As a new convert of the mid ‘70’s, I was part of a worldwide movement that embraced a Jesus who was prepared to stand out from his culture and society, speaking and acting for the lost and poor. We embraced a holistic gospel that was passionate to see people come to know this Christ and experience His forgiveness and transformation, while at the same time having a concern for physical and social needs, both personal and societal.
Many went out into their neighborhoods and further into the world with the intention of caring for the poor and vulnerable and speaking a gospel of reconciliation with God through Christ. Our expectations were high. For myself I ended up living in a slum community in Manila for 9 years with my husband and children as part of Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. Our beliefs took a battering and many of our expectations were unmet. Back in the west, many churches were also busy in their communities, setting up trusts and projects that expected to see the poor aided and the lost saved. Many did come into the church as a result of these endeavors, but over time, the trend was to see the projects become more effective and professional in terms of meeting social and physical need, and less effective around the proclamation of a gospel of salvation through Christ. For some it even became offensive to ‘peddle the gospel’, feeling that the message communicated was one of exclusion and non-acceptance and the idea of sin was to crush the vulnerable with a greater burden of guilt and shame.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.
~John 15:16
The gospels clearly indicate that the people of God can expect to be fruitful. Some have limited this to the character fruits of the Spirit, but when Jesus tells Peter that ‘from now on you will be catching men’ and the command to go make disciples, clearly there is an expectation that this fruitfulness will also be found in what happens in the lives of others.
Types of Fruitfullness
Physical – meeting of physical human need such as food, clothing and shelter and adequate financial resources.
Social – Creating places and opportunities for belonging and connectedness to others. Creating community cohesion. This may also involve learning and employment programmes that enable people to more fully participate in society, builds self esteem and independence.
Emotional – Personal emotional development and learning that creates greater internal and external harmony for the individual. Inner healing that leads to changed behavior etc.
Spiritual – the development of a relationship with the unseen world, which for us as Christians is about development of the relationship with the Creator God through coming to know and submit our lives to the Christ who is King. This brings us into the journey of transformation by the Holy Spirit from within and into fellowship with His church.
The parable of the Seeds (or the ground) tells us that not all our efforts will achieve successful outcomes. To a significant extent, fruitfulness or positive outcomes are the responsibility of the one who receives or is given the opportunity for ‘new life’.
While we are not responsible for the outcomes of what we do in good faith, a reflection on those outcomes gives us food for learning and potential information that aids in the development of what we do to be more effective for the sake of others.
There is a current reality that different places, churches and activities are seeing different types of outcomes. For a long time we have wrestled with the desire of the community of faith to see ‘converts’. To see some come into relationship with God through Christ, such that they experience forgiveness, transformation and join the fellowship of believers.
Over the years many ministries that began with the hope that this would be one of the outcomes have become disenchanted, as they have not seen this happen. There was, as part of this, often a belief that Christians and non-Christians having time together would lead to some kind of awakening in the non-Christian who start seeking. This seldom happens. Across the Baptist movement there was then a readjustment of expectations along with some new thinking about the Kingdom of God and Shalom. This brought the idea that where we were able to facilitate personal development, relationship and belonging for the lonely, and community cohesion, we were achieving what God intended. While still encouraging personal faith it ceased to be an expectation that many would come into a strong and vibrant personal faith.
At this point in time, many churches are seeing the lowest growth and numbers of baptisms that they have experienced since they began counting. At the same time, this is not a universal experience. There are a group of churches who are actively involved in their communities and also report seeing people come into new relationship with Christ alongside seeing the other aspects of fruitfulness… social, emotional and physical.
To the casual observer such as myself, it seems that these particular churches are not running programmes or activities that differ greatly from what others are doing, but they have practices that surround those activities and ways of thinking and acting that make a difference. I emphasise that this is based on my own observations of a variety of churches across denominations, and has no research or solid data to back it up!
What I have observed is that the characteristics of church activities seeing people come to Christ are as follows:
A clear focus on evangelism with practices of sharing faith in both informal and formal (running groups like Alpha) ways. People involved in community ministries can share experiences of sharing their faith with others and have no fear of doing so. There was a lack of fear about causing offence or of minimising evangelism for fear of affecting possible funding streams.
Evangelism and community impact are not prioritised one over the other, but are both seen to be important kingdom activities.
Team – community ministries across the church saw themselves as a whole team and within each ministry had strong practices of support, prayer, planning and sharing together. This ‘teamness’ may involve a group across more than one church.
Theology of Holy Spirit transformation – leaders and volunteers saw themselves as on a journey of being transformed and were constant learners, while also having an expectation of the Holy Spirit at work in others and their communities. This gave them current stories of God’s power at work in their lives, having a fresh and open faith journey and gave an attitude of identification with those in the community.
Submission to church leadership – Community ministry leaders worked closely alongside church leadership and saw themselves as submitted to the leaderships input and direction. Where a trust was operating, which has its own structure, this was not a strongly visible line separating that operation from church leadership. The manager of a trust was often on the church leadership team.
Constant evaluation and preparedness to change in response to the community and God’s leading. Also in this a creativity where individuals were free to respond in some unique way as part of the mix, but also came under the CM leadership direction.
Volunteerism was strong across the generations.
Prayerfulness – all effective ministries were soaked in prayer of all kinds. The teams prayed regularly, had prayer needs on the walls, had intercession times, provided prayer opportunities for attendees within the ministries themselves and were supported by prayer in church prayer times.
Healthy structure – clear governance, management and structures ( processes and policies) that hold good process and minimise conflict. Allows for the focus to stay on ministry with efficient decisionmaking.
Common issues that may hinder this outcome:
Community facing ministries are not part of an overall plan for reaching our community. They are disconnected from one another.
Most ministries are heavily focussed on mothers and children.
There are no transition or linking activities for seekers such as Alpha or Support groups which are Biblically based
Often you see groups and programmes that have the focus of providing something FOR others. This is an approach being questioned by many as it is not effective for community impact or creating opportunity for the participants to contribute to meeting their own needs.
The challenging, and sometimes depressing, news we receive daily, ranging from domestic violence at home to the Euro-Brexit abroad, reminded me of something we posted back in 2008 about the British Methodist minister, W.E. Sangster.
In a 1953 sermon, Sangster, who was pastor of Westminster Central Hall, London, asked “What would a religious revival do for Britain?” His answer: 1) pay old debts; 2) reduce sexual immorality; 3) disinfect the theatre; 4) cut the divorce rate; 5) reduce juvenile crime; 6) lessen the prison population; 7) improve the quality and increase the output of work; 8) restore a high sense of destiny for the nation; 9) make Britain invincible in the war of ideas; and 10) give happiness and peace to all the people, (found in a web article by Mark Bumpus, First Baptist Church, Mineral Wells).
Would revival … would turning back to God, solve all our nation’s problems? It may be hard for some people to see how. But it’s even harder to see how the results that Sangster claims would be bad in any way.
There’s evidence to suggest that the benefits claimed by Sangster do happen.
There are stories in our newspapers from time-to-time of people who settle decade-old debts after having “found God”.
Churches are well known for promoting marriage as the proper context for sexual relationships and supporting people in their relationships. While we don’t always manage to live up to our ideals, it is an important part of our faith. The evidence linking uncommitted relationships and negative outcomes is pretty strong.
“Disinfecting the theatre” would extend to TV, videos, and films, which would no longer need to carry warnings about “content which may offend” – and of course the internet.
NZ church life survey figures indicate that marriage break-up rates are significantly lower in the Church than the general population. This translates into fewer family breakdowns and resulting cost in society.
The majority of young people are not involved in crime whether they are part of a church or not. But youth involved in Church are supported in spiritual growth, and frequently participate in activities for the benefit of local communities.
A UK survey showed that Christians volunteer for community activities at over 4 times the rate of the general population.
The evidence from our faith-based prison units shows that the behaviour in prison is better, and recidivism rates are reduced, where people have found faith in God.
The “Puritan work ethic” is now something of a cliché, but highlights the fact that Christians have played a significant role in developing people’s understanding of work. Scripture says “do everything as if for God and not just for humans” which is a constant challenge to the quality of our work.
New Zealand was once called “Godzone”. Revival would restore a sense of destiny for the nation. A nation hungry for God would be a nation hungry for justice, goodness, purity, strong families, compassion, honesty, and integrity. Who does not want to see these things in in New Zealand?
Revival would open people to God’s wisdom which is infinite. This wisdom is the foundation of Christian living which evidence again suggests leads generally to happier, wealthier, longer lives, and even enjoy better sex lives than the general population. Who would not want these blessings for themselves, their families, and for our country?
Life is intended to be lived in right relationship with God, which helps people live in right relationship with each other. In faith communities people develop a relationship with God, which the Bible says is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.
A secularist approach to solving society’s ills, does so, without reference to God. But the heart-change God produces in revival, which can be seen every week in churches around the country, could remove many of these ills altogether.
I hope one day a school that is told about a child molester in its community will offer love instead of hatred; bring in the local churches and psychologists and counsellors instead of vigilantes; find the man a job with a good boss and supportive workmates and invite him for dinner instead of shunning him. Will it ever happen?
I’ve met Simon Collins. In my opinion he’s a good man and a balanced journalist, who does his best to present issues fairly. I am certain that like all of us he understands the need to consider issues of safety when relocating sex offenders into the community.
But his question about when will we offer love instead of hatred, and his hope that things would change, struck a chord with me, and prompted me to add this comment …
“I hope so too Simon. But we do need to start asking the really deep questions including the awkward ones about the relevance of God. I was talking one time with a lecturer at Vic Uni (the discussion was about 3 strikes legislation) and he said something that has stuck with me. He said: “If God is love, and love casts out fear (quoting from the Bible), then when a society moves away from God, what this *means* is that it is moving away from love and towards fear. So (he said) we should not be surprised that there is an increasingly punitive attitude in society in the area of criminal justice.
“I think your article illustrates another example of this. People get upset about the failings of Christians and the church, and rightly so. There are many, and we (Christians) have to take responsibility for them. But the picture is not as bad as it is often painted. Most Christians genuinely strive to live by faith as God wants. We know we’re flawed, but churches are still places where people are taught and challenged to love our neighbours, and even to love our enemies, just as Jesus instructed. If we want society’s response to such issues to be more loving, maybe we need to look to where love comes from?”
Our post prompted the following response from another person …
As someone who is no longer a Christian, I find these words strangely uplifting
As I ponder this exchange, a few points stand out to me which I offer for your consideration.
Social media is a space where people ask some very important questions.
Many of those question offer opportunities to talk about God and the Church.
When we talk about God, are people left with a sense that God loves them?
The last person’s response shows that we can connect with people if we communicate well.
Being human means we won’t get it right all the time – (we certainly don’t, and this post is not intended as an exercise in self-promotion). But we all still need to be engaged in talking to people about God, whether in social media, or face-to-face.
It’s great to see a journalist talking about “bringing in the local churches”. Let’s pray that more journalists are willing to name churches as offering solutions to society’s pressing social issues.
Within our churches, do we talk about society’s pressing issues, and how God would have us respond?
There’s plenty of other questions that could be raised. How about you?
Does your church talk about social issues? Do you talk to others about God, or is this something you find difficult?
Let us know what you think. If you want ideas about resources, or help in any area, please send us an email.
Nikki Bray and her husband Andy are very ordinary people in whom, and through whom, God has done an extra-ordinary work. Nikki and Andy received the NZ Christian Network Unsung Hero award in 2013 for their ministry in the area of marriage and family, and their faithful witness to Jesus Christ.
The following post from Nikki is worth a read… and the link to a 3-minute humorous video clip with a serious message. If you like it, why not follow them on Facebook, and maybe even get along to one of their seminars. See FamilyLife for more info.
So many wrote to say how much you enjoyed Brene´Brown that I decided to do a follow-up.
I received a phone call today at the FamilyLife office – another SOS. One of our volunteers has a friend whose son was killed 2 months ago in a car crash. She wants to know what she can do to make the Mum feel better. Oh … my heart went right out to her friend! Gosh, in that situation nothing can make you feel better. When our world comes crashing down like that we don’t want to feel better, we just want our life to return to normal; to the way that it was. It can take some of us a while to realise that that can never happen. We need someone to walk the journey with us. We want someone who can identify with our pain and help us carry the burden. We want some empathy.
As I said, I mentioned Brene´Brown in my last update – she really is a superstar. Take a look at this little video on the difference between empathy and sympathy.
I love her line “rarely does an empathic response begin with ‘at least'”. The desire in us to make another person feel better often drives us to use the words “at least”. I had it happen to me when Natasha died. “At least you had her for 16 years” or, “at least she died doing something she enjoyed”, or “at least her life left a meaningful impact”. Words of truth from some well-meaning people who really wanted to help, but didn’t quite know how to.
I admit that in the past I’ve used those words too: “At least …”. I’ve since learnt that it’s only the person carrying the burden who has the right to use the words, “at least”. Brene´’s last line is powerful “rarely can a response make something better; what makes something better is connection”.
And that’s my hope. That when someone is hurting, I must resist the urge to try and make it better. Instead, I can just truly listen from their perspective and try to connect to their pain. I can’t make it better, or the person better, but they may feel felt! And hopefully they won’t feel alone in their pain.
How can Kiwi Christians get involved in strategic mission in Myanmar, now that the doors are opening there for the Gospel? Aung Mang,evangelist, church-planter andChair of the Myanmar Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, ministers nationally in New Zealand in April and May, hosted by LeaDev-Langham. Find out where and when across the country he’ll be speaking at www.leadev-langham.org/news-room
The Value of Life Discussion Group[1] (a group convened by NZ Christian Network, see members below), is calling for papers from practitioners and academics for a book to be published in November 2016.
[1] Discussion group members: Peter Mihaere (Stand Against Slavery), John Kleinsman (Nathaniel Centre), Darren Ward (Direct Impact Group), Phil McCarthy (Prison Fellowship), Campbell Roberts (Salvation Army), Glyn Carpenter (New Zealand Christian Network)
When we think about wars and the refugee crisis unfolding nightly on TV, or the shocking numbers of people trapped in employment and sex slavery, or increasingly punitive attitudes in criminal justice, or the controversy around harvesting of foetal body parts, or growing pressures to liberalise laws on euthanasia or abortion, or a culture with growing levels of binge drinking, drug abuse, and other forms of self-harm, it is hard not to wonder “Has God given up on humanity?”
Does the notion of ‘human beings made in the image of God’ still have any relevance to modern day life? Does this fundamental biblical doctrine have any connection to areas such as trafficking, criminal justice, social justice, human rights, disabilities, or bioethics? If so, what is the relevance? And what might be the consequences of dismissing this in the ongoing debates in any of these areas?
The publication will provide an opportunity for a reflection on the biblical doctrine of the imago dei(image of God), and its significance across a wide range of social issues. It will include the main issues facing society today, and explore sociological as well as theological and spiritual factors involved. In addition, the book will look at the unique role that the Church should play in addressing these issues.
The intended audience of the book is primarily Christian leaders, but it is expected that the book will be of interest to community and political leaders who are open to exploring all dimensions of the issues covered. The Value of Life Discussion Group will also be looking at ways to share the essential information in this book to the widest audience possible.
We welcome papers addressing a broad range of topics related to social issues, human dignity, and the value of life that is made in the image of God, including:
CALL FOR PAPERS
Please email a title and abstract (no more than 300 words) along with your name, contact details, and church or organisation, by 30 April 2016 to: Glyn Carpenter, NZ Christian Network glyn@nzchristiannetwork.org.nz
The editing group will review the abstracts and respond by 10 May to let interested contributors know which papers will be included in the book.
Papers will be required by end of July and need to be submitted along with the name of a recognised theologian who confirms that the work is consistent with biblical principles and teaching.
Please circulate this Call for Papers to interested parties with relevant expertise and knowledge.
