Responding to Grief with the Compassion of Christ and the Skills of All God’s People.
Introduction
“Jesus foretold the kingdom, and it was the church that came.”1
Alfred Loisy’s somewhat caustic or possibly disappointed statement from the early twentieth century captures something of the modern disquiet with the church that continues and has even increased into the early decades of the twenty-first century. Put simply, in many parts of the world the church is “on the nose,” in some cases with good reason. We live in an environment in which trust in traditional institutions has fallen dramatically, especially those institutions associated with formal religion. In many places in the modern West, churches have shut their doors and sold their buildings, their congregations having dwindled to a level where it was no longer viable to continue ministry in that location. Ironically, those buildings are often situated in population centers with many people surrounding them but not entering them. It seems that the witness of the church, in these instances at least, has failed. The decline in church attendance among the young, and the rise of the “nones” in national census data have become topics of conversation not only in denominational meetings and academic journals, but in the newspapers.
And yet, there are still those who believe in the church the way those did who framed the Christian creed at Constantinople in 381 AD; that is, that the church itself is part of the gospel proclaimed by the church: “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,” just as we believe also in “One God, the Father Almighty . . . and in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life.” There are those who despite the very real, checkered history of the church, who despite its historical and present failures and foibles, still maintain the faith of the creed, that the church itself is an integral part of God’s redemptive purposes being worked out in history, and that God’s call to the church is now what it has always been: to be the faithful people of God, bearing joy-filled witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ in word, worship, and work, in its corporate life, and in the lives of each of its members.
On the one hand, therefore, disquiet and even rejection of the church and all that it represents; on the other, a sobering recognition of the failures and unfaithfulness of the church, and yet a heartfelt yearning that the church might by divine grace be restored to the kind of faithfulness that does indeed bear a joyful and vibrant witness to Jesus Christ in every time and place. It should come as no surprise that the women and men who have contributed to this volume are amongst those who long for a better future for the church, and who have hope that this will, in fact, be the case. The basis of this hope is not the church’s ability to rectify its mess or to generate its own faithfulness. Rather, this hope is grounded in Jesus Christ, the head of the church, in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to convict and convert the church that it might yet become what it is called to be, and in the power of the word of the gospel which continues to gather, renew, build up, and send forth the people of God. The mixed affair that is the history of the church has seen some very low points indeed. But Jesus Christ has never and will never abandon his people: “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt 16:18). The word of God is not bound; even if we his people have been unfaithful, he remains faithful and will deny neither himself nor his promise (2 Tim 2:8, 13). This is our hope for the church. Indeed, Jesus Christ is our only hope!
The papers in this volume had their genesis in a conference at Vose Seminary in Perth, Western Australia, a few years ago. The theme of the conference has given us the title of the book: Beyond Four Walls. The purpose of the conference was to explore what it means to be the church, with a particular recognition that the church is not an end in itself but exists for the service of God, and for participation in the divine mission of reconciliation and redemption in the world. The Vose Conference aims to equip the churches, ministers, and Christians in our region of the world with thoughtful, relevant, theological reflection on matters of primary importance. We aim to bridge the divide that sometimes emerges between the practice of theology in academic institutions and the work of the church in its everyday ministry.
Our guest for this conference was renowned speaker, author, and blogger, Scot McKnight. Scot and his wife Kris joined us a few days before the conference, enjoying a couple of days in the famed Margaret River area of Western Australia to recover from the long flight. Kris assured me that despite the jet lag, Scot managed occasionally to drive on the “right” side of the road! During his time in Perth Scot preached in a couple of churches, met with New Testament scholars from a number of theological institutions in the city, and presented several very well-received papers at the conference. We were delighted that he and Kris were willing and able to join us in Perth, and very glad that Scot has allowed us to reproduce his papers in this volume. We have retained, in his chapters, the informal nature of his presentations that communicated clearly, simply, and powerfully to our pastors and friends at the conference, and we hope that you gain a sense of the vitality of his sessions.
Scot’s keynote sessions were supplemented by more than two dozen other papers given by scholars from Australia and New Zealand, a selection of which form the rest of this volume. Presenters were given freedom to reflect broadly on the nature and mission of the church, from biblical, historical, theological, philosophical, missiological, or practical perspectives. Some presenters focused very clearly on the life and role of the Christian community in its engagement with culture beyond the four walls of the church, while others explored what it means to be the church within the four walls, though still with a view to its broader responsibility in the world. We have chosen to organize the volume loosely around these two categories of paper. The first eight chapters lean a little more toward an exploration of the being and activity of the church “within the four walls,” while the latter seven chapters turn more decisively to consider the being and activity of the church in its cultural context and engagement beyond its walls. The common theme provides an overall unity for the volume, while the range of particular topics and perspectives enriches and deepens our appreciation for the “manifold wisdom of God” which is given to the church as both a divine gift and task (Eph 3:10). Our hope is that you will find much to inform and interest, to consider and discuss, as you make your way through the various essays in this volume.
In the first of his three chapters, “Church as Gospel,” Scot McKnight makes two fundamental claims. First, he argues that many Christians and traditions, including evangelical believers, have misunderstood what the gospel actually is, and so present truncated versions of the gospel. Second, after having established his own understanding of what the gospel is, he argues further that the church is to so inhabit the story and vision of the gospel as it is presented in the New Testament, that it embodies the gospel in its life in the world. It is true, of course, that we often embody things other than the gospel. King Solomon, for example, might be seen as an embodiment of wisdom, wealth, and power. Drawing on the depiction of Solomon’s life in Kings, John Olley demonstrates that God’s presence and provision flow in surprising ways between the powerful and the powerless—the outsiders—those “beyond the wall.” Solomon’s trajectory is depicted as a salutary reminder for leaders in any age, that what often appears to be glorious success may very well be the path to failure.
The relationship between the people of God and outside nations is also the focus of the book of Jonah. Michael O’Neil shows how the petulant prophet demonstrates the interplay between divine and human agency, while also highlighting that the purpose of God’s people was (and is) to be a blessing to the nations. Jonah, Israel, and the church were or are called to move beyond self-serving security and comfort to become renewed and reflecting communities, embracing the fact that election is commission.
Everyday life in Christian community is influenced by a host of different variables, not least those personal and interpersonal dynamics brought by the person to their involvement in the congregation. Margaret Wesley shows that the New Testament uses the metaphor of family to describe the church and argues that the Christian family and family of origin are very alike in many ways. She explores the complexity of being in two families at
