Transcript Pop Justice: Is social action the latest church trend?  Bono has helped the evangelical church in America become more sensitive to those in.

Pop Justice:
Is social action the latest church trend?
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Bono has helped the evangelical church in
America become more sensitive to those
in need around the world and awakened
our marginalized, or in some places
forgotten, call to see justice. But, is the
new focus on social justice just another
pop-Christian trend?
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/09/pop_justice_is.html
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What if social justice and compassion
projects are simply the latest trend?
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In recent years, many church have become
involve in social justice issues, or at least
talking about it.
Will it last or will it fade like every other
trend?
Trends in the Church
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Small groups
Seeker sensitive
Vineyard worship music
Cell churches
Baseball diamond for assimilation
Holy laughter
Radio preaching
Routine of Trends
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Excitement
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Adoption by early innovators
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With time, most churches participate
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Eventually, it passes and we wait for the
“new” thing.
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Will all the attention the church at large is
now rightfully and biblically giving to social
justice fade with time?
It is horribly sad if this rising interest in
justice is only short-term.
Hopefully it won’t fade away, but come to
be seen as central to what it means to be
a disciple of Jesus.
www.johnstott.org/theimpact/?id=1f6a337f297229
8226695eb2b1d28d82
Evangelism
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The Lousanne Covenant (1974) defined
evangelization as “the whole church taking
the whole gospel to the whole world.”
Use the Whole Bible
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Holistic theology and practice of mission
requires a holistic understanding and use
of the Bible.
The Bible shows us God’s priorities and
passions.
The Bible shows us God’s heart:
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For the last and the least (socially, culturally, and
economically) as well as the lost (spiritually).
For those dying of hunger, AIDS, and war, as
well as those who are dying in their sins.
For the landless, homeless, family-less and
stateless as well as for those who are without
Christ, without God and without hope in the
world.
Old Testament Prophets
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OT prophets confronted Israel and
demanded that they change their ways, if
they were to have any hope of fulfilling
their mission of being a light to the
nations and a blessing on earth.
The dominant prophetic call was to
repentance among God’s people, so that
God could get on with the job of blessing
the world.
Scandals and Abuses in the Worldwide Community
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Mega leaders wielding vast wealth,
power and control—unaccountable,
unattractive and unChristlike.
Scandalous biblical ignorance—
multitudes of ordinary Christians in socalled evangelical churches never hear the
Bible preached or taught.
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Prosperity gospel—a 21st century form
of indulgences, except you pay your
money not for release from pains after
death, but for receipt of material blessings
here and now.
Ungodly alliances with secular power—
political, economic and military—
identifying themselves with agendas and
ideologies that reflect human empire not
the kingdom of God.
Criticism of 16th Century
Reformation
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Was criticized because it lacked missionary
awareness and energy..
They were so obsessed with tackling abuses in
the church that they neglected world mission.
How ironic and tragic will it be if 21st century
evangelicals are so obsessed with world missions
that we neglect abuses in the church and remain
willfully blind to our own idolatries and
syncretism?
If reformation without mission
was defective, then mission
without reformation will be
deluded, self-defeating and even
dangerous.
Course Corrections
Ajith Fernando
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At the end of the 19th century, theological
liberals began emphasizing the
humanness of Christ while evangelicals
reacted by emphasizing the atoning work
of Christ.
Liberals concentrated on good deeds while
evangelicals focused on saving souls.
www.christianvisionproject.com/2007/11/getting_back_on_course-print.html
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By the middle of the 20th century,
evangelicals realized their mistake!
C. F. H. Henry’s work, The Uneasy
Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism
(1947), and the Lausanne Covenant of
1974 were landmark documents leading
the church to see social concern as an
element of the church’s mission.
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Regardless of political allegiances,
Christians were encouraged to engage the
culture and seek to daily demonstrate the
Christian ethic.
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The old “evangelism versus social action”
war was over—or so I believed.
Serving in Sri Lanka, I was devoted to
raising up a “post war” generation for
whom social involvement and evangelism
were natural outgrowths of commitment
to Christ.
Neglecting Evangelism?
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I hear evangelicals talking a lot about
justice and kingdom values but not
proclaiming the gospel to those of other
faiths and winning them for Christ.
Proclamation or Presence?
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Evangelicals emphasized proclamation
Liberals emphasized presence—living out
our Christianity before the people.
I believe the “presence versus
proclamation” battle has come back to the
church.
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Many nations are outlawing conversion
through coercion.
Severe persecution is the result.
We face several obstacles that could stop
our evangelistic momentum and replace it
with more palatable agendas.
Questions to Challenge Our
Shortsightedness
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we talk about the coming
judgment?
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it.
not, the next generation won’t believe
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generation neglects the belief, the
next generation rejects it.
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Jesus said, “What does it profit a man
to gain the whole world and forfeit
his life?”
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The context indicates that the Lord is
talking about eternal destruction which
can only be averted by accepting his
grace, denying self, taking up the cross,
and following him.
Does his perspective color the way
we look at people who do not
follow Jesus?
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Why did the Holy Spirit ensure that
there are seven statements of Christ’s
Great Commission in the New
Testament?
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Is it not because Jesus believed that
before he left, it was important to drill
into his disciples’ minds the priority of
the work of saving souls for eternity?
Does Evangelism Have Priority
Over Social Concern?
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Reluctant to use the language of priority.
Such talk comes out of the Western desire
to have things nicely lined up in logical
progression.
I prefer, that our calling is to be obedient
to God totally. If God is in control of our
lives, he will lead us so that we will give
the proper place to the whole will of God
for us.
Holistic Thinking
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We are called to be holistic.
But part of holistic Christianity is the statement
of Christ that all earthly gain is worthless if a
person loses his life to eternal destruction.
The stark fact of lostness places before us the
urgency of evangelism.
I will encourage people to live the Christian life
in society, but I will also follow Christ’s example
in placing before Christians the fact of eternal
damnation and the glory of eternal salvation.
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I am reluctant to reinsert the priority
argument. But we need clarity. Some will
rightly say that because of calling or
circumstances in some parts of the world,
faithful Christians cannot always preach.
They are called instead to social work, and
government regulations prohibit
combining social work with evangelism.
Fair enough.
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Some parts of the body of Christ may be
called to do things other than proclaiming
the gospel of eternal salvation, though
they would verbally advocate other
aspects of the kingdom agenda—such as
justice, fair play, and righteous values.
Indeed, every Christian needs to be
committed to the whole gospel, seeking to
be a personal witness through life and
word.
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To that end, Christian social-service
organizations must ensure that their
workers are not only committed to their
social work, but also to Christ as the Lord
of their lives. So even though verbal
witness may not be part of their job
descriptions, they need to be committed
to it in their person lives.
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Practical realities will dictate that not every
segment of the church will be involved in
all forms of proactive evangelism and all
forms of social engagement.
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Taken together, the whole body of Christ
will be engaged in the whole mission of
the church.
As the Lausanne movement puts it, “The
whole church must take the whole gospel
to the whole world.”
Brussels Statement
Commentary
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A long history of reaching, planting,
training, and touching people.
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Touching is what we do.
Our actions in compassionate ministries
should be clearly enunciated as part of an
intentional theology and strategy.
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Kingdom of God is key term to formulate
biblical principles of church missions that
seeks to obey all Christ's commands
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Signs of the Kingdom are seen clearly in
Jesus’ ministry
Jesus’ exemplary ministry and sacrifice on
the cross is a summons to service for all His
followers.
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Though the Kingdom of God plants
signposts of the future in the present:
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There remains an eschatological fulfillment
when the messianic salvation will be
perfectly accomplished in the age to come.
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To enter the Kingdom requires a radical
transformation in one’s life through
repentance and faith in the atoning work
of Jesus Christ.
 The blessings of life in the Kingdom come by
God’s gift of grace alone.
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The Pentecostal narrative in Acts connects
the Kingdom of God and mission of Jesus.
The empowerment of the Holy Spirit in
Acts 2 and the eschatological hope in the
return of Jesus energized the early church.
The Spirit empowered disciples to do all
that Jesus began to do and teach.
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Acts demonstrates the rule of God pushes
followers to:
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Continue miracles, signs, wonders
To continue compassionate responses to
human need
To break down humanly constructed social
barriers
Continue to proclaim the Gospel to all nations
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To enter the Kingdom is to come under
God’s rule and be incorporated into the
new order of life where love is normative.
Moral imperatives such as love, mercy,
peace, justice, respect of person are not
prescriptions of law, but what life looks
like under God’s rule.
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The local church is called to be God’s
visible and corporate entity bearing
witness to his Kingdom in mission and
reconciliation between people.
The ministry of the church is to all people
because all people have been made in the
image of God.
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Jesus’ earthly ministry demonstrated a
deep concern for every aspect of human
existence.
To follow Jesus’ example, the church must
do the same.
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The church models Jesus’ lead:
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Ministry to children provides dignity
To the marginalized, it provides self-worth and
justice
To the sick, it provides healing
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The hope of the return of the Lord makes
demands on our life and service in the
present.
We long for Jesus’ return, but we are not
passive.
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The promise of Christ’s return compels us
to continue to proclaim the good news,
engage powers of darkness and show
compassion of Jesus to suffering people.
This is the gospel preached and
demonstrated to all nations until the end.