From Pastor Dave Mullen

Actualized Christianity. I’m not sure I have the confidence to claim to have originated this particular term but neither am I sure I’ve ever heard it used before. It came to me as I was praying about and considering the future direction and ministry of C.L.G. as a new church year quickly approaches. Actualized Christianity will be our goal, must be our goal, in all that we do over the next year(s).

For something to be actualized means, according to Webster, to become actual, to exist in act and not merely potentially. The synonym offered is, “to be real.” I believe that our church specifically and the Western Church generally must get real. Or, as James would put it, we need to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Our beliefs and confessions, our Christianity must be actualized.

Toward the goal of an actualized Christianity, we have been working our way through the book of 1 John lately. The command that we love one another as God loves us requires an actualized Christianity. Love, for the believer, must be actual and not simply theoretical. The Gospel proclamation that, “the Kingdom of God has come,” and the examples of the disciples of Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead compel us to an actualized Christianity. If the Kingdom has indeed come it must make a difference. The fact that the next book in the New Testament following the four Gospels is called "Acts" and not "Theory" should also help us realize that a biblical Christianity is an actualized Christianity.

So, what does this talk of an actualized Christianity actually mean? It means that it’s time to get real. It means that we will be learning and actualizing a Christianity that, as we share it and demonstrate it, will bring redemption, healing, restoration, wholeness and joy to all who hear and receive. And it’s going to be fun.

In Him,
Pastor Dave