Idea No. 2
Well, the help for my homework hasn’t exactly been pouring in, but Steve did ask a good question about who we move from being “inviting” to “infiltrating” churches. I think my last installment will try to address this as I deal with some practical issues. In anticipation, let me say that any kind of transformation is a much slower, though still necessary, process in existing churches. Churches which see the need for this kind of transformation but who do not want to be torn apart in the process should probably look at planting a new church, where the process can happen quickly, and work more slowly, yet consistently, at bringing about this missional transformation at home.
Continuing where I left off last time …
A second idea that emerged from these readings is that the church is the vehicle through which God’s reign is accomplished on earth. We make known the triumph of Christ to the principalities and powers. We dare not dismiss the church as irrelevant or obsolete.
This does not mean that the church pursues relevance at all costs. Philip Graham Ryken correctly warns, “When churches make relevance their primary goal, they are vulnerable to the twin perils of postmodernism: relativism and narcissism” (2003, 22). We can easily be seduced by the culture in our quest for relevance. Rather, the church must understand that it is by nature relevant because God has chosen to make his reign known to the principalities and powers through the church (Ephesians 3:10-11).
Being possessed by God’s kingdom, the church is an agent of the kingdom (Van Gelder 2000, 88). We are called to manifest and to promote the values of the kingdom taught by Jesus—love, justice, peace, and joy—in the world. As God’s kingdom people, we are both reconciled and redeemed. Because we have been reconciled to a holy God, we are “ministers of reconciliation,” both on the vertical and horizontal dimensions (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). As redeemed people, we hold forth the possibilities of redeemed living, as we call people to experience with us the “already” of God’s reign (Van Gelder 2000, 81).
Embodying the kingdom of God also calls us into conflict with every power that competes with God’s sovereignty or oppose his reign. We are inevitably drawn into this-worldly situations that reflect cosmic struggles. In these power encounters, we have no strength except to rely on God and to move forward in faith, confident that the victory has already been won. In faith, we call others to enter God’s reign and to embrace the victory that has been won on their behalf, overcoming the bondage of the rulers and authorities who compete with God—whether demonic oppression, physical addictions, or human oppressors.
posted by Anthony Parker @ 3:24 PM
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Let me say from current experience that while planting a new church does help in some ways, it can also be a very painful experience. We have found it difficult to keep a foot in both "old" church and "new." It seems to come down to hermeneutic-- old vs. new. How can we even have meaningful discussions about the future of God's church, when some still distribute pamphlets like "The New hermeneutic: The Devil's Modernistic Device to Destroy the Church"?
Okay, with that off my chest, my next question is: How do we reclaim our role as kingdom distributors? If a local congregation of God's church has lost its focus in that regard, is it possible to turn back in that direction or is it best to let groups who have lost their outward focus cannibalize themselves and, instead, to help a new generation of kingdom spreaders grow up?
While I have been discouraged by large groups of believers ignoring the urgency of the battle (and I find it easy to fall into that tendency myself sometimes), I have been hugely encouraged by the small pockets of prayerful, faithful Christians who are quietly changing things-- not by pushing and arguing, but by prayerfully lifting specific people and situations up to God and leaving his church in his hands.
Thanks, Patty, for your insight. I'm sitting here discussing your comment with Jenna Bunner. She observed that one good thing about it being quiet change is that no one individual can take credit. My own observation is that relying on prayer not only relieves us of the burden, but also avails us of the only power capable of bringing about such radical change.
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