Mission and Development - Part 8

We have following through a paper produced by Steve de Gruchy that is looking at holistic gospel, one that integrates good news at a spiritual, emotional, social & material level. Today I reproduce Part 8, looking at this “missio dei” of the church, the bringing of shalom of the Kingdom, that Jesus inaugurated.




The mission of the Church concerns the penultimate in the
light of the ultimate

While the work of God, and therefore the work of the Church, is not restricted by human definitions of spiritual and un-spiritual, there is an important biblical distinction that has to do with time and specifically the anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ and the coming kingdom. We have noted above that while the reign of God is hidden within history we anticipate a time when this present age will end, and the kingdom will be ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. The Church has always lived in this time between the resurrection of Jesus and his second coming; and the relationship between the ultimate kingdom and the penultimate concerns of this life has presented the Church with two powerful temptations. The first has been to focus all its energies upon the ultimate coming kingdom, so that it no longer participates in the missio Dei here on this earth. The truth is that we cannot speak of eternal life if we do not at the same time speak of the real life that is the focus of God’s shalom. The second temptation is to become so focused upon the penultimate concerns of this earth, that we believe that it is our task to establish the kingdom of God here on earth. We soon get sucked into the vagaries of human life, the arrogance of works righteousness, and find we can no longer offer anything distinctive.

On the contrary it is clear that the mission of the Church, if it is to be faithful to the missio Dei, is to hold the ultimate and the penultimate in creative tension. This means taking the penultimate matters of life - justice, peace, the environment - extremely seriously because the Bible tells us that God takes them extremely seriously. But it also involves giving our participation in these matters a specific character - one that is profoundly shaped by the faith and hope in the final manifestation of the reign of God. Our prayer life, our worship, our sacraments are thus a vital way in which we bear witness to the ultimate in the midst of the
penultimate.

My Comment: I think de Gruchy is spot on here. I have been in both the two extremes, and have seen others do the same. We need to hold both together. We are not just a cheap service provider for social justice projects; nor should we be so concerned the coming Kingdom that we have no concern for this current life. In fact, I think a genuine view of the coming Kingdom would motivate us to participate in bringing hope and restoration now!

While I do thoroughly agree that we need to be concerned with what many people who aren’t Christians are concerned about too: poverty, the environment, social justice etc … we also have more to offer. We also offer spiritual wellbeing, freedom from shame, cleansing from guilt, and a hope for the future that transcends anything that our politicians can offer…

Tags: Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Missio Dei, Mission, Missional Church, Social Development

Note: Here are the other posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.