Skip to content

Category: mission

2

Published on 2 Comments on Updates from Wycliffe as well as Biblical Missiology

This article has been updated after correspondence with Biblical Missiology.

This controversy seems to have a lot of history.  There are concrete grievances - past translations that are clearly objectionable.

Wycliffe have released this statement affirming that they are "not omitting or removing the familial terms". Biblical Missiology dispute that, (part of the issue is: what kind of familial language is being used?  Only 'social' familial?)

Additionally (and this is what muddies the waters) Biblical Missiology and others seem to have more general concerns which go back some time.  This makes it difficult for newcomers to the discussion to either support or question their critique.

BM have their own press release here as well as other articles on the controversy.

5

Published on 5 Comments on The Insider Movement 1 – Paul Blackham

In the recent discussion about Bible translation (here, here and here), several people have contacted me with questions and thoughts that are strictly not about the translation issue but about another issue that is often referred to as the “Insider Movement”.  It is important to divide this away from the translation questions because there is no necessary connection between the two - see “Clarifying some misconceptions”.

Any of us involved in evangelism and church planting will be aware of the range of issues that confront us when a person begins to follow Jesus.  How much of their existing life and culture needs to be immediately changed?  Do they need to dress differently, speak differently, socialise differently?  Some British and American Christians of earlier generations tended to insist on a much more holistic change when a person began to follow Jesus, encouraging a total rejection of all kinds of ‘worldly’ culture and friendships, but now we tend to encourage new believers to retain much of their existing lifestyle and social circle.

These issues did not seem so pressing in previous generations of the European and American cultures because the boundaries between ‘church’ and ‘world’ might have seemed more easily understood.  However, nowadays we find that we are having to go back to basics and think about British culture as an example of front-line cross-cultural mission whereby becoming a Christian has complex cultural implications.

These issues of cultural and religious boundaries have been much more obvious in ‘foreign missionary’ situations for decades.  How does a person move from being a Hindu, with all the dress, food, family traditions and cultural markers that go with that, to being a member of a Church community as a follower of Jesus?  What needs to change and what is retained?  What is transformed by the LORD Jesus and what simply needs to be rejected?

For many years we have become familiar with the idea of “contextualisation” whereby the teaching of the Bible is expressed in forms that are meaningful and relevant to a target group.  This does not mean that the teaching needs to be made any easier to deal with or more acceptable, but that the true meaning of the Bible’s teaching is made clear by speaking it in a specific local context.  So, Tim Keller spends so much time making sure that the secular, metropolitan New Yorkers feel and understand the hard-hitting nature of the Way of the LORD Jesus.  He contextualises the gospel in that he tries to make sure it is clearly heard, but he does not try to make it more acceptable by compromising the message.  In that same way, we are all aware how, when we speak to our Muslim friends, we try to make sure to clearly explain how Jesus was not conceived through sexual union between the Father and Mary; how the Trinity is one God; how following Jesus is a holistic life of discipleship; how Abraham and the ancient prophets were all trusting in the Promised Messiah; how the Cross is the centre of our salvation etc etc.  Our goal is not to make these truths ‘acceptable’ or ‘credible’ to our Muslim friends but to make sure that we have clearly, lovingly and faithfully explained the truth in Jesus.

Throughout the Islamic world there are local churches teaching the Bible and bearing witness to the One God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; explaining the Trinity, the Cross and the Way of Jesus.  At the moment the Holy Spirit is doing an amazing work as the local churches in these places are being heard as never before.  In one sense all the Western missiological agencies and theorists are mere spectators as the Holy Spirit works through His living church on the ground across the world.  If we are able to supply any needs that the local churches ask for then it is a great privilege for us, but we all, whether we see ourselves as specialists or not, need to remember that the churches throughout the Islamic world have centuries of experience and wisdom.  Our brothers and sisters in these local churches know better than any of us what the key issues are and how to set these in the proper context.

However, what if the principles of contextualisation are extended further and further until the issues of faith, worship and discipleship are happening within the Muslim community?  Could these realities be so grasped by a Muslim that they could remain inside the Islamic community and also be faithful to the truth in Jesus?  Is it possible to be a member of a local church whilst remaining a Muslim inside the Muslim community?  Or is it even necessary to be part of anything other than the Muslim community?  Is it even necessary to hold onto the whole idea of a distinctive, visible community of Christ’s followers, with appointed leaders meeting for Bible teaching and the Lord’s Supper?

These are the sorts of questions the "Insider Movement" seeks to raise and address.

The Insider Movement 2 – Paul Blackham

The Insider Movement 3 – Paul Blackham

The Insider Movement 4 – Paul Blackham

1

Published on 1 Comment on The mission of the church [repost]

Check out this definition of the church's mission.

‘The Church's commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ's stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver to all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God.’

That's it.  That's the mission of the church.  Proclamation.

Now, without cheating, see if you can guess where this comes from.  And when.

Any guesses?

.

.

Well maybe you think these are the words of some one-eyed fundamentalist, divorced from any pressing social or political needs.  Perhaps you think this definition represent a cowardly retreat from the social and political realities of the day?

Well the year was 1934, the place was Germany and this is article 6 of the Barmen Declaration - the document that founded the German Confessing Church.

And into that context, this determination to view the church's mission simply as gospel proclamation proved to be the most provocative political challenge possible.  This is precisely because it refuses to engage with the world on its own terms.  The Nazis are confronted because the Confessing Church occupies itself with its one true Fuhrer (Christ), its one true Reich (God’s Kingdom) and its one true commission: delivering ‘the message of the free grace of God’.  Far from creating an ‘ecclesiastical ghetto’ for the Confessing Christians, this single-minded determination to let the Gospel set the agenda for the Church brings it into its most significant contact with the surrounding culture.

Barmen is profoundly political.  But it is so by refusing any other agenda but the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Nothing could be more explosive.

A few years later, Karl Barth (who authored Barmen) was back in his native Switzerland.  (Interestingly it was his lectures on preaching that were the last straw for the Nazis, the Gestapo bursting in and forcibly deporting him.  Apparently his last words to his students on the train platform was the admonition: "Exegesis, exegesis, exegesis!")  Anway, a young pastor from Brandenburg wrote to him in distress.  He had been sacked after preaching against Mein Kampf from the pulpit.  The pastor expected sympathy.  Instead Barth replied that the pastor had made a "decisive mistake":

Your job, when you stand in the pulpit, is to again make well the sick church of Germany.  That can be done only by the Word alone.  You are to serve that Word and no other.  But you can’t do that if you seize on Mein Kampf… Was it not a shame, each minute that you wasted with this book instead of reading the Bible?   (William Willimon, Conversations with Barth on Preaching, p248-249)

Interesting huh?

.

Published on Leave a comment on Reach Build Send – Three Talks for Rothley Parish Church

Rothley Parish Church asked me to speak on their vision statement for mission: Reach, Build, Send.

Here's what I came up with (all based in 1 Peter). If you've heard 1 Peter talks from me in the past, you've heard a lot of this before.

Powerpoint for all talks

.

REACH

Text

Audio

BUILD

Text

Audio

SEND

Text

Audio

.

Published on Leave a comment on Outgoing Session 3 – The Surprising God

Outgoing Session 3 – 22 September 2011

Full Text of Session 1

Full Text of Session 2

Powerpoint

The Surprising God

The Question is always Which God?

It’s not about Theism versus Atheism

It's a god eat god world out there and it's every god for himself!

Everyone believes.  Everyone has a god.

We proclaim Jesus – the Surprising God.

 

Jesus is God-Sized.  And God is Jesus-Shaped.

 

Matthew 11:25-30

Only through Jesus are we let into the Family Secret

.

Without Jesus are there other ways of knowing God?

Let’s examine: Reason, Religion, Old Testament and Creation.

.

Alternative Paths to God?

Reason

Proverbs 3:5-7
Romans 8:7
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
2 Corinthians 4:4
Colossians 1:21
Colossians 2:8

.

The god of philosophy looks nothing like the God of the Cross!

.

Religions

Numbers 33:50-53; Deut 7:1-6; 12:1-3; 29:16-18; 32:15-21; Psalm 96:4-5; 106:35-40; Isaiah 41:21-24; 44:6-26; Jeremiah 16:19-21; Romans 1:23-25; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 10:20.

.

The gods of the religions look nothing like the God of the Cross!

. 

Old Testament

John 1:1
John 1:18
John 8:56-58
John 12:38-41
John 5:37-46

.

Jesus has always been the Way to God

Abraham, Moses and Isaiah trusted Christ.

Jesus simply is the Lord God of Israel.

.

Creation

Psalm 19
Romans 1:16-20
Colossians 1:23
John 12:23-24

.

Jesus is Lord – Creation’s Voice Proclaims It!

The creation reveals a very great deal about God

It does so by revealing Christ!

But unless our eyes are opened through the Spirit and His Word we will miss it.

.

Jesus really is the One Image of God!

He should be the One Subject of our conversation.

.

Common Objection: Isn’t it a bit narrow to say that Jesus is the only way?

 

Recommended Reading:

John 13-17

How are the three Persons of the Trinity described?
How do they relate to each other?

.

Next Week: The Triune God

The Trinity is not a problem in evangelism.  It’s the solution!

Published on Leave a comment on The Context is Key. The Context is Mission.

I'm aware I'm not blogging with much vigour here at the moment.  I'm enjoying my new job and daily King's English posts.  (Check that out if you want to read where my online energies are going at the moment).  But thanks for bearing with me.  Here's an old post with which I heartily concur...

In preaching through 1 Corinthians recently I listened to a lot of sermons on chapters 9 and 10.   Two themes in particular were hammered home by preachers.

In chapter 9 there's the olympic training regimes (v24-27).  In chapter 10 there's 'glorifying God' in all circumstances (v31).  But so often the context of these verses is ignored.

So in chapter 9 we read this:

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

That'll preach won't it?  Go into strict training people!  There's a medal held out.  Be an Olympian Christian.

And what did all these sermons mean by being an Olympian Christian?  Personal holiness.  Devotional disciplines.  You know the drill.

But what is the context?  Verses 19-23 - becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means we may save some.  It's a missionary context.  Beating our bodies and going into strict training is a description of how we order our lives with evangelistic priorities.  This Olympian spirituality is an outwardly focussed determination to move out into the world for the salvation of others.  That's quite a different sermon.

In chapter 10 we have that famous verse:

31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

What does this mean?  How would it look like lived out?  Well if you listen to these sermons it's mainly about personal holiness.  Devotional disciplines.  You know the drill.

But again, what is the context?  It's eating and drinking in the context of food sacrificed to idols.  The context is a world full of unChristian and anti-Christian cultures and practices which, nonetheless, the Christian is compelled to engage.  And so verse 33 says:

I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

It's about adapting all things, even eating and drinking, to the end that Jews, Greeks and the church of God is built up (v32).  Effectively verse 33 explains verse 31.  Doing all for the glory of God means doing all for the good of many, so that they may be saved.  This makes sense of the 'glory of God' which is not a static quality but an outgoing salvific movement.

To have your life ordered by God's glory is not simply to do your daily devotions - it's to live in outgoing invitation for the salvation of others.  Verse 31 is not some abstract call to look pious at all times.  We know what 10:31 looks like - it looks like Paul's ministry.  It looks like 9:19-23.  It looks like the missionary determination to become all things to all men that some may be saved.

So please, keep the context in mind.  And remember, the context is mission.

.

Published on Leave a comment on A greedy god makes for greedy evangelism

If God is power hungry and out to get certain things in the world, his followers will do likewise.  They will try to gain converts.

If our evangelism is driven by the need to "gain converts" it's a sure sign that we're serving a greedy god.

But if our God is a Fountain of sending love (as Donald Bloesch once put it) then mission will have nothing to do with "gaining" anything.  Instead we will be offering Christ.

 

Published on Leave a comment on The Sixth Sola

The mission of the church is proclamation alone.

But of course proclamation is never alone (2 Cor 4:1-6).

To elevate other concerns into the place of proclamation is condone works of the flesh.  Social and political amelioration are the fruit of the Spirit.

To agree to the first five solas means a commitment to this sixth.

Or so I submit...

Published on Leave a comment on Reflecting the Lord's Glory [repost]

What's this verse about?

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory...  (2 Cor 3:18)

Is it about enjoying private devotional experiences with Jesus so that we become like Him?   That's a popular interpretation.  And it's half right.  But it's really not the full story.

The NIV footnote says that 'reflect' can be translated 'contemplate'.  But I think 'reflect' is a better translation.  It's a word that means 'showing like a mirror shows'.  The question is this - Is the mirror-like-ness telling us about how the beholder looks at the mirror?  Or is the mirror-like-ness telling us about how the mirror itself reflects outwardly?

My guess is the latter.  Our faces are like mirrors reflecting outwardly to the world the glory of Jesus.

This fits the context.  Paul has been reminding us about Moses's face-to-face encounters with the Lord (2 Cor 3:7,13).  He put a veil on to stop the Israelites seeing this fading glory.  But we (as v18 says) have unveiled faces.  And so what happens?   Others see the glory of Christ as we reflect it out to the world.

So this verse does indeed depend on our having devotional experiences with Jesus - just as Moses did (e.g. Exodus 33:7-11).  But that in itself will not transform us into Christ's likeness.  Reflecting Christ's glory out into the world - that will transform us.

Which is what the next two chapters of 2 Corinthians are all about.

Too often we think of holiness as one thing and mission as another.  Really they are mutually defining and mutually achieved.  Just as God's own being is a being in outreach, so our Christian character is a character in outreach.  To divorce the two is disastrous.

Holiness-in-mission is parallel to God's being-in-becoming. Just as God is who He is in His mission, so are we. Reflecting the Lord's glory is not a private activity - or at least it must not end there.  It's not essentially pietistic but proclamatory.  It's not about locking ourselves in a "prayer closet" - it's outgoing witness (to believers and unbelievers).

.

Twitter widget by Rimon Habib - BuddyPress Expert Developer