Missiology: Christ Shaped Mission (Gordon Cotterill)
Discussion Point#1
One point that is made points to the importance of Holiness being the heart-beat of mission. This quote by Darrel Guder was used:-
"the church is called to demonstrate an alternative culture ... in conformity with Christ it is called to an alternative set of behaviours, an alternative ethic, an alternative kind of relationships ... its differentness is itself a witness to the gospel" (Guder)Can you see any areas of concern for the church where this distictiveness has been lost or watered down?
posted by ETLnetwork at 2:59 AM
17 Comments:
The sometimes ‘softly, softy’ approach when preaching the Gospel so as not to offend people or turn them away is a concern. Yes, we need to love people with God’s love but also be straight with them just as Jesus was with the rich young man.
Penny PT
As I ponder on the heart-beat of mission and looking to Missional Jesus; through His life I can see a clearer picture of holiness and the expectation for all Christians. Bosch (pg 67) speaks of 'the love of a neighbour may be regarded as a litmus test for the love of God. The same is true of deeds. They are the test for the authenticity of words. To believe, to follow Jesus, to understand, all contain an element of active committment that flows into deeds.' When this is demonstrated then behaviour patterns and relationships will in themselves be a witness to the gospel.
Yet,in reality there are concerns for the church and its distinctiveness. The Early Church was far from perfect but I do see a model of a community of believers who, worshiped together, prayed together,shared in fellowsip together, and cared for one another. There alternative lifestyle drew others into the fold. We, in TSA have become quite insular in sharing our lives with each other and in some cases our attitudes may be about firstly making sure 'we are alright'. With fast moving busy lives it has been all too easy to not have time for each other and it is all well and good 'getting out there into the community' to good work but if we are not actually loving and caring for each other in the 'fellowship' can we effectively be witnessing the gospel message?
Through the challenges of this module it does highlight a need for more teaching on the Missio Dei.
Newbigin (pg 20)says, "One factor was common to all: it was the presence of a believing, worshipping, celebrating congregation of people deeply involved in the ordinary life of their neighbourhood. . . There was no humanly devised programme for mission. It was the work of the Spirit, present in the life of the congregation, flowing out into the community through faithful words and deeds of its members". With this in mind - it must be Jesus shaping our lives as we take on more of his character and live out the Kingdom values (as read in Matthew's gospel)then the heart-beat of God will be experienced in this world.
Areas of concern where this distinctiveness is watered down or lost could perhaps include;
The Christian church becomes just another religious brand in the religious market place and the world passes it by, it’s just one of many.
It could result in the spirit of the age permeating the church. The result of this is the church community becomes what you want it to be, as do individual Christian lives. Lives no longer represent the truth of the gospel and of the kingdom message. You end up with distortion.
If the church community no longer embodies the kingdom of God in its communal life and in its individual lives there is a lack of power and transformation. Also, within their local communities the church and its people are no longer salt and light and are therefore largely ineffective in transforming their communities.
There is a lack of authenticity and the world is not fooled by that.
yvonne
It sounds like salt losing it's saltiness!
Discussion 1 Christ Shaped Mission
I sometimes think that all Christian Churches have lost their way in society . Very often Churches look within themselves and forget entirely the community around it . It is all to easy to be safe and respectable . It is a challenge to look out from our buildings and realise that there are people who do not know anything about the love of God demonstrated by our belief in Christ . The Salvation Army bands are in great demand at Christmas time around the country and there has been attempts by some groups such as councils to limit the message given by Christians at Christmas . However, our radical life changing message of Gods Kingdom cannot controlled if Christians reach out into their communities becoming Christ for those they meet. Our challenge is to be in society close and dirty without losing our integrity . To shine light on Gods Kingdom without becoming a good intentioned group of Charity workers who attempt to provide answers for Human misery without dealing with the underlying reasons . We are called to bring Grace to a hurting World whatever the cost.
Chris Hall
"I sometimes think that all Christian Churches have lost their way in society ......."
"Our challenge is to be in society close and dirty without losing our integrity"
Good points Chris
Last week I had the oppertunity of being involved with a Christmas Lights switch on, in the way of joining with our Churches Together Group and Carol Singing. We had a captive audience, and members of the public we gathering around showing interest.What an oppertunity for contact with people. Considering that this was a Christian group, there seemed to be a lack of initiative in striking up conversation and making contact with people. I was viewed with suspicion by some of the group as I went around chatting to people, giving out carol sheets inviting them to sing etc, as I should have been with them!
As I reflected upon that mornings events - what was that saying to people about Church?
Considering that there were other groups of carol singers that morning - school groups etc - what what made our group distinctly Christian? Nothing, until I (and one other person), went around making contact with people. Hirsch - The Forgotten Ways (p133)says that 'in our mission to those outside of the faith, we will need to exercise genuine indentification and affinity with those we are attempting to reach' That mornings carolling could have made a greater impact than it did!
I like Carol's point that unless we are loving each other then we are not really being effective in witnessing the Gospel. Sadly I think that this happens too often in TSA and probably other churches - we are being keen and charitable to the 'outside' world, but then internal arguments show our failings. In reality healthy discussions are needed and people will have different views, but when disagreements last months and years then this is not a healthy environment.
It is important to show the distinctness of Christianity and I agree with Penny that the 'softly, softly' approach is a concern. It is important to accept that others may have different viewpoints but I don't have to agree with them. Other religions tend to say exactly what they believe , so why does Christianity hold back? Why do we shy from the fact that the Scriptures state 'Jesus is the Only Way'? Yes, we must be careful to accept that other people have differing views, but isn't our mission 'to win the world for Jesus' and if we decide that it really isn't that relevant whether or not we share this particular truth, then I believe we are guilty of 'watering down' the message. I think that a different approach is needed from the past where people used to shout on the street corners and that the 'action' approach that has been discussed in previous questions is the right approach,but we must not hold back from the fundamental truths.
First of all I'd like to point out that it doesn't say in the Bible: "Jesus is the only way". It says in John 14:6 that Jesus points out: "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Although He is my way and although He died for all sins of all mankind I do believe that the omission in this verse of absolute words like ‘only’ or ‘no other’ is helpful in the dialogue with other people.
I do believe that our distinctiveness has been watered down in some areas of the church. Specifically the liberal churches are not much different from other religious cultures and lose in attractiveness as a result.
But on the other end I believe that we have cherished our distinction a bit too much. I believe we as the church are part of this ‘big bad world’, because Jesus made his hands dirty in his lifetime here on earth. ‘Hands on’ and ‘Getting dirty’ are principles that we should cherish at least as much as our distinctiveness
".
interesting point Marc - exclusivity can be a non-starter in any conversation that will develop.
However what do we think about Jesus using the 'the' word rather than 'a'. Does his claim that he was 'the' way rather than 'a' way point to a more exclusive understanding of the fullness of life that Jesus claimed he brought.
I believe that Jesus is THE Way, but I also believe that Jesus did not use any articles like "the" or "a" in Arameic or in the written Greek version. In that way it would say I am Way, Truth and Light!
Sounds kinda catchy don't you think?
I think the church lost its distinctiveness in several ways. First I see the focus: it became throughout the years more inwards than outwards. As a result we tend to focus on rules and regulations, rather than relations. The latter was is the main thing that God and Jesus worry about, according to my understanding of the Bible. An other result is losing contact with community and therefore losing contact with the people we are called to serve. Thirdly, the church lost its radical-ness, its dynamic presence and its sense of humour and ability to take risks. When I think of Jesus and the way He was present on earth, I see all of this in Him, but not in church. Fourthly, I miss the ability to start and maintain dialogue with other believers or non-believers. I think church tends to walk away or reject different dialogues instead of entering the dialogue, just like Jesus did.
I agree that I feel the church and other christian organisations have lost there way. We have locally a Christian organistian who help the homeless who have now changed their name because they felt being recognised as christian could be offensive to non-christians. My argument is how are people ever going to hear about the gospel if we do not tell them, if they do not want to do anything else about it that then that is up to them but at least we have shared the gospel. For too long we have worried about upsetting non believers to the extent that the we now thing twice about speaking about God for fear of upset. I agree with the comment about the army band at christmas, soemtimes it seems we are wanted just to be an entertainment they do not really want to know the real story of christams, they just want to feel good about singing a few carols taking up a collection so they have done their bit for charity at christmas. This is not what we are about we are about telling people about how God can change lives.
Leslie Newbigin once said "... the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.". I wonder how much credibility has been lost fro the church by those you communicate the gospel outside that framework of authenticity?
Without a doubt there are times when the church almost appears to be afraid to voice the truth of the Gospel message both inside and outside of the church. So often the church is more afraid of offending people and putting them off, sadly the flip side to this is that we then often don’t provide the opportunity for people to hear the truth and the relevance of the Gospel not only for their own lives but for the improvement of the wider community.
I would also have to question how often clear strong holiness teaching is provided within the church context. With the restructuring of Sunday meetings, i.e. maybe just one family service, it is difficult to provide the level of holiness teaching that is required to encourage and inspire holy living. Whilst I am not suggesting that we should go back to three meetings a day etc, but if we only have one meeting then we need to ensure that holiness teaching is provided on a regular basis or in some other way i.e. mid-week teaching groups. If Christians truly lived holy lives their impact upon society would be immense and the Gospel message would be demonstrated on a daily basis within the work, home, school and social environments that most people find themselves within
Thanks Angela, "...its differentness is itself a witness to the gospel" (Guder) is an interestiong phrase. I wonder what has contributed to us being 'afraid of offending people and putting them off'? Looking back perhaps this is a reaction to a style of evangelism that was more akin to s sales pitch rather than an exclamation of living the alternative life that Jesus modelled.
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