EMBRACE THE APICAL MERISTEM
EMBRACE THE APICAL MERISTEM
EMBRACE THE APICAL MERISTEM
The growing crisis in Christianity is creating a fertile opportunity structure for introducing the revelation into the cultural mainstream. The nature of the crisis is the continuing deterioration and collapse of the Biblical archetypal stories and contextualization of the incarnation, combined with the ever-present spiritual prodding of the Spirit of Truth within the individual.
The crisis occurs because the collective way of interpreting the nature and meaning of that inner spiritual presence (the stories propagated by institutional Christianity) is becoming increasingly questionable in the ferment and turbulence of our post-modern situation.
Enter an interesting and highly readable book, "The Origins, Nature, and Significance of the Jesus Movement" by Kevin John Smith. Smith begins with the stasis of (north American and Australian) Christianity in the 1950s and then reviews the social, political, and religious upheavals of the 1960s.
Then he goes into considerable detail outlining how the Jesus movement emerged from those upheavals in the 1970s--its various cults, communes, and sub-movements--and then shows how the survivors began to morph and mature into the post-denominational mega-churches that began to appear in the 1990s. From there a direct line to the continuing ferments which have led to "emergent" Christianity and progressive evangelicalism in the new century may be traced.
This is fascinating background on the religious environment in which we live and to which content of The Urantia Book directly relates. A divide emerges toward the end of the last century with the left moving toward social action and the right moving toward political action. And in the "emergent," progressive evangelical center, the "apical meristem," is the opportunity structure, a renewed drive to fully understand, cultivate and serve the spiritual presence of the Master which dwells within each of us; a renewal which Smith documents back to the post-war religious stasis of the 1950s when The Urantia Book made its debut.
I believe that taking the revelation to the world can be accomplished more effectively by understanding the opportunity structures of our time and educating ourselves sufficiently to exploit them. Smith's book and his fascinating history are written relative to a classic model of revitalization theory which reflects Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigm shifts. It is my opinion that we can serve the revelators much more fully by being aware of such advances in sociological understanding and using them to craft viable strategies.
Revitalization theory holds that virtually all social and religious progress stems from the revitalization of existing structures and institutions that are in decline; it furthermore notes that the revitalization almost always proceeds from the grass roots.
Revitalization theory points us toward a developmental path that involves five elements:
1. Cognizance and embrace of an opportunity structure.
2. Rhetorical framing of a message that resolves tensions in the opportunity structure.
3. Strategic communication.
4. Creation of networks of mobilizing activists.
5. Fostering of a movement culture.
In my view Smith is providing essential background for anyone serious about propagating the revelation in our present social and religious turbulence. We have become a cult with our identity and action models based on naval gazing apocryphal stories of questionable authenticity. As a movement desiring to embrace a global mission, we are educationally impoverished.
We need to get serious and we can start by better educating ourselves. Smith's book provides some fascinating background.
Embrace the evolutionary apical meristem! All Urantia is waiting...!
