The Plan for this Blog, Initially

Initially, the plan for this blog is to chronicle my journey in examining the Christian faith as it relates to the various bodies of believers comprising the one Body of Christ.  I referred to this as my "ecclesial journey" for awhile, and it's brought me to surprising places, as I seek to decide my formal affiliation.  (Ecclesia is the Greek word for assembly or gathering, as in the gathering of the community of believers, which is used in early Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.) The journey is not complete, but it has reached a tipping point where I'm really leaning in one direction (Roman Catholicism) and am repeating (defending?) my story enough that I thought I should just put it all out there for those who are concerned to read at their leisure. This can serve as educated points to focus conversations if readers want to raise specific questions now in my current state of the journey, or as a reference point in the future when people want to understand how I got to wherever I end up.  It also serves as an exercise for me to step back and review where I've been along the way, conclusions I've made, ways I've felt God has laid unexpected longings on my heart and confirmed directions of my mind. It's kind of like reviewing a draft contract before making it final and submitting it.

This particular journey began for me in earnest in 2005, having been triggered in 2004. So I will be pulling from old journals I wrote almost 10 years ago, up to the present. I expect this blog will expose the reader to some of my very raw emotions and considerations, as my journals are pretty vulnerable and honest.

My intention is not to judge congregations or their members, nor to project onto others the conclusions I have reached.  It is my sincere hope that readers of this blog will not take my beliefs as statements about their positions/affiliations or project my observations onto themselves personally. Rather, my hope is others may simply bear witness what I believe God is walking me through and come to appreciate my sincere desire to follow God's will for my life, which I do by employing both faith and reason...with rigor. (Surely, after a 10 year journey, no one can say I jumped into this with haste?)

Again, I want to state that I am not judging anyone. I believe there are genuine, faithful Christians in the various denominations comprising the Body of Christ.  I believe God is active and working in the denominations, and He is using each part of the body for His kingdom purposes.  He is calling some into the Catholic Church, and He's doing it in His perfect time. I believe these decisions are ultimately between the individual and God, and we cannot cast judgment if/when someone does or does not embrace some affiliation.  We are simply to do what God is calling us to do--whether to make every attempt to stop that person, or to support that person, or whatever.  To do so, we (both you and I) must be open and willing to consider and listen honestly, to not close ourselves off to other ideas as if we've already reached the culmination of our journey.  However, I recognize some readers may take offense at my writing at times, and I hope they can understand my heart in this case is not one of casting personal judgment on others, but of making discerning judgments about where I am to be.

I don’t expect to convince anyone of my positions by reading this blog alone.  It has taken me 10 years to reach some of these conclusions after much research, study and prayer, and there is no way I can put that experience into a "bottle" as a formula for someone else.  My approach in writing this blog is not to make explicit all the arguments for different teachings (I may simply refer to other resources that attempt to do so, which impacted me). My goal is to tell my story, to share my journals and my wrestlings and the process of arriving at conclusions. 

This all reminds me of the many times I was trained in evangelism throughout my teenage and young adult life.  One thing we were taught to suggest to non-believers is that they need to keep an open mind and at least try praying and asking God to show them the truth, then listening with honesty to see how the Lord might respond.  That approach has applicability to the situation the readers and I find ourselves in with respect to ecclesial journeys. Please come before the Lord with an open heart and mind and allow Him to direct you in responding to me in these matters.  I certainly don't want to take a wrong turn and believe the Lord designed for fellow believers to speak truth to each other in love, and to sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron. So I will listen to those who are prayerfully stepping into this conversation, but expect the listening and pondering different perspectives to go in both directions.  

Here we go...!