Life Experiences as a Place to Begin

The continuing revelation of God through the Living Christ led to the development of the NET (Nurturing Experience Theologically) Groups program. It is designed to make everyday human experience the criterion for theological reflection. The hope is to establish an atmosphere for the individual to "pay attention" to how God is being revealed in the "everydayness" of human activity.

By simply asking the central question, "How is God working here?" participants are responding to a "God on the move"—a God who is constantly creating and interacting with the creation, including the experiences of our lives. God is not merely a God of "I am who I am," but a God of "I am becoming who I am becoming."

We are grateful to remember a God who created, who acted, who loved, and who forgave. But the God-in-process of the NET Groups program is a God to be known as one who is creating, who is acting, who is loving, and who is forgiving. The primary symbols of our faith point to a God of process—the Exodus for the Jews and the Resurrection for the Christians.

By its broadest definition, a person's life experience is the basis for all religious expression. What is the Bible, in its purest form, but a number of people interpreting the experience of God in their lives and in their corporate existence? What is all of the preaching and teaching of the church for 2000 years except, in its most basic sense, an effort to understand the experiences of God in our lives and in our world? Whether we recognize it or not, we are "experiencing" all of the time and "theologizing" all of the time. The NET Groups program contextualizes the experience and encourages participants to ask the most pertinent theological question: "How is God working here?" This leads into reflection, followed by an opportunity to introduce the Christian story and vision.