Four Essentials of a Christian Life
I have suggest that complete conversion to faith in God can be plotted on a chart.
This post is an fuller explanation of the intersection between the heart, soul, mind and strength and conversion to the church. The second line in my chart above. Fellowship, Worship, Proclamation, and Service. The more ecclesiastical words for each are: Koinonia, Liturgia, Kyrigma, and Diaconia.
Each of these categories has multi-dimensions. In the following charts you will see that I have plotted then by the Functions of Personality Type: Feeling, Intuition, Feeling, and Thinking. Also note the preference for Approach, Focus, Time, and Numbers.
If you haven’t read the website Category for Personality Type Click here to go to the beginning of that section.
We begin with the conversion of the heart to the church. I will on occasion meet some one who explains they are a Christian but don’t believe it is necessary to belong to a church. Yes, we can pray all by ourselves. A person stranded on a deserted island ca. be a Christian. However, even they would be connected to a Christian community who is praying for his rescue. Jesus said where two or three are gathered He would be with them.
The above chart explains the ways we stay connected to our church communities. We do it in small groups. We do it in Sunday Worship together. We do it as we pray for the saints who pray for us in heaven. We do it as together we minister to and share the Gospel in our spheres of influence.
The next area of conversion to the church is in our worship. We attend Sunday worship regularly. We pray together, receive the sacraments that unite us with Christ and each other. It is why some denominations use a “common cup.” We pass the peach with a connecting touch, a hug or hand shake or a wave across the room.
Next is conversion of the mind to the church.
We are not alone in discerning the teachings of Jesus. We share with others our understanding of the Bible, Church doctrine and creeds. We participate in the organizational structure and the educational opportunities.
Next we participate in the service of the church. We physically participate in upkeep of the facilities and the outreach o projects into the wider community.
Thus you can see that conversion is not complete if we are not connected to the Church.
To understand people see my series on personality type. Click here!