WAYFARIN’ STRANGER
But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare
the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His wonderful light. Once
you were not a people, but now you are
the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have
received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope
we profess, for He who promised is
faithful. And let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love
and good deeds. Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but let us encourage
one another— and all the more as you
see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25
I’m just a poor wayfarin’ stranger
Travelin’ through this world of woe,
But there’s no sickness, toil, or danger
In that bright land to which I go.
I’m goin’ there to see my father;
I’m goin’ there no more to roam.
I’m just a’goin’ over Jordan;
I’m just a’goin’ over home.
Vincent Stults
TEACHER
LEARNER
STORYTELLER
WAYFARER
I know dark clouds may gather round me;
I know the way grows rough and steep.
Yet beauteous hills lie just before me
Where the saints, their vigil keep.
I’m goin’ there to see my mother;
She said she’d greet me when I come.
I’m just a’goin’ over Jordan;
I’m just a’goin’ over home.
Someday when I cross into glory;
Enter in that heavenly land,
I will sing Salvation’s story
Together with the blood washed band.
I’m goin’ there to see my Savior;
I’m goin’ there to see my friend;
I’m just a’goin’ over Jordan;
I’m just a’goin’ over home.
November 17, 1963May 28, 2016
Vince was a teacher. And a learner. He loved both learning and teaching about the Kingdom of God— the was, the now, and the not yet.
How do we live on this earth that is not our home and still manifest the Kingdom of God as we journey here? Vincent was convinced that one
crucial component of the manifest Kingdom was oikos.
Oikos– Greek– definition: dwelling; home; household; temple; (by implication) family
In the words of some of Vince’s
students/ fellow travelers:
Oikos is related to a household but usually
includes multiple families. It could have multiple families that had one skill, i.e. tent makers.
Also seemed to include a person’s sphere of
influence. You could zoom into a family and
out to a community. So we are living out oikos
in our lives, from our immediate family to our
job to people we influenced in the community.
The big question was how does that look with
Jesus in our lives. Because He should be affecting our view of our families, our job, and our
sphere(s) of influence. Honestly my whole
world view got shattered by thinking about
this.
-Seth Dudenhofer
The transformative idea about oikos that I got
from the internship was that the death and
resurrection of Jesus drew us into God's Oikos
so that we could be made more holy, and that
meant that others would see Him in how we
believe and behave in our earthly spheres of
influence.
-Amy Wehlage
Vince was the first person I heard articulate
that in the Church we have told people to behave and believe so they can belong.... But in
the Kingdom we belong first. When we belong
it changes our ability to believe, which has
transforming power on our behavior. That has
changed my life... Vince modeled that when I
had failures. He would always remind me that
I had a family I belonged to...which brought
more transformation to my life than anyone
trying to "control" me into grace.
-Adam Tallent
What I remember from Vince's explanation of
oikos (and he may be the only person I've ever
really heard teach about it) is it's the group of
people you belong to, have influence over,
have influence over you, and you live in community with. In many cases in America today
it's a bit more disjointed than it was/is in a lot
of traditional societies so it's harder for us to
grasp the concept. For me, I was very inspired
by the concept and have tried to be more
aware of my oikos and bring more people
into it. We have a responsibility and privilege
as those brought into God's oikos through Jesus
to invite those in our oikos into that one.
-Daryl Winger
Found in: Acts 16:31 and Ephesians 2: 19-22
Vince's obsession with oikos was brilliant, but I
didn't understand how so until recently. Oikos is
the minimum unit of community. It is the entirety
of the household; from the head of the household
to the lowest slave, everyone was a member. It
was the root of the oikonomia: the life-breath,
and rhythm of the family. Like Adam wrote, it
was the root, the foundation, the 'fin-du-mond' of
existence. It was the place in which one's identity
began. Identity did not begin with the individual,
it began with the oikos. The community-family
formed the people together, hence, the power of
the statement "he and his whole household believed." Every member of the oikos/oikonomia
was formed and informed by every other member. The family-community lived, died, and believed together. Like Daryl wrote, this is difficult
to see in the US (the western world at large). US
citizens are formed as individuals first, even in
the church. Our identity is rooted in ourselves, not
our community. This is why the gospel can be
presented as 'personal belief in Jesus'. This is
why community is so hard to find and do in the
church in the US. We are formed as individuals,
in individual families, making individual choices
about which individual parts of the story of the
people of God we will participate. Oikos challenges, and disrupts that assumption. It draws us
into a communal story, an established history so
that, by the power of the Spirit, through the witness of Jesus Christ, we can be formed into a
people /for/ God.
-Brandon Pritchard