dialogue between 3 men trying to think about the convergence of faith, culture, and application. Author Randall Mark Peters is a former university professor who is now on television hosting a show and teaches at neXus church. He says this book shares his “journey away from religion into a world much larger and mush more beautiful.” Author Dave Phillips left the professional life of counseling and now teaches at neXus church (with Peters). The final author, Quentin Steen, works for the Christian Labour Association of Canada “making sure justice, respect, and dignity” are provided for all workers.

The format of this book is what I found the most refreshing aspect and interesting part of the entire reading. Like the church they are all tied to in one way or another, neXus, the authors use dialogue and conversation as the vehicle for sharing their convictions and message. NeXus church does this as well. The leaders at that church use an informal, conversational context for church teaching. And it has worked well there…it works well here….

The book describes 4 colors of God: Blue (the Gospel of Jesus), Green (Healthy Living), Red (community), and Yellow (Cultural Engagement). Blue is naturally the lead color and of which every other color stems from. The authors drive home the aspects of Jesus (only) as life-giver and definer. To my surprise, quite frankly, they speak of every fact of life only getting meaning from and through Jesus. They speak of grace much like Reformers would. It was quite refreshing. The rest of the book is built on that foundation, and it is good.

I would recommend this book. The format is inspiring and keeps one interested (the even have an FAQ after each section to answer questions critically), and these guys work off one another and complement one another nicely, so that you just don’t get one voice, one perspective on being the church. Granted, they often agree with one another, but it isn’t at detriment to the book because each has a unique story and perspective they bring.

http://www.ordinaryradical.blogspot.com

What I found refreshing is the fact that these men have gone back to the original reformation leaders and have read their works and made them fit into their own context. Every reformer from Hus to Wyclef, Luther to Calvin has strong points and a few negatives, and these guys do their best to take protestant theology and lead their flock in their own reformation. I don’t agree with everything they say, but it is refreshingly honest.

This book is truly a conversation. Each author responds to the topic and it feels like it was recorded over coffee and just typed out. The only flaw I find is that they agree with one another too much. Instead of allowing differences to add to the conversation, they seemed prearranged.

My favourite part was at the end of each chapter when the authors were responding to questions and criticism. It really helped me understand their points a little bit more, even if it could have gone much deeper. I hope more books begin to use this conversational format in the future!

Word or phrase to describe this book: Refreshingly Reformational!

“Colors of God” is written by Quentin Steen, Dave Phillips, and Randall Peters; these men, at the time the book was written, all held positions of leadership in a small, independent Emerging church called “neXus” in British Columbia. The book itself is written as a series of conversations between these three men. Using neXus as a sort of case study and a practical, grounded matrix for their thoughts, these men engage with each other and with the larger postmodern and Evangelical conversations about God, theology, and what it means to “be” the church. The conversations that this book offers to that wider narrative are fluid, adaptive, and non-heirarchical in their substance; this is, perhaps, the book’s greatest strength.

The conversational model that the book adopts is crafted to mirror the narrative preaching style that Phillips and Peters have implemented at neXus. The homily portion of the service at neXus is actually a largely unscripted dialogue that takes place between the two teaching pastors. Phillips and Peters agree on a text for each week, research it, and discuss it privately in order to reach some general consensus; however, when Sunday morning rolls around, the two men sit on chairs at the front of the church and have a conversation about the text. By their own admission, there are days when they disagree, or challenge each other; there are days when the conversation goes in an entirely different direction than either of them planned or anticipated. At the conclusion of this “teaching” conversation, congregational participation is invited, and a second “responsive” conversation ensues. This is how neXus does church. Honestly, I think it’s brilliant. neXus obviously values the inclusive, democratic process of myth-and-meaning-making, and seems to structure itself in a way that adopts some degree of social constructivism and distributive cognition. These elements are vital to the creation of healthy community and the shared ownership of ideas and identity. Of course, neXus has had to strike a delicate balance between conversation and instruction to prevent their Sunday morning services from turning into free-for-all opinion wars. It appears that neXus services still possesses the stability of a quasi-authoritative structure because the greatest weight is given to the initial conversation between Phillips and Peters, which seems appropriate given their more extensive training as theologians and Biblical scholars. I look at this model with equal parts envy and admiration.

While the substance of this peculiar dialectic translates well into the book, I’m not sure the structure does. Perhaps I was spoiled by reading the witty, fast-paced dialogue of Peter Kreeft’s “Between Heaven and Hell” as a child, but I found the conversational presentation of “Colors of God” to be cumbersome and a bit distracting. Each man would speak for, on average, several consecutive paragraphs… which was just enough time for me, as the reader, to sink into the rhythm of that particular speaker and forget that the book was a conversation. Then, whenever the voices switched, I was thrown off and had to refocus myself. Wait, did he just contradict himself? No, no… this is someone else talking, now. Ok. Got it.

“Colors of God” is written based on the premise that faith is more like a work of art than a well-oiled machine that comes with a comprehensive instruction manual. The authors acknowledge that individual and community expressions of faith are messy, inexact, and more intuitive than formulaic. However, the authors agree that, in their particular community, each artist is provided with certain ingredients or “colors” to work with; ideally, each expression of faith should be comprised of these colors and given their unique definition by the way in which those colors interact or overlap with each other. For neXus, these colors are: blue (Gospel Faith), green (Healthy Living), red (Inclusive Community) and yellow (Cultural Engagement). This spectrum of colors is, perhaps, as close to a “creed” as the authors’ postmodern approach will allow.

The exploration of these colors makes up the bulk of the book. Not surprisingly, this is also the section about which I feel the most conflicted. Perhaps this is partially due to the fact that the book is written as a conversation, but I felt as though much of the material was very polarizing. Certain themes were over-emphasized for effect, and others were inappropriately minimized or completely absent. For example, I found the section on Gospel Faith to be delightful in its emphasis on the unconditional love of God that is ours through the finished work of Christ; I also found it disturbing in its claim that when a man “sits in the strip club, living in duplicity – drooling over some young woman who is no doubt a victim of the sex industry,” the delighted presence of God is with him in that moment. The authors make a great deal of the fact that God is never disappointed in us or our behaviors; disappointment implies unmet expectations, and unconditional love is without expectation, therefore love and disappointment are incongruous. I don’t buy this syllogism. Disappointment is not an antonym for love; in fact, last time I checked, love “believes all things, and hopes all things.” That sounds a bit like expectation to me. The section on Healthy Living did an exquisite job of addressing the ways in which the Bible has been used to justify physical and emotional abuse, and stated that we ought to understand God’s mandates as being instructions designed for the preservation and protection of our well-being. However, the book quickly slides into a less-than-helpful preoccupation with using what is “healthy” and “natural” as a rubric for establishing morality, leaving the Bible itself as a footnote in determining right from wrong; the authors seem blissfully unaware that “healthy” and “natural” are ubiquitous and rather anemic terms that are subjective (at best) in the contemporary conversation. The section on Cultural Engagement cautioned parents against sheltering (i.e. isolating) their children from the world around them; it encouraged them, instead, to expose their kids to “the World” gradually, and provide them with the necessary tools for processing the discrepancies between that World and the counter-cultural faith in which they themselves are being raised. It’s an excellent point and, as one who suffered from faith-based cultural deprivation as a child, I found this perspective refreshing. However, the book goes on to claim that “you do not have to agree with the artist’s creedal confession to dig the art and find a revealing God in the midst of it.” In my opinion, engaging with popular art in order to find God in it seems like an incredibly utilitarian approach. I would have liked to have seen the authors go a bit further and tackle that utilitarianism, which seems so systemic in Evangelical culture.

All that said, the concluding chapter of the book won me over with its disarming honesty and humility. The authors express an eagerness to respect and maintain their relationships with the Evangelical world, and with the larger Christian tradition that gave them their roots. I don’t believe that Steen, Phillips and Peters expect or intend this little volume to be some earth-shattering treatise that changes the entire face of Christian expression, but they do genuinely long for this book to be a voice among many voices in the greater conversation. I believe they have achieved this goal. They have some brilliant, worthwhile things to say… but also enough inciting and potentially contentious material to invite further dialogue. If conversation about the church is what you’re looking for, then “Colors of God” may very well be an appropriate starting point.

This book, written by Randall Mark Peters, Dave Phillips, and Quentin Steen, was developed as a conversation–and indeed written as such. It is not a difficult conversation to follow and, for this traveler, was refreshing at times. They were saying what I’ve been thinking or articulated conclusions to which I have come as well.

Colors of God is organized around four broad areas using colors to illustrate each one: Gospel Faith, Healthy Living, Inclusive Community, and Cultural Engagement. These areas also are an attempt at a framework for living out one’s faith as a member of the Kingdom of God.

The conversation is authentic. The questions are honored. The answers are well thought out. And it’s tough to find the latter in most churches these days.

I still am tempted to give up on church–and this book certainly hasn’t compelled me to try to find one. But Colors of God did give me a way to articulate some of what I believe and how I frame my understanding of the life, message and work of Christ–and how I live in response to those things. To that end, mission accomplished.

The part of this book that resonated with me the most wast the issue of Healthy Living and that God is a promoter of good health. Indeed, health can be a litmus test for the things we think or do as they are associated with our faith. If what we are saying or doing promotes health, chances are that these are things from and/or approved by God. This isn’t just physical health. This is holistic well-being. This is asking whether any act or behavior is going to promote love–whether it’s going to promote peace, patience, wellness and contentment. One thing I would caution the reader about–and the authors to articulate better–though is the issue of mental health. I was surprised at how cavalier the authors were at one point when talking about anxiety. Certainly, the church is great at invoking anxiety in its people–there’s always something we should be doing more of in order to stay in favor with God. But there’s also anxiety that is very real for people–that has nothing to do with their faith practice (but can be exacerbated by it). As a mental health practitioner myself, I challenge the faith community to develop a better–indeed healthier and more holistic–response to individuals with mental illness as well as foster a space of mental health.

After all, God is about the health and well-being of the whole person.

Regardless of that one sticking point, I put this book in the “must read” stack. Read it. Share it with everyone you know. Have a better conversation about how all this plays out. And then GO DO IT.

This book was provided for free review by theooze.com

Colors of God was interesting for two reasons: format and content. The format was a ‘conversation’ between three people. I found this confusing at best and it certainly shaped the quality of the book (for better or worse I can’t really say). The other was content: the exploration of an emerging Emergent church from a classic Canadian evangelical context. Given this is a Canadian blog I can say the materials about Canadian church plants are scarce so it’s a treat to read about one.

I didn’t find the premise of three separate voices in print conducive to the creation of a memorable reading text. The trio essentially used their DNA from the church plant and translated into book form complete with some anecdotes.

There are some interesting sections, particularly around their take on the gospel and its contrast to the shame-filled evangelical gospel peddled by the majority of conservative churches today, that were insightful. In fact, that’s probably the books best trait, a good read for evangelicals who think they’ got it made, or people exposed to evangelicalism and wondering if their faith is worth more.

Having said this there is little in this book that separates it from other Emergent books about groups of people striking out from the mother ship and starting a church that’s not afraid to ask questions and accept raw humanity. That is apart from one crucial aspect, they are Canadians and they come from a Canadian context. That’s rare to find in book form.

2 stars out of 5, but an extra .5 of a star for being Canadian. 2.5 out of 5.

The church neXus is based on 4 main ideas represented by colors. Blue stands for the gospel, green for healthy living, red for community, and yellow for culture. For each of these topics, the authors seemed to be trying to be outside the box; in their words to deconstruct evangelicalism and suggest a different way.

I whole-heartedly agree with most of the main ideas of the book. The gospel is about grace, not works, and often we loose sight of that. If we are truly following Christ our lives should be getting healthier, transforming from the inside out. Our core beliefs should be reflected in our daily lives. Evangelicalism has become in some ways an exclusive club and does not reflect the grace of God, justice, mercy or love. There does need to be an authenticity in the community of God that has no pretense, and recognizes the mess of our lives. And finally, we are called to be in the world and to be engaged in our culture, not cordoned off in our evangelical sub-cultures.

Having said that, I found myself astonished at the “new” ways of looking at the Bible, that seemed to be trying to be edgie, or push some buttons for the sake of being unique. The extreme ways they made their points actually made them lose credibility. Starting from the idea of health in order to determine what is true seems very shakey to me. Saying that we don’t need to work on the vertical because it is finished, is ludicrous. A relationship needs to be nurtured. The point of the lost sheep story can hardly be that the 99 should get lost. And I honestly don’t think that in Matthew 18 Jesus was subverting the process of church discipline.

I found the book raising really great issues, and then trying so hard to seem extreme that it became painful to read. In the conclusion of the book some attempt was made to say that it was good to draw from the past, but the very meat of the book was about deconstructing the orthodox beliefs of the past.

The old covenant was replaced by the new. Thus new wine skins. I really don’t think that it is time for a another new wine skin, as the authors suggest, unless there has been an event such as the resurrection of the son of God to usher in such an era.

This book was provided free to me for reviewing by http://www.viralbloggers.com. I was not required to provide a positive review and this review is strictly my personal opinion.

While I did not naturally distinguish between the voices of the author as I read, I appreciated the attempt to match the medium with the message by the structured conversation. The parables of Jesus are highlighted throughout the book, and the authors rely heavily on theologian Robert Farrar Capon for understanding and interpreting these parables for the life of the church. After reading Colors, I picked up a book by Capon and would encourage anyone interested in the theological framework undergirding Colors to read Capon, as his work is hugely important for understanding the perspective of Colors. Few will find themselves agreeing with all of the theology presented in this book, as it represents a blend of liberal Episcopalian/mainline, evangelical, and Emergent mixed together in the cultural milieu of Canada.

While the authors express their desire to be “for something” rather than “against other things,” I did find that a prevailing theme was the failure of traditional Western evangelicalism. There certainly is some hopeful and positive movement offered by the book, but the conversation primarily was defined negatively and reactionary. Overall, I found the book stretching (in good ways) and was challenged to think through some of the basic assumptions about theology and practice made in the wider church (and in my own ministry).

The only thing I can say is that I am glad that I am not part of that church. In chapter 5 Quentin says that they are wanting to ‘deconstruct our modern understanding of the gospel’ and they propose that their idea is “more faithful to the New Testament, to the scriptures as a whole, and to church history”. I am not sure what NT they are looking at, what scriptures nor whose church history they are reading but it sure does not measure up to the NT, scriptures and church history that I am aware of.

These guys are strong ‘once saved always saved’ believers, no matter what. They would fall into the category of ’easy believism’ or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, they preach ‘cheap grace’.

Just for one example, on p.60 Quentin says that even though, in the face of death (persecution) I deny Christ because of my fear of death, ‘God and I are as good as ever’.

If this is the case what does ‘persecution’ even mean? Too bad that all the martyrs of church history and even present day martyrs has not heard these guys’ message. They would have lived a long time and many would still be with us today (sarcasm).

These guys must not be aware of what Jesus says in Matthew 10:33, But whosoever

shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

The problem that those who believe, as these guys do, is that in their attempt to

emphasize grace, they rob grace of its transforming power. Yes, Gods grace is powerful.

Through grace God not only forgives our sin but he transforms our lives. Our sinful past

is forgiven and we have power to live above it. Paul says, “I have become a new creation

in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away and behold all things are new” (2 Cor.5:17)

Stay away from this book. It will not help or encourage you. If someone happens to give you a copy-trash can it.

http://www.intercessioncity.blogspot.com

My first observation is that the book title is a bit of a misnomer. I had envisioned a theological/ecclesiological interface with these “four colors” that never really materialized. The four colors they describe are not really about God as much as they are about the church. I would have expected each of the four colors to be rooted in theology proper, and then applied to ecclesiology. That wasn’t the case.

The authors are self-professed “emergent” pastors leading a self-described “emergent” church. The influences of emergent leaders is evident (the first part of the book is entitled “The Stories we Find Ourselves in” – Bryan McLaren would be proud), and one of the authors talks about the influence Doug Paggitt and others have had on him. Clearly most impactful in this book has been the work of Robert Farrar Capon (whom I profess being unfamiliar with), and his work on the parables. He is referred to throughout and quoted often. So, in some regards, this may be looked upon as an example of the rapidly evolving second order or second level of emergent theology – putting the ideas of the leaders into practice.

I could ramble on tit for tat regarding many of the specifics regarding the book, but instead I want to make a couple general points. There were some places I found great insight and appreciated their perspective (in particular, I found the first section on grace to be a good articulation of a challenging concept – I love their point that if we are preaching grace like we should, people should think we are being too liberal with it – see Paul), other places I found myself a bit challenged, and a few I was cautiously skeptical.

If I was grading my experience with the book, I’d give it a B-. I like their four-part division as I think the four areas are worthy of discussion and a helpful way to divide the topic (btw: blue is the Gospel faith – the strongest part, in my opinion), green is health – I really, really liked this approach to ethics, as well – it reflects the way I’ve approached sexuality when talking with teens (they’re emphasis is on research – what is destructive, what is healthy as opposed to letter of the law . . . my problem here is that it places a lot of trust in research . . . remember, homesexuality was at one time listed as a mental disorder . . .), red is inclusive community (here I felt that the authors had to do a little hermeneutical gymnastics to make their point and blew through some strawmen arguments while overpassing more challenging texts), and yellow is contextual engagement (which I thought was helpful to hear them address pastorally, but wasn’t done as well as many other books that our out now.)

In general, I think this is a book worth taking a look at for church leaders. They will no doubt challenge you (unless you too think cursing isn’t that big of a deal and that sexual sins are less devastating than sins of pride and exclusivity – I challenge the authors who say that the Bible teaches the sins of pride and judgmentalism are more detrimental than sexual sins – you could argue the heart of the Old Testament antithesis began with sexual misgivings (Moab and Ammon came from where?) . . . but they raise some very helpful and insightful conversations – like this one regarding sexuality. I think they help raise questions that can push our thinking forward. I also think that they give a little insight into where the church will be heading into the future as younger leaders with different ethical mores, but strong spirituality lead them to cutting edge churches. This may be a good book for anyone fluent in emergent church conversations who feel themselves agreeing with everyone at every point . . .this book should offer a challenge to your status quo at some point.

The first thing I’d like to mention is that the format of this book feels like you are the third wheel of an IM discussion about you and to you without you getting to put in your own two cents. They said their reasoning for creating the book in this way was to make the reader feel like a part of a discussion – that didn’t work for me…though I am certain that there will be many that find this approach refreshing and maybe even better at holding their attention. I found the responses to not be genuine to real conversations – there is never disagreement and there is a lot of unnecessary dialog between the authors. At the end of the day it felt less conversational and more scripted.

The book begins by stating some great questions and explaining the journey of each of the authors to where they are currently (neXus). They talk about no longer fitting within the current structures of the Evangelical Movement – saying it’s not about the people just the structure and sub-culture (this is like saying, “Hate the sin not the sinner” – which feels like hate when you’re the sinner). They allude to the evangelical movement as not being open to dialog yet turn and disregard the evangelical movements discussion(s). You can’t tell someone they aren’t listening or willing to talk and then refuse to listen or talk.

The part that I found to be the most fascinating is that though they speak about how they are so much different than the rest of the church because of their highly evolved grace gospel – I found them to not be gracious at all about any view other than their own. In fact there were several parts throughout the book where I was offended by, what they’d probably call – playful banter…it felt more like mocking to me. This aspect of their personality came through when speaking about the “old-covenant” – in fact their handling of many of their doctrines felt very much like the evangelical movement…they weren’t saying anything new except that they felt it was “absolutely bizarre” to make “reading the Bible daily a central evidence of growing faith.”

It seems that as a reaction to the often oppressive teachings of many churches (the notion that to become more like the Christ is to become more perfect – therefore performance driven) they’ve thrown out any semblance of personal responsibility for participating in God’s creation. They encourage you to participate but it feels like they are saying that participation is a bonus.

Much of the biblical exegesis was poor at best – and even if it was good – most wouldn’t know because they give no reason for going against long held understandings…many of the long-standing beliefs need to be reworked and questioned but please don’t state as matter of fact your view dismissing tradition and not give any real support.

I’d be interested in reading more from these gentleman and it sounds like what they are attempting to do with neXus is a great thing – God’s Kingdom needs to be more inclusive but we shouldn’t disregard the great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us.