Common Roots

Robert E. Webber

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780310322559
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Teología sistemática y ética

Common Roots turns the searchlight of historic Christianity on twenty-first-century evangelicalism. Originally published in 1978 as a clarion call to all evangelicals, this reprint presents Webber's thoughts to a new generation and includes a foreword by David Neff, the executive director of the center that pays tribute to Webber's work and supports the ancient-future faith movement.Webber's primary concern is to uncover the roots of evangelical Christianity. In so doing, he looks critically at beliefs and practices of contemporary evangelicalism that are out of harmony with historic Christianity.Webber argues that examining the era of the early church (A.D. 100–500), and particularly the second century, offers insights that evangelicals need to recover for worship, theology, mission, and spirituality. Chapters highlight a problem, investigate the belief and practice of the early church, and suggest an agenda for evangelical Christianity.Common Roots is required reading for anyone interested in the ancient-future faith movement, the writings and thought of Robert Webber, or evangelicalism's relationship to history.

SECTION V

AN AGENDA FOR MISSION

CHAPTER 9

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN EVANGELISM

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH?

The mission of the church is summarized by Matthew: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (28:19 – 20). The sequence is make disciples … baptize … teach.

Most mission models of the recent past are based on the concept that evangelism and education are two different functions of the church. This questionable view finds support in C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Development. Dodd’s thesis is that “It was by kerygma … not by didache that it pleased God to save men.”¹ On the strength of Dodd’s arguments, educators like Iris Cully in Dynamics of Christian Education have argued that “the method of the early church … was to proclaim the gospel as the way to faith; teaching as instruction came later to strengthen faith and to deepen the knowledge of faith.”² James Smart, an educator who has consistently rejected this separation of evangelism and catechesis wrote in The Teaching Ministry of the Church:

In alleging that in the Biblical period teaching was confined largely to ethical instruction, he (Dodd) has validated what is actually one of the chief sicknesses of education in the church, that it has been consistently moralistic (emphasis added) in its character and has lacked the depth and power of the kerygma. He has done nothing less than detach the work of teaching from all essential relation to the kerygma.³

Not only has the loss of evangelism in education had an adverse effect on education, but the loss of education in evangelism is one of the root causes of superficiality in evangelism. The message of Christianity is a historical message with content. Whenever Christianity is preached without its history or content, it is reduced to a social or psychological panacea or, worse yet, a mere manipulation of the feelings, moving the individual into a contentless response. On the other hand, whenever the content of Christianity is presented as factual or intellectual data without the accompanying call to commitment and change of life, Christian education loses its power to form character in the convert. Clearly, evangelism and education must stand together. There must be content in preaching and proclamation in teaching.

Although a number of scholars have questioned Dodd’s conclusion, it wasn’t until the publication of Preaching and Teaching in the Earliest Church by R. C. Worley that Dodd’s conclusions were exposed by a full-scale treatment.⁴ Worley shows as Michael Green suggests that in “both rabbinic Judaism and in early Christianity there was no such clear-cut distinction between the work of the evangelist and the teacher.”⁵ Paul’s example at Ephesus where “he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8, emphasis added) suggests that the mission of the church to the unconverted was accompanied by a rigorous and stimulating intellectual activity.

Not only is the mission of the church to evangelize and educate, but also it is a mission to serve the world. The God of the Bible is a sending God. He sent the prophets; he sent his Son; he sent the apostles; he sends us. The mission of the church must therefore be understood in an incarnational sense. That is, as he sent his Son, so he sends us. “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus said, “even so I send you” (John 20:21). As Jesus was sent, his church is sent into the world to serve.⁶

Peter Beyerhaus, in his work Missions: Which Way?⁷ believes the evangelical understanding of service is limited by the failure of evangelicals to have a truly biblical understanding of history. In other words the mission of the church must be based, not only on a few verses of Scripture, but on a firm grasp of the theology of history.

The failure to understand the biblical view of history is grounded in a simplistic theology that does not grasp the implications of the Christian doctrines of creation, incarnation, and redemption. The Christian doctrine of creation affirms that God not only called the world into being, but that he also is active in it, purposefully moving it toward a final destination. The doctrine of the incarnation affirms that God entered into human history, became a part of the struggles of life, shared in what it means to be fully human, and fully participated in life. The doctrine of redemption affirms that not only did Christ die for man, but also for his world. Consequently, Christ’s death affects history, for it inaugurates a new humanity (the church), which, as a historical people, has a responsibility to the ongoing process of God in history through which, by God’s providence, the world is being directed toward its final consummation in the second coming of Christ.

According to Beyerhaus our failure to understand this historical dimension of the gospel has evidenced itself in a simplistic otherworldly gospel as well as an exclusion of salvation from history and society.

The present direction of evangelical mission, however, is a rejection of the antihistorical approach that has characterized its past. Evangelists are becoming increasingly aware of the need for content, and educators are becoming more aware of the need to teach the Bible in such a way that it makes a difference in living. Furthermore, evangelicals are beginning to take history seriously. For this reason there is much concern for crosscultural communication and a new interest in the relationship of the church to social issues. Consequently, we will treat missions in this larger fourfold sense, under the following headings:

1. The mission of the church in evangelism (chapter 9)

2. The mission of the church in crosscultural communication (chapter 10)

3. The mission of the church in education (chapter 11)

4. The mission of the church to society (chapter 12)

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN EVANGELISM: THE PROBLEM

That evangelism is the hallmark of evangelical Christianity, no one can question. In this century alone, evangelicals have circled the globe and penetrated into the obscure parts of the world to present Christ’s saving message to millions of people. Recently the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches have recognized the urgency of evangelization and are now giving greater attention to what has always consumed the energies of evangelical Christianity.

Although it is not popular to critique the evangelical efforts at evangelism, constructive self-criticism always has the value of strengthening the church rather than weakening it. It is in this spirit then that many evangelical leaders have come to recognize that the major fault of evangelism among evangelicals has been the tendency to oversimplify the Christian message.

The oversimplification of evangelism is rooted in what R. B. Kuiper in God-Centered Evangelism calls man-centered evangelism:

For too often the limelight is turned full upon the evangelist — his personality, his eloquence, his ability as an organizer, the story of his conversion, the hardships which he has endured, the number of his converts, in some instances the miracles of healing allegedly performed by him. At other times attention is focused on those who are being evangelized — their large numbers, their sorry plight as exemplified by poverty, disease and immorality, their supposed yearning for the gospel of salvation, and, worst of all, the good that is said to dwell in them and to enable men to exercise saving faith of their own free, although unregenerate, volition. And how often the welfare of man, whether temporal or eternal, is made the sole end of evangelism.⁸

Unfortunately, this man-centered evangelism tends to create and support what J. V. Langmead Casserley, in The Retreat from Christianity,⁹ calls the cult of the “simple Christian.” This view supports the notion that the simple Christians who read the Bible, pray daily, attend church, and witness faithfully are the ones who really have a corner on God’s presence and power in their lives. In turn, suspicion is sometimes cast toward those who think or question or attempt to probe more deeply into the meaning or the implication of the Christian faith in life. Consequently, it is not uncommon for evangelical intellectuals to be made to feel inferior because they do not feel at home with Christians who find virtue in simplicity alone. Nor is it uncommon for intellectuals to feel judged or pressured by those who elevate simplicity to a near creedal status. The warning Casserley makes in the case of this kind of self-satisfaction and pride that results from simplicity is to “avoid despising each other’s gifts, lest we fall into the habit of congratulating ourselves overmuch on our own.”¹⁰ In any religious circles that indulge in the cult of the “simple Christian,” this is precisely the sin to which the “simple Christian” himself becomes most prone.

There are at least two ways in which an oversimplification of the gospel is expressed: the first occurs when evangelism is divorced from theology; the second when Christian obedience as the result of faith is neglected.

It is a man-centered evangelism that tends to separate the message from the theology of the church. Whatever one thinks of Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, or Finney, it will have to be admitted that they attempted to evangelize with a framework of theology. John R. Stott, in one of his earliest works, Fundamentalism and Evangelism, recognizes the need for an evangelism with content and urges “we shall be faithful in outlining the implications of the Christian life. We shall urge our hearers to count the cost of Christian discipleship … we shall preach the repentance that is a turning from all known sin and a readiness to make restitution where possible. We shall proclaim the lordship of Christ and the necessity of the unconditional surrender of every department of life to him. We shall plead also for an open and unashamed allegiance to Christ in the fellowship of the church.”¹¹

Second, Jim Wallis, in Agenda for Biblical People, argues that evangelism has separated its message from obedience. “The great tragedy of modern evangelism,” he writes, “is in calling many to belief but few to obedience.”¹²

The separation of evangelism from obedience produces the cult of easy and attractive Christianity. All too often the faith is packaged through beautiful people who testify that Christianity has really been good for them: it has given meaning to life, saved a marriage and a home, or made life fun, exciting, and adventuresome. Others testify that they are now happy, acceptable, in control of things, popular, and even rich. I do not mean to demean the positive effects of Christianity. Certainly many lives are given meaning and direction. Our major emphasis, however, must not be to make Christianity attractive, as attractive as it is, nor to make it a panacea for all ills, as much as it does give life meaning and purpose. Instead, we must emphasize the cost of discipleship, the absolute claim of God over our entire lives, and the necessity of a faith that issues forth in obedience. It’s a problem of balance and emphasis. The need is to return to the biblical message and its demands.

One reason why modern evangelism may be divorced from obedience is due to the purpose of evangelists. Evangelists seek to elicit a response, to get someone to make a decision, to make a commitment to Christ. For this reason evangelistic services sometimes play on the emotions. The music, the testimonies, the sermon, and the invitation are all geared in such a way that the emotional level of the people can be skillfully and psychologically guided toward a decision. Often such a heavy emphasis is put on the decision that the inquirer may leave with the false impression that the sum and substance of Christianity are in making a decision. The result is an individualization of the Christian message. The need for pre-evangelism, for a return to the unity between kerygma and didache, and for a follow-up program in the local church are being increasingly recognized as healthy correctives to emotional evangelism.

Another reason for the divorce between evangelism and obedience may be found in “cultural conversions.” That is, a person may make a radical break from a former way of living into a particular form of Christianity. For example, a person may be persuaded to give up bad habits and join a group whose identity is strongly defined by the absence of smoking, drinking, dancing, gambling, and the like. The problem is that the new convert may confuse an obedience to the forms of this “new culture” with an obedience to Christ. The person may be told that obedience means giving up bad habits and taking on new habits, such as Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, church attendance...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
• SECTION II: AN AGENDA FOR THE CHURCH
• SECTION III: AN AGENDA FOR WORSHIP
• SECTION IV: AN AGENDA FOR THEOLOGY
• SECTION V: AN AGENDA FOR MISSION
• SECTION VI: AN AGENDA FOR SPIRITUALITY
• SECTION VII: CONCLUSION
• APPENDIX
• ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
• SHARE YOUR THOUHTS