It seems a pragmatic hallmark of evangelicalism is (or can be) the subservience of all aspects of the Christian life to the priority of gospel proclamation, of seeing people "come to faith" or "get saved". It's difficult to question this tenet without opening oneself up to the criticisms of being unbiblical, deluded, or doctrinally unsound - questioning the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture, etc.
As I continue to be drawn to the study of ecclesiology, however, I feel that such a priority can not only propagate an individualistic and anthropocentric soteriology, it can render the Church less and less meaningful...relegating it, essentially, to being little more than "friends who can help me get the work of evangelism done". When in fact, I might argue that we are severely inhibiting our evangel by not living into our God-given calling to be one holy catholic and apostolic Church: to see our gospel proclamation lived out...not as simply something we must do, but as something we, collectively, essentially are.
But it is good to find allies once in awhile. In some reading I am doing today, I ran across the following thoughtful & helpful paragraph on missional ecclesiology:
"A missional ecclesiology is not a doctrine of the church in which everything is subordinated to a mandate for missionary activity which supposedly precedes, supersedes, and encompasses all community building. Neither does it refer to a theology that places everything that the church is and does under the umbrella concept of missio Dei. It is an effort to reconsider the theological self-definition of the church in the perspective of an emphasized eschatology and in that way to help concrete communities of Christians to relate their identity to their experience of the predicament of pluralism." - Hoedemaker, B. (1999), “Toward an Epistemologically Responsible Missiology,” in Kirk & Vanhoozer, eds., To Stake a Claim: Mission and the Western Crisis of Knowledge (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), p. 227.
Granted, his last statement needs contextualizing to make more sense of it, but suffice it to say I was encouraged in some of my own ruminations by his assertions. Oh, well...back to it!
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2 comments:
I like the quote, and I like the questions you are asking. Would like to hear more of your ecclesiological ruminations from time to time.
So the basic concept that is that if we are living out our lives in the way they are meant as a holy, united, loving church evangelism will be a natural result? What if though instead of looking at people as a way to get our evangelism done, we understand it is through our relationship with Christ as an individual and part of a large community that we want to share what we believe and have experienced actively and intentionally. Just some thoughts early this morning, thanks for giving me something to think about deeper than bills, work and so on.
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