Book review: Four Views on the Church’s Mission

 

Sexton, Jason (ed.), Four Views on the Church’s Mission. Zondervan, 2017

 

 

      This book brings a theological reflection about the mission of God from different angles. It is not a “practical” book, those looking for practical ideas for Churches could be disappointed by it. However, it brings more in depth thinking from four different angles about where the Mission of God is anchored and from where it should spring.

      Jason Sexton’s article focuses on Mission as the proclamation of sin and the necessity of redemption. The Church’s task is to “to make disciples by declaring or mediating God’s judgments” (29) considering the truth that “the threat of God’s eternal wrath is the most urgent of all” (30). When we look to Paul affirming that we “know nothing but Christ crucified” we will agree with him in the sense that if the Church is not proclaiming sin and redemption to humanity, of is failing in its most basic sense. The criticism could be directed to the fact that if the only thing we constantly do is to proclaim, “Christ died for your sins”, we are missing is so many other aspects of God’s Word for today’s world.

      C. Wright’s take on the mission of God is more comprehensive. He points to three main characteristics of the Church’s mission: cultivating the church, engaging society, and caring for creation (81). Wright is committed to transit from the Old to the New Testament to provide the Church with epistemological grounds for a more comprehensive preaching and action in society beyond the “Sin” and “Salvation” themes. Both for Wright and for Franke’s point of view it is necessary to cultivate a spirit of constant assessment of the Churches goals and actions so that it won’t be just another NGO sprinkled with Biblical worlds which reduces its transcendent view to favour an immanent the engagement of people that need to do good to feel good only.

Franke is the most progressive of the four authors and he defends that the Gospel has a core message at is essence, but it needs to be adapted and connected to each reality and context in which it is inserted. He claims that asserts that mission “must be situated in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity rather than ecclesiology or soteriology”. This favours a more post-modernistic, progressive take on the mission. In a way, one could say that if you are teaching the Triune God, you can adapt your message in pretty much every way to suit the context in which you live. This is connected also to Franke’s commitment to “conditional immortality or annihilationism”.

The reflection provided by Leithart connects in large part to the view of many areas of Lutheranism which see the Church’s mission a Word and Sacraments Mission. These are the key elements to gather the Church around Christ and to generate identity and discipleship. Whereas we would agree with him that Word and Sacraments are front and central in the Church’s work, and not mere accessories to its goal, one wonders what could be done in a missional context where no one is Baptized and not able yet to receive the Supper.

Admittedly I am more of a doer than of a “thinker” of the Mission of God through the Church. However, it is good to stop to reflect about some deeper theological matters and concerns about the mission of God as it refreshes and reinvigorates our practical aspects. Getting in contact with four different perspectives as the book presents helps in the broader picture, both in strengths and weaknesses, which help to solidify the missional thinking and practice in the local environment.