By Wayne Schwab In The Episcopal Church (TEC), we are moving into a heavy emphasis on evangelism. But what is evangelism? Is it calling people to join the church? Or is it calling people to join the mission?? The Episcopal Evangelism Toolkit seems to say evangelism means calling people to join the church. A one-liner on the opening page reads,…
I am pleased to introduce you to a book that invites the church to a journey toward a more holistic method of mission and poverty alleviation. Laceye and Gaston Warner have written From Relief to Empowerment: How Your Church Can Cultivate Sustainable Mission. The Warners support the idea that mission flourishes when relationships are characterized by mutuality—a difficult, but important, balance to…
By Tim Chester, reprinted from his blog under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. Christians in the West today increasingly finds ourselves living on the margins. It was the same for the readers of 1 Peter. In a series of posts I’m identifying principles from 1 Peter for developing a gospel and missional DNA in our churches. Here are the four principles: Proclaim the…
As reported at the Oikonomia Network:
Check out these talks on money in Proverbs and the Great Commission as a mission for all of life; consider using them in future classes; then register to join us to discuss them with the speakers at Karam Forum in LA this Jan. 4-5. (Check out the first two talks as well!)
In this highly focused exploration of biblical text and context, Deborah Gill of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary explores the Great Commission – Matthew 28:19-20. Covering grammatical analysis, historical/cultural background and contemporary application, Gill shows that the Great Commission is a calling for all Christians in all of life.
Gill shares that as she grew up, she got the impression that the Great Commission was for missionaries. The emphasis seemed to be strongly on the “go” in “go and make disciples.” The high calling of the commission was to the hard work of learning new languages and cultures, and leaving behind one’s own world to travel to a new one.
When she became a New Testament scholar, she gained a new perspective on the passage. As she explains, the grammar of the Greek places “make disciples” at the center. The high calling is to become, and help others to become, disciples of Jesus wherever we are and whatever we do!
The appeal of this talk is not only in applications like spiritual transformation through our daily vocation, and compelling stories like the tale of the Harvard Ph.D. student in ethics who was stealing from the university. It’s a great illustration to show students in biblical studies classes how careful grammatical and contextual analysis can upend our assumptions about a text.
Everyone remembers playing Monopoly – but few remember it fondly. Most people’s childhood memories of Monopoly are surprisingly unpleasant given that it’s supposed to be a game.
Eric Tully of Trinity International University suggests that the book of Proverbs points to the reason. The idea of Monopoly is to forget your ethics for a while and just let yourself go, seizing other people’s money shamelessly until they have nothing and you have it all. It’s all in good fun, right? But it turns out it’s not so fun to act like there’s no God.
Using this entry point, Tully unpacks the major lessons of the book of Proverbs on the essential subject of money. How we use money affects nearly every area of our lives, and it simultaneously reflects and reinforces our worldview. The overarching idea of Proverbs, Tully explains, is that people who follow God act one way, while people who don’t follow God act the opposite way – and it makes all the difference.
Tully walks through a number of specific proverbs, drawing out lessons for how we gain and use money. These issues connect directly to our relationship with God and our neighbors: those who fear the Lord value righteousness over wealth, and practice justice and generosity. Tully connects with current events and with complex issues like effective ways to help the poor, as well as commenting on textual issues like the book’s structural features.
By Tim Chester, reprinted from his blog under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. Christians in the West today increasingly finds ourselves living on the margins. It was the same for the readers of 1 Peter. In a series of posts I’m identifying principles from 1 Peter for developing a gospel and missional DNA in our churches. Here are the four principles: Proclaim the…
By Tim Chester, reprinted from his blog under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. Christians in the West today increasingly find ourselves living on the margins. It was the same for the readers of 1 Peter. In a series of posts I’m identifying principles from 1 Peter for developing a gospel and missional DNA in our churches. The first principle was to proclaim the…
Reprinted from Living God’s Mission We’ve been having a thought-provoking series here recently on how to change your congregation’s system to produce a church where all the members know, and behave, as though they are sent on mission. (It was sparked by this post by A. Wayne Schwab, which you may want to keep close by for reference.) One important piece of…
I was recently introduced to a book that, while not new, has important wisdom for leaders in the faith and work movement. The Greening Of the Church (1971) was written by Findley Bartow Edge (1916-2002). Dr. Edge held the Basil Manly, Jr. Chair of Religious Education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he taught for more than 40 years. Edge authored…
By Greg Forster; part seven of a series. In his masterpiece, Work: The Meaning of Your Life, Lester DeKoster said that work is the primary way in which we, empowered by the Spirit, form ourselves into Christlikeness. “God has so made us that through working we actually sculpt the kind of selves we each are becoming, in time and for eternity.” That’s…
The Green Room 