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It’s no accident that proponents of applying centered set thinking have been missionaries.  Missions is about bringing the gospel into new territory.  Missionaries are front line people, not rear guard people.  They face many challenges that others don’t face.
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What drives a concern for thinking about set theory?  This is a sub-text in this ongoing conversation.  Maybe set theory is a ruse for being soft on sin.  We don’t want to obey the Bible’s teaching on sin, so we are trying to find a way around it, and set theory is a convenient sin dodge.  The bounded set seems to be driven by a concern for moral rigor or moral purity. Therefore any attempt to consider a different approach must be driven by a concern to accomodate to the surrounding culture when it comes to sin.
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So this is what it looks like: a centered set way of conceiving of categories–in this case the category “Christian.”   Christians are those who are oriented toward the center (Jesus) and are willing to take the next step closer to Him.  Christians, in other words, are followers of Jesus. They start wherever they are (every day), orient toward Him, and move in his direction. Like pilgrims coming to the Holy City from many different points of origin.
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I think we need to introduce another aspect of set theory that missionary Paul Heibert describes in his book, Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues. I know, I know, this is not simple and we all want to cut to the chase and look at centered sets.  But it’s necessary, given the questions about “who is a Christian?” that have surfaced in the blog.
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My friend Rick pointed out wonderful summary of set theory as applied to the Christian misison in a gem of a footnote tucked away in Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, by Miroslav Volf. Volf writes from his experience in Croatia during the war there. Bert Waggoner, the National Director of Vineyard USA told me (if memory serves) that Volf has a Pentecostal background.  Not your typical ivory tower academic.
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We’re taking our time plodding through set theory–bounded sets, centered sets, etc.  Why? Why bother?  What does any of this have to do with faithfulness to Jesus?  Thanks for asking. Set theory is a way of understanding underlying cultural assumptions that affect the way we understand categories.  Still pretty esoteric sounding?  Except that categories are important in the Bible and in life.  Who is a Christian for example, is a category question.  Who is a member of the body of Christ? is a category question.
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I’d like to say more about bounded sets before moving on to other approaches to church.  Picture a bounded set approach to church as a circle in the form of a ring. Members of the group fulfill certain criteria and become members of the group thereby.  It’s pretty clear who is a member of the group and who isn’t.  People are either “all in” or “all out.”  The boundary is comprised of whatever beliefs and behaviors are viewed by the church in question as essential for membership in the group.  Keep in mind that boundaries like this include both formal statements (like creeds and defined positions on various moral-behavioral issues), cultural factors (as is the case with ethnic churches of many kinds) and other informally enforced boundaries (things which are accepted or rejected by group members through various forms of social sanction or pressure).
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We need some new nets.  Something more than contemporary worship music and great programs that meet needs and pastors who wear clothes from Old Navy.  It’s time to get missional, which always  means controversial.  It’s time to examine cultural assumptions that have hindered us from doing our job.  This post is the first in a series on one of those assumptions–how we in the Western world approach categories.  I learned this from John Wimber in the early Vineyard days.  He introduced me to the conversation in mission circles about “bounded set and centered set” groups.  
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When Jesus appears vividly and visually in your prayers–not like he stood before Saul of Tarsus, perhaps, but like he can surprise us when we slip into a silence that comes alive visually–well, you take notice.  I’ve been praying for over thirty years as a Jesus follower and I can only think of three times that this happened.  Each one feels as real or more real than ordinary reality and each one is seared into my memory. Each has taken me years to digest. Thank God he doesn’t show up this way more often.  I’d be on overload.
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