Good news for the poor

Social engagement or evangelism-only?  . What is the mission of the church?   Here are three factors that unnecessarily polarize the debate: . 1) We think in terms of church programmes.  We frame the whole debate in terms of how many of our 15 scheduled hours of church-run activity must be devoted to helping the [...]

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The Gospel and Social Action – Paul Blackham

This video is very well worth the ten minutes plus. .

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We’ll always have Parris

It’s been a busy week.  I’ve only just read this from the the Saturday papers and now realise it’s all over the blogosphere anyway – nonetheless… Whenever evangelicals lose their nerve, Matthew Parris (columnist for the Times) can be counted on to set us straight – atheist though he is. There was this famous piece [...]

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Mission, evangelism and social action – part 5

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and [...]

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Mission, evangelism and social action – part 4

A little detour on Barth… Last century, Karl Barth was key in re-emphasizing mission as the outflow of the life of God.  At the Brandenburg Missionary Conference in 1932  he said: “Must not even the most faithful missionary, the most convinced friend of missions, have reason to reflect that the term missio was in the [...]

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Mission, evangelism and social action – part 3

God is a Gospel-Alone God.  He is known only in the Gospel.  His very being is a Gospel Being.  There’s no use even conceiving of a God other than the Father revealed in the Son by the Spirit.  If you’re not convinced, read these posts which were digressions to bolster the point:        The Trinitarian OT [...]

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Mission, evangelism and social action – part 2

I tried to argue in the last post that neither soteriology nor ecclesiology nor eschatology should define our priorities in mission.  Rather, it’s our doctrine of God that must be our first point of call.  It is the God whose being is in the Father’s sending (missio) of the Son who is the proper foundation [...]

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Mission, evangelism and social action – part 1

Here are some thoughts on the inter-relation of mission, evangelism and social action. I have written a longer essay on this on my website here.  Here are some abridged thoughts… In part one I will flag up the doctrine of God issues which ought to be the very foundation of our missiology.  But first, a word of [...]

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