The Learning Circle

I've been asked to blog about this teaching that I've shared with a number of people. It is a way of processing the positive change that God wants to create in our lives. We call it the Learning Circle. It is one of the discipleship tools from an overall set of tools called LifeShapes.

When we speak of time, as is often the case, the Greek language (the language the New Testament was written in) has multiple words to indicate multiple types of time. Chronos is the type of time associated with a clock. One minute after another, it is the passing of time. It is where we get the word "chronological," indicating an orderly series, a progression.

Another kind of time is kairos. Whereas, chronos is the passing of moments, kairos is an event. It is a moment in time. It is akin to saying, "I had the time of my life." You are not saying that there was a minute or hour that was particularly notable. What you are probably saying is that there was an event, a happening, an occurrence that was significant.

Jesus speaks of such a time, such a kairos. In Mark 1:15, we find the first words of Jesus ministry. As such, we can assume that they are important. These are the words that Jesus used to announce his message to the world. So what does he say? Jesus says, "The time has come…" The word for "time" here is kairos. Now when Jesus speaks of kairos, this significant event or occurrence, he is speaking about something very specific. He tells us what that is in the next part of this verse. "The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near." The kairos that Jesus speaks of is the breaking of the Kingdom of God into the world. He was announcing that where he is, there is the Kingdom. This same thing continues to be true in our lives. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Daily, constantly, Jesus Christ wants to enter into our lives. He wants to draw us closer to him and to his Father in heaven. He wants his Kingdom, his rule, his reign to break into our lives.

These "kairos moments", as we call them, happen all the time. They can come in a multitude of forms. Some may be seemingly negative experiences. Some may be positive. They can be big, life changing events or small, presumably insignificant occurrences. All of them represent an event that God wants to use to draw us closer to him. What we need to understand is how we react to them. Most people tend to react in one of two ways. The first is to ignore them. It may not even be that we consciously ignore them. We simply miss them. We let the moments of our life come and go without any consideration of what role God may have planned for them and us. We live life simply in the chromos, oblivious to the kairos moments.

Others of us are so affected by such moments that we become paralyzed. Often this happens with difficult or challenging kairos moments. We are so fearful that we become, in essence, stuck in time, unwilling to engage the change that God has planned for us.

But, there is a third way. We can engage the kairos. We can enter into it, learn from it, and allow God to change us. This is the way outlined by Jesus in his opening words. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Jesus tells us how we are to respond to the kairos moments in our lives: Repent and believe. These two actions make up the two halves of what we call the Learning Circle.

Let's start with repentance. Repentance is typically associated in a converse way with sin. In other words, we do something wrong (sin) and we need to stop doing that wrong thing and start doing the right thing (repentance). However, the greek word (the original language of the Bible) really indicates more than that. The word is metanoia. It means to change one's mind. So, rather than a negative context, repentance means, simply, to have a change of heart that results in a lifestyle or behavioral change. Repentance can be our response to good, bad, happy, or sad stimuli. The key is that it creates positive change. Repentance is the beginning of change that results in a disciple taking on more of the character of Jesus Christ.

There are three steps to help us work through the repentance halve of the circle. They are to Observe, Reflect, and Discuss. To observe means to simply think through the facts- the who, what, where, and when. Observation is important because it helps us to gain an objective view of the kairos moment in question. Next, we reflect. This is where we ask the why questions. Why did it make me feel this way? Why did it happen? Why does it seem important? We also begin to ask, "What change might God want to initiate in me through this?"

Progress is being made. However, we still need more clarity. So we discuss the kairos with a trusted friend who is walking the path of change with us, someone who also follows Christ. God created us to live in interdependence, not independence. So, we turn to others to help us through these times of change. With these trusted friends, we move from the repentance side of the circle into the believe side of the circle, for now we must put our thoughts into action.

That is one of the most important things to understand about the process of believing. It is an action word. Belief is demonstrated in action. So, the three steps of the believe half of the circle are Plan, Account, and Act.

First, we plan. We consider all that we have learned from observing, reflecting, and discussing the kairos, and now we develop a plan for positive change. We do this with the help and wisdom of others. We keep at least one other person completely informed of our plan. Why? So, they can keep us accountable. That is the next step in the circle- Account. We ensure that someone is prepared to keep us accountable for our actions, particularly the plan of action that has come out of this kairos.

Finally, then we must take the step that is necessary for the completion of the circle. We must act. We must do the thing God has moved us to do. We must act on the plan that has come out of our kairos.

These kairos moments are meant to produce positive change in our life. Positive change that allows the Kingdom of God (i.e. The Rule of God) to invade our lives and change that strengthens our relationship with Christ. I hope you daily become more aware of the kairos moments in your life.