This is the introduction to Randall Worley’s Book
Questioning Our Answers; A Manifesto for Spiritual Searchers.

You can download it for free at Randalls website HERE
You can learn more about Randall at www.randallworley.com

We also had Randall on our podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos

A MANIFESTO DEFINED

I am not going to assume that everyone reading this has a good understanding of what a manifesto is, so here is a working definition.

The word manifesto traces its roots to the Latin manifestum, which means clear or conspicuous. A manifesto is defined as a declaration of one’s beliefs, opinions, and motives. It is a document that an organization or person writes declaring what is important to them.

A manifesto functions as both a statement of principles and a bold, sometimes rebellious, call to action. By causing people to evaluate the gap between those principles and their current reality, the manifesto challenges assumptions and provokes change.

My Roots

I was born into the home of an Evangelical Pentecostal pastor. We were Evangelical because we believed in emphasizing the authority of the Bible, personal conversion, and the doctrine of salvation by faith in the Atonement. We were Pentecostal because we emphasized and practiced the gifts of the Spirit. My father was a devout and studious man and I owe so much to him for imprinting me with a love for the bible at a very early age. I want to be clear in the beginning, I will always have a deep appreciation for my heritage and still believe in the foundational truth I was taught. But even as a young man I had questions for which there was no forum. To raise questions in that culture about any of our beliefs would put you on a heresy list. So, for years I suppressed my questions.

Looking back, I realize that I have always had a nonconformist gene. I felt the “Go along to get along” and “don’t rock the boat” attitude was the dying whispers of complacent, compliant Christianity. I think Marshall McLuhan was right when he said, “every society honors its live conformist and its dead troublemakers.” I have been labeled over the years by some of my peers as a nonconformist and even a heretic because I have questioned many of the conventional ideas that I felt were sometimes mindlessly accepted. For a long time, I felt ostracized and insecure when labeled a heretic. Then one day I found encouragement after revisiting the definition of heresy. Simply put, the definition is, “an opinion that is profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted.” I felt that if everybody is saying the same thing then somebody is not thi9nking. Back then and now, my heart cry to the church I was a part of was, “Let my people think.”

Thought leader Seth Godin, in his bestselling book, “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us” said “Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes and create new movements . . . Heretics are engaged, passionate, and more powerful and passionate than anyone else. Heretics are those who embrace an opinion, doctrine or practice contrary to generally accepted beliefs or standards.

It involves reaching out to others and putting your ideas on the line. (Or pinning your Ninety-Five Theses to the church door.)”

I have always loved progressive thinkers that challenge all I have thought to be true because they consistently reveal my unperceived bias. It may sound strange, but I’m learning to love discovering I have been wrong about some of my beliefs. Maybe one of the reasons we have trouble sometimes “getting our mind around” something is that our mindsets have been in the way. Is it possible we fear new experiences more than we fear anything because new experiences can displace so many old experiences?

Randall Worley is an author, speaker, leadership consultant, and life coach. For 40 years he has traveled the world speaking in conferences, seminars, and schools inspiring his audiences to think progressively about the role of the kingdom of God in the world.

For more on Randall
www.randallworley.com

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