The Benefits of an Incarnational Witness

February 12, 2008 | Filed Under books, incarnational | 1 Comment

“The case for an incarnational approach to missional witness is based, on the one hand, on the character of the biblical record; that is, the way in which the church’s missionary vocation is shaped by the earthly ministry of Jesus. The emphasis upon the necessary congruence of witness is rooted in God’s way of revealing himself supremely and finally in the incarnation of Jesus. The comprehensiveness of the biblical understanding of witness calls for an incarnational interpretation.

On the other hand, this approach helps us deal with some serious problems in our particular Western context. We see in both our mission history and our current evangelistic practices so much that is contrary to the incarnational character of the gospel. We see a gospel of peace proclaimed in divisive, judgmental ways. We see a Gospel of love conveyed manipulatively, insensitively, condescendingly. We see a gospel of healing obscured by distortions that hurt people and evoke resentment.

Thus we arrive at the concept of incarnational witness as one way of expounding the character of our missionary vocation. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God revealed himself as the One who is with and for his creation.

Now, as the Risen Lord sends his Spirit to empower the church, we are called to become God’s people present in the world, with and for the world, like St. John pointing always to Christ. The most incarnational dimension of our witness is defined by the cross itself, as we experience with Jesus that bearing his cross transforms our suffering into witness.

Incarnational witness is, therefore, a way of describing Christian vocation in terms of Jesus Christ as the messenger, the message, and the model for all who follow after him. To speak of the incarnation missionally is to link who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and how he did it, in one great event that defines all that it means to be Christian.”

- Darrell Guder in The Incarnation and The Church’s Witness

More Guder & Incarnational Mission

February 11, 2008 | Filed Under books, incarnational | No Comments

The word mission is the Latinized version of the central theme of John’s Gospel: sending. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). As the Father sends the Son, as the Father and the Sonsend the Spirit, so the triune God sends the church to carry out its mandate of witness.

When we use the term incarnation, then, we are referring to the specific and historical event in which God’s mission reaches its central point and its fullest disclosure. We are also emphasizing the fundamental character of movement and purpose that God’s action reveals: “into the flesh” testifies to the fact that God is active and sending within human history.

The God of both testaments engages the history of his creation, speaks in such a way that his voice can be heard, and calls people not only to respond to his voice but to become part of his mission. In sending Jesus as the Christ, God draws all of salvation history together, as witnessed to the Old Testament, and simultaneously opens it up for proclamation to the entire world.

- Darrell Guder in The Incarnation and The Church’s Witness

Darrell Guder & Incarnational Mission

February 7, 2008 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, incarnational | 2 Comments

A few months ago a Professor at a local seminary shared with me that he was uncomfortable with my use of the phrase “incarnational mission.” He believed the phrase was not very useful, moreover, in his opinion its use minimized the significance of the incarnation event.

Following is an excerpt from an excellent little book (60 pages) by Darrell Guder titled “The Incarnation and The Church’s Witness” where Guder speaks directly to the meaning of “incarnational mission” as well as the “risk” involved in such language.

“By incarnational mission I mean the understanding and practice of Christian witness that is rooted in and shaped by the life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The critical question that motivates this study is this: Can and should the unique event of the incarnation of Jesus that constitutes and defines the message and mission of the church have concrete significance for the way in which the church communicates that message and carries out the mission?

Understanding mission incarnationally . . . could prove to be a remarkably integrative way to approach the church’s missionary vocation. It could counter the typically Western reduction of mission to one of the many programs of the church. It could recast that mission as the definitive calling of the church. It could seek to read the biblical record in its own terms and to address serious problems in Western mission that have surfaced in this century.

Thus, the language of incarnational mission could be both constructive with regard to the biblical and theological understanding of message, and polemical with regard to the context and history of mission, especially in the Western tradition.

Just as any theological concept is susceptible to distortion, there are ways of misconstruing the linkage of Christian mission with the incarnation. It is possible to dilute the uniqueness and centrality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ when his incarnation becomes a model for Christian behavior. A primary ethical or moralistic interpretation of the life of Jesus, such as was characteristic of nineteenth-century liberal theology, often downplays or dilutes the event-character of the gospel.

But it is that event character, the historical ‘happenedness’ of Jesus’ life, that both enables and defines Christian witness. As we seek to explore the missional significance of the incarnation, we need to resist every temptation to dilute the centrality of the incarnation event. The risk represented by the concept of incarnational mission is worth taking, I think, especially as we are challenged to develop a viable mission theology for the Western world, which by common consent is now a very challenging mission field.”

Incarnational Mission

February 4, 2008 | Filed Under incarnational, missional | No Comments

Incarnation is one of the distinctive words in the Christian vocabulary to summarize the gospel event of Jesus Christ. Although the word is not found in the Bible, it is based on John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”

With this statement, the evangelist created a powerful picture of God moving into the flesh. The thrust of this imagery is missional. It emphasizes that God is active and decisive, that God has taken the initiative in the healing of broken and sinful creation. The scriptures, as Spirit-empowered testimony, witness to God’s missionary action, beginning with Abraham and reaching the climax in the incarnation of Jesus, the Son.

God the Father has sent Jesus the Son as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, whose life, death, and resurrection are the epitome and turning point of God’s mission to redeem humanity and the world. The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to call and to empower the church to carry out its witness to this gracious good news.

- Darrell Guder in The Incarnation and The Church’s Witness

Living the Incarnation

December 5, 2007 | Filed Under incarnational, missional | 2 Comments

John Santic at Toward Hope published an excellent post earlier this year titled “10 Tips For Living The Incarnation.” I would highly recommend reading the entire article, but here are three of John’s 10 tips:

Attentive Listening: The art of listening is becoming increasingly important for what it means to live incarnationally. Appropriate listening is grounded in a robust understanding of Pneumatology that believes, in addition to the oft overemphasized personal experience, that the Holy Spirit is active, working, leading, and inviting the church into mission. Our ideas and plans can often override the still small voice that gently invites us into unexpected and new adventures.

Peter’s encounter with Cornelius in the book of Acts is a good story to identify with for the importance of listening to live incarnationally. As the Spirit promises to lead us into all truth, we trust that God will reveal the injustice and oppression in our midst so that we can respond appropriately.

Formative Practices: Living in a rhythm that includes formative spiritual practices is vital to remain intimately connected to God. This is the Contemplative way. Seeking union with God and to see God in all things allows for greater freedom to reflect the image of God to others, understand His good an pleasing will, and it gives us a greater awareness of reality. Walking in closeness through disciplined practices of prayer, listening, scripture reading, Examen, discipleship, and fasting prepares the us for works of service that are pleasing to God and shapes us into a Gospel storied people.

Proximity: As Jesus localized himself in the incarnation, so too must the church localize in order to reflect most vividly the image of God. Without local relationships, the fullness of community seems somewhat lacking. People are transported everywhere through vehicles, the telephone, and the internet in convenient and practical ways. But at what cost?

In the midst of the connectedness we have through technology, there is still a great longing for local relationship and the gift of presence. Being proximate with our relationships is vital if we are to express a full embodiment of what Biblical community is. So go for walks. Build relationships. Let people see you and know you are there.

Engaging Neighborhoods Where We Live

July 23, 2007 | Filed Under alan roxburgh, church planting, dmin project, gospel, incarnational, missional | 1 Comment

Here is a link to the latest podcast of the Roxburgh Journal interview with Pete Akins titled “Engaging Neighborhoods Where We Live.”

Roxburgh highlights a creative lay church planting movement taking place in the towns and villages in the UK. I would highly recommend taking 30 minutes to listen and be encouraged by what God is doing through the lives of His servants there. As Roxburgh states on his blog when reflecting on the interview: “I was struck by the power of what God is about in quiet, sustained forms of on-the-ground fresh expressions of kingdom life in rural England.”

Being Sent Into The World

May 17, 2007 | Filed Under gospel, incarnational, missional | No Comments

In light of yesterday’s post on the sending passages found in the Gospels, here is a sampling of the sending theme specifically from the Gospel of John:

Sending and the Father

“For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (3:17).

“For he whom God has sent utters the words of God” (3:34).

“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (5:23). More>>

Being Sent and the Gospels

May 16, 2007 | Filed Under books, incarnational, missional | 1 Comment

I mentioned a few weeks ago an excellent book by Dr. Francis DuBose titled ”God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission.” The book was published in 1983 when Dr. DuBose was professor and director of World Missions Center at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

In the preface of the book DuBose writes:

“This work is a comprehensive and systematic study of the biblical concept of the sending aimed at a better understanding of biblical mission. . . . The title “God Who Sends” was chosen because God as Sender is the basis of all the Bible has to say on the subject. The subtitle, “A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission,” reflects both my desire for a more satisfying theological understanding and my realization that this can only be a quest, not a final word on the subject.”

In chapter 3 DuBose presents a survey of the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories: the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Poetical Books, the Prophets, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the Epistles and Revelation. So far we have discussed the first four categories; today we will examine the sending theme found in the Gospels. More>>

Missional Images

April 30, 2007 | Filed Under incarnational, missional | 9 Comments

Taking a page out of Rick Meigs “Missional Word Images“ from December of last year, here are ten word pictures that give me a helpful image of what being missional looks like.

Image One

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood. - John 1:14 (The Message)
More>>

Being Sent and the Prophets

April 23, 2007 | Filed Under books, incarnational, missional | 2 Comments

In Francis DuBose’s book “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission” the author highlights the sending theme found throughout scripture by surveying the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories. Last time I shared a portion from the book concerning the theme of sending found in both the Historical and Poetical books. This week I want to review the emphasis on sending in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. More>>

Missional and Henri Nouwen

March 20, 2007 | Filed Under incarnational, missional, way of Jesus | 7 Comments

More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.