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Theological Foundations of New Way Ministries The Reformation was a reforming of our theology of justification. It provided a clear understanding of how we receive life from God. In my years as a psychologist working with people who desperately want to change, I’ve come to believe that we need another reformation, this one reforming our theology of sanctification. We know what it takes to receive life from God. But do we understand what is required to live the life we’ve received? The good news that Jesus announced is not only that we’ve been forgiven but also that we’ve been changed. There is new life within us that is stronger and better than the energy that drove us before we were converted. That new life has four basic elements: First, a new purity. We’re now clean even when we roll in mud. The dirt is on us; the purity of God’s life is in us. Second, a new identity. We’re no longer defined by our problems or sins or education or talents. No one is an alcoholic who happens to be a Christian. Now the person who compulsively drinks is a Christian who happens to struggle with strong urges to drink too much. The only label we wear is that we are Christ’s ones, Christians. That’s who we are; everything else is secondary. Third, a new appetite. Our deepest and potentially strongest desire is for God—to know Him, to enjoy Him, to obey Him, to reveal Him. When a Christian sins, he is not giving in to his deepest appetite. Becoming like Christ has little to do with sheer moral effort and nothing to do with repairing psychological damage from traumatic experiences. It has everything to do with identifying, nourishing, and freely indulging our appetite for holiness. Release—more than reform or repair—is the route to change. The latter two are the work of man. The former is the work of God. Fourth, a new power. The Holy Spirit has moved in. Our hearts have become His home. The power is within us to live out the new life of purity, identity, and appetite that has already been gifted to us and implanted in our souls. We need a good theology about how to access that power. This new life given to us according to the terms of the New Covenant empowers us to relate to others in a new way that further stirs up the life within us so that our interior worlds become more like the interior world of Jesus. The community that’s now possible is one in which we’re known with no secrets, we’re explored to help us see all that’s inside, we’re discovered to be alive with trinitarian life, and we’re touched by the Spirit through both Scripture and community. The mission of New Way Ministries focuses on the urgent need for the body of Christ to offer SoulCare to the members. SoulCare may be defined as supernatural conversation that arouses the appetite for God until it becomes the strongest desire in our lives. |
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