At The Intersection of Life and Faith

I view my assignment to teach a theology course every spring as a gift of God’s grace. Having taught the same class (albeit under evolving titles) for a number of years, I have been blessed to see students begin to think more seriously about faith – in particular, their faith. When I first taught the class, its title was “Christian Doctrine,” and that title eventually changed to “Biblical Theology.” Currently it has what I think is just the right title: “Theological Foundations for the Christian Life.” 

Teaching theology can be challenging. A part of the challenge in an academic setting is just that – academics. Any course given college credit should be challenging and require some “reading and writing” as a part of the process of learning. But theology is so much more than academic. I’m not sure you can “learn” theology in an academic vacuum. You might become “acquainted with the facts,” but have you actually “learned” theology if it doesn’t express itself in life-changing behaviors?

If I actually understand what N.T. Wright says in After You Believe, then the answer to that question is simply “no.” In Scot McKnight’s A Community Called Atonement: Living Theology, he reminds us that “As God is a missional (missio Dei) so the work of the church and individual Christians is also missional. To be missional means to participate in the missio Dei¸ the mission of God to redeem the world.”  Can I say that I have “learned about God” if I’m not missional?

I am fairly confident that the body of Christ in our world is sometimes victimized both by those who want “to do” but know little of the theology that motivates the doing; and by those who “know” but have little interest in the doing. 

At Point University we talk a lot about “the integration of faith into every discipline.” By that we don’t means “put a Bible verse on your syllabus” and you’re done. But what is the value of being an accounting major graduate who passes the CPA exam on the first try, unless embedded in all that knowledge is this idea that the God we love and worship is missional? 

It may be that the most challenging issue here is not how to integrate faith into some traditional discipline like education, history, music, humanities, psychology, business, sociology, etc. The real challenge is how do we integrate “life into biblical and theological studies.” It sounds more than merely hollow if, in a course titled “Theological Foundations for the Christian Life,” there is not “life connection” in the course.

This spring, as I have for many years, I didn’t require a traditional paper on a theological topic that one might expect in such a course. I required a “Theology in Life” project – where students, grouped together by random selection of a computer program, had to work together, create a project idea, connect it to something we are learning in class, and actually do it. 

The past two class sessions have made me realize anew that teaching this course every spring is a gift of God’s grace. The ten groups each had about five minutes or so to tell the rest of us about their projects. It was amazing to listen to them and to realize that every team that reported actually saw a connection in what we are learning in the class with what they did as a project!

One group told about their purchasing playground equipment for an underfunded after-school program where the kids had either the wrong equipment or worn out equipment. A cookout and game time with the kids at that location allowed this group to be missional. Another group purchased and collected over 250 books for children in Chambers County, Alabama. Most of the kids who will receive those books come from families where five or fewer books are in the home, and typically none for elementary age children. Think about the potential of a child in a poverty-level family owning his or own book and perhaps learning to love to read!

Another group of four students – all typically aged college students – spent time in a senior living community where each one of them was assigned to a resident . They heard lots of stories – many of them rooted in the idea that these not-so-healthy older adults felt isolated and alienated. As one young man said, “it took a lot of faith and prayer” for him to have the courage to go and visit an old person he didn’t know.

One group went to a local high school where there are fifteen students and one teacher in a special needs class. They did all sorts of activities – including providing a pizza lunch. One student in the class loved softball, but had never played before. They took this girl to a softball field and let her pitch and hit. They bought supplies and hung out with these students. They want to go back.

Students at Point live near the Sportsplex in Valley, Alabama and we use that facility and its ball fields often. One of the Theology in Life groups took to heart our conversation about stewardship of the earth and spent quite a while picking up litter around the Sportsplex, the ball fields, and even the Point Living Community. They saw their project as a way of expressing gratitude to the community for their welcoming spirit towards Point students as well as taking care of the earth God calls good. One gentleman, at the fields with his son for ball practice, came up to one of our students and said, “You must be from Point!” I think that speaks well of what we’re trying to do at Point.

When Jesus told us to love our neighbor, there is no end to the implications of that idea. One of our groups decided to have a block party in one of the overlooked parts of this area. They collected clothes, bought prizes, and had a neighborhood cookout. They did everything – including recruiting other students to help. One of the team members told me that the most moving part of that experience was when the kid who won the big prize – a bicycle – gave it to another kid because he already had a bicycle. Interestingly, this group reported that when this kind of service/ministry is going on, “demographics didn’t matter.” Could we have learned something here about the “demographic conflicts” in our world?

Another group taught kids to “trust God” through a “one-day VBS,” complete with games, refreshments, songs, crafts, and a Bible lesson. That experience ended with “when are you coming back?” The principal of a middle school was “blown away” by the school supplies collected and given to that school. Because she had  given out her last box of tissue to a teacher earlier that day, the principal was thrilled with twelve boxes of tissue in the huge collection of supplies given to the students in another under-funded school.

“We cleaned it like it was our own” was how one student described their project – which they initially thought was to help clean the home of an elderly, disabled lady. When they got there, they realized that the home – “I didn’t know people lived like this” – needed more than cleaning. They ended up not only cleaning, but partnering with the Fuller Center to help repair the roof, replace a ceiling, and other repair projects. Some have helped already on other projects.

We all know that our culture is facing a serious challenge with unwed mothers who aren’t prepared at all to take care of the babies they will soon have. One group partnered with Sav-A-Life ministries in this area and threw a baby shower for a group of ladies this ministry is helping. They described that event as one where “God showed up.” The group met weekly to pray and fast as they sought to identify their project and actually pull it off. One young man in this group – actually the only male in the group and a football player at that – said, “That was my first baby shower!” But he, along with the three ladies who were in his group, was clearly moved by doing the project.

In the section of “Theological Foundations for the Christian Life” where I talk about the idea of the church as community, one of the things I try to make sure everyone gets is “the unity of the body seems to be most obviously indicated by our willingness to serve others – even at the expense of our own needs and our own identity.” Sitting in class and listening to these reports – made by groups of students from a widely divergent demographic reality – reminded me that I need to keep saying that. It really is true, and this class really did model that idea.

So as we come to the end of the semester and move on to whatever is next, I don’t have any term papers that someone might say, “that’s good enough for a seminary student to have written it.” But that’s fine. Theology, at its best, really isn’t about writing papers worthy of seminary student status. Theology really isn’t about going to seminary – not that to do so is a bad thing. 

But, whether in college or seminary, or in a Bible study in a local church, if studying theology separates what we believe from how we live, then we have only acquainted people with some facts, we haven’t taught them theology! There must be this intersection – an intersection where life and faith cross paths with one another. 

Thanks to THE 301, Spring 2013, I was privileged to sit at that intersection the past few days in class. And that, without question, is a gift of grace.