Identity and Relevance

Theologian David Bosch describes the church as an ellipse with two foci: the one concerns our enjoyment of life in Christ, and includes things like worship and prayer. The other is our engagement with the world in service, mission, and outreach. I like even better the language of Jurgen Moltmann's missional ecclesiology, which describes the church in terms of "identity" and "relevance."

The church is identified and is-what-it-is only in Jesus Christ: we are a congregation of people gathered, redeemed, and sent by the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit.

Our relevance is determined through that identity, as we join in the mission of God (missio Dei), engaging the world (created and loved by Him) with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Too often, I wonder if we confuse things a bit by suggesting that it is about "our" identity as Christians instead of the identity of Jesus Christ, the King, who has made us His own (with no help from us, by the way).

In terms of relevance, I wonder if we confuse things a bit by suggesting that it is about mimicking our culture with the addition of the "stamp of Jesus," thereby somehow making the offense of the cross more palatable as long as it "has a good beat and you can dance to it."

Something radical is demanded from us--a total submission to the will and rule of Christ in our lives and in the world.

My doctoral thesis, generally, is about "powers and principalities," those cosmic forces of evil at work in the world. More specifically, it is about developing capacities (for the church) to be a light to the nations amidst the very real idols in our midst. It is certainly missional in scope, holding together with great wisdom our identity and the need for relevance in a world where a battle in raging.

Part of my work at Faith Community Church is going to be in discerning where Christ is at work, and conversely where these powers are at work (to identify and name them), as Christ is leading us to dismantle these powers as He ushers in His kingdom and destroys the forces and systemic structures of evil in the world.