Perhaps no
other quality among we Emergent Wesleyans is more consequential to the Kingdom
than that we aim to be Congregation-focused in our ministry. I use the term “congregation” here because of
its more broadly accepted definition.
Many of us would like to say we are “community-focused,” but that term
can be used in multiple ways. One can
mean the community of Christians that make up the local church, the community
around us in our cities and towns, or the value of “doing life together” in
community. Or all of the above. For the sake of this reverse-apologetic to
the church at large, perhaps the term “congregation” is the best bet—since it’s
where things begin and where the others flow from.
There is
another reason I use the term “congregation.”
Lesslie Newbigin used it.[1] Newbigin’s thought has become influential
among Emergent thinkers for a variety of reasons… but perhaps his concept of
the congregation
as the hermeneutic of the gospel is the most lasting.[2] I should allow him to speak for himself on
the matter:
“How is it possible that the gospel
should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has
the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the
only hermeneutic of the gospel is a congregation of men and women who believe
it and live by it. I am not, of course,
denying the importance of the many activities by which we seek to challenge
public life with the gospel…. But I am saying that these are all secondary, and
that they have power to accomplish their purpose only as they are rooted in and
lead back to a believing community.”[3] –
Lesslie Newbigin
We feel
compelled to direct the mass of our energies for the kingdom into the local
congregation. Whether it comes from a more
academic and philosophical journey, or from an intuitive sense that it’s all
about “being the church” we Emergent Wesleyans want to refocus the epicenter of
the Kingdom to the local Body of Christ in local communities. Newbigin perhaps put the best framework
together to describe this compelling draw, and his six-point admonition for the
church’s “true calling” is elaborated upon and applied here for our purposes.[4]
SIX CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EMERGENT WESLEYAN CHURCH BORROWED FROM
NEWBIGIN:
1)
WE LONG TO BE A PRAISING COMMUNITY The church is to be a place where people can
move from the overwhelming mode of “skepticism” that the world works under (the
“plausibility structure” as it is called) into a community that exists in
perpetual praise. The very act of praise
is a violation of a suspicion-driven lifestyle.
In this way we are counter-cultural to our core. But we are also engaged in the process of
“worship evangelism” as Sally Morganthaller has called it.[5] Our praise attracts others (in all it’s
forms, starting so often in our singing but extended through all our praising
activities as Christians). Praise is
fundamental to the very idea of worship and of God – since we are voluntarily
presupposing and ascribing worth to something that is greater than
ourselves. And Newbigin claimed that this
praising should be the church’s “most distinctive character.” He divided our praise into two parts: a) “the
Christian congregation… is the place where people find their true freedom, their
true dignity, and their true equality in reverence to the One who is worthy of
all the praise that we can offer.” And b) “The church’s praise includes
thanksgiving… for we have been given everything and forgiven everything and
promised everything…” So we as Wesleyan Church are “a body of people with
gratitude to spare, a gratitude that can spill over into care for the
neighbor.” We have made some great
progress in our congregations of re-centering our identity on praise. This is why advances in worship in our
Wesleyan Churches are not peripheral to our theologies. Worship theology is ecclesiology, in fact.
2)
WE LONG TO BE A TRUTHFUL
COMMUNITY. Some are concerned that the Emergent
conversation specifically and Christian response to postmodernism generally are
on the slippery slope away from truth. I
know within the Wesleyan Church, which has been relatively
conservative in theology and biblical focus, people have had that concern. In reality, our conversations on the issue of
truth should be and most often are discussing the very real challenge of
believing and living out the truth in the postmodern world—where truth is sand
running through the fingers of each and every individual. In contrast to that, we do not see ourselves
as individuals searching for truth
(which could be considered the “Modernity Project”). Rather, we are communities of truth.
Newbigin said that “through the constant remembering and rehearsing of
the true story of human nature and destiny, an attitude of healthy skepticism
(toward the reigning plausibility structure) can be maintained, a skepticism
which enables one to take part in the life of society without being bemused and
deluded by its own beliefs about itself.”
In this way we point to the truth.
We remind ourselves of the truth.
And most importantly we continue to
live the truth in all it’s myriad colors.
3)
WE LONG TO BE A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY. There are two ways, we are
shown, that the word for Church (ekklesia)
is used in the New Testament: a) the Church of God (or of Christ) and b) the
church of a certain designated place (the church of Rome or the church that
meets in so-and-so’s house.) The
significance of this is not lost on us.
Both identities are our pillars.
My congregation can become so focused on our community in service that
we simply reflect the community while not also reflecting Christ. Likewise but flipped: my congregation can
become so focused on our own needs and discipleship to reflect Christ that we
ignore our responsibility of service toward the community.[6] A deft balance between the two
pillars is needed. The church is God’s embassy in a specific place, as
Newbigin said. And for we Emergent Wesleyans, a
rediscovery of our strong history in Wesleyan tradition in this area (though a
not-so-strong recent history) is part of the fun of the journey. We’re using the term “missional” as a verbal
shorthand for this kind of thinking and living out of the gospel.
4)
WE LONG TO BE AN EQUIPPING COMMUNITY. Drawing on the biblical language
associated with it, Newbigin called this essential calling of the church
preparing people to be the priesthood in the world (2 Peter 2:5, 9). He explains, “The office of a priest is to
stand before God on behalf of people and to stand before people on behalf of
God.” Jesus, of course, is the only High
Priest but the church is to continue in this role, collectively (not just
trained minister’s mind you). In our age
our people are over-informed but under-equipped.
This call back to the equipping nature of our life and work as
Christ-followers echoes Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:11-12 where the “ministers”
of the church are given as “gifts” to the church in order to equip the saints[7]
for works of service. In this sense the
portion of our Wesleyan Mission “To exalt Jesus Christ by… (among other things)
Equipping the Church” is exactly our call.
This call to equip means “enabling members to think out the problems
that face them in their secular work in light of their Christian faith.” Newbigin suggests groups of similarly aligned
professionals to do this job, since Minister’s do not seem well equipped
themselves to do it. At the same time, he calls into
question the “ministerial training as currently conceived [which] is sill far
too much training for the pastoral care of the existing congregation and far
too little oriented toward the missionary calling to claim the whole of public
life for Christ and his kingdom.” This
call to equip also entails a celebration of diversity in the sense of 1
Corinthians 12. Denominations themselves
are the worst problem in this regard, as they gather together people of like
gifting and propensities. Referring to
such compartmentalization of the church, he says, “A bagful of eyes is not a body. Only when a congregation can accept and
rejoice in the diversity of gifts… can the whole body function as Christ’s royal
priesthood in the world.”
5)
WE LONG TO BE A RESPONSIBLE
COMMUNITY. With our aim to institute a new
social order that transforms the culture rather than simply shouting to it from
the sidelines, we have an earlier aim to establish a new social order within
our own congregations. Perhaps the
problem of individualism is to blame for it, but for whatever the reason the
church has not only stopped being responsible to the community around it, but
also has stopped being responsible to the community within it. How can we point to a preferable future social
order without first being a “foretaste of a different social order” as Newbigin
envisioned (actually, as Christ envisioned and this old man merely reminds us
about). With our biblical and poetic
talk of justice and peace in the future comes the responsibility to bring it to
fruition among ourselves now. These
things must become what Newbigin calls an “already experienced treasure.” So, this means that our vision to turn around
poverty in our communities must start by helping the poor in our congregations
(much like the Acts 2 church did in having everything in common.) This means that our hope that racial
reconciliation and harmony will occur in our communities must start by placing
minorities[8] on
our local Wesleyan boards, on the stage and on the staff or our Wesleyan congregations.
6)
WE LONG TO BE A HOPEFUL
COMMUNITY. With Newbigin, we feel that “The gospel
offers and understanding of the human situation which makes it possible to be filled
with a hope that is both eager and patient even in the most hopeless
situations.” The world around us is
hopeless on a theological level. But
most consequentially for the moment they also feel hopeless on an emotional
level. This is why we feel that local
churches are the hope of the world. As local embassies for the Kingdom,
we Wesleyan congregations offer hope to the hopeless. Newbigin reminds us that “everything suggest
that it is absurd to believe that the true authority over all things is
represented in a crucified man. No
amount of brilliant argument can make it sound reasonable to the inhabitants of
the reigning plausibility structure.
That is why I am suggesting that the only possible hermeneutic of the
gospel is a congregation which believes it.”
The local congregation, then, living and breathing as the Body of
Christ, equipping people to praise Him in a truthful, missional and responsible
way becomes the only plausible apologetic of hope in a postmodern world, or any
world for that matter.[9]
I hope you
will excuse my overt dependence on one voice to teach us these things. Many others could instruct us on these core
aspects of our identity. And that would add a choir of
compelling song to the one voice of Newbigin.
As Emergent Wesleyans our longing
heart’s desire is to join the choir and bring our congregations to society in
the public sphere – like a symphony in the park in springtime. To exist, “for the sake of those who are not
members, as sign, instrument and foretaste of God’s redeeming grace for the whole
life of society.” I bet you can guess
who said that one too.