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Imaging God: Incarnational Community Reaching 21st Century Generations

Kingdom and the Image of God  How does "Kingdom" relate to the Image of God?

Trinity and the Image of God  The Trinitarian view of God informs us of a three-person, united, relational God creating humanity in their image. If God is that deeply relational, then what does that say about those creatures that are made in his image?

Evangelism and the Image of God  Modern evangelical evangelists truncate the gospel to just two things: sin and atonement. While that is certainly a major part of the story, the story is bigger than that. Without a view of humanity that starts with the Imago Dei, these evangelists are missing the richness of the gospel.

The Purpose-Driven Image of God  I thank God for Warren’s success in getting his message out. But are these really God’s revealed purposes for humanity? Are these the purposes for the redeemed humanity in the community of Christianity? When we start with where the Bible starts, with the Imago Dei, then we begin to understand the fundamental purpose of humanity, and therefore the purpose of those who are redeemed toward that purpose.

Backwards  We are supposed to image God and create culture; we are not supposed to image the culture and create God.

Starting with the First Chapter  When it comes to understanding what it means to be human we evangelicals have not been going to the first chapter of the story, the Creation, to find our essence, our purpose. We have been reading the story starting in chapter 2 instead of chapter 1. The story has several chapters, and we misread all the other chapters without beginning at the beginning.

Understanding the First Chapter of God's Story  With the creation of humanity in Genesis 1, here is a difference. God, speaking in the plural, talks to...God, and says, “Let’s make human beings in our image, in our likeness.” This is the beginning of the gospel. If we do not start here, the rest of the story does not make sense. We must understand the meaning of human beings being created in the image and likeness of God.

The Image of God as Reflection  We were always meant to be glorious reflections of the character of God. This is why whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we are to do it “all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We were created to mirror who God is back to him as an act of worship and out into his creation as an act of service.

Ministry Transformation- The Emerging Church  Personal Transformation- Spiritual Formation  World Transformation- Social Action

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