Overview
Sustainable Traditions is a project devoted to advancing an embodied, ‘whole-life’ Christian faith. We believe that following JESUS is a whole-life endeavor, encompassing every aspect of our lives. We believe that this whole-life paradigm leads us to radical new ways of living. From this new context we begin to see new challenges and opportunities emerge. We see three realms where the Holy Spirit has lead (and is leading) a new movement of JESUS people to run with this vision for a whole-life expression of Christian faith into the world:
- social justice (caring for the poor and marginalized, both locally and globally),
- sustainable living (being rightly oriented in GOD’s good creation and human society through the lens of a Biblical worldview),
- and intentional Christian community (moving towards more relational, human scale expressions of life and faith together).
Could these areas of renewal be a part of a broader move of GOD? We say ‘yes’! This move of GOD calls us to repentance, to return to the foundations of JESUS’ gospel: loving GOD our Father wholeheartedly and loving each other in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through this wholehearted love we are lit on fire with the presence of GOD to be His redeeming firebrands in the world that He has created. Through this love we are led beyond the four walls of our comfortable ‘churchianity’. Through this love we seek to bring His kingdom of shalom (wholeness) into our homes, and our communities. This is not accomplished through human initiated idealism, political hierarchies, or cultural take-overs. It is you and I humbly embodying His supernatural love, grace and truth in the nuts and bolts of our daily lives to those around us.
Foundations
Where is the starting point in all this? How do we begin? How do we live this radical life of love? It all begins with revelation of His great love for us. As we behold JESUS/Father GOD/Holy Spirit we will become like Him. So we begin in prayer, in worship and move to action. This is the rhythm of whole-life Christian faith. He is the change we seek.
And just to let you know: we don’t have all this figured out. We’re just as much a mess as you are (go on admit it). We’re starting with a lot of questions. And all great journeys begin with a barrage of unsettling questions. Even more, when GOD starts questioning your ‘traditions’ and assumptions (Mark 7:1-13) about life and faith it’s best if you give them up. I’m sure even now he’s knocking softly on our safe little boxes. And He’s whispering questions like…”where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), “why are you here?” (1 Kings 19:9).
Our History
We (husband and wife: Jason and Pam Fowler) had a personal crisis of life and faith while living in Northern Virginia several years ago. As a newly married couple we felt we were being swept along by a river of expectations in the main-stream of American culture. Get a job, get a house, go to church on Sunday, settle down. Slowly we sensed GOD calling us to a radically different way of life where we began considering the outcome and intentions of the cultural values we have inherited over the years. Many of our answers fell away. New questions emerged. We began dreaming of doing crazy things like planting a big organic garden, living in Christian community, and giving ourselves to the kingdom purposes of GOD (like hospitality, caring for the poor and marginalized, establishing prayer and work as a rhythm of life, etc…).
Jason and Pam Fowler (founders of ST)
We’re not there yet. In fact we’ve just begun the journey. Maybe you’re on the journey to. That’s why we felt called to create this project. To encourage you and the many other JESUS followers out there who are trying to find their way in a world so in need of GOD’s shalom.
About This Blogazine
This blogazine serves as a soapbox for the Sustainable Traditions project. We want to magnify the online conversation on whole-life Christian faith and how we can all pursue GOD’s sustainable traditions in our everyday lives. We also are featuring here many voices from around the church and the web who we feel are already discussing some element of whole-life Christian faith, sustainable traditions and what it means to embody the beliefs we claim to believe.
Some of the topics we hope to cover:
- Intentional Christian community (shifting from events-orientated to shared-life models of church)
- Sustainable lifestyles (in the context of a Biblical worldview)
- Social justice/ Biblical justice, serving the marginalized and the poor
- Renewing the environment and creation care
- Theology, worldviews, philosophy and Bible studies
- Community renewal
- Humanitarian aid and sustainable development (and how the church must connect the two)
- Rethinking the centralized, industrial food system and advancing sustainable agriculture
- Prayer and Holy Spirit empowered living
- Church history and world history (and how it influences us today. ex: Greek Dualism, the Enlightenment, Celtic Christianity, Anabaptism, etc)
- Organic gardening and gardening as community & mission (we also want to launch an initiative called Joseph’s Gardens: empowering churches to start community gardens)
- Homesteading (urban & rural) and self-sufficient living
- Interviews and personal stories
- Book reviews and recommendations
- Anti-consumerism and the justice economy
- Simple and frugal living
- Green and alternative building and regenerative energy
- Rethinking church, mission, and ministry
- Family life, domestic ‘ecology’ and generational living
- Radical hospitality
- Prophetic voices (both past and present, in and outside the church, that Christians should take to heart)
- New ‘wineskins’ (new expressions of church life: missional, simple church, new monastics, 24/7 prayer, etc…)
- Mature streams of the Church engaged in GOD’s upside down kingdom activities
- GOD’s economics
- Intentional living from a Christian context
How can YOU be a part of the Sustainable Traditions experiment?
Submit an original article or blog post to the blogazine: Your original article must be related to the topics listed above. You must include a one or two sentence bio. And you need to include a website (blog or otherwise) that you want us to link to (that’s how we pay you back). If the article or post has been pre-published on your blog please send us the exact link to that post. We especially love to hear personal stories about how you are living out your Christian faith through the pursuit of sustainable traditions. We will contact you as soon as we can. We reserve the right to only publish submitted content that meets our editorial standards and that match the vision and values of this project.
Submit your article or story here.
Join our online community: If you are a Christian wanting to connect with other JESUS followers who are interested in whole-life Christian faith and establishing sustainable traditions in their lives please sign up for our private online community on NING.com. You can blog, start conversations, share videos, links, photos, live chat and connect with people in your area.
Sign up for a free membership here: http://sustainabletraditions.ning.com
Donate or become a sponsor: We are currently trying to develop Sustainable Traditions into a fully operative and financially self-sustaining organization. If you are a part of a business, ministry, seminary, university or non-profit that is in agreement with our mission and values we would love to talk with you about how we can partner together to promote our common vision. Right now we have banner ad opportunities in our blogazine sidebar and are offering a year-long sponsorship for our online community that would feature your ads.
Beyond sponsoring us online we also are looking to work with organizations and ministries that can help us develop resources for advancing whole-life Christian faith. Some of these resources include:
- Bible studies on social justice, church as community, GOD as creator and redeemer, forming a Biblical worldview, radical hospitality, whole-life discipleship…etc.
- Helps for churches wanting to start a community garden ministry.
Connect with us on the social web: You can also spread the word and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Lastly, you can pray with us as we grow the project. Want to know what we have planned for the future? Check out our Vision and Mission (don’t worry, it’s short!)
Looking back I can see how my hope was misplaced in material things but somehow I think that season of waiting tapped into a deeper longing. A longing for the deep desires of my heart to be known and met in an extravagant or powerful way. As a child I would write out a list of everything I wanted for Christmas. It seemed greedy, maybe even a consumerist impulse. But now I understand it to be my expression of hope that my fondest wishes could possibly come true. This same longing appears over and over in our lives. Often this deep hope is drawn out and satisfied in a loved one’s embrace, in the face of a smiling child, in the rays of the sun after a violent storm, in the warm spring air, in a letter from a good friend, in a warm room by the fire while snow is gently falling outside. In these experiences we feel a sense of joy and hope; even a sense of being known and loved.
In Proverbs the philosopher-king speaks of it this way: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” [Proverbs 13:12 - NASB]. Many times, even right now in my life, I have many hopes that are yet unfulfilled, even deferred. Like in Theodor Seuss Geisel’s (aka: Dr.Suess) book ‘Oh The Places You’ll Go‘, I feel caught in a disheartening and visionless waiting. He calls it ‘The Waiting Place’. People are just stuck “…waiting for the fish to bite, or waiting for wind to fly a kite…or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants, or a wig with curls, or Another Chance, Everyone is just waiting…” I get depressed or anxious because things don’t go the way I want them too. Much like when I was a little kid and I opened a present that wasn’t quite what I wanted. Like an itchy sweater or the dreaded (and boring) pack of underwear. It wasn’t that they were bad gifts. It’s that I felt ignored somehow or that my heart’s wishes were set aside. I sometimes feel this way with GOD.
The Hebrew prophet Isaiah offers an alternative form of waiting that changes everything for me (when I let it). Instead of dwelling in Dr.Suess’s listless Waiting Place by anticipating that my circumstances will change in my favor, Isaiah says: “Wait on the LORD”. And what is the promise? Isaiah prophecies to Israel and to us:
“…Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary…” [Isaiah 40:27-31 - NASB]
So, in my weariness of heart, I invite Him in. Instead of changing my circumstances He will be with me to see me through. This is the real presence we’ve all been waiting for: Emmanuel, GOD with us.
A Prayer:
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Remake the recesses of my heart
Unravel my downward spiraling gaze
Renew my vision of Your imminent embrace
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