8/6/12 (CONTINUED) WHO INTERPRETS THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE TO THE WORLD?

8/6/12. (CONTINUED): “WHO EFFECTIVELY INTERPRETS THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE TO THE WORLD AROUND US?”

I would not be surprised but what there were a few raised eyebrows, or unconvinced snorts, at my last Blog about a church without clergy. Understandable. But the more pressing question would be: What, actually, is the God-given purpose for the church anyway? How is it part of God’s great good news to the world? What does it have to do with God’s purpose in sending Christ? … And then: Who equips it to fulfill such a purpose/design?

I want to introduce to my readers (who aren’t already familiar with him) the one giant voice who has probably done more than anyone else in the past half-century to alert the church to its missional purpose and essence, and to assist it in understanding what that looks like, and how it fulfills such. That figure is one Lesslie Newbigin. (You can check his awesome biography on Wikipedia.)

What provoked Newbigin—after a long and fruitful missionary career in the Hindu culture of South India, and his retirement in England—was that it was easier to engage the folk in South India with the Christian message than it was in the post-Christian, secular, humanist, pluralist culture of the U.K. and the West. Out of that realization came several very influential and disturbing volumes, but one I want to share with you here. It is entitled: The Gospel In a Pluralist Society. Chapter 18 is entitled: “The Congregation as the Hermeneutic [i.e., interpreting necessity] of the Gospel.” In other words, the congregation is the necessary compelling demonstration of the wonder of God’s New Creation in Christ. That sounds so off-the-chart!

But, don’t go away! The church neglects this to its own peril. Listen up:

“The only effective hermeneutic of the gospel is the life of the congregation which believes it.

“Insofar as it is true to its calling, it becomes the place where men and women and children find that the gospel gives them framework of understanding, the ‘lenses’ through which they are able to understand and cope with the world. Insofar as it is true to its calling, this community will have, I think, the following six characteristics: [of which I want to quote only # 6 as apropos to last week’s blog.]

# 4. It will be a community where men and women are prepared for, and sustained in, the exercise of the priesthood in the world: a) The congregation has to be a place where its members are trained, supported, and nourished in the exercise of their parts of the priestly ministry in the world; b) The congregation must recognize that God gives different gifts to different members of the body.”

____________

So, … if all folk see is a respectable bunch of religious folk meeting in their church clubhouse, … that contradicts the very purpose and calling of the church to be the hermeneutic of the gospel. (To be continued)

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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