The Phoenix Affirmations were recently developed by a group of Clergy in Phoenix. They felt the public face of Christianity that now pervades our society does not reflect the way most Christians view and practice their religion. The Affirmations express a more traditional, inclusive, and expansive role for Christianity.
The Affirmations say that, as Jesus teaches us, our Christian love should be expressed in three ways: by loving God, neighbor, and self.
In order to fully appreciate the content of the Phoenix Affirmations, they should be thoughtfully studied with others. A group study provides insights, connections, and resources that might not be readily discerned though individual study. This document provides a suggested study plan for each of the twelve affirmations. The intent is that each study plan can be used for a one hour study for a group of five to ten people. Of course, the plans are not rigid in their requirements and the suggested plans can be modified as needed. The study plans, listed below, are grouped into the three major ways Christian express their love.
Each of the Affirmations is broad in scope. Study leaders might find that narrowing the scope will lead to better results. For example, Affirmation 5 mentions people of different race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, and economic class. Any one of these groupings provides an abundance of discussion material. Also, selecting a single label may help a group deal with issue of local importance.
Many of the individual study guides suggest outside resources be used to aid the discussion. If such resources are readily available, do not hesitate to use them but, if such resources are not available, do not hesitate to omit the external resource. If you discover resources that are not mentioned, (films, books, articles, artwork), please share the resource with others.
The method employed in all the studies is a conversational technique designed to engage each of the group participants and allow them to find the truth of Phoenix Affirmations in their own way. There is no right or wrong way to interpret the Affirmations. The only goal is that each student authentically examine the Affirmation in the context of their own life. Reading the document about conversational learning will help leaders understand their role and how the study guides were designed.