Missiology

Ed Stetzer post excerpts:  Musings on Missiology:  Theological Approaches to Social Action and Transformation

Here on the blog we were recently looking at the relationship between evangelism and social justice and connecting it to the ongoing discussion of the missional church. My guess is that many evangelicals will find it interesting that the reaction to this shift in attitude from individuals such as Donald McGavran, John Stott, and Billy Graham was across the spectrum. Some saw justice as an implication of the Gospel, others as a "facet" of the gospel "diamond," and others as a co-equal of the Gospel. We will look at the spectrum of belief more in depth later.


I remember sitting on the side of a conference facility kibitzing with Tim Keller before I was to speak at the Dwell Conference that Redeemer hosted in Manhattan. We were meeting in what was a former United Church of Christ church facility, but now was conference hall rented for special events. My topic was, "Dwelling in the Kingdom Mission." I turned to Tim and mentioned the irony that I was about to speak to a group of evangelicals about the Kingdom of God and the missio dei in a facility that once housed a church that probably lost its way during the Kingdom of God movement of the early 1900s or the missio dei movement later in that same century.

An emphasis on social awareness and world transformation has led to problems. Any Christian with a history book and a willingness to learn can see that. Yet, I think it is essential that evangelicals be more engaged in social action-- and I think that most evangelicals would agree. We need to care for the poor, visit the captive, minister to the marginalized, and engage in social action more (Ps. 14:6; Deut. 10:18; 24:17; Mal. 3:5; Mt. 6:2; James 2:2-6; 1 Jn. 3:17-18). We need to discover social action but I have pointed out many times that the last two times that Christians "discovered" social justice, it did not end well.

Tim encouraged me to go ahead and mention the irony of that moment. I am not sure if I did in my talk that day, but I will now. I think that evangelical Christians must focus more on the Kingdom of God and the missio dei, but they must do so while avoiding the errors of those who discussed similar truths in earlier generation. In order to do that, we should learn from the past so we do not repeat its errors.
Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Evangelicals need more social action, but they need to know and avoid the errors of those who came before us and shared the same concern.

Last week, we talked about how the Kingdom of God theological theological emphasis combined with the Social Gospel and had some problematic repercussions-- gospel proclamation got lost in social action. This week, we are continuing to look at how evangelism and social justice interface by looking at the emergence of liberation theology and the church's shift in attitude towards the poor in the missions conversations in the mid-to-late 1900s. Next week, I will suggest some ways to avoid the extremes and find a way to live both.

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Conclusion

The social justice question is always a challenging one. The Liberation Theology movement expressed that value by building on the missio dei movement and "joining God in His work" of bringing about societal transformation. (I won't rehash that from the last post.) Evangelicals have generally seen the ecumenical approach as unhelpful and to be avoided-- while often co-opting some of the ideas and even language of the ecumenical movement.

These issues will always be a struggle for Christians. Everything new is, well, generally not. For example, the Lausanne Movement is about to meet again and the organizers explain their mission as a mix of evangelistic and social concern (leading to praise from some and concern from others):

The Congress, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will bring together 4,000 leaders from more than 200 countries to confront the critical issues of our time - other world faiths, poverty, HIV/AIDS, persecution, among others - as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelization... Together we will seek the Lord as we examine the world and our culture to discern where the church should invest its efforts and energies to most effectively respond to Christ's call to take the gospel into all the world and make disciples of all nations... lives changed for all eternity, broken families mended, physical and emotional hurts healed, communities transformed.

Evangelicals have tended to try to find a way not to turn their social justice into the problematic approaches that came before them. I have tried to unpack those here. But, we cannot just say, "Well, that's why we need to avoid societal transformation." That's like saying we need to avoid "grace" before some people misunderstand it. Just because someone misuses a biblical principal does not mean that we are excused from using it.

I remember planting my first church among the urban poor in Buffalo, NY. I had well intentioned believers tell me to avoid being involved in social action because it would detract from the gospel. They warned me specifically about the dangers of Liberation Theology (by name) and told me to be sure to preach Jesus.

I found that I could not preach Jesus and not care about justice. And, if I wanted real justice, I had to preach Jesus. They did not seem separable, but history has shown that they can be.

So, as Evangelicals have worked to make a biblical connection between social justice and the gospel we can see different approaches take shape. Should social action and justice be seen as a part of our evangelism, or as a consequence of it? Or perhaps you would like to suggest another connection.