Presuppositions
CAM has a number of implicit beliefs that are assumed to be true and thus shape the way that we have framed CAM. Listed below are the theological presuppositions and practical theology presuppositions that informed the development of CAM.
Theological Presuppositions
It is God, not humans, who is the active agent – as creator, transformer, provider, and sustainer – in the world there is nothing that we as humans can do to effect change without the grace of God. Because of this, the starting point of the conversation should be with discussion about how God operates in the doxological practices of the church.
These are the three theological presuppositions that inform CAM:
God Is The Active Agent. God’s work in creation was not and is not dependent on human activity and God’s is still active in the world today.
God’s Work of Grace. God works in and through humanity by grace – and the good works that are produced by humanity are not the work of humans; but rather, the Grace of God.
God Enables Worship. Worship is about God, for God, and to God AND God is also the agent who actively enables us to worship.
Practical Theology Presuppositions
God’s plan for the world includes our participation. Fundamentally, the church and the work of the church is meant to be one of the ways in which God brings transformation into the world.
These are the practical theology presuppositions that inform CAM:
The Church Still Matters. It is crucial to remember that the church is a creation of God, not of man. And, as part of God’s creation, the church itself will always be part of God’s plan for redemption in the world.
Worship & Liturgy are Inextricably Connected. Worship is the umbrella term and liturgies are the practices that make up worship. in our everyday lives, we are immersed in liturgical rituals which function as practices through which we worship something. Within cultural liturgies, we worship (intentionally or not) and are formed by the liturgies of sports, shopping, family, commercials, music, politics – really, there is no limit to the liturgies that have the potential to form. Within the church, we worship through the liturgies of the church. All liturgies of the church are formative – whether it is the music, sermon, announcements, Scripture, the sacraments, or the passing of the plate. Every liturgical practice put in place by the church in worship becomes part of the formative process.
James K.A. Smith contends that liturgy is another word for the practices (be they church practices or cultural practices) that act as “formative, love shaping rituals;” for, it is from being immersed in these practices that our worldview/ultimate vision of the good life is formed.[1] From this argument, Smith continues that “we need to recognize that there are rival liturgies everywhere. These pedagogies of desire are, in a sense, cultural liturgies, rival modes of worship.”[2]
[1] Smith, You Are What You Love, 22.
[2] Smith, Imagining the Kingdom, 23, emphasis original.
How We Do What We Do Matters. Even though the Holy Spirit is the active agent of transformation in worship, how we do what we do matters. Practitioners do not create transformation; yet, we do have the ability and the responsibility to create environments through which the transforming work of the Spirit is experienced. Ronald Mischener states the potential inherent in worship well saying, “in our regular habits of worship, we consistently rehearse the story of God’s gracious creating and redeeming work through his people throughout history . . . liturgical, habitual practice is significant and critical for worship because it corporately shapes our bodies and minds toward a Christian imagination and “dispositions” that do not yield “habituation to secular liturgies.”[1]
[1] Williams et al., Theological Foundations of Worship, 76.
Cultural Influence is Inherent and Enduring. There is not now, nor has there been a time in which culture did not impact the form and function of worship. As David Taylor asserts, “culture is simply the creaturely form in which the worship of God takes concrete shape.” He continues, “there is, in fact, no culture-less form of worship in which the words, actions, and forms of worship do not become meaningful to a particular people.”[1]
[1] Taylor, A Body of Praise, 35.
Cultural Influence Necessitates Culture Creation. Practitioners must understand that the work of formation is something that is both initiated by and accomplished by God. Practitioners are co-laborers with God. And, though the work of practitioners in worship is not transformation, we are still a vital part of God’s work in transformation. Specifically, the work of the practitioner is in creating “culture that can inspire change.”[1] Second, culture creation requires an understanding of and respect for the persistent influence of secular culture – both how secular culture has created where we are today and how secular culture continues to impact worship. Of particular importance in this understanding is the reality of disenchantment and individualization. Finally, it is vitally important that practitioners understand that how God created humanity matters. Specifically that God intentionally created humans to habituated creatures who are inherently embodied, communal, and ultimately driven by what they love.
[1] Gabe Lyons, The next Christians: Seven Ways You Can Live the Gospel and Restore the World, Trade paperback ed (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Pub., 2012), 93.