Newbigin
Network PROJECTSNewbigin
Network PROJECTS2. Gospel and work: making stronger Sunday Monday connections
This relates to a key theme of our group, to work and
pray for the ongoing renewal of the church and the rediscovery of its calling
to be the 'public people of God'. This means challenging our limited vision
of the church as voluntary religious organisation within the wider civil society
and rediscovering the
calling of the church to be a sign of the counter 'public-ness' of the kingdom.
What does this mean for church practice? It does not mean that the church should
become more politically involved in secular politics. Rather it means that
we should rediscover the politics of Jesus through the deepening of our communal
worship of Jesus as Lord, and for those to transform the various practices
of the community as it gathers together and also as it is scattered within
the wider society. The late Mennonite theologian, John Yoder, once said that
the church best serves the world by being the church. In his book, Body Politics,
Yoder wrote of five core communal practices which modelled something of God’s
kingdom before the watching world.
The Enlightenment's vision of the heavenly city has failed. We are in a new situation,
and we cannot turn back the clock. It is certain that we cannot go back to the
corpus Christianium. It is also certain -and this needs to be said sharply in
view of the prevalence among Christians of a kind of anarchistic romanticism
- that we cannot go back to a pre-Constantinian innocence. We cannot use the
example of the early church to encourage us in a Manichaean attempt to treat
all power as evil and to wash our hands of responsibility for the realities of
political power. We cannot go back on history. But perhaps we can learn from
history. Perhaps we can learn how to embody in the life of the church a witness
to the kingship of Christ over all life - its politic and economic no less than
its personal and domestic morals - yet without falling into the Constantinian
trap. That is the new, unprecedented, and immensely challenging task given to
our generation. The resolute undertaking of it is fundamental to any genuinely
missionary encounter of the gospel with our culture.
Project Plans
Following the approach of Newbigin et al re the gospel as public truth, in
our discussions in 2006 we explored the way in which this ‘public-ness’ is
expressed first and foremost in the life of the church. Our premise has been
that the public character of the church can be described in terms of three
basic dimensions: in relation to the story of the promised kingdom, realised
in the ascension of Jesus; in relation to the core ecclesial practices through
which a gathering of Christians is constituted as ‘church’; and
in relation to the wider world in which the church bears witness to the world’s
true purpose.
At our final meeting for 2006, we discussed the notion that although JH Yoder’s
approach to the core social (or ‘sacramental’) practices of the
gathered church seem eminently applicable within evangelical communities, the
deeply entrenched individualism (both expressive and instrumental) that typically ‘frames’ evangelical
church life means that Yoder’s approach evokes little interest or attention.
At the same time, this culture of evangelical individualism, which takes for
granted the still influential public legacy of Christendom, faces increasing
challenges as modern society becomes more post-Christian, post-modern and even
post-secular. Thus the ‘shape’ of the church becomes an increasingly
important issue. Amongst Australian evangelicals, there seem to be three flourishing
forms of church: the mega-church model (Hillsong, Riverview etc); the Sydney
Anglican model; the emerging church/ community church model.
Q: What can we do to encourage conversation about the shape of church life
in late modern Australia that recovers the ‘grand narrative’ of
God’s kingdom (see Webber, Chris Wright, NT Wright); that develops the
central practices through which that narrative is expressed; and engages with
the deeper theological nature of our ostensibly secular culture and society?
On the basis of our discussion on 29/1/07, here’s a proposal for what
a sub-group might follow up:
* spell out in a bit more detail the three dimensions of the shape of the church
outlined above (narratives, practices, cultural engagement);
* identify useful models from around the world which demonstrate/illustrate
this shape of the church;
* check out previous discussions in Australia and Perth along similar lines
(Forge/ Re-frame etc);
* organise a consultation with sympathetic pastors/church leaders to explore
ways of fostering churches which express the pattern we have described.
This relates to one of the themes of our group, the encouragement of Christians in various 'secular' professions to develop the skills, resources and confidence to become 'theologically reflective practitioners' and thus able to communicate the gospel as 'public truth'. Professional practices of various sorts are very important contexts for the dynamic expression of modern, postmodern or late modern culture. Whilst most professions acknowledge the importance of 'ethics', most forms of professional ethics do not address the frameworks in terms of which areas of practice are understood. The challenge is to foster a deeper 'framework ethics' that reflects on the basic assumptions, goods or purposes that a profession is in formed by. By reflecting on such issues, Christian professionals can facilitate a deeper theological dialogue about the meanings of justice, health, truth, equality and so forth.
The missionary encounter with our culture for which I am pleading will require the energetic fostering of a declericalized, lay theology…. We need a multitude of places where this kind of lay theology can be nourished. We need much better provision to ensure that when church leaders make pronouncements on ethical, political, and economic questions, their words are informed by a theology that has been wrought out of the coal face, at the place where faith wrestles at personal cost with the hard issues of public life. And we need to create, above all, possibilities in every congregation for lay people to share with one another the actual experience of their weekday work and to seek illumination from the gospel for their daily secular duty. Only thus shall we begin to bring together what our culture has divided – the private and public. Only thus will the church fulfill its proper missionary role. For while there are occasions when it is proper for the church, through its synods and hierarchies, to make pronouncements on public issues, it is much more important that all its lay members be prepared and equipped to think out the relationship of their faith to their secular work. Here is where the real missionary encounter takes place (Foolishness to the Greeks p 143)
Project Plans
This project area within which we want to express the gospel as public
truth is in the area of work, and especially professional practice. Although
the need for Christians to be effective disciples in the ‘workplace’ is
generally recognised, in practice this seems to have a pretty low priority
in many church communities. Moreover, when ‘being at work’ is discussed
or prayed for, it is usually in relation to personal evangelism, and rarely
in relation to the nature of professional practice.
Our aim here has been to develop a theology and praxis of secular work on the
basis of the ‘kingdom’ framework of the gospel. In the past we
have done this in a couple of ways: through a series of forums on ‘gospel
and professional practice’ in which we invited two of three practitioners
to share their experiences of being Christians at work. The second was to develop
a ‘short course’ for Christian lawyers which we developed in 2000/2001
with help from Dr Christine Parker. We have been working (very slowly) on developing
a framework for supporting Christians in a range of professional work contexts.
Q: How can we help to encourage and equip Christians in their professional
work contexts to become ‘theologically reflective practitioners’:
forums, short courses, web sites, conferences etc?
Here’s a proposal for encouraging Christians in the various professions
to become more ‘theologically reflective practitioners’:
* The aim would be to develop and make available a ‘support framework’ which
would provide resources for Christians in professional practice in relation
to the following themes:
- Identifying issues: What are the pressing issues that arise in professional
practice (policy, ethical, personal, relational) and how do we go about responding
to them?
- A kingdom framework: How do we apply the Biblical narrative of God’s
kingdom as an interpretive framework for Christian professional practice?
- Vocation: How is our primary calling to be disciples of Jesus worked out
in the context of professional career, practice and lifestyle?
- Gospel and professional ethics: How does the gospel narrative shape the way
we approach ethical issues in professional practice?
- The wider contexts of practice: How do we respond as Christians to the ‘structural’ features
of our society, political system and culture?
- Learning together: What are some of the valuable lessons learnt from
the ways in which Christians in professional practice have dealt with issues
and challenges?
* The idea would be to develop/ collect materials and resources on each of
these topics, and make them available on a web page;
* This could be followed up with a series of workshops with various professional
groups in order to adapt/extend the resource material and organise further
workshops as appropriate.
Good New for a warming world: Mt Pleasant Uniting Church series, Feb 10 to March 11, 2007 (More to come soon)
This particularly relates to our theme, to respond to the diverse
moral issues and debates in public life as a missionary challenge. This means
that
instead
of
providing
'ethical'
comment on particular public issues the deeper task is to challenge the taken
for granted enlightenment framework in which such issues are viewed and to
're-frame' them in terms of an alternative kingdom framework. This is a task
that needs to take place at the level of specific moral issues (such as welfare
provision and environmental management) as well as at the level of deeper
structural processes (such as globalisation, technoculture, postmodernism).
Gospel engagement in these issues needs to be incarnational (drawing particularly
on the knowledge and experience of those involved in such issues) reflective
(exploring the deeper theological questions posed by such issues) and dialogical
(involving forms of discussion and communication that enable the claims of
Jesus to be made effectively).
Christian discipleship is a following of Jesus in the power of his risen
life on the way in which he went. That way is neither the way of purely interior
spiritual pilgrimage, nor is it the way of realpolitik for the creation of
a new social order. It goes the way that Jesus went, right into the heart of
the world's business and politics, with a claim which is both uncompromising
and vulnerable. It looks for a world of justice and peace, not as the product
of its own action, but as the gift of God who raises the dead and 'calls into
existence the things that do not exist' (Romans 4:17). It looks for the holy
city not as the product of its policies but as the gift of God. Yet it knows
that to seek to escape from politics into private spirituality would be to
turn one’s back on the true city. It looks for the city “whose
builder and maker is God”, but it knows that the road to the city goes
down out of sight, the way Jesus went, into that dark valley where both our
selves and all our works must disappear and be buried under the rubble of history.
It therefore does not invest in any political programme (whether conceived
in the style of a restored Christendom or in the style of a classless society
where all coercive government will have withered away) the hopes and expectations
which belonged properly only to the city which God has promised. There can
be no repetition of Constantine, either on the left or on the right. What is
required is faithful discipleship, following Jesus on the road he went, and
living by the hope of which his resurrection is the outward pledge and the
gift of the Spirit the inward foretaste. Such discipleship will be concerned
equally in the private and the public spheres to make visible that understanding
and ordering of life which takes as its ‘fiduciary framework’ the
revelation of himself which God has given in Jesus. It will provide occasions
for the creation of visible signs of the invisible kingship of god.
Project Plans
Following our meeting at the end of 2006, MPUC is running a 4 week ‘series’ in
response to the issues of climate change (Hot: Gospel: Good News for a Warming
World). The fundamental approach being taken is not one of: what can Christians
contribute to the debate about climate change, but how do we express and communicate
the gospel in the context of the crisis of global warming? The idea is that
this will be a ‘pilot’ exercise to develop a model or package that
could be used by other churches and or Christian groups. The MPUC exercise
will help us to gauge how useful the approach is, as well as providing resource
materials that can be used more widely.
Q: What further activities can we do to (a) encourage more church groups to
develop similar ‘series’ or ‘congregational conversations’ and
(b) sponsor wider church discussions on the challenges of communicating God’s
good news to a warming world?
The ‘pilot’ series at Mt Pleasant Uniting Church has the aim of
fostering a gospel oriented conversation, hopefully with some practical outcomes, at
the level of a church community. Once the series has been completed, it would
be good if a sub-group could explore where to go from here, perhaps including
developing a modified ‘package’ that other church communities could
adapt to their own circumstances and-/or planning a larger one-day workshop
on the key themes and challenges.
Download a copy of the Mt Pleasant Uniting Church programme - Hot Gospel (Download PDF File)
Download a copy of the Hot Gospel Study Guide (Download Word file)
Download essay ‘Representing Jesus’
This particularly relates to our theme, to promote lay theological reflection on what it means to say that the gospel is 'public truth'. This involves both critical and constructive aspects.The critical task is to identify the ways in which we have allowed Christian faith and practice to be accommodated to the taken for granted culture of modernity and in particular allowed the gospel to be reduced to a matter of private spirituality. There are three aspects to this:
The constructive task is to re-discover the ways in which the gospel represents an alternative or counter vision of public truth in the context of the culture of late modernity. This involves five aspects of rediscovery:
This is an exciting, though ambitious agenda. Our aim is to provide encouragement for lay Christians to read and discuss the various theologians and church leaders, including Newbigin and others such as Stanley Hauerwas, John Yoder, Jacques Ellul and John Milbank who provide much of the seminal literature for this agenda.
Project Plans
In 2005, the focus for our discussions was ‘Speaking Truth to Caesar’.
This was partly in response to the rise of the religious right in the US and
its influence in national politics, and similar, though much weaker developments
in Australia. The theme that emerged from our readings, particularly
in the work of Oliver O’Donovan, was that faithful Christian responses
to political issues and challenges of the public world of government, public
policy, commerce and social debate was neither one of withdrawal, not one or ‘re-Christianising’.
Rather, on the basis of the eschatological framework of the gospel (the already
and the not yet), Christian political faithfulness entailed on the one hand
living out the counter vision of the politics of Jesus in Christian community,
and on the other hand preserving the ‘Christian secularity’ of
the wider state, economy and civil society. Hence, over and above advocacy
from a ‘Christian point of view’ re particular political/moral
issues (ends of life, sexual ethics, welfare, global justice), there is a crucial
regulatory task of ‘representing Jesus’ in relation to the ‘powers’ to
guard against idolatry and to remind them that their primary task is to be
secular ‘servants of God’.
Q: Given the continuing interest and discussion in Australia about the relationship
between faith, values and politics – something that is very likely to
be an election issue in 2007, given the focus on ‘faith and values’ by
the Howard government, and also the responses of Kevin Rudd – what are
some initiatives that we could plan for in the lead-up to the Federal election?
A key idea from our discussion was need to focus on the ‘framing’ of
political issues rather than focussing only on specific moral debates (this
was something highlighted in the book, Don’t Think of the Elephant, in
which George Lakoff argues that the ‘right’ has been more effective
in US politics because of their greater skill in framing issues). Christians
wanting to ‘re-Christianise’ political life need to be mindful
on the one hand of the efforts to co-opt ‘religion’ (faith, values)
within a basically humanist political frame, and on the other hand of the need
to recover a theology of political authority and political institutions (along
the lines developed by Oliver O’Donovan).
The proposal is to work towards a workshop/consultation drawing in reflective
protagonists in political debates (Christians from various sides of politics
and others) to discuss the nature of the significant ways in which politics
is being framed and the terms in which Christians might best be involved (including
both ‘right’ (Christian Democrats, Family First) and ‘left’ (Jim
Wallis, Rudd).
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Last Updated: February 8, 2007
