MISSION OF THE CHURCH AND HOLISTIC REDEMPTION

Transcription

1 MISSION OF THE CHURCH AND HOLISTIC REDEMPTION A paper presented at the AEA General Council Meeting in Dakar, Senegal on September 27-October 3, 2012 By Prof. James Nkansah-Obrempong

2 Introduction The major concern of this paper is to reflect on the mission of the Church and its relation to the Christian s role in society. The thorny issue revolves around which is primary: evangelism or social responsibility? There is consensus among Evangelical Christians for the need for integral mission without putting a wedge between the Gospel and social responsibility The theological and biblical grounds for this position is founded on the very nature of the Gospel. The Gospel is holistic. It provides answers to human questions and struggles-spiritual, material, mental and physical

3 1. Key Terms The word mission connotes vocation and calling. What does the church exists for? When used in Christianity it refers to the sharing and spreading the Christian faith in the world. Church means a gathering of believers or a group of believers; people called together by the proclamation of the gospel and by the Holy Spirit from different communities and people groups (Rev 5:9), bound to each other through Christ. Holistic carries the idea of looking at the whole rather than the constituent parts. Applied to the Church s mission, holism means looking at the Gospel/redemption in its entirety; looking at the redemption the Gospel brings in its multifaceted dimensions-physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, political and social. The good news of redemption and restoration of God s creation-includes human beings and the created order. It is good news for the whole person, body, soul and mind and not just good news for the soul.

4 II. Mission as Holistic Mission What is the mission of the Church? What does it entail? The mission of the church is to share God s salvation with humanity, disciple them to enjoy God s shalom and to glorify God in their lives. This salvation involves the whole person; body, soul, and spirit. The Church s mission must necessarily be holistic or what the Micah Declaration calls integral mission. By integral mission, I mean the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel backed by deeds. According to the Micah Declaration, integral mission is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. This approach to missions affirms the importance of both evangelism and social responsibility and tries to hold the two together. The Bible holds this position as well.

5 Theological Foundations: God s Mission in the World God s acts in dealing with, and redeeming humanity is always holistic; they concern the total development and wellbeing of the person. Two reasons why our mission must be holistic. The first reason is theological. It is based on the character and nature of God who works principally to transform the whole person, by providing the resources needed for such a person to live. Examples: Abraham/Exodus Given this theological basis of God s actions, our own mission to bring about salvation and restoration must be holistic: one patterned after God s own actions. The gospel must transform people, socially, economically, politically, and spiritually.

6 continuation Secondly, the nature of humanity as both material and spiritual requires that the gospel be holistic if it would meet these dual human needs. Since sin affected the whole person, if humanity is to be restored, the restoration must affect the whole being--body, soul/spirit and mind. Any gospel that will not take seriously the whole human condition and address it in its entirety is inadequate and flawed. This is not the gospel Jesus preached, and it does not follow the model God has given through his own mission practice. Of necessity, the gospel must be holistic, God s mission gives us a model to follow, and the human condition gives us no other option.

7 Holistic Ministry in the Bible Our dualistic and Greek worldviews have influenced our understanding of how we as humans ought to relate spirit and body, the spiritual and the physical. The Greek idea that matter is evil and spirit is good tends to push us to direct our Christian activities and ministry towards the human soul rather than to the body. Both the soul and the body are important. The gospel has always been holistic right from the beginning of human existence. Before God created humans, he had already created the physical world and endowed it with all kinds of resources to meet the material needs of humanity. God was concerned with human needs, and he provided for them (Gen. 1-3)

8 Holistic Missions: The Prophets The prophets ministry in the OT was holistic. All the prophets of the OT were concerned about three things: social justice, good governance expressed by political integrity and the spiritual wellbeing of the people. They defended the weak and the poor, the orphans and the widows who were mistreated and marginalized. They protected the land of the weak from the powerful, who through their power grabbed the land and reduced and subject the people to abject poverty. The prophets were concerned about the socio-political, economic, and physical wellbeing of their people.

9 continuation Humanity is faced with a complex web of interconnected factors that are associated with human problems and the gospel must speak to these interconnected issues and be able to address all aspects of human needs. Chris Wright says we must not see our work complete until we have included within our own missional response the wholeness of God s response to the human predicament-and that of course includes the god news of Christ, the cross and the resurrection, the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life.

10 ii. Holistic Mission: Jesus Style Luke sums up the focus of Jesus ministry in Luke 4:18-19: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord

11 Continuation: Jesus Style This sets out the scope of Jesus ministry. The elements that make up his ministry address both the spiritual as well as the physical wellbeing of humanity. We see this in practice in Jesus ministry. Jesus gave equal weight to his teaching and healing ministry because he was concerned about the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the people (Mt. 8; Mt. 17:14-21; Mk. 1:21-24, 40-45). He healed the sick. He fed the hungry crowd twice in his ministry when there was need for it (Mt. 14:13-21; 15:32-29; Mk. 6:30-44). Jesus gives two fundamental elements of the Church s mission: the Great Commandment in Matt 22: 37-40; love for God and neighbor with our whole being and the Great commission in Matt 28:19-20; outreach-that is, evangelism and discipleship-preaching, baptizing and teaching (edification) The great commandment outlines our task as involving devotion to God and our social responsibility to our fellow human beings.

12 Continuation: Jesus Style The Church s mission is three-fold: proclamation, edification and service. We must hold all three aspects together. The Church s ministry must follow that of Jesus. Jesus ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. His ministry was holistic. He gave the same mandate to his disciples. He sends them out in Matt 10:1, to do what he has being doing himself; preach, teach and heal. The Old Testaments prophets and their NT counterparts give us direction of how our social engagement with civil society should be like.

13 Continuation: Jesus Style the gospel has wide implication for the spiritual, socio-political and economic wellbeing of the people and societies in which we minister.

14 Early Christian Missions in Africa A holistic gospel is critical especially for Africa where the African worldview does not allow a person to divide the world into sacred, secular, into physical, and spiritual, body and soul/spirit. Life is seen as a whole. The gospel must address the whole of the African person and his needs. Salvation must not only address sin and the soul, but the body and the world in which s/he lives. Africans have a legacy and model from the early missionaries who worked in Africa. They did not only preach the gospel to save souls but developed the whole person, by establishing hospitals and schools and so forth.

15 Continuation: Christian Mission in Africa The dichotomy between soul and body, material and spiritual, must be rejected. It is rooted in Greek philosophical thinking that sees the material as evil and the spiritual as good. This dichotomy is unacceptable to African minds. How can one close his/her eyes to the immensity of poverty, diseases, and sufferings we see in Africa and in our world today and we do not do anything about them. God never closes his eyes to human needs and suffering. True love will always respond to human needs and suffering. God responded not only to human sinfulness by sending Jesus Christ to bring salvation from sin, but also to heal our bodies and to give us abundant life, God s shalom.

16 Current African Realities The continent is ravaged by political tensions, democratic struggles, wars, poverty, hunger, diseases, ignorance, high infant mortality rate, injustice, massive unemployment, unprecedented urbanization with inadequate infrastructural support, influx of refugees as a result of political instability and bad governance, moral degradation and high debtedness to the international community. The Gospel must address these challenges and plethora of human needs that confront many developing nations in the world today. A person who has the character and the compassion of the triune God or a church that seeks to follow the mission of the triune God cannot overlook the misery of people they minster to. The Scriptures call us to take care of the needy among us.

17 The Daunting Task of the Church How then can this be done so that the Church fulfills its mandate to preach a holistic gospel? The immensity of this work requires us to harness our resources: material, human and spiritual. Partnerships, implies we recognize each person s gifting and utilize such gifts for the benefit of humanity and in promotion of God s mission on earth. Our suggestion for entering into partnership with other stake holders--governments, non-governmental organizations, civil rights activists, etc., to engage in collaborative ventures has its biblical basis in 1 Cor. 3:1-15.

18 3.3.1 Partnerships with Non-governmental Organizations We must affirm the work these organizations do in bringing basic human services to communities. We must show our solidarity with them by encouraging them, visiting, praying and assisting them in any way possible. Christian professionals expertise can be harnessed to help train people in all kinds of skills and fields in order to help people and communities to develop themselves and utilize the resources readily available to them for the betterment of their lives. The goal is to help people create wealth. Help needy communities to harness all the resources they have for the development of their communities. We must see this as part of our spirituality, by engaging the world and being partners with God to make this world a better place for humanity to seek God s love and provision for their needs.

19 continuation Maintain our prophetic voice and remain the voice of the voiceless. We must remain as the moral eyes of the nation and communities and speak against the evils and injustices done against the marginalized, the vulnerable in our societies. The church must team up health personnel to engage and teach people in basic health care issues to help people who are vulnerable to protect themselves from some of the preventable diseases that easily kill them. All these activities must be taken as part of our spirituality. Apostle James says, true religion is this: show mercy, compassion, to those who are weak and vulnerable in our societies (James 1:27).

20 3.3.2 Educational/Social Amenities To address the problem of ignorance in most African communities, education is very critical. It would be good for Christian communities to collaborate with national universities where there are programs for adult literacy training to teach the community to read and write. Many of our people would enjoy more fruitful Christian lives if they could read and study the Bible themselves. Education will give others the opportunity to explore their gifting so they can become a blessing to the larger communities in which they live and serve.

21 3.3.3 The Relief Model Relief work as a temporary measure to help needed communities might be encouraged. This model is seen practiced by the early church. The Church in Antioch sent relief to the Jerusalem Church--while many Christian organizations and non-governmental groups have used this model, it must be seen as temporary. Many are thinking more of permanent ways of helping people meet their own needs from the resources available to them.

22 3.3.4 Advocacy The church must lead in advocacy for pushing governments to develop good governance systems and accountability structures so that they could raise enough resources to develop their nation s infrastructure, schools, health facilities, economic development, and so forth in order to provide for the basic needs of their people. In addition, we must set up an advocacy unit or collaborate with civil societies and organizations who share the same vision as us to bring to light the evils committed against the innocent and seek to appeal and challenge governments and influence policy makers to make policies that give basic human dignity for all to live well. Advocate for basic infrastructure--health facilities, good drinking water, good sanitation, that promote the wellbeing of people. These basic amenities are critical.

23 Policy Formulation The Church must advocate and work with governments and civil societies to formulate economic development policies to foster development in all areas of the nation-economic, educational, infrastructural, agricultural, housing, health, and create a conducive environment for such activities to take place.

24 Conclusion The Gospel has certain implications for our lives in society. We are called to collaborate with God in bringing everyone under the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ and God s shalom to humanity. The Gospel must be holistic to address both the spiritual and the physical needs of humanity. Both are critical for humanity to experience God s shalom. We must also hold the two together. If the Church does not want to become irrelevant to society, a holistic gospel is the answer. A holistic gospel will give credibility to the message and acceptance of the church in society. We should not view the Church as anti development or against progress. Rather, the church should be concerned about human dignity.

25 Conclusion The Gospel of Jesus Christ must transform the whole person mental, emotional and psychological. Salvation is expressed by the biblical idea of shalom which expresses the total wellbeing of the person. Africans see life in a holistic manner, where the material and the spiritual are interrelated. Any ministry among them must be holistic. Jesus ministry was holistic; he healed physical sickness, forgave sins, fed the hungry, and commanded us to do the same. His ministry dealt with the whole person. Any holistic mission must follow the pattern of God and Jesus.

26 Question How can we develop a mission theology that is holistic? How is mission done in your Church? Is it holistic? If not, what are some of the challenges you face? How do you plan to overcome them? What do you plan to do? How can you partner with others and mobilize people in your community, church to provide holistic ministry?