Sadly, over the course of the last century, we have reduced the gospel to simplistic formulas and programmatic appeals-appeals that are designed to produce “decisions,” whereas the gospel of the kingdom is conveyed in various and more demonstrative ways, reflecting the different gifts and diversity of the body.
This diversity of witness and gospel expression is captured in the variation of gifts given to the body described in Romans 12:4–8: We do not all have the same function or ministry in the kingdom. Some are called to teach, some to serve, some to give financially, some to lead, and some to acts of mercy. In 1 Corinthians 12:4, the apostle Paul again stresses that there are a variety of gifts, service and activities-given to the church and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians chapter 4 indicates that only some are given as “apostles, prophets, and evangelists” and yet today, through both the reduction of the gospel and the modern efforts to mass-market decisional theology, we demand that every church member be an evangelist in this very narrow sense. This might explain why, according to research, most Christians have not shared their faith with another in the past year. Perhaps this is not their gift or purpose in the body? However, we make little or no accommodation for these other gifts under the reductionist version of the gospel with its exclusive emphasis on proselytization.
Throughout these passages, Paul emphasizes that this diversity of spiritual giftedness is given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12, ESV). This body, the church (collectively), is, according to Scripture, the central witness-bearing feature of the kingdom, come into the world. The scriptures repeatedly stress that this witness emanates from the observable life and conduct within the community of God’s people as seen and experienced by the outside world.
What is the result of this modern emphasis that reduces the gospel to a simplistic prescription for personal salvation? Answer: We obscure the relational unity within the body and neglect those areas essential to the witness of Christ and his kingdom. Not to mention heaping tons of guilt upon those not called to evangelism. Furthermore, we fail to incarnate the person of Christ in the life and witness of the Christian community.
Folks, a dead body is no witness. Christ rose from the dead and he has by grace, raised us to new life in him. And this new life-displayed in community-is foundational to the witness and testimony of the church. In a radically individualistic and narcissistic America, this may be the church’s greatest obstacle to carrying out the missio Dei.
World
Reevangelizing the Church: The body of Christ
By: S. Michael Craven
Friday, 3 July 2009, 16:12 (IST)
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