The local church and the poor
Since the Fall, hasn’t the trajectory of human history been redeemed?The city of man is still in the Bible subject to judgment (the Flood, Babel, Canaan, Egypt, Jerusalem, Babylon, Rome, and then Revelation 19) (not as universal as gravity, but apparently as inevitable as its general tendency. )
- Many churches.
- Likewise.
- Believe that the world is going to hell at a constant rate and.
- For this reason.
- It is our role to preach Christ.
- Save some of them and leave others alone.
- Others believe that we will have a role to play when God consumes the renewal of all things at the end of time.
- The result for the first group is to fall into a separatist approach to evangelism; for the second.
- It means falling into cultural accommodations.
Now I can see how certain eschatological positions can lead us to one of these two paths in terms of the relationship between the Church and her immediate culture; in fact, I see his legacy on the northern-south peripheries, manifesting itself in two main ways.
Those who have historically fought for doctrinal and theological purity at the expense of cultural compromise (fearful of diluting the gospel) find themselves on the fringes of the periphery, with aging and dying congregations. They have a gospel with no one to preach to. . Does that fit into their worldview ?, them against the world ?, and leaves generations with no idea of the good news of Jesus. On the other hand, those who choose to adapt and participate culturally at the expense of biblical truths tend to be aware of social needs. But they have the same aging and dying congregations. They are considered nothing more than a social work agency and people don’t turn around when evangelism is not practiced. Both parties suffer from the fact that the real losers are simply the people they should be affected by the good news of Jesus Christ. While the Christian world has drawn theological boundaries, true souls have perished for lack of testimony. In the words of an old man and already dead: “Plague in both houses. “
2. Due to this situation, much of the evangelistic work carried out on the periphery is carried out on the periphery by a combination of government agencies and para-ecclesiastical organizations. The groups visited schools and organized religious education courses, organized clubs and tried young people for Christ, but for the most part dissociated from a local congregation and without real long-term goals and goals to combat the crisis of the congregation we are facing. On the one hand, how can they be blamed when the local church is (a) dead or (b) inoperative in its task (either because of lack of heart or simply because it is incapable)?
The only way to reverse this trend is to establish new churches and/or revitalize existing ones. Spiritual revitalization of community and development will not occur radically if the local church is not at the heart of our plans. In Brazil, when we founded our project with street children, we did so with the establishment of churches as a foundation. For several reasons:
1. A local congregation is a strong and coherent impulse for evangelization efforts.
2. It provides a place for the spiritual responsibility of those who work in the field. Many of those who serve in the paraclesiastical organizations I have met (especially young people) have little or no responsibility and are exhausted or in danger of trying to cope with the difficulties of being at the forefront of a ministry like ours.
3. It offers an environment in which new converts and other Christians can grow together in discipline and community. This avoids the problem of people parachuting into the community, trying to reach someone and then dragging people back into the community.
The local church has a responsibility to evangelize, discipline, care for and prepare people to praise and serve the living God in their respective communities. Obviously, the task of loving one’s neighbour should not be left to those outside the community, should it?Are we serving our communities? If we love a community and seek to know it, then the ideas of evangelization, mission and development will flow naturally. I think many churches have difficulty impacting the periphery because they don’t like their communities enough. get to know them really on a deep and intimate level. We cannot love the Lord and the gospel if we do not love people. The gospel needs a means of guidance in order to accomplish its powerful and transformative work. Many churches bury their treasures in the countryside, waiting for the Lord’s return.
Have we recently received any news of the establishment of our church in Brazil?The Church of the Good News, which is a community working in the poorest region of Brazil’s poorest state, are very poor!The church is small (about 50 people) and despite this, they recently came together to build 6 homes in the community for homeless families!It is a gospel-led community development in action. Despite the fear of some, the Word is not diluted but, on the contrary, it is a living example of the reality of the message that the congregation is trying to bring to the community.
I appreciate the nuances of this debate, I really appreciate it, Christ above all, the gospel above all, but when discipleship cannot be distinguished from helping people deal with some of their personal problems, then we have a duty to take care of ourselves. He will not protect the gospel until we kill him; would be a crime.
I’m sure we’ll be back on it at some point
By: Mez McConnel. © 2013 20Seemas. Original: Keys to progress in the housing project (1)
Translation: Fabio Luciano Review: Yago Martins © 2016 Faithful Ministério All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Gospel on the periphery?Principle 7: Planting or revitalizing churches
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