The specific purpose of the New Generations Church is to lead people to Jesus and membership in the body of Christ, to develop them to their maximum potential in Christ, and equip them for their ministry to believers and non-believers with an awareness that extends across all denominational, cultural, and geographical boundaries, in the church and the world, in order to praise God's name.

"As noted in chapter 1, perhaps the most fundamental change needed in Christianity today is a new understanding of the nature of the New Testament church, one that sees the local church as far broader than any single congregation - including all the believing congregations within an entire city or locality. Thus, all the local congregations of a city are seen as parallel to the house churches that made up the local city-church of the New Testament times. As such, the leadership of those congregations (regardless of polity or denomination) make up the leadership of the church in that city, even though they collectively exercise little or no oversight beyond their specific congregation. We urgently need to realign our thinking here." (275)

[...]

"Here are some practical suggestions for developing a local city-church outlook." (277)

1. "First, participating (by financial or personnel support) in the ministries of parachurch organizations, such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Youth for Christ, The Navigators, and others can serve as an effective catalyst to smooth the connections of otherwise independent and non-networked congregations."
   
   
2. "Second, it is necessary to bring people together.
   
   1. "The first priority in developing a sense of the city-church is to foster a spirit of unity and cooperation among church leaders. [...] Things are changing. Regional and city pastors are beginning to support each other, hold area wide worship meetings - even sharing pulpits and developing long-range prayer strategies. [...]"
      
   2. "In addition to getting the leaders together, Christians themselves within separated congregations need to get together. Interdenomiational activities need to occur, such as fellowship times, teaching, and worship times. One of the most exciting times in my area was a recent citywide worship service which involved over 13,500 Christians in a standing-room only crowd at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. [...] Great care must be used in these times to not let a specific model of worship predominate, whether it be a charismatic or a liturgical model. Elements from both can successfully be incorporated if handled with a great deal of prayer and careful planning. [...]"
   
   
3. "A third element in developing a healthy city-church approach is to begin to identify and strategize on some of the unique problems in one's area. Of course, a key set of strategies must deal with evangelization."
   
   
4. "Fourth, besides the core need of evangelization, local community problems need a corporate addressing by the church in the area. In larger cities, there are social problems such as gang proliferation, political corruption, and racial prejudice. Moral problems such as homosexuality and abortion activism must be challenged. There are spiritual problems such as the proliferation of cults, spiritism, and the New Age movement. And, there are intellectual problems such as secularism and humanism."

"A united city-church can pray together much more effectively and spot areas for specific prayer and corporate action. Three years ago, Mission Portland, the rallying point for the unified effort in the Portland area, envisioned a prayer army of 5,000 prayer warriors to pray for the city. The number to date is 5,368 and climbing. And 18,500 Christians in the Portland area, despite their denominational differences, united to line up along major thoroughfares, recently, to protest abortion on demand by participating in a Life Chain. The secular press, although they disagreed with the stance taken, at least took note of the amazing number of participants. Christians were clearly not a fragmented minority, but a significant voice to be heard. That is the city-church — a microcosm of the church catholic — in action."

"I've missed our meetings," Father O'Connor said, apparently finding the explanation acceptable. "I've thought about calling you but I didn't want to disturb your work. Are you finding anything of interest in the Baum-Brenner papers?"

"I don't know," Cooper said with a pause.

"Whether they're interesting or not?"

"Whether I should discuss it with you."

"Why?"

"Maybe because I'm in no mood to argue with you. To defend myself against a charge of heresy."

"I don't think you're a heretic." Father O'Connor smiled. "You're just in rebellion. But sooner or later you'll find that there's no sense in fighting and then you'll come around. And if you want to talk about your work, I promise not to give you any argument."

"I doubt that," Cooper said. "But I need your help, an Aramaic grammar if you have one."

"The documents are Aramaic?"

"Only the last one. The fourth document is Neo-Hebraic." He went on to tell Father O'Connor of the contents of the first three documents: the Roman soldier's letter which fixed the charge against Paul as murder, the letter from Paul to Timothy admitting it and rationalizing the act, and finally Luke's letter telling of the death of Paul and defending his actions. He added the results of the scientific tests run on the documents. To Cooper's surprise, the little priest did not seem the least bit perturbed. He poured his tea with a steady hand.

"That's very interesting," he said.

"You surprise me," Cooper said.

"Oh?"

"I expected more of an outburst from you. You're not getting objective all of a sudden, are you?"

"Not in the least," Father O'Connor said. "And you may think I'm dogmatic but it's not that either." He sipped at his tea. "I suppose I'm like a lawyer who has been in so many courtroom fights that he really hears nothing new any more and therefore it's hard to really surprise him. That's something every young priest finds himself doing, acting as a defense attorney for Jesus Christ and the apostles and the Popes and everything he believes in, especially if he's in a position where he comes in contact with non-Christians. I've come in contact with some very bright atheists and I think I've heard all the arguments. Poor St. Paul is the most vulnerable of all because of his temper and his physical affliction. I've heard people call him an epileptic, a power-crazed madman, a rebellious Jew who created the Christ myth and founded a new sect all his own. I've read papers by scientists disproving the miracles and books by apologists trying to explain them away as parables and tracts by scholars proving that they were later interpolations put in by dedicated Christians who felt that Christ needed more deification."

"So you're convinced the papers I have are forgeries?"

"Yes."

"Even without seeing them?"

"Of course."

"And it doesn't worry you that they might not be?"

"Not at all," the priest said. "Because I know what the truth is and, if your documents contradict that truth, then they must be false. Now if they were in the hands of somebody else I might be worried, realizing that there are some people on the border line of faith who might be pushed backward if documents like this were advanced as authentic. But it seems quite clear that this is a perfect demonstration of God's methods, that these papers should be place in the hands of a man with complete integrity as a scholar and the skill to reveal the spurious. You might say, in a manner of speaking, that God has made you His advocate in this matter. It's quite perfect, don't you see? For instance, if I defended against an attack of this sort, nobody would pay any attention to me, but you're an impartial skeptic. And however cleverly these documents have been forged, you will find the weakness in them." He raised a hand for the waitress. "I must be getting back. I'm sure we have Dalman's Grammar of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. I'll see what else I can scrape up and have them sent to you." (110-112)

Are you Anglo-Catholics or Evangelicals?

We are evangelical in that we take very serious the Great Commission to preach the Gospel. It is our duty to not only Worship God in Spirit and in Truth, but to also take the Light of Christ into the World and to call out to the Lost with the Truth of Salvation in Christ alone, through Faith. We are Anglo-Catholic in that we believe that there is only One Church and it is 'catholic', namely holding all things together with one voice, mind, and heart, joined together by One Spirit. Our churchmanship, or ritual expression in worship is moderate - not exactly low and not particularly high either except on certain Feast Days in the Church year. Our catholicity is also our commitment to not fall into a modernistic rationalism, a self interpreting Church without regard to the teaching, tradition, and practices of the ancient Church. Word and Sacrament - Reformed Catholicity - the true 'bridge' Church or via media.

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. (337)

[...]

Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favor and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen. (339)