About
Western North Carolina native, priest, husband, blogger. Writes about history, theology, culture and occasionally his own brand of politics.
Feed Count
Patrons
Blessed John Donne
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Soren Kierkegaard
Charles Gore
Give a gift…
Husqvarna 455 Rancher 20-Inch 55-1/2-CC 2-Stroke Gas Powered Chain Saw
Powered by WordPress. Built on the Thematic Theme Framework & Early Morning. Inspired by: Adrian Pelletier.
The Mission of the Church
In The Open Secret Leslie Newbigin puts an idea into words that has been the heart of much Christian activity in history, namely that “a church that is not ‘the church in mission’ is no church at all.”1 This statement is not so much condemnation as observation; that it is possible for us to hear it as condemnatory speaks volumes about our particular shortcomings as contemporary Christians.
To say that Christianity is a missionary religion is nothing new-it has long been categorized as one of the three great missionary religions, along with Buddhism and Islam. There is a difference however, between saying that Christianity is a missionary religion and in stating that it is essentially missionary in character. A religion might become missionary through circumstance or accident-or it can be missionary in its very essence and character, as Christianity reveals itself to be.
The missionary character of the Church is rooted in the life and work of Christ and it is here that the Church finds its authority. Because the Church derives its authority from Christ it is natural that it derive the basic structure of its mission from Christ’s ministry. This is a situation both liberating and restrictive. It is restrictive in the sense that anything done without the intent of glorifying God or bringing all things into subjection to Christ can not be considered within the scope of the mission of the Church. It is liberating in another sense because of exactly how much and how great a diversity of things can be seen this way.
One of the recurring themes in scripture that becomes prevalent in the New Testament is that of God calling people to be heralds or prophets of his coming work. John is sent to prepare the way for Christ and Jesus himself is sent forth to proclaim the Kingdom of God. If the shape of the Churches’ ministry is determined in part by the shape of Jesus’ ministry then it is clear that part of the Churches role is to proclaim. Just as Jesus is sent from the Father, he in turn sends his disciples forth to proclaim the good news of The Kingdom which has been fully inaugurated by his resurrection.
The person and work of Christ serves not only as the foundation and framework of the Church’s mission, but also as the content of her proclamation. “We preach Christ crucified,” (1 Cor. 1:23 [show] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, (ESV)
) says Paul, and in doing so we are proclaiming the work of the incarnate Word who through union with humanity opened the way to God, through the crucifixion made it possible for us to follow and through the resurrection defeated death and offers us the hope of everlasting life with him. This is the message-the Christ-we proclaim.
The purpose of this mission is to proclaim the Lordship of Christ, as Newbigin states “The Christian mission is thus to act out in the whole life of the whole world the confession that Jesus is Lord of all.”2 The affirmation of Jesus as Lord of all is not separate, but is intimately tied to the proclamation of salvation and freedom from the bondage of sin and death. Our freedom and our hope is in Christ because Christ has defeated death and been raised from the dead-therefore, in proclaiming Christ’s Lordship we are proclaiming the power of God to heal and bring life from death.
So then, Christ sends us forth to proclaim the message of salvation. Yet Jesus’ ministry itself was not limited to proclaiming the coming Kingdom. He demonstrated that the Kingdom was present among us through his healings, the people he chose to associate with and the various other miracles he performed. Jesus gave us a blueprint of the ways in which we might proclaim the Gospel.
This sending is not limited in scope, indeed the “community that confesses that Jesus is Lord has been, from the very beginning, a movement launched into the public life of mankind.” As Newbigin shows, the very name the Church used for itself indicated its universal character “It was from the beginning a movement claiming the allegiance of all peoples, and it used for itself with almost total consistency the name ecclesia-the assembly of all citizens called to deal with the public affairs of the city.”3
How does Christ’s work manifest itself in the mission of the Church? The answer to that is just this: certainly Christ proclaimed the Kingdom, and so should we. But there were physical manifestations of the Kingdom throughout Christ’s ministry; Christ healed, the blind, the lepers, the paralytic. He fed the hungry. All these works were intimately connected with his proclamation of the Kingdom and they should be no less so of ours. Because of this, the work of Christian mission is intimately tied up with the physical well-being of those being evangelized. To ignore the temporal reality that people face is to invite indictment by the Gospel-the story of Lazarus and Dives comes to mind, as does James’ admonition “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16 [show] If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? (ESV)
).
The missionary character of Christianity is so strong in fact that it has overcome theological obstacles to evangelism no less than practical ones. The early Calvinist ambiguity about missions gave way to the force of the missionary imperative in part because a rejection of missionary work can finally only be supported within a framework that does not take scripture seriously and borders upon a rejection of Christianity itself.
This strong affirmation of mission as essential to the Church’s character stems from basic observation of the Apostles’ ministries. In the earliest days of the Church, and enshrined particularly in the Pauline corpus and the book of Acts, we see a people proclaiming their faith and continuing the work of Christ in the world. The catechism in the Book of Common Prayer acknowledges this work in the common obligation it places on all Christians, lay or ordained “to represent Christ and his Church” and to “follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.”4 Implicit in this is the recognition that there is an obligation on the part of every Christian, that “the origin of [our] confession is not in [us]. It is committed to [us].” And we are charged with the delivery of that message, as Newbigin states, for “‘You did not choose me,’ says Jesus to his apostles, ‘I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit’ (John 15:16 [show] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (ESV)
)”5
Within Jesus’ ministry we see the fulfillment of God’s purposes of salvation offered to all people. The work of the early Church testifies to this fulfillment, which the prophets foretold, as we acknowledge in the Third Song of Isaiah, “Nations will stream to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawning.”6 The early Church testified to the universal character of Christ’s mission, saying in a manner reminiscent of the Prophets “for with your blood you have redeemed for God, from every family, language, people and nation, a kingdom of priests to serve our God.”7
The nature of the Church has changed, and our missions must reflect that. There are dangers in this shift. As Newbigin pointed out, the growth of some churches overseas has enabled established churches to begin thinking of mission primarily in terms of cross-cultural exchange with other Christians. Yet this is not mission; indeed the propensity of North American and European Christians to see the mission field as somewhere “over there” has led them to be slow in responding to the opening of a vast mission field in the heart of the old Christendom.8
It is true that challenges continue to face Christians in other parts of the globe. The “church now exists as a global fellowship present in almost every part of the world and is increasingly conscious of its universal character” as illustrated by the dramatic growth of Christianity in the two thirds world. This explosion has led both to amazingly refreshing examples of the Christian faith and horrible perversions of the gospel such as the Lord’s Resistance Army and other syncretistic and violent groups. The Church continues to find the delicate balance between enculturation and syncretism, between affirming that the Gospel is translatable and translating it out of existence.9
The line between enculturation and syncretism is one that both Newbigin and Elizondo walk. In the end, it appears that Newbigin’s approach is more tenable. Much of what Elizondo highlights in his book The Future is Mestizo is laudable-the idea that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not necessitate the destruction of indigenous cultures for instance, that “Jesus of Nazareth offers the world a true way of becoming a universal family without destroying the local genius or even the local religion of the people. Transformation yes, but destruction no.”10 These are good ideas which have sadley not always been accepted in the history of Christian missions, when there have been times that missionaries attempted to make people into good Europeans or good Victorians as much or more than they attempted to help them be good Christians.
Yet the preceding statement begs Elizondo’s definition of religion even as it conveys a deep truth-that the Gospel can thrive within the culture of any people and that the return the Church receives from that culture is often an aspect of the Gospel that we couldn’t hear before. The negative side of this-what might be called “deep enculturation”-is a situation in which the uniqueness of the Gospel is sacrificed. Elizondo highlights this problem, which he deems strength, when he relates:
In this situation, Newbigin’s understanding seems better suited to preserving the particularity of the Gospel while still maintaining that the message of Christ’s hope can embed itself within any given culture and express the hope of salvation in terms understandable to that people-terms which may even help shed light on our understandings of the Gospel as well. In this understanding, the Gospel must be allowed to work within the parameters of a given culture, within the language of that society; yet, the Gospel leaves nothing untransformed by its power, so that “the introduction of the name of Jesus places the structure under a strain that it cannot bear without breaking. Jesus is now not just Lord, not just avatar, but unique avatar. The word kavdul can no longer refer to a monad: it must refer to a reality, within which there is a relationship of hearing and answering.”12
As we proceed in mission, recognizing the moral and theological necessity of opening the Gospel up to other cultures rather than simply attempting to create carbon copy churches, our assurance is that the Spirit provides the means of recognizing who Christ is in a given cultural context. Indeed, mission “is not just something that the church does; it is something that is done by the Spirit, who is himself the witness, who changes both the world and the church, who always goes before the church in its missionary journey.”13 We need to recognize that the Gospel is by its very nature disruptive of paradigms and therefore attempting to convey Jesus to people in a particular way may not have the desired result. Rather the Spirit must intercede, in a manner that Newbigin highlights at the point of Peter’s confession of Jesus as Lord: “Jesus tells Peter that the confession ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’ is not the work of ‘flesh and blood’ but a gift of the Father (Matt. 16-17 [show] And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." So he left them and departed. When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." And the disciples asked him, "Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?" He answered, "Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were greatly distressed. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?" He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." (ESV)
).”14
These issues highlight what is possibly the most important reason to return to the paradigm of the apostles as our examples in missions, namely the fact that their Mediterranean Roman world was much more like our contemporary marketplace of religions and our state of pluralism than the past several centuries have been. Many of the issues faced today by missionaries center around questions of culture and inclusion, or enculturation and syncretism-situations very similar to the context of the early church. The underlying problems energizing these questions are the same as those which faced the church at the Jerusalem council. Our task in these times is to be as secure in our faith as our forebears were, being unafraid to engage in dialogue so that we might return the good things in other faiths to the good God who created and inspired them and in so doing witness to our Lord by our actions and our love, but also recognizing those things that run counter to the heart of the Gospel and the unique nature of Jesus Christ, who is our only salvation.