Introduction There are a great many lessons, good and bad alike, to be learned from Church history, especially as it relates to our missional efforts. A propensity exists for many of us to fall into a functional belief that we are the one’s building the church – maybe even our own church – and also that the expansion of the gospel rests in our ingenuity and accomplishments. However, as we take a sincere look at Church history and past missional feats we quickly and rightly see that nothing is further from the truth. First and foremost, the entirety of the work of our Triune God, and second, he has been working through the Church for generations and until his Kingdom is fulfilled he will continue to work through the Church. Stephen Neill beautifully …show more content…
Ultimately, this is the question of contextualization. Contextualization involves striving to present the gospel in a culturally pertinent manner. Before moving further, a key distinction needs to be made between contextualization solely based on methods, versus contextualization of the gospel message itself. Contextualization of methods finds the source of contextualization in the activities of the Church. Although there are appropriate occasions when this can be challenged, often times when our methods or activities are the locus of our contextualization efforts it inclines itself to the prioritization of preferences, a cultural “syncretism” of sorts, and even a shallowing of the Church and the gospel. However, when the locus is of contextualization is the contextualization of the gospel message then we began to see the larger impact that the gospel has on the whole of creation. In turn, God is made bigger, more transcendent, yet more immanent. The gospel message is made broader, more expansive across the various brokenness found in life, yet more present and personal in one’s specific life. As such, a second essential principle which I believe to be derived from the historical mission of the Church is the contextualization of the gospel message. First, translating the Holy Scriptures into the indigenous language is the first …show more content…
This principle is rooted in the gospel itself. Essentially, if we believe that the gospel changes who we are, then it changes how we think and act, then it only makes sense that it should change where we live. Societal engagement entails not just being engaged within the cultural, but also serving the local regions, cities, and villages where one lives. There is likely not greater visual representation of the gospel than to serve as Christ has served. Mark 10:45 reminds us, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The gospel message of Jesus Christ is not one merely of future hope, but also of present hope in that his followers should be an extension of his love, his mercy and justice, to the physical world. For example, this was exemplified by the development of educational institutions by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) within the West Africa region, such as the Fourth Bay college and the CMS Grammar schools. The work of CMS in West Africa is not alone, when we take broader look at the mission of the Church throughout history one sees a tight association between gospel expansion and loving Christian service. However, when we take a look at the western church it seems that there is a growing deficiency – I would place myself at the forefront of this deficiency.
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
The thesis of the book Deep and Wide by Adam Stanley is simply put as making a church that the unchurched can’t resist to attend. This book may cause controversy in some Christian circles by leaving a traditional church view of the church’s purpose being for the churched, however, in this paradigm shift Stanley presents that the church’s purpose should be to reach the unchurched in order for people to receive the Gospel that would never step foot into a traditional church. Stanley has shown results with this mission and method by North Point Churches growth from its start with him as a church planter and senior pastor. Deep and Wide challenges the pastor to refocus and seriously convict them
Many women from around the world live day to day under the shadow of gender roles. While their spouses are away at their jobs, the women are expected to cook, clean, and take care of their kids, all before the husband gets home from work. From A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Nana is a single housewife who birthed and raised her only daughter Mariam by herself, while doing daily house chores, taking care of her medical conditions, and battling depression. While Mariam was approaching her early preteens, Nana suddenly decided she had endured enough pressure and hung herself. On the whole, the events leading up to Nana’s death proves a desperate act of suicide.
Gary McIntosh earned a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Rockmont College. He pursued a career in the business world before being called by God to enter into ministry. He attended Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, graduating in 1982 with a D.Min. in Church Growth. McIntosh has served as Vice President of a church consulting company as well as accepting a call to teach at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. In 2005 he earned a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological seminary. He is the recipient of several awards, including one from American Society For Church Growth. McIntosh is a distinguished author when it comes to church growth, appearing in several journals as well as having authored over eighteen monographs regarding church growth.
When the church and its ministries are disconnected from God’s narrative, they become subject to the whims of culture. Similarly, if Christians are to recover the Christian narrative, they must first disabuse themselves of civil religion. Christians shall not accommodate God’s narrative to privatism and consumerism. To conclude, God’s narrative must not be blithely recited as a litany of words. Instead, Christians must recover the profound original interpretation of God’s narrative. If this ancient narrative is recovered, Christians will once again be able to speak to the world about its own history and tell the truth about the triune God. Finally, Christians must unlearn and unravel the cultural accommodations embraced by the church in order to release the full power and impact on God’s
“Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” is the essence of Christianity. Jesus Christ commanded his followers to go to all the directions of the world and share the good news. But how is one to do this when these nations are full of cultures and differences that these disciples had yet to encounter? Throughout the history of Christianity, we see many types of Christianities taking place through different forms of leadership, and hierarchy. To each, they contain their own views, ideas and concepts on how Christianity should look and what it should contain all the while trying to keep the very foundations of Christ’s teachings. But as the world continues to get older and grander, we begin to see the practices and factors of Christianity being weakened by the unnoticed acts of Jesus and his ideas of social cultural acceptances. By taking a look at the Chinese Rites Controversy, I will argue the importance of culture and the adaptation of culture in evangelical approaches.
Ministry is messy, filled with many dichotomies that that can sabotage a minister’s effectiveness. Can a minister be entrepreneurial while being a good steward? Can a ministry grow and still be healthy? How does the business of ministry and culture of the church coexist? How do ministries remain ethical while maintain the business of ministry? These are the questions that pastors face and must answer correctly in order to be effective.
When the church first started growing the believers were few and shared everything. And there was not much need for deacons. But as time went on a need for deacons was identified. First th...
As a Christian I stand on the belief that the Bible is the inspired word of God and as such the process for its documentation was orchestrated by God for all humankind. Christian’s further believe God has prepared the hearts of humankind to receive the gospel upon hearing if they choose to. Working under this precept we can agree that cultural barriers, specific to hearing the gospel, should not be a factor for other cultures. Since the revelatory Word of God has no barriers the approach used to expose cross-cultural communities to it does. For that reason this essay will identify critical elements to consider when developing a ministry philosophy involving cross-cultural communities.
“The call is something that is an indescribable joy and an indefinable burden at the same time.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 32). There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a congregation of the redeemed moving forward in their faith. However exciting this may be, it is usually not the thrill that propels the pastor in his service. It is the burden placed on the pastor by God that compels him in his work. The pastor understands that he is largely responsible for the work of God being accomplished by his faithfulness to his calling. “All through the Word of God and down through the annals of history, when God has moved it has almost always been attended by the preaching of the Word.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 31)
The congregation becomes the example of the Gospel by faithfully responding to the call to be the incarnation of God 's story that calls for the world to come to know the truth of the Gospel. The implication of this is a responsibility placed on the Christian leader to live this out for the community and willingly guide the community and its unique individuals to fulfill their call in the mission of God. This all can be accomplished because the Gospel provides us confidence because it call us to participate in the will of God. Newbigin concludes with this, “He knows what he is doing, and we can trust him. Such experience is a summons to self-searching, to repentance, and to fresh commitment. It is not an occasion for anxiety. God is faith, and he will complete what he has begun.”3
In being Christ to all around us, Pope John Paul II tells us that “we must make the poor feel at home. Without this form of evangelization through charity and without the witness of Christian poverty, the proclamation of the Gospel, which itself is the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood” (Wojtyla 4). Pope John Paul II tells us that we are to be Christ to all we meet, so that we may make all people feel dignified and wholly human. We must value the sacredness of each individual person so that we may transform this earth into the Kingdom of God. We are given a divine mission to reach out to all others in our lives, and if we do not serve others as Christ has served us, then we risk misinterpretation of the m...
In a contemporary Christian environment one of the most prominent practices to have a significant contribution to Christianity as a living religious tradition is Baptism. Baptism is of utmost importance for most Christian denominations. It has profound significance for the individual who is baptised and is also important for the Christian community as a whole. As a sacrament of initiation, Baptism calls its adherents to become missionary Disciples of Christ. It is through baptism that one’s faith journey begins and Christians are called to follow and live their lives in the light of Christ.
In addition it is by means of that identical instrumentality that individuals should have their impact upon those they teach. The Holy Spirit’s influence on the early church and apostles conveyed teaching, friendship, the leadership and prayer into fulfillment. I feel that the real-life love revealed shouts to the 21st era Church’s should refocus on these fundamental leaders. To my understanding the book of Act demonstrate the days of the early church. Also, the four frameworks concerning the modern-church can attract knowledge to integrate these heart-felt leadership skills are historical context, learned contexts, interpretation and devotion. 2 Timothy 2:15 states, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (NKJV). Believers who overlook the Bible will definitely be humiliated at the
Evangelism is one of the key component for changing people’s lives. McRaney states, “The word evangelism comes from a combination of Greek words for “good” and “messenger.” Evangelism involves bringing the goods. Kent Hunter reminded us that “when Christians witness, they tell how Jesus Christ has changed their own lives. The change in their own lives gives them the desires to share the Good News with others.” Christians must share their testimony to people and spread the gospel so that they can bring lost souls to Christ. God has commissioned every Christian to evangelize so that people will learn about Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Matthew 28:19 states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Christians are required to spread the Gospel throughout the world and can no longer just attend church. Christians must plant seeds and water the seeds so that lost souls will be saved.