Your Misson Should You Choose To Accpet It... Pt. 2
 “My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling! He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block�. “God’s will for us is to be successful.� That’s a sample of the mission statements of a well known entertainer and local purveyor of the prosperity gospel. Both claim to define what God’s mission is and thus by extension what the church’s mission should be. Yet, what is the church’s mission?
Do individuals get to define it? Or, does the church’s mission change depending on the people group it’s called to disciple and the culture it’s in? The Council of Reforming Churches is not a church though we have a strong interest in the mission and ministry of the church. Understanding the church’s main mission is therefore crucial to our ongoing mission. This is especially important since the church is always in danger of ceding its mission to serve the interest of others. And that lies close to the heart of what’s ailing the black expression of God’s church today which is why we need reform. The road to reform lies along the open path of Scripture. Looking into, studying and reflecting on Scripture will provide us with the clear direction we need to steer God’s church back to the calling of her Lord. With the power of the Spirit, the prayers of the saints and direction of the word CRC hopes to gather an army of God’s people to stir up reform within the black expression of God’s church.
Like all believers the church exists to glorify God. And thanks to our Lord He has spelled out how we pursue His glory and mission. Matthew 28 records the well known words that Jesus gave to His closest followers concerning our ongoing mission. Though we usually apply these words to the calling to evangelize the world they also hold the key to the core nature of our mission. The authority for that mission (which by the way is still very much in force 2000 years later) lies squarely on the shoulders of our Lord. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ takes orders from, answer to and is ultimately accountable to our Lord, shepherd, last prophet, great high priest and eternal king of kings. He does not run a democracy, isn’t the least bit interested in conforming to a particular culture, has no intention of being reduced to a divine mascot and last time I checked isn’t asking for suggestions or input on the mission and meaning of his church.
The church of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore does not have the right nor liberty to recast our mission to suit a particular country, culture or subculture. Though we’re called to serve all people/cultural groups that service is not defined as prioritizing their temporal needs. Thus as the American expression of God’s church isn’t responsible for promoting the economic, political and military hegemony of the United States so the African-American expression of God’s church isn’t responsible for promoting the socio-economic interest of black folks.
Our Lord and King Jesus Christ has intentionally incarnated us into specific cultures for the main purpose of transforming them from being ethnocentric cultures to a Christocentric ones. That means our mission or to put it another way, we exist among black folks, white folks, Asian folks, Arab folks, Hispanic folks, Jewish folks and any other kind of folks to see some of the main foundational aspects of their culture arrested, executed and then reborn. A bit much you say? No not at all. Once the gospel began to be sown, take root in and flourish among the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day it could no longer be the same. It didn’t matter how many believers they martyred or put on trial. Nor did it matter how many riots they started by saying ‘these people are teaching that we must turn from Moses, the law and this temple. For Jews the gospel meant that the sacrificial system centered in Herod’s magnificent temple was outdated, irrelevant, obsolete and as ineffective in gaining a right relationship with the living God as putting out the sun with a spitball. Once a throng of Greeks spent over two hours shouting ‘great is Diana of the Ephesians’ at the top of their lungs in a vain effort to stop the spread of the gospel from overturning their culture. They might as well attempted to put out a raging forest fire with a thimble full of water. Consequently, a church that doesn’t challenge, arrest and put to death black America’s idols is a church that’s betrayed mission, rebelled against her Lord and like the seven churches of Revelation can and will be removed as a gospel influence for black people.
The mission of God’s church is to become up close and personal with the culture’s of the world, inject the gospel into them and watch them transform from the inside out. We can never reduce the gospel or the church to simply being a side dish on a culture’s menu as it seeks to grab a bigger piece of the all to fleeting pie. If the black church therefore has any hope of genuinely being used by God we will reject the temptation to submit to ‘black America’s’ authority and merely become another tool in the quest for the holy grail of full equality. Nor will we separate ourselves from the rest of the church as if what we’re called to is qualitatively different (and of course more godly and noble) than their mission.
The Lord’s mission is clear, His authority absolute and the outcome without doubt. So folks, let’s get busy.
To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance
Comments
Rosemarie Peoples
July 21, 2007
Joey Carter
November 18, 2007
Justice
July 17, 2007