Undivided Witness

David Greenlee

• Publisher: Regnum
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781913363499
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Ministère chrétien

Undivided Witness presents ten key principles linking community development and the emergence of vibrant communities of Jesus followers among the 'least reached'. Twelve practitioners explore this uncharted missiological space, drawing on decades of serving and learning among communities in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South, Central and Southeast Asia.

PRINCIPLE 1: UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS FUNDAMENTAL

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Ten or so years ago I visited a village while working with a well-known international evangelical denomination and mission movement. The village was low caste and in a desperately poor, fundamentalist Hindu state. The organisation ran a self-help group programme in such villages facilitated by members of the church who had basic training in setting up women’s self-help groups. They were known as field organisers (FOs). The aim of these groups was to establish a micro-saving and micro-lending system, provide a structure for training in livelihood skills, and promote collective action to address social, economic, spiritual, and environmental issues their community might be facing.

In a particular village, the FO was making good progress with one newly empowered group that had confronted unjust landowners who wanted to sell productive village land to a plantation owner. This would have not only taken needed farmland away from the villagers but would likely create environmental issues with irrigation from scarce groundwater resources, chemical leaching, and soil erosion. The landowners were attempting to divide the villagers socially through an unequitable system of compensation. The self-help group was saving and lending successfully; a number of women had started small businesses or helped their husbands to do so. The FO helped the women to start a micro-saving fund to help manage the relentless run of religious feast days. A deep connection with this group of women was forming.

One day, the women of the group asked the FO if she was married. She replied that she was, and they asked why she was not adorned with the jewellery of a traditional Hindu wife. She explained that, as a follower of Jesus, she was not required to. This sparked significant interest. The women asked more about her faith and whether there was a Holy Book that they might see. On the next visit, she brought her Bible and, as the women were illiterate, read to them. In time, two of the women gave their lives to Jesus.

In the Hindu beliefs of that area, women who had committed to Jesus were no longer considered ‘their’ people and, although still part of the group, they faced persecution from neighbours. One day, the child of a believer became very sick. The doctors said the child would die without a transfusion. Due to their status of being outside of the Hindu faith, none of their neighbours dared donate blood. The FO was called; she donated and also prayed for healing. The child made a miraculous recovery. The combination of the miraculous healing and the love of the FO compelled many more in the community toward Jesus and today there is a VCJF in that community.

Jesus spoke a lot about ‘The Kingdom of God’ or ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’. In recent years, reference to the Kingdom has become prominent in theological reflection. Kingdom theology is a lens to view not only the life of Jesus but the meta-narrative of human history and the future. In this chapter, I examine the importance of using this lens in shaping our community development work, seeking an end to poverty, and going about our work in a way that will bear the fruit of transformed lives, communities and nations.

As a good student and practitioner of community development, project frameworks are never far from my mind. Love them or hate them, most of us working in community-based projects must deal with them at some point. I have framed some of the issues we will tackle in this light. Understanding the pictures and nature of the Kingdom of God helps me in working among the least reached in the following ways: it expands my expectation of how God works, thus elevating my goals; it expands my understanding of the gospel, which shapes my activities and indicators of success; it gives me a framework to understand unexpected consequences of my work; and it gives me a toolbox for working among the least reached.

THE KINGDOM: CREATION THROUGH JESUS

God’s sovereign power as King is seen in creation, the concept of his Kingdom woven throughout the Old Testament history of Israel. As a brief example, Christopher Wright refers to Psalm 33:

Not only in Genesis 1 but also in the worship of Israel the link was made between the word of the Lord and the creation of the cosmos.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,

Their starry host by the breath of his mouth…

For he spoke, and it came to be;

He commanded, and it stood firm. (Ps. 33:6, 9)

The same psalm moves from the sovereignty of the word of God in creation to his governing role in history.

The Lord foils the plans of the nations;

He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

But the plans of the Lord stand firm for ever,

The purposes of his heart through all generations. (Ps. 33:10–11)¹

The Exodus and subsequent covenant demonstrate God’s love and kingship over Israel and, with it, heaven’s reclamation of humanity. God is King: ‘The Lord will reign forever and ever’ is the exultant conclusion of Moses and Miriam, east of the Red Sea (Exo. 15:18). The Davidic monarchy is a picture of God’s process of establishing his rule and of what life is like under his rule. The prophets give a Kingdom promise of what is in store for its subjects when the Kingdom is inaugurated in the King’s Son.²

Jesus fulfils these prophecies, but also makes some potentially confusing statements: The Kingdom will come (Matt. 24), has come (Luke 17:20–21; Matt. 12:28), is coming immediately (Mark 1:15; Matt. 10:23; Luke 21:32), and will be delayed (Matt. 25:1–13; Luke 12:11–27). These varied descriptions give rise to what many describe as the ‘now and the not yet’ of the Kingdom of God, a concept I will discuss later.

Jesus’ life demonstrates to us what subjects of the Kingdom will look like. It tells us what we will say and do—and who we will be. Evangelicalism places a lot of emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus, and quite rightly so. But his life is equally important in understanding what he came to die for and consequently how we should live. Rediscovering the person and life of Jesus has been central to the work of many theological thinkers as they seek to understand the relevance of the Kingdom of God.

THE KINGDOM INAUGURATED

‘Inaugurated eschatology’ is the idea that Jesus ‘inaugurates’ the Kingdom of God on Earth. However, does not God rule the universe and not just Earth? Pastor and theologian Derek Morphew draws our attention to the references in Daniel, later picked up by Jesus, that talk about ‘the present age’ and ‘the age to come’. He suggests that in Jesus’ death and resurrection the power of the ‘age to come’ breaks into this age. That same power is available to us as the subjects of his Kingdom. God’s rule extends to

…all reality, yet we do not necessarily experience his rule in our lives. The coming of the kingdom involves God’s intervention in the course of human history. His power breaks into the affairs of men, confronting the forces that withstand him and imprison people, and interrupting the normal course of society.³

But what does this mean in practice?

When I helped the project officer write the proposal for the project in the story at the beginning of the chapter, we did not anticipate the outcome we now can see. Together we saw the Kingdom of God was established:

•over the natural and supernatural principalities of the landowners (the structures that perpetuated poverty)

•over the sickness of the child

•over the teaching and entrapment of Hinduism

•over the unbelief in the hearts of the other members of the group.

How did that experience affect me? Now, when I write a project proposal, I ask the Holy Spirit what he is doing in a situation and adjust my goal accordingly. Bryant Myers claims that any work with the poor that is not guided, empowered, and made effective by the Spirit will not be sustainable and that ‘expecting and praying for supernatural interventions of the Spirit must be part of the spirituality of Christian development workers’.⁴

A goal inspired by an understanding of a picture of the Kingdom and a knowledge of the power of the Kingdom gives a blueprint for prayer and a boost in faith. Proclaiming the Kingdom of God helps to usher it in. The Kingdom is marked by healings, deliverance, and other signs and wonders. The disciples practiced these, as have countless Christians throughout the ages, but if we are not expecting them, we are unlikely to be looking or praying for them and so are less likely to see them.

Consider this challenge: When writing your project proposal or praying for the community you serve, remember that the power of the age to come has come already through the Holy Spirit living in you and is available here and now. Allow that to make a difference in what you expect to see and what you witness.

GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

At times I have reduced the message of the gospel to something like this: Jesus, the Son of God, came to Earth, died, and rose again so that all who believe in him might go to heaven when they die. Any signs and wonders are purely to convince people that this gospel is true so that they can go to heaven when they die. Our overriding mission as Christians is to tell as many people as possible about Jesus so that they do not go to hell.

I lived in two paradigms: my work as a community development worker, and my identity as a Christian with a mission to see souls saved. The first came from a compassion that I believe God has put in my heart for the poor. The second was mostly coming from a feeling of obligation to God and fear for the people who did not believe.

What I had essentially done is reduce the message of the gospel. Rereading my opening story, it is difficult to imagine that the Holy Spirit healed those children and enabled change in the welfare of the community members only to save them from hell.

Within Kingdom theology, the concept of salvation takes on a different emphasis from this idea of ‘going to heaven when we die’. Anglican theologian and bishop N.T. ‘Tom’ Wright asserts that:

Salvation,...