Essential Framework

Lately, I’ve been asked what makes Jubilee Fellowship unique over and over again. What’s going to make this church stand out from the rest. Glibly, I fight against sarcastic responses that happen to be true —the way the Holy Spirit works in our midst is what will make us unique. Still believe that to be an appropriate response. However, I’ve learned from the things I continue to say and the responses I get from others that I’m basically pointing to a framework that in no other terms feels essential.

Here’s what I mean.

It’s been posited that Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” From her wise words came this three-tiered framework. Orthodoxy. Orthopraxy. Orthopathy. According to Sis. Angelou, orthopathy is the one people will never forget.

Here’s the way I define these terms: Orthodoxy is right belief; Orthopraxy is right practices; Orthopathy is right affections/emotions. And I used my work experiences around kids to help solidify these tiers. You can explain the rules of the game to kids, be it basketball or soccer, but that’s not enough. They need more from the coach than just rules. You can showcase the drills for the kids during practice until they become commonplace, but that’s not enough either. They need more from the coach than the elementary phases of completing a drill. But when you help those same kids channel their day into focused energy, or their drive into honing their skills, or their determination into playing well with their teammates, then major progress has been made on that day and the days to come.

I can’t help but to read the beginning of Romans 12 in this tiered way now. Appealing to somewhat involves your affections aimed at connecting with their emotions with the sole purpose to accomplish some practice based on what you believe. That might sound like a mouthful, but believe me when I tell you what I just described is very normal in our lives. We typically prefer people to draw us in with emotion-filled words before asking us to do something.

Christianity is no different. In Exodus19, God tells the very same people He just rescued from Egypt that He loves them and even calls them his treasured possession. God appeals to their emotions with his affections. The commands come in chapter 20. Peter repeats this same framework in 1 Peter.

Now when people ask me what will make Jubilee unique, I feel more inclined to remind that ever since the Garden of Eden God has communicated that right affections are to accompany right practices and right belief. I’m sure I’m not alone when I tell you that I know a plethora of believers who know lots of good orthodox truth about God, Jesus, salvation, and assurance. But they have the hardest time believing it enough to change their affections towards God, Jesus, the saved and the lost in their behaviors.

Jubilee is set on practicing in good ethical ways the right beliefs we believe are found in God’s Word. Jubilee is also set on having the right affections and emotions towards creation and image-bearers in good ethical ways based on right beliefs we find in God’s Word. And we’re asking and depending on the Holy Spirit to empower us to carry theses out without equivocation.