We have considered how and why we should take the Trinity seriously over the months of this summer. In the last few weeks I have sought to show how we can recover the doctrine of the Trinity in our practical Christian experience. This is not a doctrine for scholars to debate but a truth that feeds and nourishes the soul of the Church and each believer personally. This has been my purpose—to show how this truth can and does feed the human soul at the deepest levels.

Perhaps the most pressing personal question we face at the beginning of the new millennium is: “What does it mean to be a human person?” Scientists and social scientists work from every angle seeking to give Western people a reason to have meaning and purpose. I suggest the recovery of the doctrine of the Trinity, in our human consciousness and experience, is the only meaningful answer to our quest.

Non-Christians often seek to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and find it totally incomprehensible. The famous American, Thomas Jefferson, was one such person. He called the Trinity “incomprehensible jargon.” The medieval Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, would have agreed with Jefferson, but he would have also said that which is “incomprehensible” is “not unintelligible.”

Theologian Charles Lowry has called the doctrine of the Trinity “the most comprehensive and the most nearly all-inclusive formulation of the truth of Christianity” (“What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity,” in Millard J. Erickson, ed., The Living God, Vancouver: Regent College Reprint, 1973, 419). I believe the doctrine lies at the heart of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and thus it is vital to the true mission of Christ’s Church. I also believe that Karl Barth was correct when he said “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” is rightly the “Christian name” of God.

In five previous articles we have surveyed the importance and development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the history of the Christian Church. I have maintained that modern Protestant Christians pay way too little attention to this central Christian truth. Whether it is out of sheer ignorance, or from a dismissive assumption that we already know this truth, it does not really matter if we are not committed to the confession of, and our personal and corporate experience of, the divine Trinity. Our preaching, prayer life, worship and music all reflect the virtual absence of Trinitarianism, in both our private lives and in our church practice. The results are serious. So how do we get this truth back and then begin to take it very seriously in our Christian experience?

This edition of the ACT 3 Weekly is different. Usually I write a biblical or theological commentary on some aspect of the Church’s faith, life, or mission. This week I want to tell you about ACT 3. Who are we? What do we do and why do we do it? What are my dreams and hopes for the future of this unique mission?