INTRODUCTION
Movemental Confession
1. The globe continues to suffer. The Spirit Movement
is that group of people that sees this suffering and decides to
assume responsibility for it. This responsibility is acted out
by sensing this moment in history which is one of heightened consciousness
of man's awareness of his situation in the postmodern world. He
sees himself enmeshed in outmoded economic structures that tyrannize
the political and cultural dimensions of his life. The innocent
suffering that results causes deep yearning for a new vision of
how he can shape his own destiny. Balance needs to be restored
to the cultural, political and economic aspects of fire so that
each man may claim the promise of life that the earth belongs
to all the people.
Social Shift
2. The great shift of our time is the rediscovery
that local man holds the power, wisdom, and insight to grasp the
trends and malfunctions existing in society. It is clear that
the preestablishment - the order keepers and the
disestablishment the callersintoquestion
both are frozen into existing patterns. Emerging
from this tension is the transestablishment
the Spirit Movement which knows the gifts and limitations
of both. Emerging out of this insight the Spirit Movement has
decided to intensify its involvement in the social process. In
the summer of '71 the Spirit Movement, in the continuance of its
signal mission, engaged in a research assembly to study the dynamics
of the social process and to formulate the initial proposals upon
which the New Social Vehicle would be built. The implications
of this research for the Spirit Movement are given in this working
paper.
Guideline Function
3. These guidelines are directed toward those selfconscious
churchmen who have heard the cries of the global society and have
decided to expend themselves in the humanizing, restructuring
of the society. This paper will enable churchmen to engage in
the necessary task of assessing the work of the research assembly
and will provide some practical guidelines for appropriating this
research .
4. As a result of the Summer '71 New Social Vehicle
Research Assembly, the Spirit Movement is entering into the stage
of development in which it will look seriously at its role within
Historical Christianity. The church is called upon again to release
the Word in present day society.
Universal Condition
5. Historically the church gives man the possibility
of living in the Word and catalyzes the creation and sustenance
of social structures. The mark of this century has been the apparent
collapse of those social structures. The church has not been spared
from the experience of this collapse, and is struggling now and
needs to continue in this struggle, to discover authentic and
effective ways to fulfill its historic roles.
Visional Gift
6. The Spirit Movement provides an authentic context
and a vision of creative response to the universal condition through
the power of corporate social research and experimentation on
behalf of the whole church. The vision of the New Social Vehicle
reveals the possibility of appropriating the ontological deeps
of humanness and the archaic gifts of sociality as the 20th Century
necessity. Therefore, the Spirit Movement fulfills the role of
visionary as it proclaims the gifts of the Historical Church and
demands a creative thrust into the radically open future.
Movemental Intentionality
7. Our historical tradition calls for the creative
and strategic dissemination of the insights gained at the Summer
'71 Research Assembly. The immediate imperative on the Spirit
Movement is to create a comprehensive story about the Assembly
and to develop a strategic plan for sharing that story. This story
will be used for broadening and strengthening our denominational
relationships.
Project Accountability
8. From the perspective of one year's experience
of the Local Church Project, we see the possibility of the practical
renewal of human society. To further develop this possibility
and to infuse the church with new vision for its comprehensive
social responsibility, we will continue to dialogue within the
Historical Church. Thus, the Local Church Project can be seen
as a means whereby the church can appropriate the gifts and intentionality
of the research methods developed in Summer '71.
9. In the 20th Century, the church will take seriously
its servant role. The church must carry to all men that vision,
born out of struggle, of what it means to selfconsciously
create the future for the sake of all men. In the midst of this
ongoing task, the Spirit Movement takes responsibility for
its role within Historical Christianity.
II. THE LOCAL CHURCH
10. The guidelines for relating the vision of the
New Social Vehicle to the local church must enable the millennial
man of faith to reenvision his task of catalyzing selfconscious
church renewal. The proposals of the New Social Vehicle illuminate
the sociological responsibility of every local church, and make
even more urgent its immediate renewal.
Local Vision
11. The vision of the New Social Vehicle provides
the local church with a comprehensive context for its parish engagement.
By conveying the vision of Summer '71 to local churchmen, the
Movement relates the suffering within any parish to the social
contradictions of the globe and thereby contextualizes the local
mission as the concretion of the global task. By grounding himself
in the social process, the local churchman is released to respond
to depth social contradictions and is freed from superficial activism.
The particular guideline for the next year is to implement ~1ll
educational form that enables a congregation to deal systematically
with this new vision.
Parish Orientation
12. Research in the New Social Vehicle will have
a lasting effect on the practical working of the dynamics of the
local church. This understanding of human sociality will guide
the cadre and congregation as they pour content into the parish
aspect of the Local Church Project. Specifically, the Local Church
Project will be intensified in its second year with the addition
of an indepth orientation to the parish in the light of
the New Social Vehicle vision. Further, the New Social Vehicle
research will strongly inform the details of the third and fourth
years of the Local Church Project. All the instruments of the
Summer Research Assembly, for example, the social process triangle,
will be useful to the regions as they deepen the orientation to
the garish in local churches.
Project Expansion
13. As the New Social Vehicle begins to take form,
it is apparent that the Local Church Project will be intensified.
This expansion of the project will be handled in a manner rationally
consistent with preparing the framework for the emerging New Social
Vehicle. This demands an intensification of training. First, training
of auxiliary priors to establish new Religious Houses and Galactic
Outposts. Secondly, cadres who are potential local auxiliaries
must be nurtured and trained so that they are ready to move into
a Galaxy as guided by the expansion rationale. And finally, emerging
wisdom from continuing research on the New Social Vehicle proposal
will be transmitted to the local church in order to enable the
tactical system to incorporate key insights.
Regional Structures
14. The demands for local church renewal require
intensification of regional structures. Existing Galaxies will
help in this effort as their regional involvement tactics are
activated. Regional structures are key to relating the local church
to the global mission. The vision of the New Socia1 Vehicle provides
a new context for structural experimentation and care in the area
of local/global relations. The future of Galactic churches requires
that energies be thrust into local church penetration, and preparation.
15. It has become clear in a new way that the
local church is the key to global mission. The demands which the
creation of the New Social Vehicle places on the local church
require the transcendence of activism, the utilization of spirit
disciplines, and the embodiment of the New Religious Mode. Out
of the struggle of' the New Social Vehicle research and its implications
we can affirm the local church in its historical role as that
group n society which authentically cares for mankind in radically
new ways.
III. MOVEMENTAL CHURCH
16. The New Social Vehicle research intensifies the
claim on the Spirit Movement to act out its role within Historical
Christianity. The Spirit Movement must reaffirm its obedience
to the whole church. It acts out his obedience through the strategies
of penetration, formulation, permeation and development at the
regional level. The demand is to intensify these strategies in
order to create spirit giants who embody the radical style of
the resurrectional man.
Penetration Expansion
17. In order to intensify penetration, models will
be created for comprehensive development of regions. The thrust
of recruitment in the regions will be threefold: 1) strategic
individual recruitment; 2) focused congregation recruitment, 3)
broadened denominational enlistment. This includes intentional
recruitment of ministers and their wives for the development of
the Local Church Project.
Formulation Expansion
18. The Spirit Movement will develop regional structures
which embody a comprehensive model for deepening participation
in the mission and providing care, nurture, and enablement for
spirit men on a metro level with regional commonality. The expansion
of the Local Church Project and intensification of regional structures
will require the development of new cadres and galactic congregations.
It is imperative, therefore, that every RSI graduate be
cared for comprehensively through regional participation and spirit
training in cadre 1ife' Odyssey, Academy, and advanced courses.
Increasing consciousness about the dynamics of human sociality
provides new insight into the corporate dimension of individual
spirit care.
Permeation Exploration
19. These insights need to be shared with a broad
spectrum or colleagues. The chief task of the Spirit Movement
is to begin to ground the theoretical documents prepared during
Summer '71. This involves new research activity through
permeation colloquies and PSU's beginning at the
regional level to compile data from the experience of colleagues
in existing social structures and to test the dynamics of the
New Social Vehicle model. On the regional level, this is the exploration
of the action centrum dynamic.
Development Foundation
20. Fidelity to its total mission demands that the
Spirit Movement see its own responsibility for financial support.
Therefore, it is essential that the approach to funding the Movement
and all its projects be conducted on a comprehensive basis. This
requires further development of longrange projection, timelines,
and the creation of ongoing structures to coordinate the
development function among the metro, regional, and continental
levels. The Movement must continually create a context for the
local man which simultaneously holds the global and particular
needs. The financial needs of the Movement create the imperative
on the local spirit man and bring into being structures of accountability
to sustain the spirit revolution.
21. Summer '71 provides the Spirit Movement with
new vision for the future and for its task of reconstructing the
local church. The breakthrough in social vision is a step towards
further clarifying the role of the church as that which transcends
established societal tensions. The Spirit Movement will intensify
its research and experimentation by building systematic order
and common discipline, particularly within the regional dynamic.
It must be conscious of the imperative of continued research on
the New Social Vehicle, specifically social permeation in the
context of the local church. This research is allowed and demanded
by the deepened context that the Movement has been provided by
the societal analysis and imperative from Summer '71. In the midst
of both continued intensification and extensification of the movement
al task, the unity of the New Religious Mode and the New Social
Vehicle must again be emphasized.
CONCLUSION
Regional Readiness
22. The presence of a thousand churchmen at the Summer
'71 Research Assembly, the reception of the Continental Local
Church Project by 80 congregations, the establishment of new Religious
Houses throughout the Continent, refined regional structures,
new formulation and permeation constructs, and the spread of ITI's
in international regions all point to the readiness of the Spirit
Movement in the regions to begin a year of further study of and
research on the perpetual task of building the New Social Vehicle.
Research Intention
23. The Research Assemblies of the past two years
point to the fact that the entire Spirit Movement has become a
serious researching and retooling body. Its primary thrust
is in the analytical sociological methodology to forge comprehensive
care constructs. In order to extend clarity developed in Summer
'71, it will be necessary to continue this work with specific
focus on regional PSU's. Building a Movement consensus and common
memory on the results and implications of the summer will be accomplished
by decisional study and brooding.
24. The bending of history and the forging of the
NSV will flow from the radical intensification of the spirit dimension
of life. With global vision, the man of faith must focus on the
local situation and open it up to new possibilities. At this point
in history, when men have selfconsciously articulated the
ideological principle that all the earth belongs to all the people,
the imperative is that spirit men commit themselves to the shaping
of the New Social Vehicle.