Ralph Winter of the USCWM in Pasadena, CA writes an excellent article on the Modality and Sodality of the Christian movement throughout history. This provides an exellent look on where does mission agencies, apostolic movements, church planting movements and the traditional churches all fit in the Kingdom Building efforts through out history. Here are some quotes and below you can read the whole article:
- "The harmony between the modality and the sodality achieved by the Roman Church is perhaps the most significant characteristic of this phase of the world Christian movement."
- "In failing to exploit the power of the sodality, the Protestants had no mechanism for missions for almost 300 years."
- "Among Protestants, there continues to be deep confusion about the legitimacy and proper relationship of the two structures that have manifested themselves throughout the history of the Christian movement."
- "This omission (read the whole article for what the omission is), in my evaluation, represents the greatest error of the Reformation and the
greatest weakness of the resulting Protestant tradition."
I think this also addresses why many in the para church world sometimes feel a lesser value from the traditional church. Why does it feel like we are on the JV team and not playing on the varsity Church team.
Read the whole thing at The Two Structures of God's Redemptive Mission by Ralph Winter
1 comment:
Steve,
The article is very thought provoking, thanks. Here's my comment:
Many in the para church believe they are entrusted to carry out the missions mindset within the protestant tradition because traditional protestants don’t. The proof for the protestant tradition being evangelistic is current Protestants. While many within the contemporary para church believe American evangelicalism is not evangelistic, that is not the tradition of the American protestant movement. Examples of evangelistic American puritans would be Isaac Backus and Jonathan Edwards. Today some examples of churches that are growing tremendously in evangelism and scope, while holding to the reformed faith are Mars Hill Church(pastor, Mark Driscoll) Bethlehem Baptist Church(pastor, John Piper) Capitol Hill Baptist Church(pastor Mark Dever) and Grace Community Church(pastor, John MacArthur)
Saying the error of the Reformation was missional, seems to contradict the movement of the Reformation. Converting people to faith in Christ alone by faith alone on the authority of scripture alone, rather than through sacraments, indulgences, and priests, appears to be evangelistically driven. The reason why the protestant church exists today is because of the conversion of people to a Biblical faith in Christ. Reformers like Luther, Calvin, Augustine, Bunyan, Whitfield, Knox, Tyndale, Wycliffe, Owen, and Spurgeon are still having evangelistic implications on today’s church. Wouldn’t the Bible in various languages besides, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin be the mission mechanism of the Protestant Reformation?
Personally, all para church is free to exist. If evangelistic churches were healthier and inspired by the Holy Spirit upon the revelation of scriptural authority, there probably wouldn’t be a para church. Billy Graham would be sent from his church rather than starting a para church organization. Seminaries wouldn’t need to exist because believers would be learning the exegetical construct of scripture in their church. The Baptist General Conference wouldn’t have to exist because their missionaries were provided enough money by their local church. I’m not saying churches shouldn’t work together or churches shouldn’t work with para church organizations, but the idea that specific churches are identified in scripture and Christian organizations aren’t should be observed. Christian organizations throughout history appear to be a western phenomenon, and it might not be a coincidence that western civilization has historically had more societal opportunity due to wealth than any other society in history. We create para church because we can afford it. God blesses it, but man creates it. I'm not saying if we were poor we couldn't reach high schoolers or the homeless, but since we do have money we develop specific personal interests rather than being a part of the church and reaching various groups within our communities.
Hope you're doing well in your transitions.
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