Discipling By Jesus

Ernie shares the "inconvenient truth" he has been wrestling with:  Is caste, and seeking an advantage for our children, at the root of systemic racism?  Are all our Christian institutions founded on the belief that "there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval?"

And if that is true, what path do we have to walk in order to bring the Body of Christ to repentance and unity? And can we do it without insisting on confession?

References

• It's More Than Racism: Isabel Wilkerson Explains America's 'Caste' System
• The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy

Ernie and Ted reflect on how The Great Reset is progressing against its (admittedly audacious) goal of ushering in the millennium, by prototyping new structures for bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Can we pull off a scalable Silicon Valley miracle through the power of the Holy Spirit, and good design?

References

• Automated Transcript
• TGR-S3E6: Re-Cognition of Discipleship
• Decentralized Networks
• #DecenterCivilization
• Permissionless Innovation

While debriefing on Steven McGgriff's sermon on his African-American heritage, Ernie was:

Eric responded:

This got Ernie all fired up, since he is explicitly targeting "universities and hospitals" as part of his efforts to #DecenterCivilization.  They wisely agreed to move from chat onto a phone call, and kindly agreed to record it for our benefit.

• Automated Transcript
• Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (John Zizioulas)

Bill shares his long-running frustration that most people and churches don't seem to ever seriously consider Paul's teaching in Romans 15:14:

In particular, he felt that we spend too much time focusing on "better leaders" as the solution for all our problems, versus at least trying to explore superior "leaderless" models.

Ernie challenged Bill to come up with a clearer critique that acknowledged that a) we are all dependent on one another, and b) we all have different roles and responsibilities within the Body of Christ.  In particular, we need someone to take responsibility for the success of the context as a whole, not just their individual contribution.

Bill clarified that his real concern is that we get so caught up in roles and titles -- and the people who hold them -- that we lose sight of the larger purpose.  This led to a helpful distinction between "healthy" groups where the roles and responsibilities line up with the stated purpose, and "toxic" groups where they do not.

We discussed our experience with models of shared leadership, program managers, and "Designated Responsible Individuals" at Apple.  We eventually converged on the term Stewardship to describe having authority over a particular domain, perhaps even individuals, but explicitly accountable for serving a larger goal.

The larger problem, we both agreed, is that existing structures are explicitly designed to hide the shame of their leaders; though was willing to concede that was necessary for human institutions to survive.  Which implies the great challenge before us is to demonstrate that it is possible to flourish with Christ as the center, and all of us owning our shame before Him through the cross -- while still doing what needs to be done.

https://2transform.us/2020/07/28/tgr-s3e4-systemic-redemption/

S3E4 was an unusually challenging episode, as we seemed unable to  agree even on the appropriate terminology for what we were discussed.  Ernie shared how a big part of our "experiment in public discipleship" is trying to find a middle path between "top-down bible teaching" and "unstructured social club."  This arguably was a good example of having gone too far in the "unstructured" direction, and thus provides a great opportunity to clarify what we are about.

The most common request we have had is to move beyond talking to start working on something concrete.  Ted shared his lifelong passion for helping "everyday" people see themselves as what we now call "Strategic Indigenous Missionaries."  Ernie suggested we focus on "modeling relational practices for changing the world." 
There were many ideas for helping people turn their God-given passions into viable Kingdom businesses.  The challenge is coming up with something that both a) addressed why people came, even if they weren't 100% convinced yet, and b) could scale up to make a meaningful dent in the enormous scale of the crisis facing the body of Christ.

Any suggestions?

Ted and Ernie reflect on the raw authenticity of Season 1 and explore what is the right way pray for miracles. Can anything of practical value be accomplished in a one hour Zoom call? Is praying for urgent requests useful for people who might watch it on YouTube much later? How do we avoid getting bogged down in merely intellectual speculation?

This conversation took place after Season 2 of The Great Reset, where our discussion on Education was overshadowed by the killing of George Floyd.  We both agree that systemic racism is a huge problem.  But does that guarantee that the proposed political reforms will solve it?  Or might they unintentionally make things worse for large swaths of the population, as arguably happened with previous reforms?

Ernie proposed Steven co-construct a spinoff of The Great Reset to provide a safe place to ask and attempt to answer these hard questions; ideally with a man from a more 'traditional' African-American background.

References

• The Great Reset: Education
• Online Reconciliation Circles

This episode was inspired by an energetic chat thread during a sermon from #Mosaic #ErwinMcManus #YouBelongHere:

THE POWER OF INFLUENCE - The Path To Inner Peace | Erwin McManus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdTQX249mm8

McManus challenged us to not worry about status or position: if we do what God puts in our hearts, He will provide the necessary resources.

This led to a discussion of Steve's desire ("need") to find a stable job in higher education, and Ernie's suggestion he "turn pro" with his desire to mentor young people in following Jesus Christ.

References

• Lean Startup
• Minimum Viable Product
• How Coronavirus Will Disrupt Future Colleges & Universities

This discussion took place soon after Steven joined The Great Reset YouTube channel, on Episode 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HhtfcR0E4Q&list=PLhywephDDhwY5XntaBDQDDDrR_m9ULNJV&index=3

The episode ends abruptly because -- during one of Ernie's monologues -- Steven's phone literally overheated so much, and crashed so hard, he literally had to place it in the freezer to cool it down.  
References

• COVID-19 Pandemic
• Rule of St Benedict
• Monastic schools

• René Girard  (mimetic desire)