Moving People of Faith from the Pulpit and Pew to the Pavement
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Genesis!
Genesis!
Blog
Butterflies Die in Sealed Jars...
Posted on September 30, 2011 at 5:02 PM |
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From Pew to Pavement and from Pavement to Pew: Disciples as Worshippers,
Stewards, Evangelists, Social Justice Advocates and Missionaries Engaged in
Christian Community Development Ministry Today the faith community continues to be challenged
by those who question its relevance in the world.[1] Foremost in the minds of many is whether the faithful can legitimately lead or are we doomed to follow? Are we really being salt and light to the
world? Given the culture, is the church
able to be a catalyst of transformation?
In order to respond to these questions, there is a need for the church
to answer its own most basic foundational questions and to rethink these
questions in relation to the mission of 21 Century church. James White asserts that this strategy
requires the church to “get underneath its traditions, programs, and its methods
of doing church and ask ---what are we fundamentally trying to do in the modern
world?”[2] Against this backdrop of uncertainty,
swirling questions about relevance, the church comes face to face with the
Zeitgeist. Here, the faith community is confronted
and challenged to ‘read the signs of the times in light of Jesus’ teachings and
the nature [or theory] of change”.[3] Today, the modern church [and the faithful] has become spiritually obese and evangelistically anorexic. However, they are well positioned
to come out of hiding and be the authors and agents of the sort of Christian social
change that God desires for humanity and the world. To do
this, requires the willingness to assemble a diverse cohort of revolutionaries,
griots and ‘new bloods’, prophetic ministers, missionaries, educators, and
ordinary individuals who are committed to working in and outside of the church
to create systemic change that leads to whole people and whole communities. As servants of God, these change agents are
partners within the community, bringing together the ‘churched’ and
‘unchurched’. They are persons who have accepted
the divine call to be salt and light—they are salty servants of God--Servants of the Sewer not Saints of the Sanctuary. Accepting the call is to embrace The Great
Commission which empowers church and people to become witnesses and vessels
through which the ‘culture of silence’ is destroyed. These disciples give voice and authenticity
to the existence of those once unaware of their own potential and are able to
establish caring Shalom communities who freely invite, embrace, include,
reconcile, and express the ethic of reciprocity.[4] Though this framework has broad foci it
seeks to develop people in the pews and those on the pavement into the disciples,
stewards, evangelists and missionaries whom God has called out of darkness to
be servants to the world. As such it
requires the faith community to fully and completely know there congregational and
ministerial identity---that is who they are in Christ, who they are as an
institution of faith and God’s calling. Willis Bennett writes, establishing a
congregational identity is integral to how groups are able to “turn their attention
outward so as to be effective in witnessing to the glory of God and the [L]ordship
of Christ in the community and in the world”.[5] He goes further to assert that an outward
focus suggests the church is aware of its own history, theological leaning, capacity,
member talents, and there is clarity regarding the degree of commitment towards
the mission.[6] Uppermost, there must be an overwhelming
concern for all people but especially those with
their backs up against the wall who are within and outside the walls of the
church. Please, be patient with me-God is not through with US yet! [1] Dinn, Julia, Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do About it. pp. 28-29. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book. 2008 [2] White, J. E. Rethinking the Church. pp. 25-26. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. 2008 [3] Ibid, p. 26 [4] Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, p. 97. Continuum: New York, 1970 [5] Bennett, G. Willis. Guidelines for Effective Urban Church Ministry: Based on a Case Study of Allen Temple Baptist Church. P. 41 Nashville, TN: Broadman Press. 1983 [6] Ibid, pp. 42-44 Write your post here. |
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