the church and its primary task
The Role of the Church is to make a sharp contradiction explode in the consciousness of the Christian, walking tranquilly toward Jericho when both sides of the street are full of dead, wounded, sick dying children and desperate mothers. When Jesus was baptized, says Luke, a dove descended and there was a voice proclaiming Jesus as the beloved Son of God. After this event, Jesus begins his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing, a sign that the kingdom of God is upon us. Jesus' baptism is the day of his "ordination," the beginning point of his work, his ministry.
Pressure on the Church to take on the role of leader and spokesperson for change also comes from its milieu. The majority of Christians in America are black and poor. Young people especially, in today's increasingly militant atmosphere, are writing off the church as irrelevant because Christians have not been willing to be radical in denouncing injustice. While the church remains important, increasing numbers sense that the momentum towards liberation resides elsewhere and that the church is merely responding to it rather than leading it. Nonetheless, in my view, the church needs to indicate clearly which side it stands on in the struggle. I view my role as helping to continue the dialogue and showing the relevance of church and God in the struggle for liberation.
Emphasizing the nurturing and serving function of Christian fellowship in the church. The worshiping community nourishes the personal experience of faith. The outreach of the church springs from the working of the Spirit. Christianity ties bind us together in faith and service in our dailey global witness, enabling faith to become active in love and intensifying our desire for peace and justice in the world.
There is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. The communal forms of faith in the Wesleyan tradition not only promote personal growth; they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. The outreach of the church springs from the working of the Spirit. What is the role of the church in modern society, and is there any theological basis for that role? The church has at least three roles to play in society. They are:
- Witness to God's love and power.
- Call society to peace, justice and compassion.
- Work toward the welfare of all members of society.
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
By changing the focus from witness to the teaching of doctrine and traditions, the church has become more like a tribe and less like a spirit-led community of witnesses. This is a natural process of change, but is not necessarily a good one. One reason for the change is the identification of the church with the society in which it lives.
If the role of the church is to witness to the society around it, it must have a certain critical distance from that society. Without this distance it is very difficult to discern where the practices of society diverge from the church's understanding of God's desires for the world. The church can become confused, seeing in human actions the plan of God, when those actions are not consistent with the Bible.
This distinction between public and private roles of a Christian continues today. When we gather to discuss the role of the church and legislation in defining restorative justice, we need to recognize the basic difference between the views of those who belong to churches which have been part of the power structure, and those who don't. The church has a role in society of witnessing to the power and love of God. But how does that witness manifest itself these days? How should it manifest itself? One way is for it to
God looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress. . . Woe to you who add house to house and field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land . . . who acquit the guilty for a bribe but deny justice to the innocent . . . But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness. Isaiah 5 Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Luke 6:20b-21.
Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28. These are prophetic words, words which compare what society is doing with eternal principles of peace, justice and compassion. The church has a prophetic role in its society. Human versions of truth come and go. They tend to be based on what works, what is popular, or on a reaction to something else that didn't work.
The church's role as prophet is even more important just for this reason. An individual is easily squelched. But a church is not. The church also has a corporate memory. It may take years for an idea to build and percolate. Sometimes it takes more than a generation. Think of the role of the Catholic Church in Poland. There it did take more than a generation for the church-supported Solidarity movement to lead the country back to independence. The church in Russia is enjoying a tremendous resurgence. These things take time. An individual prophet doesn't have the staying power to see it through.
Another strength of a prophetic church is the group discernment process. It is one thing for an individual to have a big idea, but it is quite another when a church examines that idea, prays over it, and discerns that God is calling the church to this particular prophetic role. Where does that sort of prophetic imagination and staying power come from? An individual with a big idea would be hard-pressed to hang in there. The power of the church discerning the idea and confirming it, then lending its support is a powerful force. The church has been given revealed principles for living in peace with justice and compassion. It hasn't always lived up to those principles, but where it has accepted its prophetic role things have happened.
- Should the church be involved in the legislative process? If so, how?
- Is there a type of prophetic voice which is singularly appropriate for the church?
- Is the church just another self-interested pressure group?
- How does the church discern what sort of legislation it ought to be espousing?
- How then can it be involved as an institution in specific legislation?
The church is a diverse organism and it's
members hold very different view of social policy.
The Old and New Testament prophets tended to be loners. They heard God speaking to them, and told people about it. How do we moderns, especially in our various groups, hear God speaking a clear word? The biblical prophets also tended to say what was wrong with the status quo. You didn't see them drafting social legislation, for the most part. The original Joseph signed on to run Egypt's entire social program, but he is pretty much alone among Bible characters in having done so. The church is called to speak with a prophetic voice. We are also called to discern how faithful servants of God do that in a modern context. These meetings are part of that process. Talk is good, but the church is also called to Work toward the welfare of all members of society.
When Christians witness to the love and power of God, the point they are making is that God has a plan for humankind. One aspect of that plan is a special concern for the poor and powerless. A special concern that justice be done with mercy. The best interests of the rich and powerful are not a concern, generally speaking, since they are doing just fine. The New Testament book of James says it this way in chapter 2 (NRSV): Principles found in the Bible have a more lasting quality because they aren't self-defined. The value of peace, justice and compassion come from outside us, from a source of absolute truth. As such, they are much more difficult for a Christian to set aside than some principle of the moment.
The church has a reservoir of wisdom and truth in the Bible, and a role to play in witnessing to that truth in a call to the society of its day toward peace, justice and compassion. But, as the book of James suggests, a faith which calls others to these things without also practicing what it preaches is a dead thing.
The church is called to challenge its members to examine their behavior in private and social arrangements. Behaviors which perpetuate alienation and injustice, create the pent-up rage inside people and explodes as demons. Christianity in general is changing dramatically across the globe. Old paradigms are breaking down, and we need to explore fresh visions of what it means to be the church, and what it means to bear witness in our rapidly changing situation. I am particularly concerned with issues related to the impact of the gospel on American culture and the role of the church in living in that intersection between gospel and culture. The kinds of themes I plan to explore in my ministry will include:
- What does it mean to be the church in our culture
- What forms and practices best empower the church to bear
witness in America
- What is the significance of the gospel in our global culture
- What are the theological challenges we face in our changing cultural context
- How should we look at our culture from the perspective of the gospel
- What are appropriate Christian analyses of modernity, post-modernity, pluralism and the other forces which are sweeping through our culture
