My (Steve Freitag) career as a student at Moody Bible Institute was coming to a close. We were on a bus from the heart of Chicago to Green Lake, WI. We’d made it to our Senior Retreat. No curfews. No a whole lot of other rules. One requirement: attend the large group meetings.
I had no idea that the person brought in to speak for two days would be one of the most influential people in my life. I wasn’t especially looking forward to another speaker (we’d have our class lectures, chapel five days a week and usually two church services) .
The talks were fresh and outside the didactic norm for MBI. For example, instead of parsing to death Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, “Consider the lilies of field*...”, the speaker recommended us to get a lily and actually consider it. Touch it, smell it and really see it. Could Jesus be saying that to some extent, the glory of God could be found in a lily?
God has wired us to learn both intellectually and experientially. The American educational system and culture has bent much more toward logic and facts. The English language doesn’t help either.
German, like many other languages, has two different verbs that can correspond to the single English verb "to know." Like Spanish, Italian and French, for example, German makes a distinction between knowing or being familiar with a person or thing (kennen) and knowing a fact (wissen).
Our ministry tries to strike a balance between these. There is much to learn factually (wissen) as a facilitator. Adhering to clear ministry guidelines is crucial. Following our tried and tested principles really works. A basic
understanding of God’s Word and His character is a priceless safety net for all of us.
No one has entered heaven with only a wissen knowledge of God. Jesus paid the price at the cross for kennen relationship with us.
Somewhere along the line, much of the church abandoned kennen after the salvation experience. Much of this may have come because of odd or weird things happening in the church with no biblical support or apparent fruit. The proverbial baby was thrown out with the bath water. CrossCounsel has thrived by knowing how to get out of God’s way.
* As a side note, if you don’t have access to a lily, the phrase “the lilies of the field” was a generic term for flowers in general. Phew!