THE IDENTITY AND FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH

Excerpt from “The Identity and Function of the Church in Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology,” my paper on Newbigin's ecclesiology.

One might think of ecclesiology as an identity-function grid upon which specific expressions of church are practiced. The identity axis describes the unchanging essence of the church’s being. The function axis describes the overarching purpose of her existence. The essence of identity and function remain throughout time and across culture.

The ground of the church’s identity is the sovereign will of the triune God. Everything the church is flows from God’s decision to glorify himself by creating, redeeming, and glorifying a people for himself. Our very life is from him. Humanity receives its identity from the triune God. The church—the new humanity in Jesus—receives her identity from the triune God. The decision of God is therefore the ground upon which the church’s identity proceeds.

The telos of the church’s identity is Jesus Christ, the One who has ultimate authority. Ultimate authority is defined as authority that is trusted, rather than proved. Every belief system trusts an ultimate authority beyond which no proof is needed. Christians trust Jesus as the ultimate authority. Since Jesus is the ultimate authority, the only answer to the question of authority is the story of the work of the triune God in Jesus, told in the Scriptures and proclaimed through the ages.

The church’s function is grounded in her participation in the missio Dei, proclaiming the kingdom of the Father, embodying the presence of the Son, and following the sovereign grace of the Spirit. Her work in time and eternity, in witness and worship, flows from this participation.

The telos of the church’s function is a holistic praxis-theology determined by the ultimate authority of Jesus. Praxis-theology does justice to the nature of God and involves humans as whole persons in community and in history. In the biblical view, the human person is a single reality, consisting of soul and body; humans exist in the real world as real, whole persons. The goal is praxis-theology because humans exist as material-immaterial persons in community. The life of the body and the life of the mind are one. Humanity is whole at the individual and corporate levels. The life of the church ought to reflect this God-given wholeness.


BIBLIOGRAPHY (for the whole paper)

Goheen, Michael W. ""As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You": J. E. Lesslie Newbigin's Missionary Ecclesiology." Doctoral Dissertation, Universiteit Utrecht, 2000.

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Household of God; Lectures on the Nature of the Church. London,: SCM Press, 1953.

________. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1986.

________. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1989.

________. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995.


NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): missional ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 8

Spring 2007 has been a semester of Newbigin. I have read The Open Secret, Foolishness to the Greeks, and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. One result of this study is a series of questions I shall be considering as I research emerging church ecclesiology this summer and fall. Please note that these questions are actual questions. Therefore, any insight into an emerging-missional perspective is greatly appreciated. The goal here is conversation and discovery.

• Does the emerging church clearly declare the Jesus as the ultimate authority?
• Does the emerging church call for radical commitment?
• Does the emerging church strive to maintain the tension between the already and the not yet?
• Has there been conformity for the sake of relevance? If so, what is the justification? If not, what protections are in place?
• Is the emerging church’s self description as “followers of God in the way of Jesus” a sufficient definition of the church?
• How does the emerging church explain their intense focus on Jesus in light of the Trinity?
• How does the emerging church practice their cultural shaping in the context of divine promise?
• How does the emerging church answer the charge that they have a low interest in theology?
• Is the emerging church faithful to valid traditions?
• Does the emerging church have a verbal and practical witness?
• How might the emerging church join in conversation with its detractors so that its theology and practice would more accurately proclaim the kingdom?

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): missional ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 7

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
by Lesslie Newbigin
255 pages
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (December 1989)

ECCLESIOLOGICAL INSIGHTS

The church is...

• a community of peace, overflowing reverence for and gratitude to Jesus in the presence of others.
• a community of truth, proclaiming the ultimate truth of Jesus with modesty, sobriety, and realism.
• a community that lives for the neighborhood, acting as God’s embassy in that specific location.
• a community of priestly training, standing before God on behalf of people and before people on behalf of God, all in the context of daily life.
• a community of hope, living as the hermeneutic of the gospel: a congregation that truly believes the crucified and risen Messiah is the ultimate authority.

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): missional ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 6

NOTE: this post has been rewritten

Foolishness to the Greeks
Lesslie Newbigin
160 pages
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (April 1986)

Post-enlightenment culture, chapters 1-2

Modern culture has three key features: the public-private dichotomy, the fact-value dichotomy, and the abandonment of teleology. In this culture, it is assumed that one's public and private worlds operate independently. One has little influence on the other. In this culture, facts are public matters whose validity is determined by science. Values are private matters determined by personal choice. How should the church proclaim the gospel in the language of this culture and in a way that radically calls it into question?

The gospel and its missionary encounter with culture, chapters 3-5

The Christian testimony is that Jesus is the ultimate authority. All of life is ordered under him and finds its explanation in him. From the perspective of modern culture, this testimony is foolish, meddlesome, and dangerous. Yet it must be proclaimed. Modern culture--its science and its politics--must be called into question and all persons must be called to submit to the one by whom all things consist.

Implications and applications for missionary encounter, chapter 6

The church is...

• an advance community of the kingdom of God to yearn publicly for the consummation of the kingdom.
• a witness of the ultimate authority of Jesus to engage in honest conversation with others.
• an earthly and temporal outpost of the kingdom to speak a theology that flows from daily life.
• one church to witness to the one truth.
• one church to engage with one another so that we may more accurately declare the one God.
• composed of those who trust Jesus as the ultimate authority to declare him in a culture that rejects the very notion.
• a community of praise to broadcast the overflow of our praise as a witness to the nations.

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): missional ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 5

Question to Consider from my reading of Newbigin's The Open Secret

If the Trinity is best understood through the narratives of salvation history and if the ecclesia exists only in relation to the Trinity, then what do the Trinity-revealing narratives of salvation history tell us about the identity and function of the ecclesia of God?

Resources for answering the question (to be updated as resources are located):

Fred Sanders on Trinity also here


NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 4

Gleanings from Newbigin's The Open Secret, chapters 9-10

Key Ideas

The church is

• the community of those who acknowledge Jesus as the ultimate authority, existing to trust and participate in the Holy Spirit's work, bringing all of humanity into conformity with the Son.
• a culturally-located, christologically-defined community existing to proclaim Christ and his Kingdom within and against culture.

Précis of key ideas on the missional identity of the church

The calling of men and women to be converted, to follow Jesus, and to be part of his community is and must always be at the center of mission. (p.121)

Newbigin sees the Church Growth Movement (Donald McGavaran) as raising questions in three areas:

I. The relations of numerical church growth to the message of the kingdom.
II. The meaning of conversion and the relation between discipling and perfecting.
III. The relation of gospel and church to culture. (p.124)

p.124-130

While the book of Acts reveals some interest in numerical growth, the message of the Synoptics, John's gospel, and the epistles is much more concerned with faithfulness and integrity. Indeed, church history shows us that treating growth as the criterion of health too easily leads to the implementation of worldly methods and a reliance on human ability. The missionary is therefore sent not to grow the church, but to raise up a community that acknowledges Jesus as Lord and then to move on.

And how can we defend a form of evangelism that has nothing to say about the big issues of public righteousness and talks only of questions of personal and domestic behavior? (p.135)

Mission, as I have insisted, is not just church extension. It is an action in which the Holy Spirit does new things, brings into being new obedience. But the new gifts are for the whole body and not just for the new members. Mission involves learning as well as teaching, receiving as well as giving. (p.139)

The day-to-day worship and word and witness of the local church has to be developed in relationship to all of these in such a way that it becomes credible to the inhabitants of the local culture as sign, instrument, and foretaste of that one universal reign of God that is the true origin and goal of this and every human culture. It must communicate in the idiom of that culture both the divine good that sustains it and the divine purpose that judges it and summons it to become what it is not yet. (p.150)

The foundation of Christianity is not a set of culturally shaped propositions. The foundation of Christianity is a person in a specific place at a specific time in history. The foundation of Christianity is Jesus of Nazareth. This historical foundation is always interpreted within a culture. Therefore, our particular understandings can only be corrected as we meet with others from other cultures at the cross. It is not our understandings, but Jesus alone who has authority.

...religion is intended to denote all those commitments that, in the intention of their adherents, have an overriding authority over all other commitments and provide the framework within which all experience is grasped and all ideas are judged...[It] has final authority for a believer or a society, both in the sense that it determines one's scale of values and in the sense that it provides the models, the basic patterns through which the believer grasps and organizes his or her experience. (p.160-161)

The truth is that my meeting with a person of another religion is on a much humbler basis. I do not claim to know in advance his or her ultimate destiny. I meet the person simply as a witness, as one who has been laid hold of by Another and placed in a position where I can only point to Jesus as the one who can make sense of the whole human situation that my partner and I share as a fellow human beings. This is the basis of our meeting. (p.174)

p.174-182

In seeking to understand the religion of conversation partners, Christians must come with several understandings. First, Jesus is Lord of all and the light and life of all humanity (John 1:9). Because we love the Light, we will look for it everywhere. Second, there is a dark side, for humanity continues to intentionally cut itself off from God. Third, the way of salvation is not any particular religion, but a particular person: Jesus. Fourth, God has given everything that is good and everything belongs to the Son. Fifth, the church is not the owner of salvation, but a first fruit of the salvation which God intends for the whole of creation. Sixth, Christians enter into dialogue with other religions by setting aside religion and focusing on Jesus.

This purpose [of entering into dialogue with persons of other religions] can only be obedient witness to Jesus Christ. Any other purpose, any goal that subordinates the honor of Jesus Christ to some purpose derived from another source, is impossible for Christians. To accept such another purpose would involve a denial of the total lordship of Jesus Christ. A Christian cannot try to evade the accusation that, for him or her, dialogue is part of obedient witness to Jesus Christ. (p.182)

p.188-189

The church is a steward of the mysteries of the gospel. This gospel is the open secret. "It is open in that it is announced in the gospel that is preached to all the nations; it is a secret in that it is manifest only to the eyes of faith" (p.188).


NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 3

Gleanings from Newbigin's The Open Secret, chapter 8

Key Ideas

The church is

• the death-transcending people of God in Jesus by the Spirit to bear before the world a fully embodied praxis-situated theology.

Précis of key ideas on the missional identity of the church

p.95-101
Current culture and the rejection of the colonialist mentality require that the church honestly consider a missiology of liberation. Such a theology holds that theology begins with praxis, not with ideas. Liberation from injustice is the primary focus of this praxis and the exodus from Egypt is the paradigm. Salvation, therefore, pits the exploited against the exploiter and always involves the liberation of the exploited. Gustavo Gutierrez, a liberation theologian, speaks of three types of liberation: political, cultural, and spiritual. These three are part of salvation, but no one is the whole of salvation.

In this view, "religion" concerns a particular aspect of people's lives, namely, that which is private, personal, interior. It concerns the "soul." It looks for a "salvation" that is outside of history. From this point of view the events of political and cultural liberation are only significant insofar as they contribute to or hinder the development of the soul considered as a spiritual monad...

In contrast to this ancient and dominant view, the Old Testament insists on seeing the human person as a single reality in whom body and soul are two aspects of one being. (p.102)

p.103-113
Human experience makes it difficult to accept Old Testament anthropology. Death severs us from the shared experience of history. Therefore, individual experience becomes all too important. Christianity provides a solution by providing a way through death and by making us a continuing people in the Spirit. Therefore, in Christ suffering is not submission to evil, but rather a witness against evil. In the Eucharist, we each acknowledge our sin, our need for grace, and the fact that oppressor and oppressed both stand in need of salvation.

There can be no "academic theology," if that means theology divorced from commitment, faith, and obedience. On this issue the liberation theologians are right. Where I think they are wrong is in the identification of this commitment with acceptance of the Marxist analysis of society. The commitment is not to a cause or to a program: it is to a person. At the heart of mission there must always be the call to be committed to Jesus Christ in his community. (p.120)

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 2

NOTE: theological caveat added at bottom

Gleanings from Newbigin's The Open Secret, chapter 7

Key Ideas

The church is

• chosen in Messiah to bear the blessings and good news of the kingdom in the world.
• the recipient of the revelation of the story to proclaim the story, its meaning, and its significance in the world.

Précis of key ideas on the missional identity of the church

p.68-77
Throughout the Old Testament we see that God chooses one person or one people to be the bearer of his blessing for the many. The universality and particularity of the good news of the kingdom are understood in the context of this choosing--this election. Understanding election as choosing one for the sake of all does justice to the biblical understanding of human nature as necessarily relational. The good news of the kingdom and the offer of salvation are thus communicated only in relationship. Christ is the chosen one and we have been chosen in him. The fact of election is not grounds for any claim of rights or blessings. Rather, election is a solemn responsibility and the elect are held to a higher standard that are those who have not heard.

The Christian's confession is the confession of a faith regarding the meaning and end of the human story as a whole. This confession compels one to challenge every understanding of the human story that looks to an end other than that which is disclosed in Jesus (p.89).

The Christian confession about the meaning and end of history can make good its claim to truth over against other interpretations of human history only through action in which this confession is embodied in deed--and in suffering. If the Christian confession is true, the Acts of God do not cease with the Acts of the Apostles.

We have now, therefore, to go on to ask: What are the actions by which the believing community will fulfill God's purpose for it as the community chosen, called, and sent with a view to the salvation of the world? (p.90)

[Theological caveat: I have issues with Newbigin's take on election and must consult others for insight. I believe the Scripture does teach a form of individual election and the persistence of the saints.]

NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

THE MISSIONAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH 1

Gleanings from Newbigin's The Open Secret, chapters 1-6

Key Ideas

The church is

• a community with the commitment that Jesus' authority is ultimate and who announces this ultimate authority to the world.
• a community existing by the authority of the Father for the purpose of proclaiming the Father's Kingdom to the world and remaining aware in the process.
• a community existing by the grace and intention of God in Jesus for the purpose of embodying Jesus' presence--his incarnation and passion--in the world.
• a community existing by the power of the Spirit for the purpose of following the Holy Spirit in the way prepared by his prevenient grace.

Précis of key ideas on the missional identity of the church

p.13-18
All understandings of and responses to the human condition are based on commitments. Christianity and Christian mission are based upon the commitment that the authority of Jesus is ultimate. Therefore, when asked, “By what authority?” we respond, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” We answer thusly because we believe, because Jesus is the supreme authority, and because we have been commissioned to do so. Therefore, the announcement of the gospel is the answer to the question, “By what authority?”

What does proclamation mean? The reign of God is not a new “movement” in which those interested may enlist. It is not a cause for support, a cause that might succeed or fail according to the amount of support it attracts. It is, to be precise, the reign of God, the fact that God whom Jesus knows as Father is the sovereign ruler of all peoples and all things. The announcement means that this fact is no longer something remote—far up in the heavens or far away in the future. It is an impending reality, in fact, the one great reality that confronts men and women now with the need for decision. (p.34)

p.38-39
The proclamation of the Kingdom of the Father requires us to offer an interpretation of world events, putting into context happenings that seem opposed to God’s Kingdom. The Little Apocalypse in Mark 13 provides insight. The announcement of the Kingdom gives hope for full liberation, and opens the way for false messiahs bringing temporal liberation. Therefore, the evidence of the Kingdom’s breaking in is not peace, but war. Matters are made worse when evil usurps the throne. Then, when things seem at their worst, the final triumph of God comes. Therefore, those to whom the truth has been revealed must remain awake and aware.

Mission, seen from this angle, is faith in action. It is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: “Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” ( p.39)

The church is a movement launched into the life of the world to bear in its own life God’s gift of peace for the life of the world. (p.48)

p.49-55
The embodiment of the presence of the Son is the embodiment of the Kingdom. The church, even in its mixture of faith and doubt, embodies the presence of Jesus and, thus, the Kingdom. The church is not the Kingdom, but is the embodiment of Jesus’ presence. This is possible because what has happened in the incarnation and passion is larger, more complex, and more wonderful than we can grasp. It is possible because the time-bound, geographically located historical events surrounding the incarnation and passion of the One who is sovereign over all must and does have significance for all times, places, and peoples. It is possible because the presence of the Kingdom is revealed, not in a book, but in a faith community bearing in itself the incarnation and passion of the Son. It is possible because the Kingdom of God is both hidden and revealed in a people who bear it, not by any merit of their own, but by the grace and intention of God.

Because I believe in one God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit, I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. And I believe that the reign of God is present in the midst of this sinful, weak, and divided community, not through any power or goodness of its own, but because God has called and chosen this company of people to be the bearers of his gift on behalf of all people. (p.54)

p.61-65
Trust in the prevenience of the Spirit requires we recognize that the mission is not ours and that we must follow where the Spirit leads. The Spirit is the guarantee that the Kingdom of God is here and will be complete. The church’s necessary response is to live in and proclaim that hope in the world. Our task is to follow the Spirit.

The church exists to proclaim the Kingdom of the Father, embody the presence of the Son, and follow the prevenience of the Holy Spirit. Our identity as church is defined as this mission.



NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): ecclesiology

See CC License

“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/