Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-078 (Leadership Issues)

Early Church provides answers for effective 21st Century mission:

CHRISTIANITY MUST GO BACK TO ITS ROOTS, SAYS JOEL EDWARDS

Christianity’s credibility is on the line in 21st century Britain and, for its influence to survive, lessons must be drawn from the Early Church pioneers, says Evangelical Alliance General Director, Joel Edwards.

With church attendance largely in free fall, it should serve as a wake up call that our material-driven culture is looking for a faith that works. Our words must be matched by deeds and the Good News expressed with both clarity and confidence. Our identity depends upon it, urges Joel.

Miracles, divine intervention and social care have to go hand in hand with the proclamation of the Gospel message as they are “undiscriminating declarations of God’s relationship with people in a material world,” said Joel, speaking at the International Congress on Preaching in Edinburgh.

He referred to Peter who described the healing of a crippled man as an “‘act of kindness'” (Acts 4:9) and said: “In today’s intuitive culture, acts of kindness may lead people to a genuine knowledge of God. In our culture it may be the very reason some people become willing to hear that salvation is found in no one else.”

Joel stressed that: ” ‘Acts of kindness’ are no substitutes for the doctrine on atonement. But our preaching on atonement is incomplete without them.”

He told his audience that the early Christian preachers recognised that missions were always more than words. They also operated in a multi-choice culture where claims to the truth jostled and competed with each other. In this challenging environment, to which we can draw parallels, they were not afraid to put themselves in the firing line.

“Confidence in the centrality of the cross is as non-negotiable for 21st century preaching as it was in the 1st century,” Joel stressed. “But it must never become oppositional for its own sake. Clarity and confidence – without arrogance; this is the order of the day.”

——————————————– Evangelical Alliance http://www.eauk.org