Shalom Church

The Body Of Christ As Ministering Community

Craig Nessan

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780800663278
• eBook ISBN: 9781451405408
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Craig Nessan's important new work retrieves biblical metaphors of the body of Christ and, following Dietrich Bonhoeffer, sees church today as "Christ existing as community." To theological probing Nessan then adds contextual analysis and describes the four chief imperatives that mark Christ's presence in the world today: peacemaking, justice-making, care for creation, and engagement with the other. He then unfolds the real-life implications of this paradigm of Christian community for the local church structure, strategies for partnering, public witness, and interreligious engagement.

Part I

The Shape of the Shalom Church

1

For the Mending of Creation

The Place of Social Ministry in the Mission of God

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”¹ This book explores the nature of the world’s deep hunger and God’s mission to feed that hunger through the ministry of the church.² God is calling the church as the body of Christ to act as a servant for the mending of creation (tikkun olam). By giving itself away to nourish a world in need, the church discovers its vocation as a ministering community. Jesus told his disciples: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” (Luke 9:23–25). The church’s engagement in social ministry is one of the most controversial of its callings. As we will discover, however, social ministry belongs to the very heart of the church of Jesus Christ. When the church follows its calling to address the world’s deep hunger as a ministering community, thereby it discovers deep gladness—in the company of the Crucified One.

Taking up the cross of Jesus Christ is risky business. It involves getting our hands dirty in the messiness of the world’s disease. For those who assume the business of religion is to appease my troubled conscience and assuage my inner soul in order that I may function effectively and succeed in my individualized pursuits (for example, the “prosperity” gospel), the cross challenges me to think again. Instead, it is more aligned with the way of Jesus to understand the cross as God’s provocative act “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” (Finley Peter Dunne). Jesus became so immersed in the ambiguity of this world that the good religious people accused him of becoming compromised: “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7:34). Jesus Christ became sin, indistinguishable from the world’s ambiguity (cf. 1 Cor 5:21). As a consequence of his living for the sake of the world’s most vulnerable, imperfect, oppressed, and rejected ones, is it any wonder this Jesus ended up hanging on his own cross?

The church of Jesus Christ finds its vocation in following Jesus to the places he chooses to frequent. It does so not in order to imitate the way of Jesus but because the church itself exists as the body of this selfsame Jesus Christ alive in the world today. The call to social ministry is not about what the church should be doing in this world in response to the call of Jesus. Rather, social ministry is an expression of the very character of the church as the body of Christ. Because the church participates in the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the world today, the body of Christ organically lives out its calling as a reflection of Jesus’ own character. The church enters into the very places Jesus Christ chooses to be found:

“[F]or I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matt 25:35–40)

In discovering Jesus in the faces and bodies of the world’s lost and forsaken ones and by ministering to him there, the church discovers its deep gladness.

Social Ministry and Evangelism: Engaging the World’s Deep Need

What is the world’s deepest need? A troubling conflict commonly emerges among churches as they analyze the core of the human predicament. Is the central issue one of spiritual alienation and separation from God that requires a spiritual solution through salvation in Jesus Christ? Or is the central issue one of physical alienation and material deprivation that requires a material solution through the cause of peace and justice? Churches differ dramatically regarding the relative priority they think should be given to these two agendas. On the one side, evangelism emerges as the chief missionary aim of the church: to bring all people into life-giving relationship with God in Jesus Christ by their spiritual conversion. On the other side, social ministry emerges as the chief expression of the church’s mission: to strive for justice and peace in all the earth through concern for physical welfare. We note how the ecumenical movement itself at the formation of the World Council of Churches sought to bring together these two impulses, with the joining of the Faith and Order movement on the one side and the Life and Work movement on the other. But the joining of these two agendas remains a delicate balancing act, much as discerning the proper relationship between faith and works remains a formidable theological conundrum.

Finally, as I shall explore in the next section, setting evangelism and social ministry in opposition to each other establishes a false dichotomy between them. It is imperative that we construe a theological paradigm that honors the centrality of both evangelizing and social ministry as indispensable to the church’s mission, just as we must theologically imagine how to relate faith and works constructively—honoring both. When we operate within a theological framework that diminishes either evangelism or social ministry, we undermine the fullness of the church’s ministry and mission. Fortunately, God is not limited in mission by the inability of theological systems to reconcile apparent contradictions.

Because this is a book emphasizing social ministry, it is important thereby not to give a false impression about the crucial place of evangelism (or, more accurately, the “evangelizing church”)³ in the church’s mission. The church of Jesus Christ is by definition an “evangelizing church” or it is no church at all. Proclamation of the gospel belongs to the foundational concerns of Jesus and the church that follows him in discipleship. To treat “evangelism” as one matter among many others—compartmentalizing it as just another program—distorts the centrality of the preaching of the Christian kerygma for the very existence of the church. Any attempt to interpret the social ministry of the church that fails to reckon with the vital importance of evangelizing is doomed to inadequacy from the outset. At the same time, those theologies of evangelism that take no account of the centrality of social ministry in the witness of Jesus and the life of his church also must be deemed lacking. Both evangelizing and social ministry belong to the original vision of Jesus and the kingdom he proclaimed and enacted. What God has joined together, let no one tear asunder!

At the same time as it is imperative to claim that the church of Jesus Christ is an evangelizing church or no church at all, this book argues that the church of Jesus Christ is simultaneously a shalom church or no church at all. By “shalom church” I am primarily talking about God’s mission through the church to mend the torn fabric of creation (tikkun olam)—God’s mission to reestablish created goodness in relation to human beings, the created world, and all creatures. The Hebrew word shalom has often been translated simply by the English word peace. However, the idea of peace, especially when it is understood merely as the absence of conflict, does not convey the magnitude of shalom.

Shalom involves all members of God’s creation living in harmonious and lifegiving relationship one with another.⁴ Shalom begins with the prayerful and worshipful relationship of the human being with God. God is the ultimate source of shalom as God chooses to live in generous relationship with us. God desires to bless us with a sense of belonging and to provide for every need, spiritual and physical. Human beings respond to God’s goodness with lives of thankfulness, praise, and worship. Shalom at the same time entails human beings living together in harmony with each other, both sharing what is needed for the physical well-being of all and nurturing one another emotionally and spiritually. Living in shalom with one another, human beings pay particular attention to the needs of the most fragile and vulnerable. Furthermore—and this dimension has become acutely important in the twenty-first century—shalom involves human beings living in balance with and respect for the whole of creation.⁵ Ecology is teaching us many lessons about the costs of having neglected our solidarity with creation. Shalom leads human beings to foster the flourishing of God’s creation for God’s sake.

The concept of shalom resonates with vision of an ideal society in other cultures as well, notably in Asia and Africa. In Asia, sangsaeng is an ancient concept “of sharing community and economy together.”⁶ In Africa, the concepts of ubuntu and ujamaa describe respectively the wholeness of life and life in community. Ubuntu involves the sharing of life as a gift from God: “The individual’s identity is inseparable from identity within the wider community, which includes past, present, and future generations, as well as flora and fauna, the physical environment and the spiritual realm.”⁷ Ujamaa extends this idea by emphasizing the values of family and relatedness. In each of these concepts the focus is on “life-giving civilization which affirms relationships, co-existence, harmony with creation, and solidarity with those who struggle for justice.”⁸

The Hebrew concept of shalom is closely akin to the central motif of Jesus’ own proclamation—the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. Jesus taught and enacted the coming of God’s peaceable and just kingdom in his parables, teachings, and ministry. The arrival of this kingdom would be the fulfillment of Israel through the participation of all nations as inheritors of God’s ancient promises. The coming of the kingdom meant spiritual reunion between God and humankind through the forgiveness of sins and reconciling love. At the same time the emergence of God’s kingdom entailed the healing of disease, the exorcism of demons, miraculous feeding of the hungry, restoration of broken relationships, and the promise of a bounteous creation. In enacting God’s new covenant Jesus left his followers a meal, the Lord’s Supper, which characterizes life in the kingdom: at this meal all are welcome and there is enough for all. At this meal we discover the essence of shalom. The crucifixion of Jesus reveals the extent to which God chooses to suffer in order that the kingdom prevails. God’s raising Jesus from the dead verifies the authenticity of the kingdom Jesus came to inaugurate. Even more, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the first fruits of the reality of God’s eschatological shalom arriving in time. Together, the Hebrew concept of shalom, the Asian term sangsaeng, the African words ubuntu and ujamaa, and the New Testament idea of the kingdom combine to offer us a glimpse of what God is seeking to accomplish—both now and forever.

The Word of God discloses God’s purpose to mend the creation distorted by sin (tikkun olam). Israel became God’s chosen people to serve in this mission of recreating the broken creation. The God of Israel has been revealed to us throughout the Bible as the God of justice and righteousness. Throughout the testimony of Scripture, God is disclosed consistently as a God who defends the poor, protects the weak, does justice for the oppressed, and insists on righteousness on the part of those who rule. There runs through the Bible an enormous collection of texts that witness to God’s way of justice and peace.⁹ This “justice trajectory” begins with God’s selection of Israel to be the chosen people when God hears the cries of the slaves in Egypt and comes to their deliverance. In the laws of Israel we discover God’s partiality in protecting from harm the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the strangers.

When Israel turned to the rule of a king, God sent prophets to remind the royal house of its responsibility to do justice to the poor and to care for the least. These prophets arose in defiance at the abuses of the upper classes and declared God’s judgment. When the Messiah would come, God would usher in the kingdom of perfect shalom, including reconciliation between humans and all God’s creatures, “the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them” (Isa 11:6). Jesus as the Christ came to fulfill all these hopes as he blessed the poor, reconciled enemies, fed the hungry, healed the sick, forgave sinners, and brought the kingdom. On the cross Jesus suffered the consequences from those who resisted the implications of God’s shalom by defending their own interests, winning victory over the principalities and powers. By the miracle of the resurrection, God vindicated the cause of Jesus and guaranteed the ultimate arrival of the kingdom, launching the mission of the shalom church in the mean time. To this day, the church of Jesus Christ follows his way of discipleship in caring for human reconciliation and the wholeness of creation.

Social ministry can be defined as the work of the church to serve God in alleviating human suffering and the degradation of creation. While the ministry of evangelizing focuses the church’s attention on the proclamation and sharing of the good news so that all may believe in the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, social ministry concentrates on the inexorable implications of the gospel for the mending of creation (tikkun olam). Social ministry involves attending to the physical needs of all people for food, water, health, shelter, clothing, and fulfilling work, while at the same time mindful of the spiritual need of humankind for trusting the gospel of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, and especially at this moment in history, social ministry entails intentional care for the well-being of all creation—wisdom about the symbiotic relationship between human beings and all other members of creation in a single web of life. In the ecology of the divine Trinity, all creatures exist in life-giving relationship one with another. Given their status as those created in God’s image, human beings are called to accountability before God as they steward the balance and well-being of the whole.

The world’s need for the church’s social ministry is evident each new day in multiple arenas. The reality of extreme poverty continues to plague tens of millions of human beings on a daily basis, leaving them suffering from malnutrition, inadequate water supplies, homelessness, and lack of basic health care. Diseases, many of them curable through basic preve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I: The Shape of the Shalom Church
• Part II: Marks of the Shalom Church
• Part III: Praxis of the Shalom Church
• Conclusion: Shalom Church and People of Other Faiths
• Appendix: Summary of Key Themes
• Study Guide
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Names Index
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index