Discussion Questions Stephen Averitt

1. Is Chi Alpha a church? Should a student be involved in a local church on Sunday mornings in addition to their involvement in Chi Alpha? Are your
reasons more pragmatic or theological?

Upon reading Bird's explanation of what the Church is, I would say yes, Chi Alpha is a church. Simply put, Chi Alpha represents a community and gathering (ekklesia) of Spirit-filled believers in one place for the worship and praise of God. Additionally, as members of the Church, we are meant to disciple, evangelize and work for the Kingdom, all of which are functions of Chi Alpha. Even baptism and communion occur in Chi Alpha, displaying that XA is a true gathering of believers.

That being said, Winter's article about the Parachurch suggests that Chi Alpha be put into a different category. Functioning alongside the church, with missionaries as its ministers, XA follows the scheme of the parachurch. XA is not multi-generational; it has one focus and drive: to reach the world by sending out missionaries. Chi Alpha clearly takes on the form of a sodality, since the missionaries go out to form new sodalities or modalities.

Taking both into consideration, I would say that Chi Alpha contains members of the Church, and it is a life-giving group. However, since it functions (and is intended to function) next to churches, students should be encouraged to be involved in both a church and Chi Alpha. This way, they will continue to be involved in a modality even after the sodality is no longer available to them. I think that would mean that I take a slightly more pragmatic view on this topic.