Practicing Amipotence

By Chris S. Baker

Amipotence can and should be practiced in our daily lives.

I grew up in a conservative evangelical household. We attended church every time the doors were open. We were taught the importance of tithing, having the right view of moral and cultural issues, and church attendance. My dad’s bookshelves were filled with books by James Dobson, John Maxwell and Charles Colson. The year I graduated, Charles Colson released a book co-written with Nancy Pearson called “How Now Shall We Live?” In the book, the authors set out a Christian worldview and then ask the question in the title. If this is what it means to be a Christian, “How now shall we live?”

My idea of a Christian worldview has evolved from what I thought back then. I would certainly have different ideas than those Charles Colson and Nancy Pearson put forth in their book. Having said that, I still appreciate the general outline of their book. I still find myself drawn to the question they ask. How do our beliefs impact the way we live? Given what we understand to be true, how do we live in light of that truth?

One major reason my ideas regarding a Christian worldview have shifted is the work of Thomas Jay Oord. Throughout his work, Dr. Oord describes the Christian God as the God of love. Love is not incidental to who God is. Love is not simply one characteristic among many. Love defines who God is.

In his book The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence, Dr. Oord brings the loving nature of God into conversation with how we have traditionally understood divine power. Rather than thinking in terms of God’s omnipotence, we should think of God’s amipotence. The meaning of amipotence is fleshed out in the last chapter of the book. In short, amipotence means the power of God is understood in light of God’s character of love. God’s character of love comes first.

This has implications for how God works in the world. Amipotence means that however God exercises God’s power, this power must reflect love. God always loves all of creation, human and non-human alike. God’s use of power reflects this love. God uses the power of persuasion and influence rather than control to actualize God’s goals. God is continually and consistently calling all of creation to cooperate in accomplishing God’s good goals in the world.

As I read Dr. Oord’s book, I found myself asking Charles Colson’s question; how now shall we live? If this is true, how do we humans live in light of amipotence? Both Jews and Christians throughout the centuries have affirmed that humans are made in the image of God. Part of the human vocation is to reflect God in all we do and who we are. If love defines who God is, what does that mean for humans as we reflect God’s image? More specifically, if love is the lens through which we understand God’s power, what does that mean for humans as we seek to reflect God? What does that mean for how humans should practice power? If amipotence is correct, how now shall we live? I want to explore these questions as they apply to three areas of life: politics, local church life and working with kids.

Here in the United States, we are in the heart of a presidential election. The primaries are behind us, the general election is a few months down the road. When we think of the use of power, politics is at the forefront of our minds. The practice of power in politics has been precarious. We hardly even need to list the abuses of power. Power is hoarded by the elite. The wide use of gerrymandering reflects a desire to control the results of elections. In many places, the purging of voter rolls along with last minute changes about polling locations result in the marginalization of voters in certain demographics. In short, the use of power in politics is very often anything but loving.

How might it look to practice power in a different way in the political realm? If we were to try to reflect the uncontrolling, amipotent God in the realm of politics, what would need to change?

If we were to let love recalibrate how we use power in the political realm, we would think of our opponents differently and as a result, treat them differently. It is common, at least in the context of the United States, to see our political opponents as evil enemies. Political rhetoric has become so extreme that either someone agrees with our position or they are selfish monsters with bad intentions out to get us. There seems to be no more space for disagreeing agreeably.

Divine amipotence affirms God’s outreach and call to every single person, including our political opponents. If we want to reflect the amipotent God in our lives, we should be open to conversation with our political opponents for a couple reasons. First, there is no such thing as a lost cause. Though sometimes unlikely, it is always possible that someone might be influenced by the lure of God in their lives, and sometimes that lure comes through other people. Second, it may be that we are the ones who are wrong in any given case and the lure of God might come to us through others.

At any given moment, we may be out of bandwith for these tough political conversations, but generally speaking, our demeanor should be one that seeks conversation. We should see political opponents not as evil lost causes but rather as worthy of our time and care. To reflect divine amipotence in the political realm is to reject extreme characteristics of our political opponents and instead to affirm the potential for love even in those with whom we vehemently disagree.

Given that I co-pastor a church with my wife, I am very interested in how divine amipotence might be reflected in local church life. Depending on one’s tradition, the pastor or priest is very often thought of as the sole leader, vision caster and one who guides the church. Even if this isn’t specified in the ecclesiastical structure, it may still be there in practice. Practically speaking, very often the buck stops with the pastor.

Divine amipotence encourages us to think of leadership and power spread out among those in the church body rather than centralized in the pastor. Amipotence affirms that God is drawing all of creation to the good that they might do. Each individual in the congregation is being drawn by God to come alongside God to work for the good of the congregation and the community.

In this context, the role of the pastor shifts from being the sole voice of authority to helping people recognize the voice of God in their lives. For instance, rather than a pastor determining what ministries a church should have and then finding volunteers for those ministries, the process is reversed. In the best case scenario, someone might come to the pastor with an idea for a ministry and the pastor simply affirms how God is leading that person and facilitates the success of that ministry. Alternatively, a pastor might recognize gifts that a person or group of people have in a congregation and have a conversation with them regarding whether they have thought about the use of their gifts in the local church context. In this way, the conversation between the pastor and congregants itself might be an avenue that the draw and lure of God becomes effectual.

A third area of life where we might consider divine amipotence is working with and relating to kids. Depending on one’s context and culture, sometimes the relationship between adults and kids is defined by coercion and authority. For instance, kids are to obey adults simply because adults are the authority and if they don’t obey, they will be coerced to obey. In teaching settings, kids are to learn the correct answers because the authority tells them what the right answer is.

Rather than relying on coercion and authority, divine amipotence encourages us to come alongside kids to help them be the best they can be. In teaching settings, rather than simply teaching kids to regurgitate the right answer, we might find ways to include children’s own understanding in the teaching setting.

We have used Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play curriculum at church. Rather than asking kids the right answers after hearing a Bible story, Berryman encourages the use of “I wonder…” statements. For instance, “I wonder where you see yourself in this story” or “I wonder what the most/least important part of the story is…” This takes seriously the idea that God is speaking directly to the children themselves and teaches them to affirm what they might hear from God themselves.

I also serve lunch in a school cafeteria. After we have served lunch we often have time to sit with the kids and simply listen to their stories. Sometimes funny, sometimes school related, and sometimes heartfelt, there are times when kids are telling us these stories because they are looking for guidance. It can be tempting to try to have that one perfect piece of advice to give. Divine amipotence leads us instead to explore the options with the kids (based on their age) and assist them in reaching their own conclusion about how best to react in a given situation. The role of the adult changes from the one having all the right answers to the one who comes alongside kids to help them figure out what is best in the given situation.

In all of this work with kids, the key is to take seriously that God is already drawing them and leading them to the good that they might do. It’s not that kids need the adult to be the mediator between God and the kid. It’s that kids need to be taught how to recognize, listen to and follow the lure for good that God is already instilling in their lives.

As we have explored these areas of life, we’ve found that reflecting divine amipotence leads to more relational, cooperative and mutual relationships. Hopefully looking at these three specific areas of life has shown how we might reflect divine amipotence in our everyday lives. It is good to have the right beliefs, but it is only when we ask the question “How do we live in light of those beliefs?” that loving action makes its way from our head into our lives and the lives of others.

Bio: Chris S. Baker is a co-pastor at Columbus Community Church of the Nazarene in Columbus, WI, alongside his wife Teresa. He previously served as Associate pastor in worship and discipleship in upstate New York. Chris recently earned his Doctor of Theology and Ministry through Northwind Seminary exploring the intersection of open and relational theology and the work of N.T. Wright.

OORD’S DRABBLE* RESPONSE

Chris Baker applies amipotence to everyday practice, highlighting its contrast with the conservative Evangelical background he grew up in—a past I understand well. Chris urges us to let love redefine how we use power in politics. This involves engaging in open conversations with opponents, treating them as worthy of time and care, and listening closely to others, especially children. If amipotence is true, God is not only uncontrolling but also actively drawing all people toward the Good through the Spirit’s guidance. Our task is to follow that guidance and encourage all others to do the same, fostering love-driven cooperation.

For more on Oord’s view of politics and Trump, see this article.

* A drabble is an essay exactly 100 words in length.