Becoming Christ-centered Communities of Faith
In Ziguinchor, Senegal, there’s an evangelical church that has ‘Jesus Christ’ included in the congregation’s name. Moreover, on the sign board out in front of the church are the words of Jesus from John 8:31-32, proclaiming publically, and boldly something of great importance regarding the teachings of Jesus. The English translation from the French printed there reads: “If you faithfully obey the things I am teaching you, then you will be my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The sad reality is that many evangelical Christians in this town know too little of the teachings of Jesus, nor do the leaders and thus teaching and preaching does not expound on the life giving wisdom and life-transforming message Jesus brought during his earthly ministry. Christians cannot be faithfully obedient to the teachings of Christ, nor be his disciples, nor be set free if they are unschooled and ignorant of Jesus’ teachings. This situation is a threat to the vitality of the Christian Church everywhere I have travelled in West Africa. Believers in West Africa are inadequately discipled to the One whom they claim as their Lord and Savior.
Most believers can, in less than 20 words, give you the sum and substance of their knowledge of Jesus: “He took my place on the cross so that when I die I get to go to heaven.” That’s it. To most believers, those few words provide for them all they need to know about the message, mission and work of Messiah Jesus.
Contrast that brief info-byte to what the Apostle Paul had in mind in his description of Messiah Jesus in Ephesians 1:17-23, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him (God), having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he (God) has called you, what are the riches of his (God’s) glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his (God’s) power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him (God) who fills all in all.”
Jesus was right on when he declared that it is impossible for anyone to come to God and to know God except through the words, the wisdom and the example of Messiah Jesus, who was none other than God among us. This is why it is so vitally important for anyone who is truly in Christ to become a disciple of Christ. Christian discipleship means that one learns from and thru Christ and one walks the same ‘laying down his life’ walk that Jesus demonstrated during his earthly ministry. That’s what disciples do, they act, think and relate like their Master
Simply uttering those 20 or so words doesn’t get us there. It’s a fragile toehold on the long ascent, but that’s all. What most West African Christians are calling ‘evangelism’ is merely to get people to utter those magic words. But that is not the commission of Christ to his followers. Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:18 that our work is to be teaching people to obey the things he taught us during his earthly ministry. That is what we will be doing when our Christology is on par with the Apostle Paul’s in the verses above. Messiah Jesus needs to become the Lord of the faith community in West Africa in ways that is being missed or ignored by many Christians.
An important index as to the centrality of Christ in the life of a church is to listen to the Sunday morning teaching/preaching that happens in our churches. I recently did that on three consecutive Sundays in Ziguinchor. This is what I heard:
First Sunday: Theme: Respect for church leaders (e.g. Pastors). Text: Numbers 16. Obey & respect them or God will severely punish you as He did Korah and his people. Missing: any reference to the extensive teaching of Jesus concerning servant-shepherd leadership.
Second Sunday: Theme: Problem of jealousy: Be careful, jealousy can destroy you. Text: Genesis 4. Missing: Any reference to the teachings of Jesus how he enables his disciples to deal with the problem of jealousy and other un-Christlike behaviors.
Third Sunday: Theme: Evangelism, Get people, esp. children listed in the Book of Life so they don’t go to hell. Text: Genesis 6; 19 and Numbers 16. Missing: Any reference to Jesus’ teaching about children, how they are exemplary of people already in the kingdom and his care and compassion for them.
On all three occasions the teachings of Jesus on these topics was never mentioned even though our Lord, in the Gospels, has given us important teaching on all three of these topics. But why, in West Africa are the teachings of Christ so consistently ignored? Perhaps it is because many West African believers unknowingly hold onto a low, limited view of Christ. Their view of the person and work of Messiah Jesus is limited to his provision for their personal salvation. In that limited view the primary reason Jesus came was to die on the cross so that those who verbalize the right confession will be saved from hell on the Judgment Day. There is no biblical teaching to support that understanding of salvation.
It has been derived from reductionist, angry-God, systematic theology, both Protestant and Catholic. Unfortunately, it has been the message of God’s salvation conveyed to Africans for centuries. That understanding of God and His salvation easily meshed with African traditional religion which features capricious, threatening, angry deities, perpetually needing to be appeased.
And there is yet another reason why Christian discipleship is lacking in Africa: the hierarchical, ‘big man’ leadership model prevalent in most African churches. There is little need for personal discipleship and responsibility because the big man at the top is always present to tell you when to jump and how high it needs to be. He is always there to shame you into obedience to his plans. Discipleship and righteousness coerced by the power of a big man should not be confused with being a disciple of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are transformed into Christlikeness through the power of the Holy Spirit. The big man model has no room for the ways of the Holy Spirit who moves among God’s people gifting everyone with a variety of gifts so that God’s reign moves forward, not by the will of man, but by the energizing creativity of the Holy Spirit.
Nonetheless, praise God, He is not limited by the constructs and systems of theologians. Today we are seeing a desire and openness on the part of many African believers to become the new people of God, fully focused on our Head, Jesus Christ; eager for full partnership with God in His mission of love, reconciliation and salvation. Encouraged by this current move of God’s Spirit, together with my colleagues at Eastern Mennonite Missions I am happy to bring seminars and teachings on Christian discipleship and the creation of communities of faith where believers are focused on Christlikeness in the way we live, the way we do church and how we share the Gospel with those around us.
Our teaching is built on these five principles of the Christian faith:
1. The first is The Centrality of Jesus Christ.
2. The second is The Primacy of the Kingdom of God.
3. Third is The Visibility of the Church.
4. The fourth is The Wholeness of Salvation.
5. And the last is The Practice of Faith.
(1) The Centrality of Jesus Christ is very clear. It simply means that Jesus Christ is the most important Person in our faith. Why does Christ make such a powerful center of the Faith? Only the God who came in the flesh as Messiah is big enough to be the center. Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Deity lived in our world. Therefore Jesus Christ encompasses all of reality, things spiritual and things material. (Colossians 1:15-20). He is the creator of everything in the material world. Everything that is created will finally answer to Jesus Christ. And, he is Head of the Church. Jesus is big enough to be a center. In Jesus we find direction, meaning and purpose for every aspect of life.
Jesus Christ is the standard for all of our beliefs and practices.
In Paul’s confrontation with Peter at Antioch, (Gal. 2:14-16), Paul is saying: Jesus Christ brings a different view of our spiritual reality. When Paul came to Jesus he discovered that there is only one kind of sinner. Therefore Jesus Christ brings us as humans together, and we can no longer make ethnic distinctions. Paul is affirming the need for believers, together in the body of Christ to be exploring and seeking the mind of Christ in all our decisions and in all of our relationships.
(2) The Primacy of the Kingdom of God is very important for us because that sets our priorities. The kingdom of God has priority over all the kingdoms of the world. In Matthew 13 and other places in the Gospels Jesus uses the phrase “the Kingdom of God is like…” Jesus wants his disciples to know that the Kingdom of God is a present reality and that they are to orient their lives, personally and corporately around God’s reign here and now. This fact presupposes two additional realities:
1. First, Jesus Christ is fully authoritative over the old covenant. In Matthew 5 Jesus gives six illustrations on how he reinterprets the ancient Jewish law; how his disciples can fulfill God’s original intention for the law. He could have given many more examples. The writer of Hebrews tells us very clearly that God, “In speaking of a new covenant (Jer. 31) he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” For believers today to still go back to the Old Testament to define what a Christian should do, ignores the new covenant brought to us through Christ. But that is the theological orientation of most teaching being given in West African congregations. For example, almost everyone who defends war on the basis of scripture goes to the Old Testament. But if you make Christ central and his teachings authoritative, now the love of our enemy and laying down one’s life even for the enemy is the word of Jesus.
2. The life, example and teachings of Jesus, is as important as his death and resurrection.
For every Christian, the death of Christ and His resurrection is, of course, very basic. However, radical disciples of Jesus believe his model & teaching shows us the will of God for how we live our lives as God’s missionary people. Jesus is the author of our salvation, based on the cross and the resurrection. He is also the pioneer of our faith, understood as our way of living in the will of God. Jesus’ life shows us how to walk in our faith with God.
(3) The Visibility of the Church is because we believe the church needs to be a very visible expression of God’s will in the world. It is true that only God knows the heart of man, but we believe that we also must be ready to make practical, visible application of our life together as Christians. Just because we are not perfect, doesn’t mean we don’t commit ourselves to be a visible people who live the will of God. Faith is not simply some positive sentiment in our heart. Faith expresses itself in what we do. It is visible, concrete evidence that we are different from the world.
Visibility speaks to two important qualities of being a disciple of Jesus: our character and our mission.
The beatitudes are Jesus’ way of describing the new and transformed character of a believer.
You immediately will notice that the virtues of a Christian are all the opposite of what you would think.
If you were describing the good life, would you describe it as poor, full of tears, being hungry & meek?
This doesn’t sound very appealing to a typical person but according to Jesus, it’s the ideal way to be!
I can image that the first hearers were very surprised. Here is Jesus’ description of an ideal person.
He knew it was not going to be easy for his disciples to accept his vision for the will of God in their lives.
These beatitudes (blessings) are a great explosive power because Jesus said you are fortunate & blessed if they are visible in your life. We quickly see that Jesus was in the act of creating a new people with new values and a new mind; a people who really believe it is worthwhile to be poor now instead of rich, to be mourning because of unrighteousness etc.
The second part of the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount talks about mission. These people with a new character also have a special role or function in the world: salt and light. The being and the character of these people, itself has an effect in the world. Like a city that is set on a hill, not hid. As ancient Jerusalem, the people of God who live His character are highly visible, up there on that mountaintop, seen from far and wide.
This speaks of the visibility of the Church. You have to be visible in order to do mission, not hid in a corner.
Between these two parts of discipleship, Jesus gives the beatitude about suffering and persecution.
If people are different and stay in the world, they set up tension. And tension brings suffering.
Anywhere Christians are faithful and live righteously in a fallen world there will be suffering & sacrificing.
That’s why it’s important for me and all disciples to be unconditionally loving in all our relationships; I always need to be showing God’s love. On one hand we are to be a different, separate people, where we have both a radically different character, but we are always in contact with a world needing God’s grace and love. Christians are people who keep on being who they are in order that they can be what God wants them to be. They do it even if it’s costly; that’s the dynamic that makes Christian faith powerful for God.
(4) The Wholeness of Salvation affirms the many different aspects or levels of God’s redemption. The Bible teaches that God is not going to give up on any part of his creation. He is going to save our souls, our bodies, & world around us. Rom. 8:21-23 says God is going to renew all things; the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God because the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. That is the sense in which God’s salvation touches every part of His creation.
1 Thess. 4:13-17 does not say that at the return of Christ he will be whisking believers away to a heaven on some planet millions of miles away. God will recreate and renew His entire creation to the perfection it had before sin entered and spoiled His universe. In anticipation of that recreation of heaven and earth, believers already live that way, to the extent it is possible in these mortal bodies; treating the creation around us as a gracious gift of its Creator.
(5) The Practicing of our Faith contributes to the visibility of the church. It means that Faith works itself out in our daily lives. Faith and our relationship with God is not simply up there in a spiritual realm that is somehow different and apart from work and everyday living. Let’s note some significant characteristics of faith that is practiced:
- We value walk more than talk. With words we can deceive ourselves and deceive others, but it is difficult to be dishonest when people are observing our conduct, our reaction to the real world around us and our attitudes towards others.
- Humility in being ready to submit my will to my brothers and sisters. Eph. 5:21 instructs us to be submissive to one another in the body of Christ. No one in the body of Christ is outside that circle of mutual submission: not the pastor, not the apostle, not the elder; no one. A Christian who is Christ-like is ready to lay down and to yield to the brother. It means that after we talk and think and pray together we will be ready to find a common ground with your brothers and sisters. Christ centered people are not self-centered & self-willed. Love and humility are church building virtues.
- The simple life enables us to live life together as equals. Simplicity reinforces our attitude of humility. It helps us to build relationships with anyone no matter how poor, needy or different he is.
May God give us the conviction and courage to make our congregations truly Christ oriented communities of faith. As we do that we will be fulfilling the great commission Our Lord has put before us.
Beryl Forrester, berylforrester@gmail.com
EMM Ziguinchor, November, 2016
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