Summary: Mission of the Church

Initially divided into two groups with these assignments:

Group 1:

Read:
Jesus words at the end of his conversation with Nicodemus: John 3:16 - 17
Peter’s closing of his sermon at Pentecost: Acts 2: 37 - 39
Much loved passage from Romans: Romans 3: 21 - 24

If these were the only scriptures you knew, what would be your understanding of the most important activities in the Christian faith.

Group 2:

Read:
Typical of prophetic passages in which prophets address the needs of the weak: Isaiah 10:1-2
Jesus’ reading at the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth: Luke 4: 16-18
Jesus on judgment: Matthew 25:34-40

If these were the only scriptures you knew, what would be your understanding of the most important activities in the Christian faith.

After reviewing the thoughts that followed this reading, the teacher observed that the scriptures from Group 1 reminded us that an important responsibility of the church is to invited folks to accept the gift of reconciliation with God that is offered through Jesus. The scriptures from Group 2 remind us that an important responsibility of the church is to minister to a hurting world in the name of Jesus. The teacher then launched into the following:

I want to talk about a sorrow that has been part of my pilgrimage as a Christian. The sorrow stems from observing the difficulty that Christian communities have in living and proclaiming the breadth of the gospel. More specifically, Christian communities (individual churches) tend to cluster and polarize around two ways of viewing the Christian gospel:

Salvationism: The churches focus on bringing persons in to saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Social Activism: The churches focus on increasing the measure of peace and justice in this world. Special concern is evidenced for the poor, the outcast, and the forgotten.


The tendency is for communities to choose … and make one of these themes the primary theme in its ministries to the exclusion of the other. Those who have suffered under this teacher for a while can probably guess his position … both emphases are central to the mission of the church of Jesus Christ.


Short comings of “Salvationism” Exclusive focus on bringing persons into saving relationship with Jesus Christ

Misses one of the key themes of prophetic proclamation in the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah)
Misses one of the key themes of Jesus’ teachings
You are the Salt of the world … You are the Light of the world
Blessed are the Poor in spirit and the peace maker
Fails to understand the full measure of the call of love and define that love for a watching world

Note: Salvationism is most in error when it assumes that we are charged with saving the world: Under the influence of this error, we sometimes find folks crushing people in efforts to save them and ignoring the important truth: God alone is saving and has saved the world in Jesus Christ … our call is to be welcoming and invitational to those who might wish to accept this gift of grace


Shortcomings of Social Activism: Exclusive focus on increasing the measure of peace and justice in the world.

Tendency to detach efforts from Biblical proclamation and God’s offer of grace.
Tendency to miss the reality of evil in our world.
Tendency to see “the problem” as “the society” rather than “the individual” and hence to lose sight of the power of amazing grace to convert us … and thereby to profoundly address issues of poverty, peace, and justice.

Note: Social Activism is most in error when it assumes that we are charged with saving the world: Under the influence of this error, we sometimes find folks using means to justify ends and neglecting to do all good works in Jesus name and thereby ignoring the important truth: God alone is redeeming our world and our society … our call is to be the hands and feet of God’s work in the place where we are … to experience the reality of being salt and light.

I have not always been a Methodist … and sometimes get a little frustrated with Methodist ways of doing things. But here is something of which I am very proud. In many churches in the South, Methodist have taken seriously the full breadth of the Christian ministry. Even while being serious about helping men and women discover salvation, understand that they are members of the Family of God, we have remained committed to reaching across barriers of poverty and injustice. Indeed, even as our church struggled during recent years:
o Each year … the Honduran mission trip
o Each year … many weeks committed to Inner Faith Hospitality
o After Katrina …Two trips from our church to the Gulf Coast

Closing conversation:
Think a bit together: Suppose we wanted to do a better job with the Salvationist side of our call as Christians.

Think a bit together: What if we wished to do a better job on the Social Justice side of our call as Christians. What things might we do?