Mark 8 – A Church Deeply Involved in the Needs of Its Neighborhood and World – of 13 Marks of a Faithful Missional Church in the 21st Century American West
Sully Notes are meant to provide you with direct quotes from some books I've read in the last year, so you can get a taste of the overall theme of the book and then begin to chew on what your life might look like if you applied what you read.
This series of special Notes are touching on a subject growing in recognition and discussion within the 21st century American church. What is the missional church? Is it something we do or who we are? What does a church look like that is living out the mission of God in their cultural context? How does a church remain faithful to the good news of Jesus, the Spirit of God, the Scriptures, the church throughout human history and around the world, and the mission of God that the church is called to join, while also meeting the questions, needs, and desires of the people God is sending us to in the cultures and contexts we live in today? I have found no better book to answer these questions than in Michael Goheen's A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story.
For these 13 posts, my goal is to share the final chapter of the book – Chapter 9: What Might This Look Like Today – with you. In this chapter, Goheen shares from his pastoral and professional experience in answering the question, "Ten Things I'd Do Differently if I Pastored Again." The list grew from ten to a lucky thirteen. I think all thirteen are essential for considering how Emmaus City will be a faithful church for our city – Worcester, MA.
Each blog post will feature one mark that will take about 5 minutes to read. Here is the full list featuring links to the previous posts:
- Mark 1: A Church with Worship That Nurtures Our Missional Identity
- Mark 2: A Church Empowered by the Preaching of the Gospel
- Mark 3: A Church Devoted to Communal Prayer
- Mark 4: A Church Striving to Live as a Contrast Community
- Mark 5: A Church That Understands Its Cultural Context
- Mark 6: A Church Trained for a Missionary Encounter in Its Callings in the World
- Mark 7: A Church Trained to Evangelism in an Organic Way
- Mark 8: A Church Deeply Involved in the Needs of Its Neighborhood and World
- Mark 9: A Church Committed to Missions
- Mark 10: A Church with Well-Trained Leaders
- Mark 11: A Church with Parents Trained to Take Up the Task of Nurturing Children in Faith
- Mark 12: A Church with Small Groups That Nurture for Mission in the World
- Mark 13: A Church That Seeks and Expresses the Unity of the Body of Christ
Mark 8: A Church Deeply Involved in the Needs of Its Neighborhood and World
"Evangelistic activity must be legitimated first and foremost by a community experiencing the life-transforming power of the gospel (Acts 4:32-35). Our words will also be heard as believable if they are authenticated by deeds of mercy and justice. Thus a missionary encounter will also mean 'a community that does not live for itself but is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighborhood.' When unbelieving neighbors in the vicinity of a local church are asked why they think that church exists, they often answer, 'It exists for itself.' This is the precise opposite of the answer we would want to hear. C.J. Miller tells the story of a Dutch Calvinist church with a distant, if not slightly unwelcoming relationship with its neighbors. A storm blew the roof off the house of a widow in that neighborhood, and the church rallied behind th deacons to replace the roof. The attitudes of the local community changed dramatically, and distance and suspicion were replaced by respect and appreciation. This story highlights a number of important issues.
First, there are often numerous needs in a neighborhood, but churches are not always sensitive to those needs. Miller calls this 'opportunity blindness.' Our former church in Hamilton offers an example. We hired an outreach pastor, who spent some time doing a careful demographical study of our city. When he presented his material, we were all startled to hear about two large groups of people with significant unmet needs who lived within walking distance of our front door. With eyes to see these needs, the church then organized to meet them, as it was an important moment in our church's life.
Second, as Miller's story illustrates, when a church becomes deeply involved in the needs of its neighborhood, it changes both the church and the attitude of the local community. The community sees the church no longer as an alien and undesirable invasion of people meeting for their own selfish purposes but rather as a welcome presence there to bless the neighborhood. The church itself develops a sense of being rooted in a place along with the responsibility of being good news in that place.
Third, there is a need for leadership, pacesetters whose primary calling is to lead the congregation in the way of mercy and jutice in the community. This is normally the work of the deacon. Deacons in the grip of the power of the gospel, who have an eye for need in the church and the community along with a developing imagination for addressing those needs, and whose love and mercy for the needy is infectious, can be an invaluable part of a congregation that wants to be good news in its community.
Finally, deeds of mercy and justice, as expressions of self-giving love, can be a powerful witness to the truth of the gospel. The early church is a shining example here. Loving deeds toward the needy were a primary reason that the early church grew in the first three centuries, as testified by Christian and enemy alike. Because of this powerful witness, many of the martyrs of the early church were deacons. Also because of this powerful witness, when Emperor Julian (331-363 A.D.) attempted to revive pagan religion in the Roman Empire after its 'conversion' to Christianity, he recognized the Christian church's love and charity as the main reason for its popularity and attempted to imitate it. As Pope Benedict XVI succinctly explains in his first encyclical: 'In one of his letters, (Julian) wrote that the sole aspect of Christianity which had impressed him was the Church's charitable activity. He thus considered it essential for his new pagan religion that, alongside the system of the Church's charity, an equivalent activity of its own established. According to him, this was the reason for the popularity of the 'Galileans.' They needed now to be imitated and outdone.' Benedict goes on to say what every Christian tradition should affirm: 'For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.'" – pgs. 217-218
First, there are often numerous needs in a neighborhood, but churches are not always sensitive to those needs. Miller calls this 'opportunity blindness.' Our former church in Hamilton offers an example. We hired an outreach pastor, who spent some time doing a careful demographical study of our city. When he presented his material, we were all startled to hear about two large groups of people with significant unmet needs who lived within walking distance of our front door. With eyes to see these needs, the church then organized to meet them, as it was an important moment in our church's life.
Second, as Miller's story illustrates, when a church becomes deeply involved in the needs of its neighborhood, it changes both the church and the attitude of the local community. The community sees the church no longer as an alien and undesirable invasion of people meeting for their own selfish purposes but rather as a welcome presence there to bless the neighborhood. The church itself develops a sense of being rooted in a place along with the responsibility of being good news in that place.
Third, there is a need for leadership, pacesetters whose primary calling is to lead the congregation in the way of mercy and jutice in the community. This is normally the work of the deacon. Deacons in the grip of the power of the gospel, who have an eye for need in the church and the community along with a developing imagination for addressing those needs, and whose love and mercy for the needy is infectious, can be an invaluable part of a congregation that wants to be good news in its community.
Finally, deeds of mercy and justice, as expressions of self-giving love, can be a powerful witness to the truth of the gospel. The early church is a shining example here. Loving deeds toward the needy were a primary reason that the early church grew in the first three centuries, as testified by Christian and enemy alike. Because of this powerful witness, many of the martyrs of the early church were deacons. Also because of this powerful witness, when Emperor Julian (331-363 A.D.) attempted to revive pagan religion in the Roman Empire after its 'conversion' to Christianity, he recognized the Christian church's love and charity as the main reason for its popularity and attempted to imitate it. As Pope Benedict XVI succinctly explains in his first encyclical: 'In one of his letters, (Julian) wrote that the sole aspect of Christianity which had impressed him was the Church's charitable activity. He thus considered it essential for his new pagan religion that, alongside the system of the Church's charity, an equivalent activity of its own established. According to him, this was the reason for the popularity of the 'Galileans.' They needed now to be imitated and outdone.' Benedict goes on to say what every Christian tradition should affirm: 'For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.'" – pgs. 217-218
– Sully
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