Please join us for a CHARIS lecture from 4:00-5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, in the Chapel on the Hill in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building. Bass will explore the topic, “Reviving the Ancient Church: Intentional Community and the Missional Future of Restorationist Churches.”

Across North America, churches are experiencing revitalization as members integrate their everyday lives more fully through the formation of intentional Christian communities. Because of their distinctive heritage, Restoration churches are primed to advance this missional movement of the Spirit. Intentional Christian communities draw their inspiration from the “one heart, one soul” Jerusalem community described in Acts 2-4, a model which lies at the heart of the Restoration tradition. Even the sectarianism which has distorted some branches of the movement, if directed against an unjust world rather than fellow believers, can be redeemed in the service of God’s countercultural kingdom. Elements latent within the movement such as ecumenism and pacifism provide further support for communities to unite Christians across confessional lines as a witness to the new creation life. Historically a frontier movement, the churches of Christ and Independent Christian churches carry within them patterns of holistic wisdom for life together rooted in the rural environment which can be adapted through intentional communities to address the needs of an increasingly fragmented urban world.

Time for interaction with the audience will follow.