Читать книгу The Bartender's Assistant - Tony Blair - Страница 3

When I began writing The Bartender as part of a doctoral project at George Fox Evangelical Seminary, I found that I was not prepared for the difficulty I encountered in writing fiction. Academic writing is one thing—there’s no character development, no plot line, no dialogue to follow. But fiction demands all that and more. It can be just as messy and troublesome as life itself, which is why it works well when we’re talking about the mission of the church in the world. If you want messy and troublesome, the life of the church has more than its share.

The Bartender was intended for an audience of people who appreciate academic speculation but also hunger for fleshing things out in everyday life. It’s one thing to talk about spiritual formation and evangelism as issues embedded within both ecclesiology and missiology; it’s another to engage in those things for oneself and with one’s neighbor, especially a neighbor who seems broken beyond repair. Putting the roughness and uncertainty of these things into the lives of frail, struggling, fictional (sort of) characters was my way of helping draw people into the conversation and, hopefully, more deeply into God’s mission in the world.

My friend Tony Blair has taken my modest enterprise and created this wonderful study guide to help leaders and churches open up conversations about both the inward and outward life of the church. He has taken the jumbled furniture of my fictional house and offered a framework for a sense of order—not in the way that confines, but in the creative, intelligent way that he has for preparing things for movement and action. I’m grateful for his thoughtful work that has resulted in this study guide.

Both of us agree that spiritual formation—the formation of a person’s inner life by the work of God’s Spirit—and evangelism are not only important but also indispensable in the life of the church. However, we also share the conviction that both of those areas of life require new explorations and innovative engagements. We don’t intend to throw any babies out with the bath water; we’re more interested in finding the babies in the midst of very murky water, and helping them to grow and flourish.

Tony and I journeyed together with Leonard Sweet and a wonderful group of learners for three years, exploring questions about life, ministry, the church, and the world. That time of growth and learning moved us into new areas of thought in a number of cherished areas of our Christian faith. We both share the hope that others will not only join in the discussion, but will also engage those around them in the larger conversation that takes place around the table of Jesus.

Michael McNichols

Lent 2010