Introduction

This article is really a letter and response between myself and a friend who is a pastor at a local fellowship. Names and details are changed a bit, and some of the passages were shortened or modified a bit to make it more readable. This, unlike other Churchthink articles, is not an essay or a collection of carefully studied themes, but rather a real time look into some of my personal correspondence with another human being. This realtime letter exchanged originally via email and PDF document outlines the difficulties and excitement of putting the apostolic grace into play at a local fellowship…even one that has been around for a long time. Don’t expect every point to be made perfectly because when two friends talk some things are just assumed between them like trust, humor, and history. There will be other times to do a more formal treatment of this subject. Enjoy!

Ben Pasley

The Letter and Response

Dear Skip,

I have decided to put some important points down on paper for you. I have really enjoyed the conversational, relaxed format of our conversations over the last season related to the Kingdom, Church, leadership, apostles, and sonship, etc., but this is the season, I believe, to create a more exacting dialogue. Your recent email will serve as a helpful outline for many of my thoughts. I will highlight your email in red for visual fun.

Read the rest of this entry »