What is Missional Church? - Part 8
28 05 2007This is an epic. I will stop soon. But not yet. Part 8 of missional church (although confusingly Part 7 was provocatively called: “The Apostles didn’t do evangelism“). Here are Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. For those who are thinking: when is he going to blog on something else? … I promise … soon … sometime!
So here, in part 8, is a resume of what I was preaching last Sunday at church … you should be able to get the MP3 here in a couple of days should you wish to listen.
I am asking the question: if we are to participate in God’s mission, what exactly IS God’s mission? It seems important to understand, so that we don’t get active doing something when God is doing something completely different. We are participating in God’s story … Act 5 according to NT Wright (I blogged about that here). Acts 1 - 4 are found in the Biblical narrative (creation, fall, Israel, Jesus & early church), and I like to think that we also have Act 6 … the end of the story, the end of history, the return of Christ, the beginnings of a new era.
So, I thought, why don’t we look at how the story ends? I know it really spoils the story when you do that, but it does help in understanding what the story is all about. So bravely I stepped up to the plate to look at Rev 21: 1-5. Brave or foolish … you decide …
My main point is that often in the evangelical church, we have narrowed the gospel to make in about a ticket to heaven. We have made it spiritual (all about getting to heaven); vertical (heaven is somewhere ‘up there’ but not here and now on earth); future (not now) and individual (my response to what God has done for me). But that doesn’t seem to fit in with God’s plan at the end of the story … or at least not the whole story …
Tags: Community Church Edinburgh, Emerging Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Michael Goheen, Missio Dei, Mission, Missional Church, New Heaven and New Earth, NT Wright, Preaching, Revelation
1. From heaven to earth
We see the Holy city coming from heaven to earth, and this mirrors the prayer of Jesus when he teaches us to pray: “let you kingdom, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Heaven isn’t up there, but here, around us, like another dimension that mostly we can’t see, touch and occasionally sense. So our job isn’t so much to get people to heaven, but to bring heaven to earth: to bring the rule of King Jesus into the world we live in.
2. Making all things new
I have blogged on this before. You can read a great paper about by Michael Goheen here … about 10 pages on what is called Renewed Creation Theology. Paul Ede has touched on it here. But this theology goes: God isn’t going to destroy the earth, but renew it … to cleanse or purify it of sin, and all the effects of sin. He isn’t going to start again, but to bring about the restoration of all creation. There are so much in Scripture that suggests the scope of His salvation is broader than I have understood it before. Our job is to participate in God mission of renewing of all we see around us.
3. Redeemed community
The city comes from heaven … and maybe I am stretching a point, but a city is about community. God will be our God, and we will be our people. This community of God’s people have been redeemed are the ones who do 1 and 2 … bring heaven to earth, and participate in God’s restoration. Forgiveness of sins isn’t God’s goal … it is a means to an end … and way of creating a redeemed community to participate in His mission.
4. God’s representatives
This redeemed community are God’s representatives on earth (and I am cheating here a bit) as we see in Genesis 1 & 2 … we name the animals, we are fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth and dominion over it, care and tend for creation. God has given some of His jobs for us to participate in.
Every time we bring hope, kindness, healing, restoration, peace, joy, freedom, release, purity, righteousness, justice (etc) we are participating in God’s restoration of creation (which I know will never be complete until He comes to bring the fullness of the Kingdom). It is about our whole life, everything we do, every part of us. In our work, our play, our rest, our family, our friends, our neighborhoods, our communities, we can participate in God’s mission there to bring restoration.
I find this an exciting view of the gospel that is bigger than I have seen before; it is good news now and for the future; it values the world we live, and has it is goal the transformation of our society. So what do you think? Do you find this exciting or hard to believe?
I’ll finish this massive post with a quote from Michael Goheen …
“What is mission? We have said that it is to be, speak, and do the good news. If redemption is the restoration of the whole of our creational life, then our mission is to embody the good news that every part of creational life, including the public life of our culture, is being restored. It will mean being good news in our care for the environment, international relations, economic justice, business, media, scholarship, family, and law. If, on the other hand, redemption is an otherworldly salvation then mission is reduced to verbal evangelism that tries to get people ready for heaven. Most of life then falls outside the mission of the church and is considered to be of secondary importance.”
[Michael Goheen - Professor at Trinity Western University, British Columbia, Canada]
man, that’s good stuff, i like it and agree with it very much. Especially as it is a correction to some of the more gnostic tendancies of the past. Of course that sets us up maybe for an over correction - i’m not sure it is our job to bring heaven to earth for instance - it is a powerful image of restoration, of God once again walking with us and us with him, but that seems like God’s job to me.
I’m sure you’re not implying otherwise but i wonder whether we can downplay heaven in favour of a more earth centric tale - i think it would be unwise to do so - we follow a material God and maybe then the emphasis is on recreation and resurection - we will be changed and are being changed and that we have that hope of eternal life of fully restored humanity. Death will overtake us all but it is not the end of our story if we entrust it into God’s story, for in Jesus he has promised to preserve and unleash our stories in all of his resurected glory…
Paul - good points. You bring a good balance … maybe for example it is us co-operating with God to bring heaven to earth?
I think you are right … I am trying to correct a very narrow and spiritual gospel … that connects much more with life now. So i am sure i am going a bit over board … but i also feel quite passionate that we don’t just revert to “business as usual”.
I thoroughly agree that recreation and resurrection … we really see that in Jesus after his death and resurrection…
Rupert, I think you are right on this, at least as I’ve thought through it over the last year. However, I think it needs to be tested by more than just 2 passages. If it’s the mission of God, as you describe it, then it will be in the bible all the way through, as part of the meta-narrative. I’d love to read some more on this, and work through the relevant passages - not to turn the passage into what I want it to say, but as a genuine check that should be helpful.
Secondly, if it is right, there are massive implications for action. Looking forward to hearing how you work those out in coming months.
Thanks for articulating what I’ve failed to.
Duncan … you are right … and that is great provocation to some further thought and reflection. I think the restoration theme is all over the Bible (romans comes to mind), but would be good to look at the difficult passages too. That’s a summer job!
I think too it does have huge implications on the way we live. I have this growing excitement that i am beginning to find a much larger vision of what God is doing, and how i can get involved with Him…
I think the theme runs through the bible, 2 examokes
- creation, incarnation, recreation - world is made good not perfect, Jesus comes to restore our humanity and reconnect us back to the mission of creation, making us renewed so we can tend and serve the world…
- the ongoing mission/search of God for a people who will bear his image…
Yes Paul i agree (and sorry it has taken me so long to agree with you!).
One of the images i have in mind as i think about this is the lion and the lamb lying down together. I think that speaks to me of a greater restoration of all creation than just a human spiritual salvation…
Hey Rupert, I haven’t heard this preach yet but look forward to listening to the mp3. In the meantime, here are some initial comments on your four points:
1 - like what you say here. You have actually moved into classic charismatic territory, such as Bill Johnson’s classic teaching on the Kingdom. Futher comments
- heaven here is seen as the rule of God, now extending to all creation
- heaven here is seen as the presence of God, ditto
- heaven here seen as the Glory of God, ditto
- heaven here seen as God’s Storehouse: holding what he and his people have prepared to be released into creation
Also, thinking tangentially, I am reminded of that verse in Ephesians that not only Christ but the members of the church are also sitting in heavenly places. So there is a sense that the entire people of God are sitting with Christ, sharing in the rule, presence and glory of God, or something like that.
2 - with you here, but I probably need to re-read that paper again…
3 - sounds good. But I think a city is more than mere community. Its also a cultural nexus, a trading centre, a hub of arts, education, entertainment, etc. In fact, these days people leave a city to find community! I see the city more as a fulfillment of this stuff: “we name the animals, we are fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth and dominion over it, care and tend for creation. God has given some of His jobs for us to participate in.” I love that a city comes out of heaven here: its validates that all this cultural stuff is part of our mandate as God-bearers.
4 - sounds good.
The only I would add is that the NT seems to link the “spiritual salvation” very closely with the cosmic salvation. IE the world is not redeemed by good works, but by the process of the image bearers becoming reconciled with God, and in some mysterious way, this is part of the healing of the world. I’m thinking of Romans 8 here (that bit about creation groaning and all that — “Act 6″). I think this is where the liberal church has gone wrong: personal salvation, whilst as you say very narrow and vertical, is the key or door to the rest of this stuff happening. I think!
Thanks Alastair … once again you take the conversation deeper and broader. Thanks.
I particularly like and agree with the last paragraph … i think i am beginning to see this spiritual salvation as you put, as an initiation into the redeemed community to bring about this renewal. Without the redeemed community, renewal can’t happen. It isn’t just about good works, but is bringing God’s rule and presence on “earth as it is in heaven”. I think i have just repeated what you said!
Very good insight, something I myself have often thought about but never really expanded on.
To be honest I think there are different missions suited for certain people/s. The bible has shown me many ways of reaching people with the Gospels, some I think I could perform and others I feel I couldn’t do.
I feel comfort in knowing that all things will be made new and that God will walk among us and not just in spirit. I can’t wait for when He ends all sorrow, pain and suffering and knowing that I will eventually be made perfect like Jesus helps me to not dwell too much on my imperfections now, (for I think that can be a weakness worry too much about ourself and it’s a way for the enemy to get in).
To sum it up though, I’m not sure if thinking about where heaven is/will be as that important but rather who will be/get there. That must be a motivation for spreading the Good News
thanks tayna … i really agree that we all have different roles here. I think in part i am wanting to bring some release from guilt for those who feel that they should be telling people about Jesus, but actually feel their gifts lie elsewhere (but not letting them off the hook completely!).
I do want to push back a little on your last paragraph … i think what i am seeing in the Bible is the God’s plan is about mending or renewing all creation, all the earth … that i think is our ultimate aim and motivation…
Hi Rupert,
My wife and I came on Sunday (the second time now) and we really got a lot out of the message. It is a refreshing look at salvation, and how we percieve it happening in other people’s lives. I think it got simplified somewhere along the way for some reason…to make explanation easier?
And it seems that in the Gospels, Jesus is interested in the whole picture of salvation, not just a simplified version.
But we were both encouraged by your words, so thanks
Hamish
Hi Hamish, thanks for visiting here and leaving a comment. Glad you have enjoyed it.
I think you raise a good point about why we have narrowed the gospel so much. I have been thinking this a little, and i think that part of the reason may well be ease of communication. I have also wondered if it has something to do with the cultural context in which in was fashioned. During the last century, the world was a scary place; world wars particularly at the beginning of the century. In the church was the rise of the liberal stream of theology … in reaction to this the “rescue to heaven” approach (without any thought to social development … that was the liberal’s domain!) was formed.
I think there are so many aspects of the gospel, and what formulated was wrong, and really worked for a long time in a world that wanted to reassurance and a rescue for its current plight. So i guess i wonder if was a contextualised gospel that is less relevant as culture has changed?
What do you or anyone else think?
i think we are always contextualise the gospel for instance when jesus talked about the kingdom of God he was being deliberately provocative - God ceaser vs Ceaser - two kingdoms and all the hopes of liberation that the Jewish people laboured under. Would Jesus talk about a kingdom today - probably not as it just doesn’t have the same resonance, maybe it would be the economy of God, the environment of God, the culture of God, the story of God or something else entirely…
I think one of the possible reasons why we have in our turn narrowed the gospel is due to the collapse of time frames - the world and the universe keeps getting older, our future grows more uncertain, events in the present move at such speed that our sense of time basically collapses - in that way it is much easier to focus on earth now rather than try and comprehend eterniry and heaven…
Good comment Paul - what a thought about what jesus would come talking about…
i think you are right, but what it then does get me thinking is how do we communicate the kingdom message to a world that doesn’t have the concept of kingdom in the way jesus talked about it.
Would nation be another possibility? Or team?
I like story and culture too …
mmm. But more thinking required!
If you’re ever short on a bit of cash you should polish up the past few weeks of posts and turn them into a little book. I’d buy one just for the convenience of reading your posts by turning pages instead of having to click around the blog. You do keep me thinking.
Lincoln - thanks so much! I have wondered if i would ever write a book, but i have always thought i am better speaker than writer, but blogging has really helped me to see i can write too if i put my mind to it…
Sorry about the mass of posts too … there must be an easy way to navigate all around them…
Hey Rupert, have you read this: On Earth as in Heaven, by N T Wright ? Seems like (I haven’t read it yet) a similar theme to the one you preached on here.
[…] morning, on “New Earth or Renewed Earth“. I have blogged on this before, most recently here, but also an older post about “New Earth and Carbon […]
[…] I talked once more about the thought that God is going to renew the heavens and earth (not destroy and mentioned the paper by Michael Goheen) … you can read a longer post and comments here. […]