Three of the first chapters of the book I’m writing are exploring conversations I’ve had with people who a.) care about faith, but b.) feel like something is missing.  I am clustering these conversations into three different ‘vantage points.’  I realize there is a lot of diversity and perspective within each of these vantage points, but I think it helps frame the major themes of the book.

As I have begun to distribute rough drafts of my chapters for feedback, one of the suggestions that has come back a number of times is to create some type of label for each of the three vantage points.  The feedback is generally positive that the description of the vantage points make sense.  But once I start weaving back and forth between them it can get confusing.

So, this is where I need your help!!!!  Below I am going to give a snapshot description of each of the three vantage points, and I am asking you to give me name suggestions for each of the vantage points.  My hope is that by early next week I will have a number of contenders for each vantage point, and then I will do a vote on them.  Here they are:

Vantage point 1:

Consider faith important, consider Christianity a good source of inspiration for faith, but would not necessarily call themselves a Christian.

(What I am NOT trying to describe here is people whose faith is rooted in other world religions, people who consider themselves Christians but don’t like church, or people who are ambivalent about faith in general.)

It is the man or woman who might see Christianity as a viable source for wisdom and insight on faith, but not necessarily the controlling factor in his or her own faith journey.  They may like Jesus.  They may include Jesus as one of the sources of inspiration in their faith journey.  But they are not ready to say their spiritual allegiance is exclusively to Jesus.

What are some possible names for this vantage point? 

Vantage point 2:

Consider faith important, and consider that faith rooted in Christianity. The manifestation of that faith is primarily found in the realm of personal renewal.  These are people who believe that a relationship with Jesus should translate primarily into personal morality and individual transformation.

Like the other two vantage points, there are a lot of different shades to this cross section.  But the common denominator is the emphasis on cultivating a strong, personal relationship with God.  Activities usually associated with this are faithful preaching and teaching of sound doctrine, commitment to personal disciplines (i.e. study, prayer, meditation, memorization, fasting, etc.), participation in Bible studies or accountability groups, and a strong emphasis on confession and repentance.

What are some possible names for this vantage point? 

Vantage point 3:

Consider faith important, and also consider that faith rooted in Christianity.  The manifestation of that faith is primarily found in the realm of social justice.  These are people who believe that a relationship with Jesus should translate primarily into compassion and justice on behalf of the poor.

For many of these people, the commitment played itself out in volunteerism – serving meals at shelters, tutoring students, building houses with Habitat for Humanity, or becoming a big brother or big sister with a mentoring program.  Sometimes their commitment actually reorients their career paths –inner city schoolteachers, social workers, Peace Corps, etc.

What are some possible names for this vantage point? 

Please let me hear your ideas!