i think the triumph of freedom in Christ over the patterns of culture is the thing i like most about People of Praise.

this has occurred to me afresh lately but it's been a part of our life for, well, forever i think.

PoP has set out to start culture and community all over again from the ground up

just as with Trinity schools, we took a very good insight (for Trinity, that young people need to be taught things to do well in life) and we took nothing from the current instantiations of secondary education that were out there

in fact, we've only altered that model to better compete and influence the scholastic world's flawed systems (eg. grading changes and capital campaigns)

likewise, with culture we've taken the stance that what really matters is Christ and what really matters about Christ is that he wants all things to be one in him

that means that we need to strive to be one with one another as Christ is one with us and share our lives (read: hopes, dreams, aspirations, work, play) as he shares his life (read: hopes, dreams, aspirations, work, play) with us

to do that well, we do not need to pare away the poor state of the world's cultures; we need a whole new culture

we need a culture where property equally declares the individual and the group into the world

we need a culture where experiences are shared freely and yet regulated by right speech patterns

we need a culture where men and women are not simply "dating" or "ready to date" but first and foremost brothers and sisters to one another in Christ.

we need purposeful, fulfilling lives for people with full-time jobs (eg. parents, young singles) and people without full-time jobs (eg. kids, students, missionaries, retired people)

and those lives need to be intertwined and share relevance within the community

so we build it. we borrow very little and invent almost everything

we do what Jesus is doing, the way he does it, with him

he is our king, and he calls us his friends. it's his world and he invites us to share in its rule by working with us to create a society that, with his power, his love, his cross, can govern and nurture the universe