September 13, 2005
Bible Centered & Not Missional?
(I posted this over on my other blog, thought it would share it here too)
I was chatting with someone last night and they made the elusion to the fact that if people would just be people of prayer and be people who studied the text, they would naturally be missional. I wanted to disagree. I have spent my whole life “in the word” and have really only started to grasp the missional call of the scriptures until very recently…
Darrel Guder writes about this…
From Treasures in Clay Jars, Patterns of Missional Faithfulness
“It is possible to be biblically centered, to expect and to experience biblical preaching, and not to be a church that acknowledges, much less practices, its missional calling. This is the crisis and dilemma of much of the Western church. It is possible to study the scriptures in such a way that its central emphesis upon formation for mission is missed. It is possible to hear the gospel primarily in terms of what God’s grace does for me, or for you. It is possible to take the Bible seriously, persuaded that it is primarily about one’s personal salvation. It is possible to preach the Bible in such a way that the needs of persons are met but the formation of the whole community for its witness in the is not emphesized. It is, in short, possible to be Bible-centered and not wholeheartedly missional.”
09.14.05
By: Scott
” It is, in short, possible to be Bible-centered and not wholeheartedly missional.””
I would agree with this statement. But I dont’ think the solution to this unfortunate (and frequent problem) is not to be Bible-centered. (BTW, I’m not implying that this was his intent)
The Bible (“word”) clearly illuatrates that one’s salvation and santificaiton is not just about myself, but it is also just as much about me caring for and being a blessing to others.
So I guess my response would be to figure out how to be a BIBLE CENTERED (preaching the Word of GOD without apology) whie emphasizing both aspects of what it means to be a a follower of Jesus Christ.
OK, now back to work!
09.14.05
By: Todd
amen to that. i think a lot of it lies in how we approach the text and what questions we ask the text that is important.
for example, “what does this mean to me?”
or
“to what was this text calling its audience.”
aloing with..
“what does this call us (the chruch) to in our particular context”
just some “off the top of my head” thoughts….
09.15.05
By: wezlo
One of the things that I’ve been coming to grips with is that the NT is filled with missional documents that we’ve turned around re-worked into law. I just got done preaching 1 Corinthians, a book that we use to create a theology of communion, prove the validity of spiritual gifts, proof-text the need for church discipline, and tell us about the reality of the resurrection. The problem is, while these themes are all in the letter – 1 Corinthians isn’t about any of these things.
1 Corinthians is about how the Corinthians were screwing up the missional calling of the Church through their internal squabbling. As I preached this letter – I saw why it’s so relevant for today – it’s still happening. I think when we say “Bible Centered” we’re really trying to keep it at arms length – so it attacks others instead of cutting us, which is what those texts should do.