The missional community is commissioned to continue to be the blessing to the world by befriending the disenfranchised, by modeling forgiveness and mercy, and by being a people who live out faith in the world. The missional example negates a life of faith withdrawing from the world, but it gives attention to the affect the Christian community can have on everyday life situations.
N.T.Wright refers to this when he wrote, “The way of the Christian witness is neither the way of quietest withdrawal, nor the way of Herodian compromise, not the way of angry militant zeal. It is the way of being in Christ, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain, so that the healing love of God may be brought to bear at that point.”[1]
Listening opens up the community to hear and experience the pains of the world. Listening draws a missional community to the crossroads of pain and healing. In this setting, healing can work both ways — for the faith community as well as for those in the margins. The missional approach teaches that the relationships between believers and nonbelievers are reciprocal. “The gospel brings blessings to all, adherents and non-adherents a like.”[2] This was evident in the Celtic understanding of mission: “Sometimes the mission context serves not only as a theatre for adapting the presentation of Christianity; it also serves as a catalyst for recovering something essential and precious within Christianity.”[3] The preservation of nature and the importance of it were essentially recovered within Christianity through engaging with the lives of the Celtic people.
The missional community should approach ministry with a humble and open mind, being willing to listen and learn, as well as lead and teach those not yet committed to faith. This reciprocal approach provides the space needed for dialogue to happen between people of diversity. The art of listening provides an opportunity for the recovery of something "essential and precious within Christianity." Are you a part of a community of faith willing to listen to the voices from outside — voices on the fringe, and voices that have been marginalized? What is it that you/we are hearing? What are you/we hearing that is essential to the Christian community that has been suppressed or overshadowed within the past? Are you/we listening for the places of healing?
[1] Wright, The Challenge of Jesus, 189.
[2] McLaren, Generous Orthodoxy, 111.
[3] Hunter, The Celtic Way of Evangelism, 85.
Preaching in Challenging Times
7 years ago
Posts
Dr. Harrington:
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some interesting points. You write that by listening to "those not yet committed to faith" we can learn and recover something "essential and precious" about the Christian faith. However, I wonder how well this position fits with the witness of Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul states that "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor. 1:18. Likewise the writer of Hebrews says that those who hear the gospel of Christ and do not repent are subject to God's vengeance. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Heb. 10:26-31. Thus, those that hear our preaching of the gospel but do not repent are "foolish" and have "trodden under foot the Son of God." How, therefore, can these who are without faith and rightfully under the wrath of Almighty God teach us concerning our faith?
Furthermore, how can we support Mr. McLaren's statement that these "non-adherants" receive blessings from hearing the gospel and rejecting it? I do not hereby discount common grace. Indeed, "for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matt. 4:45. However, the non-adherants that reject the truth of Christ' gospel do not receive these blessings on account of the hardness of their hearts. Rather, their condemnation will be all the worse for rejecting the revelation that they received: "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." Matt. 10:14-15.
Your servant,
Steven
Steven,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. First of all, I find it hard to believe that there has not been one non-adherant to the faith who has taught you something essential about the Christian faith. God has used various people throughout the history of my life both adherents and non-adherants of the faith to enrichen my understanding of the Christian faith. I really believe that God is influencial enough to use others to teach us about something essential that we (both individually and/or communally)as a follower of Christ have suppressed. On a personal or individual level, God has used a neighbor who claimed to be a non-adherant of the Christian faith to teach me about my own faith. My neighbor was very committed in spending time with his family and taking seriously his commitment to be home and spend time with his wife.( Of course, I have no idea the quality of their time together) However, I remember that God taught me through him about my own suppression of an important truth....a truth that reflects the Christian faith...My commitmnet to church and ministry was more important to me than my family. God not only uses non-adherants to teach me about faith individually, God uses creation to speak to me. I would say that a beatiful sunset or a bird finding provisionss speaks to me about God, a God who is faithful and cares for the needs of creation. Hasn't God revealed essentials of the faith through creation to you? I would say that creation is a non-adherant of the faith. I would like to move beyond individual examples and move to communal examples. These may fall into a local community of faith experiencing a greater understanding of an essential truth of the Christian faith as well as movements in history. One such movement I shared in my post...the Celts love of creation helped St. Patrick and others unveil an essential truth of the faith that had been suppressed. What about the environmentalists of our day? Those environmentalists who are and are not adherents of the Christian faith can teach the church about its role and relationship with creation---if you are I and others are willing to listen. I think that there are many ways that God can speak to us if we are willing to listen and be humble.
Regarding blessing, yes I do agree that God's blessing is like the rain...it falls on both the believer and the non-beleiver. I do disagree with your assumption that all non-adherants have rejected faith. Why can't some be wrestling with faith? What about those who have never heard? I would be careful to lump everyone in the same category.
Thanks for the discussion.
Dr. Harrington:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful response.
I agree that many non-Christians can be very good people. Many are better than me in many ways. While a non-Christian can teach me to be a better person, I am still not convinced that they can teach me to be a more faithful follower of Christ and more obedient to his commands. A Christian husband and a non-Christian husband can both love their wives. However, only the Christian husband can understand that he is to love his wife "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." Eph. 5:25. No matter how much a non-Christian loves his wife, he will never know (as long as he remains unregenerate) the extent that the Christian husband is to love his wife and nor can he be an example of this love for the Christian because "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be . . . So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:7-8.
Similarly, we can and do learn much about God from creation: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Psalms 19:1. However, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not shown through general revelation. Rather, the gospel only comes through the proclaimed good news. Rom. 10:17 ("So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."). Therefore, again, I believe that Christians can learn something about God from creation, but we cannot learn the gospel. It is because of the general revelation in creation that we can, like the Apostle Paul, begin there when we are addressing those that are ignorant of thw gospel. Acts 17:24.
Concerning whether a non-Christian has rejected the gospel or not depends on whether they have heard the gospel. Nonetheless, the non-Christian has rejected God's law and God's authority. "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. 1:21. Because of this they are under the righteous wrath of God. Rom. 1:18. Even those that have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel are under God's curse. It is this knowledge that drives the Church to obey the Great Commission and preach the gospel of salvation near and far. As far as those that are wrestling with whether to believe, they too are subject to God's judgment: "he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18b. There are only two types of people: those that have believed and those that have not. When a person is not a believer, they might very well be wrestling with certain convictions that they might have about God and Christ. However, they are, until they are born again through faith in Christ, "walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . . . in the lusts of [] flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath." Eph. 2:2-3. This is all the more reason why we should not hesitate to plead with them to be saved and pray that God would so soften their hearts and grant them faith.
Your Servant,
Steven
Steven,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that general revelation does not reveal the complete gospel, as well as, non-adherants can not teach fully on their own something essential within the Christian faith. However, I do believe that creation as well as non-adherants can help uncover something precious and essential that may have been suppressed within Christianity. Jesus clearly taught to love God with our mind, soul, heart and body. Paul addresses our bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit-the dwelling place of God. We are to care for and tend our bodies. Christianity has a lot to learn from non-adherants regarding the importance of caring for our bodies through exercise and proper eating habits. Steven sure you can argue that they don't fully understand why they care for their bodies and that non-adherants who exercise regularly and care for their body do it for impure motives or even that they do not fully understand that they are made in God's image. Whatever the case, you can not convince me that God can not use a person such as this to remind and even convict Christians that we need to take seriously our responsiblity to our bodies...we should know this before anyone else. However, it just does not seem to be the case. It has been suppressed for whatever reason. This is why I completely disagree with your comment...."While a non-Christian can teach me to be a better person, I am still not convinced that they can teach me to be a more faithful follower of Christ and more obedient to his commands." I believe that non-Christians can be used to teach me more than simply being a better person; they can be used to awaken me to areas of my own faith that I/we have neglected or simply overlooked. We may simply have to agree to disagree.
Todd