Guiding Narrative  •   Manifesto

Have you had an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ and want to know the way forward in serving Him? If so we are excited to introduce you to Trinity Learning Community, a non-profit educational institution located in Southern California that can help you find your place in the Bigger Story of God.

The new, emerging, post-modern culture is tragically rejecting the biblical story as the one story that explains all others. Is it possible that those who hold such a view have never really heard the story in a way they could understand it? What if they were to hear the story of God in new ways by story tellers who are equipped to share it in any setting? Trinity Learning Community has been created to speak into this modern dilemma by restating the biblical story for the 21st century. Our goal is to rewrite curriculum at every level, from children's Sunday school material all the way to graduate education aimed at training the next generation of pastors and leaders to communicate the gospel in the post-modern context through the art of story. Because God has put "eternity in the hearts of human beings" (Ecclesiastes 3.11), we believe that as people begin to connect the dots between the biblical narratives they will recognize that God has a singular purpose as he moves human history toward its appointed destiny.

The faculty at Trinity Learning Community is comprised mostly of pastors with advanced academic training, thus giving them an unusual ability to mentor students not only in solid theology but in practical ministry skills as well. To do so we are excited to tell you about our two degree programs designed to help you achieve your goals, the Bachelor of Christian Studies and the Master of Ministry.

Finally, Trinity Learning Community values the entirety of the Church. We are praying as Jesus did that the Church would be in unity so that the world would know that Jesus is the Christ. With that in mind, our aim is to partner with churches, students, and leaders from all Christian denominations around the globe to educate future leaders to fulfill the commission of Christ. As we do this, our attitude is aligned with that of St. Augustine as he said, “In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials liberty and in all things charity.”

Trinity and Creation

In the beginning, God created. From the imaginative heart of the Eternal One flowed all the mysteries of the heavens, and all the majesties of the earth. On one small planet, in the vast cosmic display of God's artistic splendor, the Creator chose to mingle His divine breath with earthly dust, and birthed the flower of the created order — humankind. He created man and woman in His very image, the imago Dei. He created humanity free to embrace the goodness of both the loving Creator and His living creation.

Trinity and Community

The zenith of joy for humankind, in the wondrous environs of earth, was revealed in the beautiful truth that God had created man and woman to be intimately engaged with Him in a sacred, life-giving relationship. The One who Himself dwells in perfect community, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, placed humankind into that loving, eternal Community in a garden called Eden. With this good world as our optimal environment for food, shelter, and joyful kinship, we, as humans, were made to thrive and flourish on terra firma, ruling with God's authority and for His glory. Humans made for earth, and earth made for humans; the Image-Bearers of the created order were designed to mirror God and rapturously experience the celebration of our divinely designed human life within a worshiping community — in a newborn world.

Paradise Lost: The Alienation of Humankind

Then, something went horribly wrong. The parents of humanity, Adam and Eve, abused the divinely bestowed gift of their freedom to pursue equal footing with God. Deceived by an insidious enemy of both themselves and God, they yielded to their thirst for the knowledge of good and evil and attempted to get their legitimate needs met in an illegitimate way. In their misguided quest, they violated God's trust and sacrificed the precious relational intimacy they shared with Him. A misled and disoriented humanity fell into the shadows as sin polluted God's good world. God's honor was violated, paradise was lost, and the gift of perfect community was shattered in the cataclysm.

Paradise Pursued: The Rescue of Humankind

In response to that historic event, God planned for the redemptive rescue of His good creation. Pursuing His Image-Bearers in the midst of their self-made isolation, God came to us in our humanity to restore what was lost in Eden. In the older era he created a people for himself called Israel who would mediate God's redemption to the world. At the midpoint of human history, Jesus, the Christ, came to earth as the true Israel. He lived a life of perfect communion with God and humanity, was alienated from God on the cross, and was raised from the sleep of death to new, resurrection life - all for us.

Jesus, as new humanity, reinstated the Kingdom rule of God on earth in a new way, living his life among us as Emmanuel, “God with us.” He defeated the enemy of God by his life of loving obedience to the Father, and by his utter submission to the will of God. Accomplishing in Christ, for us, what humanity had failed to accomplish on its own, the triune God stole the sting of death. Inviting us to participate with Him by the power of His indwelling Spirit, He has re-commissioned humankind to renew His creation in all spheres of its existence. God's Kingdom rule is now advancing in all the peoples of the earth while we yet await its full consummation at the end of the age when all things will be made right.

Paradise Renewed: The Hope of Humankind

Like an indomitable river, God's Bigger Story is rushing toward its grand conclusion. God will not be swayed from His plan as He moves to renew and reinstate His good world to its full, climactic splendor. He is committed to this one reclaiming mission, that the divinely born community of God can truly experience the richness of life, love and laughter promised to all enrobed in the work of Christ. Paradise lost, will become Paradise renewed and God will receive the glory due his Name.

Those who fight against the Kingdom of God and the brilliance of His communion with human beings will experience the fruit of their denial — having eternal isolation from the community of the Triune God. For those who embrace Him, and embrace His love, authority and centrality in their lives, there awaits the fullness of Edenic community and the joy of seeing all things redeemed.

Our Theology:

We are historically orthodox. We embrace the best of Church tradition, while looking critically at Greek assumptions and rationalistic influences on the biblical narrative.

We are theologically Trinitarian. Our starting point for theological understanding is the eternally existent, relationally perfect Community of the Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All is for His glory.

We affirm the dignity of human beings and the Community of God. As human beings, we are created as magnificent bearers of God's image in the world, and invited into the glorious community of the Trinity to reflect his image for the sake of his glory.

We recognize that humanity is broken. We understand the primary result of the fall of humankind to be alienation from God's community of love and grace. We see the fall as the natural result of following the deceit of attempting to pursue equality with God.

We are Christ-Centered. We see God's plan of rescue reaching its climax in the life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the person of Jesus of Nazareth — the Christ. As a man, he lived in perfect covenant community with his Father, reinstating the Kingdom rule of God on earth, and modeling what it means to be truly human. At the cross he paid for sin and he was resurrected as the Seed of New Humanity.

We are missional in purpose. We see the commissioning of the twelve and the seventy during the earthly ministry of Jesus as our commission to announce the Kingdom of God and the lordship of Jesus Christ to all the nations of the earth. We are focused on the planting and development of Trinitarian communities of faith in every ethnic group until the glorious return of Christ to the earth to consummate the Kingdom.

We see the eschaton culminating in perfect community for the glory of God. We see the Bigger Story of God rushing toward God's complete redemption of the created order — manifest in perfect community for those who love him. We see the biblical narrative clearly portraying a state of isolation from the community of God for those who prefer to live outside of that divine community. God's ultimate purpose is to fulfill his desires for Trinitarian community within his creation.

Our Methodology:

We have a relational approach to theology. We test rationalistic assumptions in biblical interpretation through the paradigm of the community that God is creating as a mirror of His glory and infuse theological analysis with relational language.

We have a narrative approach to scripture. We allow the biblical narrative to contend with both our minds and our hearts, resisting the urge to bring our own theological and philosophical systems to the study of Scripture. We want to interpret the parts in light of the whole.

We prioritize community dynamics in all our learning. We hope to affirm, practice, nurture, and celebrate the energies of community in all our learning environments and products. When we learn in a relational, community environment we believe we are then most able to take the essence of biblical community into our world.

We value all arenas of human knowledge. We remain open to ongoing dialogue with other fields of learning as they enhance our Scriptural perspective and pursuit of the knowledge of God.

We are self-critical of our treasured historical moorings. We remain solidly committed to being a Christian learning community, while engaging in a critique-from-within. We continually evaluate our theological postures for the sake of the glory of our Triune God.