Dr.
Alvin Masarira.
Presented at SA-SDA Conference
(10/03/2001, Bloemfontein, South Africa)
[Challenges
and Opportunities of the Christian Church in Today’s World]
“Therefore,
since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart……For we
do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus’ sake….But we have this treasure in jars of clay….”
Introduction:
Ever
since the fall of man in Eden, God’s overriding desire has been to restore the
harmonious relationship between Himself and planet earth. To achieve that
objective He could chose either of the two following methods.
a)
Use sinless
and efficient heavenly angels to reveal God’s perfect character to man.
b)
Look around
among the fallen individuals on earth for those willing to be His agents in
spreading the good news of a loving God.
In
spite of the great risk the second option intricately carried, like the human
sinfulness and mankind’s limitations and tendencies to be stubborn, disobedient
and reckless, God nevertheless decided to use human beings to achieve His goal.
All through the years God has therefore been calling people to this important
task, not only to be mere transmitters of information about God but also to
actively reflect God’s character through their lives.
-
God called
Enoch and “Enoch walked with God..” (Gen.
5:24)
-
Noah was
called to be a witness of the kingdom (Gen.
6 – 9)
-
Abraham was
called and he left Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran and to Canaan and became part
of God’s grand plan of salvation.
-
Then God
called the nation of Israel. After their 400 years of slavery in Egypt (Gen. 15: 13 – 16) they came back to
the Promised Land of Canaan.
“God
had chosen Israel and had called them to preserve among men the knowledge of
His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Saviour. He
desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world. What Abraham was in the
land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt and Daniel in the courts of
Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations. They were to reveal
God to men.” (Ellen G. White - The Desire
of Ages, Chapter 2: The Chosen People)
-
Finally He
sent His only Son Jesus Christ to show a perfect reflection of Himself, His
character, His purpose, His will and His love. “In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in
these last days he has spoken to us by His Son,..” (Hebrews 1:1-4)
“And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”(John 1:14). All through His ministry Jesus is a revelation of God and His desire for mankind. Whether He was:
-
changing
water into wine at Cana (John 2)
-
discussing
theological issues with Nikodemus (John 3)
-
at Jacob’s
well with the Samaritan woman (John 4)
-
healing the
lame man at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5)
-
feeding the 5
000 (John 6)
And
indeed after Philip requested “ Lord show us the Father and that will be enough
for us.” Jesus answered “Don’t you know me Philip, even after I have been among
you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14: 9)
Besides
revealing God (He Himself is GOD) to mankind and atoning for mankind’s sins
through the death at Calvary a very major item on His agenda was to establish a
people on earth who would carry forward what He had started. For this purpose
He called the Apostles and hundreds of other disciples to learn from Him and
establish His church. A summary of Jesus’ intentions and wish for His church
can be found in His “High Priest Prayer”
(John 17)
-
Don’t take
them from the world, but protect them in the world (15)
-
Sanctify them
by your truth, your word is truth (16)
-
That all may
be one, as the Father and the Son are one ( 20 - 23)
-
The love God
has for the Son may also be found in the church (25, 26)
-
People will
believe in Christ because of the ministry of His church (20)
Before
His departure from earth (ascension to heaven) Jesus gave a clear and direct
command to His church on what its task was going to be. The Great Commission
describes in no uncertain terms what God considered to be THE task, purpose and
function of the apostolic church and the church that was going to come after
it. “Then Jesus came to them and said – All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28: 18 – 20). With this
“Executive Order” from its Commander-in-Chief the apostolic church moved out
like a mighty army into the mission field.
This order was coupled with promise of empowerment through Holy Spirit
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.” (Acts 1: 8)
The church moved out with its mission unambiguous, its mission-field unmistakable, its resolve unwavering, its power-source unending and its destiny unquestionable.
With
this “Go ye into all the world…” the apostolic church took the gospel to other
parts of the Arabian world, to Europe, to Asia and it later went to the
Americas and to Africa.
-
Peter takes
the gospel of Christ to the Jews, who had rejected Christ and handed Him over
to the Roman government to be crucified.
-
Philip
preaches to the Ethiopian Finance Minister (Acts
8: 26 – 40) who in turn took the gospel to his African home.
-
The man from
Tarsus who had been converted from Saul to Paul becomes an Apostle to the
gentiles.
The missionary journeys intensify. God’s church was on fire to make the world know of this man from Galilee who was indeed the long awaited Messiah.
The
early Church suffered persecution from the Jews (e.g. Saul of Tarsus) and then
was later persecuted by Rome e.g. through the emperors Nero (AD64 –68),
Antnoninus Pius (AD138 – 161), Maximin (AD235-237) or Diocletian (AD303-305).
In AD313 Constantine was converted to Christianity and the persecution stopped.
But that paganised the church and thus pagan influences and traditions come
into the church. There was a clear deviation from apostolic teachings e.g. idol
worship, mediatorship of saints, Sunday-keeping, role of priests
i) Dark ages: AD 313 – 1525
The
Bible was not accessible to common people. The Church became corrupt, rich and
lost its direction and mission.
Christian
military expeditions between 11 – 14th century to recapture the Holy
Land from the Moslems. [Crusade:
derived from the Latin “crux” (cross)] Crusaders wore a red cloth cross sown on
their tunics to indicate that they had assumed the cross and were soldiers of
Jesus Christ. To help rescue the Holy Land fulfilled the ideal of the Christian
knight. Papal encouragement, the hope of eternal merit, and the offer of
indulgences motivated thousands to enrol in the cause.
iii) Reformation and Protestantism: 14 – 16th
century
John
Knox (Scotland), Martin Luther (Germany), Zwingli (Switzerland), John Calvin
(France) were some of those who spearheaded the reformation. This led to the
translation of Bible from Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Syriac into various European
languages. Luther translated into German and John Wycliffe, William Tyndale,
John Rogers into English.
During
the 19th Century many dedicated missionaries from various countries
- England, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, America, Canada – went to India,
Africa, China, Burma, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and spread the Gospel and translated
the Bible into local languages. E.g. Robert Moffat and David Livingstone, who
went to Africa. In 1804, British and Foreign Bible Society was established.
They translated the Bible into various languages.
The first ever Adventist Missionary our church sent out was John Nerville Andrews, who was sent in 1874 to Switzerland to pioneer the message in Europe. Andrews University (Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA) was named after him and a stature depicting him and his two children (standing at the harbour shortly before their departure for Europe) stands on the Andrews University Campus.
IV. Mission of the Contemporary Church
The challenges facing the Christian Church today are enormously huge but the church has always faced challenges in the past. Each epoch in world’s history has its unique characteristics and therefore an attempt to compare the difficulties in the various time periods could be a futile exercise and is in any case not necessary. As earth’s history comes to its close and evil abounds the world becomes an even more difficult and more complex planet. The challenges and problems faced by mankind are also the problems of the church. Christ said “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). The Christian church has always been conscious of the fact that it has a mission on earth. In obedience to Christ’s command to, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see (and experience) your good deed and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16), the church knows that its mission is not only to talk about Christ, but also impact positively on people’s lives through tangible deeds and actions.
There is basic agreement among Christians of all mainstream churches on the fundamental pillars of the church’s mission. In 1974 delegates from 150 countries and from various Christian denominations met for the International Congress on World Evangelisation in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974.
At the end of the congress “ The Lausanne Covenant” was adopted. In it are is the following “We believe the Gospel is God’s good news for the whole world, and we are determined by his grace to obey Christ’s commission to proclaim it to all mankind and to make disciples of every nation. We desire therefore, to affirm our faith and our resolve, and to make public our covenant”
1)
Un-entered
Areas - 10/40 Window and Global Mission
(China, Middle East etc.)
2)
Natural
Disasters in other countries e.g. Indian Earthquake (Jan. 2001), Floods in Asia
or Mozambique, Wars in various parts of the world, political instability etc.
But
often the global challenges appear abstract and out of our reach to a lot of
those not directly affected people are not always clear about the level and
extent of their involvement. The best thing to do is to support the
international relief organisations (e.g. ADRA) financially and through prayers.
Local Challenges and
Opportunities:
These
are within the reach of the local congregations and of individuals. These
challenges should always be seen as opportunities for the church to put that
into practice what it preaches.
a) Poverty
and a Caring Church
Large
sections of our populations live in poverty. Lots of households have no income
or survive on a few Rands (dollars) a month. This trend is increasing in some
areas. Economy not generating as many jobs as required. There are a lot of
dynamics to it and there are no simple solutions. The Christian church (and the
whole society) is called upon to do its best to alleviate poverty.
Possible
ways:
-
Adopting
poverty stricken families in the neighbourhood and helping (e.g. clothes,
money, food, school fees and books etc.)
-
Assisting
these families make use of all state-assistance measures (many people are not
aware of all the assistance that is available to the needy from the state)
People
must come to know Christians as people who care about their bread and butter
issues.
b) Practical
Needs of Society
Determine the specific needs of the community around you (e.g. survey/questionnaire) and get involved. Then see what the church can do about it.
i)
Adopt a
School and Help:
Example: Thandokhulu School Project (Mowbray
SDA Church/UCT Students) in Cape Town. The students at this high school were
performing very poorly due to a variety of reasons e.g. incompetent teachers,
lack of resources etc.
The
Adventist Students at UCT (Mowbray Church) decided to adopt it. A number of
them volunteer hours during the week to teach some subjects (e.g. Mathematics,
Accounts, Biology etc.)
ii)
An orphanage
iii)
Night Shelter
for Street kids or the homeless.
iv)
AIDS victims
and orphans,
v)
Abused
children and women
vi)
Crime in the
community
The
Adventist church must be seen to be doing something that shows that it cares.
c) Political
Refugees and other Displaced People
Official
figures report of about 70 000 political refugees currently in South Africa.
Most of them are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Rwanda,
Burundi, Mozambique and parts of West Africa. Among them are a lot of Adventist
and therefore almost every urban SDA church in South Africa has come in contact
with such displaced people. But there are also a lot of refugees that are not
Adventists and some are not even Christians. Most of them are very intelligent
and some are professionals with high academic qualifications and university
degrees from their home countries. The bureaucratic system in this country
often humiliates these people.
What
can we do as a church? Local Churches should see this as an opportunity to
alleviate suffering and make Christ known to them. They are receptive of the
message of a God who understands their suffering and who is trying to help
them. Listen to their heart rending stories of e.g. how their families and
relatives and friends, parents, kids were butchered in front of them. Mowbray
SDA Church (Cape Town) now has in its annual budget (beginning 2001) an
allocation for refugee work.
d) Ex
Adventists/Disillusioned former members
In the area covered by the North American
Division of the SDA Church there an estimated 2 million ex-Adventists. NAD has
about 1 Million members in so-called good standing. How many ex-Adventists are
there in South Africa? Each local congregation should try and maintain contact
with them. It’s not our job to write them off as people beyond salvation.
e) Religious
Pilgrims
There
is as growing number of religious pilgrims who see themselves on a faith
journey without a clearly defined destination – they can be challenged by the
church that sees itself as concerned about both individual salvation and the
needs of today’s world.
f) Campus
Ministries/Public Institutions
With
the growing number of institutions of higher learning now available, public
institutions become increasingly part of the mission territory of the church.
Academic institutions have their unique dynamics and so do the young people who
study there.
-
Tendency to
be critical of anything orthodox
-
Great thirst
for knowledge
-
Search for
convincing answers to mankind’s problems
-
Predisposition
to view issues from an intellectual perspective
-
Open to
reason
-
Search for
meaning and fulfilment of deepest desires (the loneliest people could be
students)
An
increasing number of Adventist young people are attending public institutions
and it’s very likely that there are now (2001) more Adventists studying in
these institutions than in church institutions.
Campus
ministries should have the following objectives:
-
Nature the
Adventist students there. Provide support as they struggle to keep the flame of
faith burning in a sometimes harsh and complex environment.
-
Present the
Gospel of Christ to the academic community on these campuses.
The
church has always had an ambivalent attitude towards public academic
institutions and Adventist students there. This has sometimes led to these
students feeling neglected and not adequately supported by the church.
Campus
Ministries is a great challenge for the church and it should receive more
attention than it currently does.
g) Reaching
the Secular and the Un-churched
This
is one of the greatest challenges facing the Christian church. How do we reach
the un-churched? Statistics indicate that most of the people baptised into the
Adventist church come from other Christian denominations.
They
already have a Christian background and all they need are a few doses of the
sanctuary doctrine, Sabbath, state of the dead, Ellen White and they have all
the 27 Fundamental Beliefs in their bag. The Adventist church is often accused
(by other Christian denominations) of “sheep stealing”.
But
we often struggle with secular people. Some of the terms that characterise
secularism are:
-
Contingent/Dependent: Belief that everything can be
explained and is dependent on “cause
and effect”. Nothing needs to be explained as an intervention of a higher power
(e.g. God)
-
Autonomy: Law unto oneself. They don’t see any
need for a God in their life. They think can take care of themselves.
-
Relativity: There are no absolute truths. Society
decides what is good for people and we live according to those principles. We
can change them later if we find it necessary.
-
Temporality of Things: There is only this life to live and
otherwise nothing else. The grave marks the end of it all.
Given
this mindset the secular person would ask the question “what will your religion
benefit me? What will I get out of it, that will make my life here on earth
better?” Such a person would hardly accept a mere “thus saith the Lord” for an
answer.
Possible
solutions:
·
Let’s
highlight the practical life benefits of
our faith (e.g. health message, involvement in social issues, family values
etc.
·
Special church services for the un-churched (maybe once or
twice/year). Specially designed to appeal to people with no biblical/christian
background. A service without the “language of Canaan” we often speak (e.g.
“Thou”, “Thine”, “When I received the
light” etc.). Mission oriented services form the whole idea of Willow Creek
Church led by Pastor Bill Hybels (near Chicago/Illinois, USA).
h) Mission
to other Religions (Moslems, Hindus etc.)
These
are specific ministries geared towards reaching people from other religions. In
areas where there are large population of Moslems or Hindus etc. let the church
put more emphasis in those ministries.
i) Media
and modern technology
Every
local church should have an internet web page. That’s the trend in the world
today. A good way to go public and provide information. E.g. Tygerberg Church
(Cape Town) have audio sermons on their site. Pioneer Memorial Church (Pastor
Dwight Nelson) has a well functioning site.
-
Christian
Television e.g. 3 ABN (Danny & Linda Shelton in USA. They are now going
international)
-
Christian
Radio Ministry – The SDA Church was the first Christian denomination to have
radio ministry. It was Pastor Harold Marshall Sylvester Richards' (HMS
Richards) who founded the Voice of Prophecy ministry on October 19, 1929, with
a radio program on KNX, Los Angeles.
j) Co-operation
with other Christians in mission
The
Adventist church on its own will not and can not evangelise the whole world.
The fact is that God’s mission work will be finished also through the efforts
of other Christians. Given the origin of the SDA church, the foundations and
pillars of its theology, this often poses a great dilemma in the Adventist
mindset. The Adventist eschatological theology teaches that at the end of time
God will have a remnant people, who are characterised by their
faith
in Jesus and keeping of the commandments. The Adventists differ from other
Christians on some very fundamental issues
-
Sabbath,
State of the dead, sanctuary doctrine, baptism, Spirit of prophecy…
Therefore
it is often only with great difficulties that an average Adventist sees other
Christians as redeemed sons and daughters of God. They are often viewed as
mission objects and targets in need of receiving the truth as Adventists know
it. But in spite of their incomplete understanding of His truth God uses the
likes of Evangelist Billy Graham, Radio Evangelist Charles (Chuck) Swindol, and
many others. In as much God works through ministry of Adventist Frontier
Missions, Adventist Global Missions Program or ADRA, He is indeed also active
through the ministries of non-Adventist organisations that are eagerly
executing the task of reaching many un-entered areas of this world e.g.:
-
Food For the
Hungry : very active in Asia
-
(the late)
Mother Theresa in Calcutta
There
is still a lot to be done e.g. China, India, Middle East, North Korea etc.
At
a local level, each congregation should decide whether there are areas in the
community where Christians from all denominations can pull together to achieve
an objective:
-
Outreach to
the Moslems
-
Social issues
(crime, poverty etc.)
If
co-operation is more effective than individual activities it must be done. The
General Conference of the SDA Church has a Working policy 075, 1993 – 94 (Relationship with other Christian Churches
and Religious Organisations) -
part of it reads
-
We
recognise those agencies that lift up Christ before men as part of the divine
plan for evangelisation of the world, and we hold in high esteem Christian men
and women in other communions who are engaged in winning souls to Christ.
Just
as Jesus said after John had come to Him and said “Teacher, we saw a man
casting out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one
of us. .…Jesus said – don’t stop him…whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:38 – 40). It must however be clearly
stated that there should be no compromise of Adventist beliefs and principles
for the sake of co-operation with other denominations.
The
Apostle Paul speaking to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 5: 19-21) gave one
aspect of the job description for the church “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God”
The
Church should completely embrace this task of being The Embassy of the Heavenly Kingdom on earth. If the world wants to
know what heaven is like and what God is all about, they should see it in the
Church.
-
The church
should build an inclusive community of people from a variety of racial, ethnic,
economic, and social backgrounds. Let’s break down the barriers that separate
people.
-
The church
should love the people around it as Jesus did His contemporaries and therefore
seek to alleviate their suffering and meet their needs. Seeing people not
merely as “objects/targets” of our mission, but as people to genuinely love.
Calamities, disasters and problems in society are opportunities for the church
to clearly reflect the image of a caring and loving God.
-
This
Adventist Church should humbly realise that God has given it special insights
of His truths and a special message for these last days. That implies a greater
the responsibility accountability to the Giver. It should not fall into the
“spiritual arrogance” which befell Israel of old.
-
A church that
has Jesus as its role model in ministry. Learning from and being like Jesus in
our ministry.
-
A church that
realises that unity does not necessarily
mean uniformity and diversity does not necessarily mean division. There
should be no enforcement of a “one-hat-fits all” policy at all costs.
Differences should be accepted and Church must learn to live with that tension.
-
A church that
sincerely believes that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20. Let
us not limit God only to that we think is possible. Let the Church be
constantly asking itself – are our
current methods achieving the desired goals? Are we open enough to the
leadership of the Holy Spirit?
Let it venture in faith and if necessary change or adapt the methods of gospel presentation to reach an ever-changing world.
-
A church
faithful to the call. One of Mother Theresa’s motto was “We don’t pray necessarily for success, but we pray for faithfulness to
do God’s will” (Adventism For A New Generation, P. 159) If the church is
faithful in doing God’s will God will take care of the success aspect of the
mission.
Christians have been called to serve and
saved to serve. It is a ministry by grace. Mission should be the overriding
objective and purpose. Dr. Jan Paulsen (current President of General Conference
of SDA Church) said the following (at the World Session, July 2000, in Toronto,
Canada): “all that we are, all that we do, our planning, programs, resources,
objectives and activities must find its ultimate meaning in mission. There
should be a direct link between our activities and mission otherwise we should
ask ourselves whether we shouldn’t rather be doing something else. It’s late in
the day, we’re almost home, we cannot become reckless and careless. God chose
us for a mission. We’re not just one more sociological phenomenon, rather God
leads this church. Just like our Lord, our business is saving people. Let us
press together as we move forward to finish the journey.”
May
the Lord bless His church in the ministry.
1.
http://www.ggmathew.com
2.
All Biblical
Passages - New International Version (Zondervan Publishing House)
3.
44 Questions
for Church Planters – Lyle E. Schaller, 1991 Abingdon Press
4.
Present Truth
in the Real World- Jon Paulien, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1993
5.
The
Fragmenting of Adventism – William Johnson, Pacific Press Publishing
Association, 1995
6.
Adventism For
A New Generation- Steve Daily, Better Living Publishers 1993
7.
Penetrating
Missions’ Final Frontiers – A New Strategy For Unreached Peoples – Tetsuano
Yamamori – Intervarsity Press, 1993
8.
Passport To
Mission (Mission Preparation Handbook) – GC Institute of World Mission (Andrews
University) – Erich Baumgartner (editor)
[Challenges and Opportunities of the
Christian Church in Today’s World]
I.
The identity
and vision of the church should be strongly determined by the objects of its
outreach.
II.
Churches that
are warm, outgoing and caring are more likely to grow.
III.
Most people
join the church not primarily because of the doctrine and beliefs, but are
“loved into the church”.
IV.
Non-growing
churches have a hard time keeping their members
energetic
and motivated.
V.
Churches that
are not innovative have a hard time attracting young people.
VI.
The diverse
composition of the church family should compel the church to consciously strive
to meet the different needs of its members.
VII.
The church’s
approach needs to be quite different when addressing non-believers.
VIII.
The church
needs to be more innovative in its presentation of the gospel and worship
service.
IX.
The church
should take advantage of the great potential, talent and skill of the laity in
its attempt to achieve its mission objectives.
X.
The church
has been called not only to bring people to Christ, but also to call them into
radical discipleship.
Alvin Masarira (March 2001)