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Oct 5

An Invitation to Clarus ’13

2012 | by Trent Hunter | Category: Clarus 13

Clarus is now just five months away – March 8-10! You’ll hear more about this DSC conference in the weeks and months ahead, but to kick everything off, here’s an invitation from Ryan published to the new Clarus conference site:

Our speakers for Clarus ’13, Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane, have written and spoken much on the themes of relationships and communication in the church.

In their co-authored book, How People Change, they succinctly summarize the challenges of and need for relationships—and, thus, provide a snapshot of our conference theme:

At one level we want friendships. At another level we don’t want them! In creation, we were made to live in community, but because of the fall, we tend to run from the very friendships we need. Quite often, our longing for them is tainted by sin. We pursue them only as long as they satisfy our own desires and needs. We have a love–hate relationship with relationships! The Bible recognizes this profound tension, but still places our individual growth in grace in the context of the body of Christ. The Scriptures call us to be intimately connected to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our fellowship is an essential ingredient for lasting change. The work of redemption involves our individual relationship with Christ alongside our relationship with others.

God’s plan for our redemption is not merely to reconcile us to Himself, but to point us to those who share this reconciliation, the church. In Christ, Christians become part of a new family. Like bricks go together to make up a wall, Christians go together to make up a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:20-22). They are like parts of a body, inextricably connected, each part doing its part (1 Corinthians 12:12-20). This is how Christians grow—they grow together (Ephesians 4:16). As Tripp and Lane say, “change is a community project.”

It should be no surprise, then, that the majority of the New Testament’s commandments assume a corporate context. For example, roughly 50 times the New Testament tells Christians to do something one to another. We sometimes refer to these as the one-anothers—e.g., love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, stir up one another, encourage one another, sing to one another, etc. Such commands simply cannot be done alone. We need partners. We need a partnership—which is really what “fellowship” is.

These one-anothers are not mere friendships, kind acts, and kind words. Just as Christ must be the foundation, so the Scripture must be the “stuff” of these relationships. The Bible is the basis and content for encouraging one another, loving one another, teaching one another, etc.

It’s a bit of a made up word, but, in short, we’re to be “One-Anothering the Word” in the church.

To that end, we Christians meet regularly for worship and teaching; we read the Scriptures and pray, alone and in our families; we read good books and recommend them to others; we keep working at these relationships and our ministry to each other. And sometimes we steal away a few days to meet up with other churches for more intensive and focused teaching from some superbly gifted and experienced teachers. We call that a conference. There are many good ones these days. But maybe you live in Albuquerque; or maybe you’re just a day’s drive away; or maybe you’re just a flight away; or maybe this theme is simply of particular interest to you. We hope it is.

We hope you’ll join us Friday-Sunday, March 8-10, 2013, with Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane and hundreds of other Christians, for a weekend of singing, fellowship, and excellent teaching on this needed topic of “One-Anothering the Word.”

At new Clarus site, you’ll find an explanation of our intention through this conference, links to audio from past conferences, and registration for Clarus ’13. Put it on your calendar and plan to join us!