Trinity, Gospel, Community and Evangelism

Offering the gospel is more than offering personal forgiveness, escape from hell, or even a right relationship with God (though I hasten to add these are the primary benefits of the gospel). Part of the restorative purpose of the gospel is to enable people to stop treating others as objects to be used and start relating to them as persons to be enjoyed.

This purpose of the gospel needs to be understood in light of the nature of God as triune, as well as the purposes of God for creation and the effects of the fall in thwarting those purposes. The fundamental purpose of creation is the glory of God through the flourishing of his created order, and that flourishing is constituted by the created world being in proper relationship, a relationship of shalom (peace, harmony).

Harmonious relationship goes to the very heart of what it means to be human. Humans can be truly human only in proper relationships. Made in the image of God, human beings are Trinitarian beings. Contrary to the individualism which says we can only discover and be ourselves in isolation, the Biblical account teaches us that we are essentially communal. Just as the persons of the trinity are constituted as individual persons in eternal relationship with one another, human beings, made in the image of God, are essentially “person-in-relationship”. The fullness of what it means to be a human being created in the image of the triune God cannot be realized apart from relationships patterned after the triune community.

Man was meant to flourish in God’s creation. Human flourishing consists in and requires that we be properly related to God, self, others, and nature. These are relationships of enjoyment.

Now, one fruitful way to analyse the effects of sin is to see that it seeks to obliterate the glory of God by diminishing the flourishing of creation, most notably in the crown of creation, human beings. Satan is the first graffiti artist. Sin destroys or diminishes the image of God in man by causing alienation. Sin alienates the sinner: from God, himself, other humans, and his place in the world. And the effect of alienation is the diminution of our humanity. Sin makes a monkey out of you; sin dehumanises man through alienation. (Death is the ultimate alienation; possession, severe mental illness, war, addictions, and physical infirmities, are all in the continuum of dehumanizing alienations, leading down to the ordinary strife we experience in human relationships and in the longing for “connectedness” that remains in even the best relationships in this fallen world)

The "objectification" of persons ‑‑ not treating them as persons, but as means to an end, as threats to a goal, or as objects to be used for personal gain, whether it be spiritual notches on one's conversion belt, or sexual conquests, or employees to be exploited … ‑‑ is one form of the breakdowns in dehumanizing relationships.

The gospel is in the business of reconciliation – the restoration of the “shalom”, the peaceful harmony of all things in properly ordered relationship of enjoyment.

The gospel is about restoring our ability to relate properly -- as "persons‑in‑relation" after the image of (according to the pattern in) the triune communion ‑‑ and thereby restores us to the image of God. That, by the way, is the essence of sanctification: the restoration of the image of God in fallen humanity. It follows that sanctification is inherently and essentially a communal and corporate enterprise. (Sanctification = being restored to the image of God. God is a trinity of persons‑in‑relation. Therefore to become like him necessarily involves entering into Trinitarian‑like relations.)

It also follows that if we are not entering into and welcoming others into enjoyable personal (opposed to "objectified") relationships, then we are not offering them the gospel at all. Instead we are offering the same old fallen way of being a human being ‑‑ using people rather than welcoming them into and entering personal relationship ‑‑ except with a religious veneer over it.

The church ‑‑ a community of enjoyment is part of the gospel. Evangelism ‑‑ proclaiming the gospel to the world ‑‑ involves bringing the church to the world and the world to the church, the community of joy, of enjoyment, of a “party people”. Party on, then, and let’s keep inviting others to party with us.

Church and Evangelism

1. Evangelistically, "church" is, or should and could be, the best apologetic for the gospel. That does not mean "Sunday service", of course, though that is part of what the church does. It means a believing, counter-cultural community in which the powers of the New Age, the Kingdom, are at work in reversing the effects of the fall. In such a community people see, taste and experience the gospel as well as hear about it. As Harvie Connn put it, "the church is the "model home" (not in the sense of "ideal", but in the sense of "sample") of the kingdom of God."

2. Belonging Leads to Believing. This is strengthened by the fact that the culture we are trying to reach puts relationship and community ABOVE having right beliefs. Identity is found in the group not in the isolated individual. So abstract and intellectual presentations of the "facts" are, for the most part, skipping right over the surface of their lives and pose no threat to the cultural, religious, spiritual and familial powers and principalities that keep them in bondage.

3. The church is part of the Gospel! Not something that follows the gospel, but part of the good news. This is the real basis for what we are doing, and it assumes an understanding of the gospel which is as great as the effects of the curse. And that includes, as per (1), the creating of a NEW WAY TO BE HUMAN and a NEW SOCIETY. Indeed, it is creating a new way to be human IN a new society. And so it isn't a matter merely of a "prologue" or a pre-evangelism so that we can then get on with "telling" them the gospel. It is a matter of inviting people to share and experience something of the gospel by being in the realm of the gospel.

Evangelism 101: Getting started

EVANGELISM 101: GETTING STARTED

1. Know the Gospel; be able to explain it

2. Be Mastered by the Gospel (live a life of repentance and faith)

3. Prayer: private and corporate

Pray for the harvest field (world) and for the harvest force (yourself and the church)

4. Become Friendly and Interested in Others

5. Look For Opportunities

6. Have Resources Available

7. Hospitality & Parties

The best evangelism takes place within the context of shared lives. Don't underestimate the power of corporate witness.

8. Become a "Learner"

9. Strategic Friendships (get in touch with unbelievers)

Evangelism 101: Getting Personal

These are the notes from Bob Heppe's talk last night (there'a bit of John Piper in here) but it was very helpful indeed. I am going to post the stuff over the next few days

EVANGELISM 101: GETTING PERSONAL

1.God wants to save people
For God so loved the world He gave His only Son...(Jn 3:16 -17)
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (I Tim 1:15)

2.God has chosen to use us as His message bearers
As the Father has sent me, so I send you (Jn 20:21)

We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God (II Cor 5:20)

And you shall be my witnesses... (Acts 1:8)

3.There is no need to fear failure -- Election
All that the Father gives to me shall come to me (Jn 6:37)
... I have many people in this city (Acts 18:10)

4.God is pleased to use the weak and inadequate things of the world
My grace is sufficient; My power is perfected in weakness
(II Cor 12:9-10)
God is pleased through our foolishness to save those whom he has
called (I Cor 1:18-25)

5.We must learn how to pray
apart from Me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5)

that the Word might run and be glorified (II Thess 3:1)
that God may open to us a door for the word (Col 4:3)
in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the gospel (Eph 6:19)

6.We must learn to persevere in specific prayer

Three individuals
Specific plan

7.We must be prepared to pay the price: Evangelism is dying

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)

...and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Col. 1:24)

Implications of this are both personal and corporate.