The “UP” Value - Communion/Worship/Believing/Love God – represents those things that help us connect with God – we would normally define those activities and practices that deepen devotional living, love of God, and “fuel” (that being, that which feeds the heart and spirit of those who follow Jesus to live with and for Him on a day to day basis) discipleship…for example, prayer, worship, the sacraments, scripture reading, biblical teaching and encouragement, all in a miraculous, Holy Spirit enabled environment. This is the realm of the “attractional”, in other words, people in our community and throughout our lives are interested in how we as a faith community “do” this aspect of our lives together…it is the most public of what we “do” as a congregation of disciples of Jesus.

Comments - in our denomination we define “church” in this circle – “Word/Sacrament” ministry is the definition of “church.” Subsequently, the other two circles are afterthoughts and often ignored. Because of this, there is a likely ignorance of dynamics of the Kingdom of God. For example, most Lutherans Christ-followers are “stuck” in Romans and Galatians “law/gospel” categories as well as specific Pauline theology which is much more cognitive/doctrinally oriented. The Kingdom of God is the praxis of Jesus…it is what He pronounced as “good news” (gospel) and thus forces us to take into account the other dimensions of our faith community (i.e. the “in” and “out” values below). When people at Peace say “church is alive again”, they are talking about the “up” value, the communion circle – we do enough to draw people to the worship experience (which in Lutheran circles means we will do what we can to get people into worship – you are not “in” the church until you are in worship).

This value holds dearly what our lives would that look like if we were to love our God with all our mind, heart, strength (relationship, is it deepening), transformation (how are you changing), responsiveness (are you listening).

This is the realm of sermons, worship, bible studies, etc. - those things that make up our communal connection to God and help us reinforce our identity in Christ and train and equip us for faithful and reproductive/redemptive living.

The “Out” Value - Mission/Blessing/Go-being Sent/Make Disciples – this realm is the realm of blessing others in the name and love of Jesus. It is the “pure religion” that is defined in the words of James. We attempt to love others and serve others (and watching people’s lives transform), blessing people (the tangible touch of God – peace of God – shalom - on every part of your life). Most local churches/congregations do this INSTITUTIONALLY (overseas programs, for example, Haiti Mission, Papua New Guinea, Preschools, etc.) which has a tendency to excuse us as individual disciples from the personal where every disciple is on a mission (some mission is OK to be institutional – but the real question is, “how do we make mission personal for everyone?).

Love others – what would that look like if we did that…really? (Authenticity, respect, involvement, service) – living as Kingdom people in relationship with people locally and globally.

This is a distinct OTHERNESS – and includes those aspects of our life together that focus on people outside of our faith community.

This is the realm of service projects, causes, serving others, and living generously.

The “In” Value - Inclusive community/Relationship/Disciple-making – Jesus was radical of INCLUSIVITY and he empowered a movement that was known for its love and the power of community. In fact, the words, “see how they love each other” was uttered by outsiders (the New Testament says that in Antioch people saw a community that really acted like a real community, in loving, transformed relationships). This is a “John 13 reality” where Jesus says, “love one another as I have loved you.” This is a value that includes the purposes of building God-honoring community and relationships where Christ followers have the opportunity to encourage each other and challenge each other to grow to be all that Jesus calls each of us to be.

This is a deliberate “disciple-making” process. When Jesus said to “go, and make disciples”, we ask through this value, “what would that look like?” How do we continue to discern in whom do you see God working; how do we engage them, invite them into relationship, establish them in discipleship and spiritual formation, and invite them to reproduce (to partner with the Holy Spirit in disciple-making).

This is the distinct TOGETHERNESS value – and it includes those things that we do together that shape our lives together – where we love other people, “do life” with other people, team with others to get involved in Body Life (see Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4).

This is the realm of group retreats, fellowship activities, and fun times together which build a sense of “togetherness” and oneness in the congregation. These are things that shape the heart.

What About Be-Live – adapted by Robin Dugall

There have been many questions as to why there is no circle in the “Three Circles” diagram that might be labeled “Behave.” Certainly any framework for discipleship and following Jesus should reflect behavioral outcomes. We should expect that becoming more like Jesus as his disciple will result in actions and attitudes (behaviors) that will distinguish us as “peculiar” kind of people. It will be our behaviors along with our attitudes that will serve as a herald of the good news that there is an alternative reign (Kingdom of God) within which I can live.

The short answer is that behavior is incorporated in the very center of the diagram under the category “Be” and “Live.”  For me, behavior is merely the external or visible manifestation of one’s character and identity. Character, or identity, or “who you are” (represented by “Be” and “Live”), is what shapes ones behavior.  What we “believe” should shape who we are and what we do in life. I behave the way I behave because that is what flows from the kind of person I am.

We should be concerned about God-honoring behavior in our own lives as well as the lives we are entrusted with as disciples of Jesus. The challenge is that for too much of the Body of Christ, we have found ways of being

“Christian” without being Christ-like. In fact, in Dallas Willard’s great book, Renovation of the Heart, we learn that the very object of discipleship is to develop an interior character that is the same as Jesus’ character. One way to define, “Christlikeness” is to say that it is a transformation of our lives by the power of NEW LIFE in us that exhibits itself in a collection of behaviors that are emitted from a transformed heart and character (by the power and presence of the Spirit).

To me, “Be” and “Live” does a better job of communicating character transformation. The word for “faith” in the New Testament (pistis) is a noun and the word, “believe” (pistevo) is a verb…to have faith that is active in our lives…to receive the gift of faith and actually “live it” (belief) describes a deeper dimension of the person than merely some sort of cognitive adherence to doctrine or a set of belief statements. “Be-living” implies observable behavior...it is us living out what we hold to the core of our being. It is language of who we really “are.” We are all thankful that when we “blow it” people are gracious enough to believe that the errant behavior reflects an aberration of our known character. In the deeper and more foundational sense, who we are is more important than we do.

This leads to a second and more important reason I did not place “Behavior” alone at the center of the diagram. For many reasons, which I am not likely to adequately explain here, humans are prone to believing that what we do is more important than who we are. This perspective flows naturally from our human condition since we are beings who would rather live under our own reign and rule. We have only our own record and accomplishments to bolster our sense of worth and so it is our behavior that we turn to for comfort that we are deep down “good people.” It is always easier to live under “law” than grace. Unfortunately, this type of thinking when employed by the not-yet-fully-transformed mind (including ourselves) is used to judge others. We might find ourselves comparing ourselves with others who clearly do not behave correctly because they “smoke, drink, or chew or go with women who do.” This is the road to life-robbing Spirit-less religion.

I did not elevate behavior to a label status because I don’t want merely to promote external actions for Christ-followers to conform to. I must admit that sometimes we do need to act our way into a new way of thinking…even so, it is very easy to tell disciples that they should do this or that, or that they shouldn’t do this or that. In most instances, they will happily oblige as best as they are able. But ultimately, our discipleship should focus on character and not behavior. Transformation happens best and most powerfully from the “inside out.”

My last reason for focusing on character and not behavior comes straight from another section of Dallas Willard’s book that suggests that the only

way we can “bless those who curse me, love my enemies and so forth” (behaviors) is by becoming “the kind of person [(character)] –in my inmost thoughts, feelings, attitudes and directions of will—who will routinely do the kinds of things [Jesus] said to do.”

We must become (be) the kind of person that _______ (fill in the blank with a behavior that flows from who we are).

I do not seem to have to resources to consistently show patience, love and kindness to too many people in my daily routine. I know I should be, and you can keep telling me. I’ll keep trying.  But the promise of discipleship where I’m cooperating with God’s Spirit to become the kind of person who is patient, loving and kind is a far superior way to go. As people who increasingly resemble Christ in character, we will more naturally do the things, which feel quite unnatural to us with our current character.

Again, one of the best books I know of on discipleship is Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. The subtitle says it all: Putting on the Character of Christ.