Christian Mission

Week 6 – Hellenistic Mission

Class Register + Recording

Essay on Acts 15 and contextualisation

▪ If you are interested in understanding more around the process of contextualisation, see:– Dean Flemming - 'Contextualisation in a Wesleyan Spirit - A Case Study of Acts

15' from, eds Whiteman and Anderson World Mission in the Wesleyan Spirit (2014)

– (on Moodle)

▪ He argues that Acts 15 is designed to show us how to contextualise– but that the outcomes (the Jerusalem Quadrilateral) can only be seen as

normative for that specific context…an attempt to hold unity between Jew and Gentile but not impose cultural boundaries.

▪ Shows that in we can Acts 15 we can see a communal process of how to take Scripture, Tradition, the work of the Spirit and people’s experience to solve the problem’s thrown up by taking the gospel into a new culture.

By the end of this week you will have…

▪ Analysed the Temptation narrative and Great Commission in Matthew to explore what Matthew wanted to say about Mission and power.

▪ Engaged with the Hellenistic Paradigm of Mission as discussed by Spencer and Bosch– Discussed the difference between the Nicene Creed and the Sermon on the Mount

– Thought about how Gnosticism may still affect the church.

▪ Explored more about modern-day Orthodoxy– Watched a video of an Orthodox service.

– Watched an apologetic for Orthodoxy by Francis Schaeffer.

▪ Looked at some practical guidance for mission research by Michael Moynagh, especially around the dimension of power.

Homework for this week (28th October)

▪ Essential– Work on your book review - Hand in first assignment – Weds 28th October

– Catch up on missed reading

– Read Chapters 6 of Spencer’s SCM Guide – Hellenistic Mission

– For week 6 – read the passages from Matthew 4 and 28 and answer the questions to discuss at the beginning of next week.

▪ Desirable– Read Chapter 6 of David Bosch

Session 1

Matthew’s Theology of Power and Mission

Power and Mission in Matthew

▪ “Virtually every word of this commission reaches back to the story of Jesus as told in earlier passages of the gospel…It also appears that Matthew has fashioned the “Great Commission” in such a way that it would constitute a counterpart to the temptation narrative. Both episodes take place on a mountain, in both cases the issue of power is central, both times the verb ‘to fall prostrate’ (proskynein) or ‘to worship’ is employed. Thus, says Matthey: “we have placed at the beginning and end of Jesus’ ministry two texts which describe alternative understandings of his mission as Son of God, alternative models to incarnate the kingdom of heaven.”

Questions

1. Bosch says the issue of power is the central theme of both passages. In what ways are the ways that Satan and Christ offer their power different?

2. What rewards do Satan and Christ offer in return for their worship? How do you account for the difference?

3. Why does Christ choose to engage the disciples in Matt 28 differently to the way the Devil took with him in Matt 4?

4. These two passages offer two different paradigms for the church to seek the Kingdom of God in the world. Think of some examples from Christian history or contemporary practice. With regards to the two approaches offered here, which of these do your chosen examples look more like and why?

5. Question 5 and 6 after next slide

My answers

1. One is coercive, one is persuasive. One has no relationship, one is rooted in intimate relationship. One is actually about asserting Satan’s own control, whereas Christ has already offered his life and control on the cross.

2. Satan offers control of the whole world, Christ offers himself “until the end of the age.” Service in Christ’s Kingdom is not about concrete reward. Christ is his own reward.

3. Those who are persuaded/volunteer are always more effective than those who are coerced.

4. Is our mission in practice oriented towards self-emptying Kingdom power or coercive Satanic power?

The transformation of the very nature of power

▪ “The challenge before the church is not just empowerment or transfer of power. The challenge before the church is the transformation of the very nature of power…There is a wealth of Christian thinking on power from the point of view of leadership, management, and organizational development. However, to consider the question of power from within the context of the poor, there is a need for an ‘alternate consciousness, which in the spirit of the Magnificat and Beatitudes puts the poor and the powerless at its center, which is the true task of the church in development.”

▪ Jayakumar Christian

▪ “The Cross defines power in the kingdom as powerlessness. Powerlessness or submission in the kingdom is different from the powerlessness of the poor. The powerlessness of the poor imposed by the non-poor and the powers of the world. Kingdom power, in contrast, intentionally submits… The washbasin and the towel were deeply related to his [Jesus] recognition of the power that the Father had put behind him. Jesus chose to be a servant. This intentionality differentiates the powerlessness of the poor from the powerlessness that is characteristic of the kingdom of power. Bosch calls the former ’negative lowliness’ and the latter ‘positive lowliness’. He then proposes that the poor need to shift from the ’negative lowliness’ of their poverty to the ‘positive lowliness’ characteristic of the kingdom of God…In the kingdom of God, powerlessness and submission are more than a strategy. Submission is a genuine expression of a kingdom lifestyle. For Jesus, submission and servanthood were not manipulative, but an authentic expression of the kingdom lifestyle." Jayakumar Christian

1. Think about the issue of how the church can do mission among the marginalised and disempowered poor. Read the following quotations and then answer the following question: “How can the church wield power to help our neighbours move from ‘negative lowliness’ to ‘positive lowliness’?”

2. Use this conversation to critique an aspect of the mission in your own local context.

1. Even if your context isn’t related to the poor, the question still applies.

My answers

1. Example of Chae coming out of hospital, having his house cleaned (intervention), receiving the gifts of people from church (redistribution), but taking his own agency and painting his bathroom (agency) and now also Brian is going to join him in going to the housing and sorting out Chae’s housing benefits (participation). All in context of both being baptised in the Spirit.