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The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book Summary - Part IV
Series: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
Sharing the Life of the Son: Mission as Love in Action. If we have seen that in the Father God is making his reign over all creation, we see this reign fully acted out and present in the person of Jesus Christ. “The longed-for kingdom is not only proclaimed: it is present.” (44) But a great question then comes out of this, “does the presence of the kingdom end with the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry?” (44) Newbigin points out that the community of disciples now continues the presence of Jesus after his death. While this seems like an impossible task (and it is) it is possibly only because the Spirit is given to them to empower them and go before them as they seek to live faithfully as the people of Jesus. “His mission is to be their mission. And so also his Spirit is to be theirs…. the disciples are now taken up into that saving mission for which Jesus was anointed and sent it the power of the Spirit.” (48) The question that comes next how we think that the presence of the kingdom can really be found in the church. He concludes that,
“The church represents the presence of the reign of God in the life of the world, not in the triumphalist sense (as the “successful” cause) and not in the moralistic sense (as the righteous cause), but in the sense that it is the place where the mystery of the kingdom present it the dying and rising of Jesus is made present here and now so that all people, righteous and unrighteous, are enabled to take and share the love of God before whom all are unrighteous and all are accepted as righteous. It is the place where the glory of God actually abides among us so that the love of God is available to sin-burdened men and women. It is the place where the power of God is manifested in a community of sinners. It is the place where the promise of Jesus is fulfilled: ‘I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ It is the place where the reign of god is present as love shared among the unlovely.” (54)
Bearing the Witness of the Spirit: Mission as Hope in Action. In this chapter Newbigin discusses how “mission is not just something that the church does; it is something that is done by the Spirit, who is himself the witness, who changes both the world and the church, who always goes before the church in its missionary journey.” (56) As stated previously, the reason the church can hope in being the presence of the kingdom is completely dependent upon the action of the Spirit. Drawing on his vast missionary experience, Newbigin writes, “My own experience as a missionary has been that the significant advances of the church have not been the result of our own decisions about the mobilizing and allocating of ‘resources.’” (64)
Anthony said...
112/10/06 6:34 AM | Comment Link |
Just wanted to say I’ve been enjoying this summary series brother. Blessing for the season Todd
Todd said...
212/14/06 9:48 PM | Comment Link |
Thanks Anthony!
Wasihun Gutema said...
310/15/08 8:47 PM | Comment Link |
I liked your reflections and here add some more from Ethiopian prespective.
Wasihun Senbeta, ThM
Reflection on Lesslie Newbigin [Pp1-65]
One important concept that I picked form the 1st chapter of Lesslie Newbigin is the idea quoted from Willingen council of 1952 that says, “There is no participation in Christ without in His mission in the world.” This makes me speechless in that the God whom we worship makes people participate in his kingdom. Christians are not only called to believe but also to participate in mission. Mission and believing are inseparable. Of course believing comes first and then mission. He/who believes begin to take part in mission. This was also how Jesus trained the twelve. He called them to follow him then he began to edify them. Edification follows believing and then participation in mission. No edification no participation. I conclude this point as believing—–edification—–mission. Believing may or may not be within a blinking of an eye but edification and mission is a process. Thus, participation in Christ involves participation in mission. How long the time for edification? I think no one is sure of that .But scriptural truths reflect hat there are people who began participation in mission the moment they believed. For instance; the Samaritan woman and the blind man respectively in [John 4:1-42, John 9:1-41]. Accordingly, there is no time frame for edification yet believing is always the first phenomena.
Generally, there is no participation in Christ without participation in His mission in the world is Biblical and every believer is a participant. This participation in mission is without any geographical barrier and in any situation even in the situation of suffering. The participation is not given to a particular mission organization nor an individual but to every believer. Mission is any where even in our heartland. Jesus said, “…you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to Samaria and to remotest end of the earth” [Acts1:8]. In giving this commandment Jesus did not teach that they should forget their own periphery. This brings me to the issue of the Western churches. The biggest mistake that the Western churches committed was that they forgot their own fields. They were too generous. They thus as Newbigin says, “…in general, totally failed to recognize that the most urgent contemporary mission field is to be found in their own traditional heartland …” [Newbigin, 10]. This elucidates that they have to come back to their own heartland. Their heartland has actually a number of problems among which the idea of individual freedom and privacy system challenge Christians not to witness.
In chapter two I took the idea of “by what authority?”[Newbigin.15]. We are sent by God’s authority in Jesus name. This authority is not derived from human beings and it is given to us to declare his Lordship. This Lordship of Christ is for all whether a believer or not. The implication of this to mission is recognizing God as ultimate authority. That authority is our affirmation. This drives us in to mission whether people agree with us or not. This mission is carried out in the Trinitarian sense. That is what I picked from chapter three. This is a framework for Christian mission. Newbigin looks through the lens of mission with three filters- “as proclaiming the kingdom of the Father, as sharing the life of the son, and as bearing the witness of the Spirit” [Newbigin, 29]. Newbigin then affirms that Mission is always faith in action. This is firmly rooted in the proclamation of the kingdom of the Father where His reign and supreme deed is revealed on the cross. This shows that “God is indeed active in History” [Newbigin, 39]. This activity of God is in the weakness of Christ which is contrary to the view of the world and thus believers as people in mission should declare that by faith enduring sufferings as Jesus did. An important reflection to this was the Muslims attack of Lutheran Christians in Ethiopia in 2007. Muslims burnt no less than 23 congregations, killed an evangelist in his compound yard, wounded and tortured the others. The Lutheran believers of the area did not retaliate. They patiently saw the hand of God in weakness and suffering. When the government took action against the Muslims they were praying for them. Finally their actions brought many Muslims to Christ. Mission is also love in action. Jesus was taken to the cross which was the actual love in action. The church must invite all humankind to this love even if there is suffering. Christ loved amidst suffering and while the Jewish were nailing him on the cross. To reflect here the case of Lutheran believers in Ethiopia is necessary. While Muslims were killing them and burning their properties they kept silent not because it was legally right or they were afraid but because they learnt from the Lord. Finally, Muslim converts are speaking the love in action of these Christians. Besides these, Mission is hope in action. This is to follow obediently to where the spirit leads and the spirit is the foretaste of the Kingdom. I assume that when the spirit touches, he takes us from our comfort Zone to begin pilgrimage. Thus, mission with faith, love and hope bears fruit.
Questions
What do you think of the western Churches these days? How could they begin mission in their traditional heartland?
How do you elucidate the authority of Christ considering your self as a missionary?