ipl-logo

Who God Is-Who Church Is, By Michael Jenkins

1599 Words7 Pages

Who God is-Who Church is

The declaration that the mission is God's, is an assertion about the nature of God. Accordingly, God engages, and the story of God in the Bible is the narrative of a God with a purpose, endeavoring to heal and restore all creation back into relationship by establishing the kingdom of God. Not simply is it the story of a missionary God healing and renewing by inaugurating the kingdom of God, it is likewise the story of the founding of this kingdom through Christ. Hence, one must consider viewing God through the lens of Christ.

This purview places the life and death of Christ at the centre of our view of God. Through Christ, God is self-disclosing. Accordingly, Michael Jenkins writes, "God reveals who God is, Luther …show more content…

In the missional reading of the Bible, humanity is in a relationship and encounter with God because of God's activity. Thereupon, identity exists in relation with God, others and creation. Outside of such relationship, there is no individuality or identity for being human is reliant upon relationship. This discovery of God's identity as an active relation towards a purpose revealed in a missional reading of scripture grounds human identification in the same dynamic relationship towards a purpose. The church, composed of people, encounters its purpose and meaning in relationship with its community, for the benefit of the world. This missional theology compels the church to deconstruct the walls erected by language, rituals and fear and engage the community. Moreover, such action facilitates the church to recognize and become who it is. Such an authentic transformative relationship requires listening. The church must listen both to their neighbours and for God in the conversations. The church cannot become and be as intended, without such a listening …show more content…

However, a missional hermeneutic leads the church to attend to the ways in which it can witness that Christ is the Messiah, the incarnate God, crucified, raised from the dead and ascended to heaven. This witness invites others into participation in new life with Christ. Orthodoxy shifts in a missional hermeneutic from correct belief in God to "believing in the right way" which involves the way one participates in the work of God in the world through the Spirit of Christ. This is new life! An awakening to a life centered upon a relationship with God, others, and creation. The church learns how to lead this new life by studying the biblical narrative and reviewing how God in Christ lived in the community. Via such biblical study, the church is also learning how God in Christ will be eschatologically in the community, and, via a listening engagement with the churches' community, how God in Christ is now present in the community. As Bauckham points out, Christ shows us how God is in the world.

Therefore, this missional theology compels the church to live a new life by breaking down walls and listening to its neighbours as Christ listened to his neighbours. In doing so, the good news of the kingdom of God is relevant. As Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?", the church also may discover that

Show More
Related

True Bibleway Church Case Study

1144 Words | 5 Pages

The American evangelicalism has many diverse manifestations and is represented by a wide range of different congregations. One of those manifestations is the True Bibleway Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith in Natchez, Mississippi. True Bibleway Church is a part of the Pentecostal tradition that puts a great deal of emphasis on religious experiences, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, divine healing, and speaking in tongues. The following will examine the case study of True Bibleway Church using Maria Harris’ five Biblical functions of the church and Dudley and Johnson’s five images in telling the story of a African American Pentecostal congregation that embodies the image of a pilgrim church. Harris’ first Biblical function is “Leiturgia.”

Read More

Mark Dever Chapter Summary

989 Words | 4 Pages

He believes that good expositional preaching will create pervasive knowledge of the essential truths of scripture that stimulate godly living. Dever argues that expositional preaching is the first and most important mark of a

Read More

James Hal Cone Book Report

865 Words | 4 Pages

He received a B.A. degree from Philander Smith College in Arkansas in 1958, a B.D. degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1961, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College, Adrian College in Michigan, and beginning in 1970 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology in 1977. He taught theology and religion at Philander Smith College, Adrian College in Michigan, and beginning in 1970 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded the distinguished Charles A. Briggs Chair in systematic theology in 1977. The thesis of this book is that one's social and historical context decides not only the questions 2 we address to God but also the mode or form of the

Read More

Cb Final Paper

1859 Words | 8 Pages

“Church” is a term that is used to identify Christians that exist in different parts of the world and is synonymous with the terms “body of Christ,” and the “ecclesia.” This suggests that the people who form the Church are persons of the body of Christ as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:27 and Romans 12:5. In this paper I focus on the purpose and calling of the Church, the relationship of people in position as pastors with the congregation (that is,

Read More

Gospel Essentials Research Paper

1557 Words | 7 Pages

But God loved his people so much that his Son, Jesus Christ came to earth to make them right with God by dying on the cross to wash away all of their sins, and through God’s grace, they received salvation and restored their heart relationship with God. In this paper, I will discuss within the context of the Christian worldview who God is, what

Read More

Annotated Bibliography Van Edgen

960 Words | 4 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Robert Minor Regent University ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Van Edgen, C.E., God's Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church. Ada: Baker Academics. 1991 Van Edgen focuses his theme on the local church. All evangelism starts in the local church and then is spread throughout the world. It’s time that the local church moved forward from just talking about missions and start applying them to the teaching of Jesus.

Read More

Nouwen's The Wounded Healer

986 Words | 4 Pages

“The Wounded Healer” is a book that I have come back to at least annually since discovering it the year after I finished seminary. I return to it often because it reminds me what it is I must become as well as what the church must become if we are to speak hope and life into the angst of modern life. Nouwen challenges those of us who choose to engage the world through ministry to strike a balance between a “mystical" way of being and a “revolutionary” way. In the mystical mode ministers “find a center from which they can embrace all other beings at once and experience meaningful connections with all that exists” (20). In the revolutionary mode, we see that only “a radical upheaval of the existing order, together with a drastic change of direction”

Read More

Kevin J. Vanhoozer's Everyday Theology

628 Words | 3 Pages

Kevin J. Vanhoozer begins the first part of his book, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, by giving two definitions of theology. On the one hand, theology is bringing the Bible to bear on all areas of life. Thus, people study the history of Scriptures with an emphasis on the original languages to be able to understand what the Bible meant in the context where it was written. In addition, there must be some kind of application of the Word of God to the daily lives of people. On the other hand, the author uses Anselm’s definition of theology -faith seeking understanding- to introduce his main thesis that “faith should seek to understand not only the Word but our everyday world”

Read More

Thomas Long's The Witness Of Preaching

335 Words | 2 Pages

In Thomas Long’s The Witness of Preaching, he aims to urge the reader to become a reliable witness of the gospel by way of ample preparation before entering a pulpit. The text offers to the reader a deeper understanding of the ministry of preaching. A useful component of the text contains informative bits of information that make the reader aware of the lengthy but necessary preparation needed for an adequate explanation of the scripture. Of primary importance is the consideration of the congregation when a preacher is first approaching the text. This point is of vital importance as it signifies that the speaker is a member of the body of Christ and the congregation.

Read More

Got Style? Personality-Based Evangelism

703 Words | 3 Pages

The most valuable strength the author shares is the encouragement it gives to people who think they can’t evangelized. It allows them to find the style that works for them and do it. The author has an astonishing arrangement of practical tools, endorsed resources, and strong biblical studies with modern-day illustrations. They give ordinary Christians confidence to share their faith without losing friends or making enemies. This writer observed several things the book is: it is both theologically and biblically sound, it is the inclusive process for implementing evangelism, it is a lifetime of pastoral church experience, it is concise and crystal clear for all bodies of the church, and it is a helpful ways to implement diverse personality-based evangelism.

Read More

David Buttrick: Phenomenological Method

1820 Words | 8 Pages

The moves and plots, which produce different fields of understanding, should arise from the nature of scripture. There are moments in consciousness termed immediacy, reflection, and praxis. Symbol’s task in consciousness is in different ways. Since scripture functions in these different ways, sermons also are plotted to work in human consciousness to shift congregational consciousness.

Read More

Essay On African American Worship

1358 Words | 6 Pages

Mission was often realized and actualized following worship in political revolutions and insurrection. Even while this might not show any represent traditional understandings or service they represented the oppressed people empowered engagement in the struggle for liberation. We’ll find that the ultimate legal gained for freedom for slaves and the expanded the visions of oppressors this definelity was not a slave changing time. Whether we are of a slave persons or not God wants us as part of his mission is to keep spreading the good about his works. We also found that in Romans 12 that worship should be extended pass thee bounds of the church walls and out in to the nation for all to hear (Costen, 112).

Read More

A Reflection On Sticky Church By Larry Osborne

764 Words | 4 Pages

It’s like a revolving door; people come and go. The message of this book is how to develop a church that keeps people in the church (willfully) and closing the door. Not necessarily through a program or new things to keep people entertained but rather a simple method which best reflects the new testament way of doing things. Sermon-based small groups work because they are focused on linear programs and relationships.

Read More

Philosophy Of Outreach

1132 Words | 5 Pages

Philosophy of Outreach Paper There are two things which the church is called for these are the doxology of God, meaning the glory of God, and soteriology of man, meaning the salvation of man. Therefore, for the church to reach out these essential goals these are following things they have to consider: Participating in Individual Evangelism: I believe that, every church has the responsibility to carry out the gospel to people which are within his/her area (1 pet. 3:15, 16, Acts 1:8). We need to be engaged in the process of speaking to others about Christ and his plan of salvation (Rom. 10:14-16). Thus, the church members should be thoroughly equipped (Eph. 4:11-13) and disciple (2 Tim. 2:1-3), in such way that they are able to communicate the

Read More

The Kingdom Of God In Richard Bauckham's Bible And Mission

1781 Words | 8 Pages

Over coffee in a Barcelona neighbourhood, an acquaintance expressed the remark, “I can’t invite my friends to church, they will never return, and that might end our conversations about God.” What an astounding observation. Many believe the church is where talk of God occurs. Yet, people are taking part in these God discussions both in and outside a church environment. However, there seems some disconnect between the exchange taking place about God in the church, and the exchange occurring outside the church.

Read More

More about Who God Is-Who Church Is, By Michael Jenkins

Related Topics

Open Document