A letter from Renovaré’s Director of Education, Carolyn Arends.
I was in my early thirties when I first encountered Richard Foster’s Streams of Living Water. I don’t remember who put the book into my hands. What I do remember is my pulse quickening as I read the first chapter and realized with a shock:
I’m a two-stream Christian.
Foster identifies six great emphases in the life of Jesus — six streams that bubble up at different times and places throughout Church history and still flow today.
As I read and considered these Streams, I could almost picture two of them — the Evangelical and the Holiness Streams — intermingling in the baptismal tank at the sturdy Baptist church of my youth. We loved the Word, and we longed to live virtuous lives.
But the other streams?
The Contemplative and Charismatic Streams were important — but we needed to be wary of anything too mystical or too extreme. And weren’t folks in the Social Justice Stream replacing the biblical gospel with a social one? As for the Incarnational Stream, we felt it best to leave any talk of a “sacramental” life for the Roman Catholics down the street.
In the years since I first read Foster’s Streams, I’ve discovered that my story is common in pattern, if not in particulars. Each of us, depending on where and how we came to faith, tends to be strong in a couple of the Streams, cautious about a few more, and downright suspicious of at least one or two.
And yet, Jesus still invites us into a fuller, richer, Six-Stream life with him.
What happens if we return to the Gospels with eyes open to these six movements in Jesus’ life? What if we worshipped alongside Christ-followers who swim in different Streams from our own — and learned the stories of the saints throughout Church history whose varied emphases can stretch and deepen our perspective?
I have tasted and seen, and maybe you have too. Life with God can shift from black and white to technicolor. From a two-note melody to a symphony. From isolated streams to — in the words of Richard Foster — a “mighty Mississippi of the Spirit.”
That’s why I am so excited to be working with the Renovaré team on a new online video-based resource designed especially for groups called The Streams Course.
The title is rather straightforward, we realize. But it’s the subtitle, suggested by my colleague Brian Morykon, that actually makes me tear up: Diving into a prayer-filled, pure-hearted, Spirit-led, justice-seeking, Word-centered, embodied life with Jesus.
Does that quicken your pulse, just a little?
If so, we’d love to invite you to help make this course possible.
Our hope is that churches, small groups, and spiritual communities around the world will use this course — completely free of charge, thanks to our supporter community — to discover a fuller, more integrated life with Jesus.
Whether or not you’re able to give financially, we hope you’ll prayerfully consider gathering others and walking through the course together when it’s ready. The Streams Course will be saturated with prayer and all the wisdom and experience we’ve gained over the nearly thirty years since Streams of Living Water was written. But it’s people like you who will bring it to life in local communities.
So glad we can dive in together,
Carolyn Arends
Director of Education