I’ve been thinking a lot today about two tensions: this world, and the next world.
In any missionary activity, there seems to be a tension between helping people in the here-and-now and helping people in the what-is-to-come.
If you, with any given ministry, put a “base” (a preaching point, a house church, a what-have-you) into a given city (“Metropolis”), that base will eventually have essentially four functions:
1) what sustains it (e.g. administration, fundraising, maintenance, etc)
2) the prime function of any believer: worship
3) what makes converts (preparing people for what-is-to-come)
4) what trains converts into leaders (maturing them to carry on the task)
5) what reaches out into the community both in order to make converts and in order to be a blessing to the community (e.g. Genesis 12).
Of course when converts are made and trained then they can be sent on to replicate the process in other nearby areas. Placing a base in a key city can lead to a hub-and-spoke replication into surrounding cities.
But how do you balance the tension between conversion and outreach? e.g. between evangelism and blessing-or-social-work?
I am reminded of Glenn Beck’s tirade: “If your church mentions social justice, leave it.” And I certainly don’t agree with that. But neither do I agree with the idea of Christianizing a culture (e.g. in the long run, a theocracy).
It’s a hard thing that’s not clear in my mind. (And obviously, it’s been a long running debate.) So while I’m not looking for eternal solutions, I am curious: if anyone’s out there and reading this blog (grin), why don’t you pop a comment below?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Justin,
So many times we seem to be pondering the same issues. Our home group has been listening to a series by a very popular speaker/writer. I couldn’t put my finger on why much of what he said didn’t set well with me. Then, last night, he mentioned the “Cultural Mandate” (no scriptural reference was given) and I had an Ah Ha! moment. His whole premise is that God wants us to change our culture (his focus is America). I’d like to talk further with you. Call me.
We can also talk about this offline but I thought I’d carry on with some comments here. I definitely think there is a “fine line” difference between Christianizing culture and blessing culture. I was talking about this with some other folks a few days ago. Jesus came to seek & save the lost and destroy the works of the devil, so I definitely think there is a role for Christians to play in, for example, busting up structures of sin (e.g. human trafficking, prostitution, drugs, organized crime, etc). That’s why I give space to those on this blog. At the same time I’m not in to Christianizing Culture or creating “Christian” governments. However, when I think about it, I am I guess double-minded because I can see the logic in for example voting for leaders who follow Christ – they would be men and women of great character…? But this isn’t my role! Double minded indeed.
Yes, this is one of the tensions in Scripture. We know that the poor will always be with us (Mt 26.11) AND that we are to remember and give to the poor (Gal 2:10). It’s both/and. Believers individually and churches together should help the poorest in their community, but not with the idea that we are “helping” establish the Kingdom on earth. He will establish His Kingdom when He sees that we have “let the whole world know”. Until He does, I and the church I’m a part of need to reach out the the physically poor with resources and the spiritually poor with the treasure of the Gospel.