Sunday, July 27, 2008
Skreslet, S. (2006). Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission.
Mission does not always have to be a matter of speeches and palaver.... verbal declarations and annoucements of gospel truth simply do not exhaust all the possibilities of Christian witness. Sometimes, action augmnets testimony 114
If teh purpose of mission as sharing Christ with friends is somehow to make Christ present for others, then the fullness of a Christian's experience of Jesus needs to be expressed in ways that respect his obvious solicitude for the whole person... a desire to shar Christ with family, friends and community properly aims to incarnate the gospel at every possible level of human existence. 115
The author chooses five New Testament images of disciples in mission. 1. Announcing good news, the public proclamation of the gospel, to which the commissioning texts (Matthew 28:16-20 and parallels) and the Acts of the Apostles give primary expression. 2. Sharing Christ with friends, the communication of the gospel in interpersonal communications with kin, friends, and close neighbors, illustrated in John’s gospel, for example in the calling of Peter by Andrew (1:35-42), in the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), and also in Mark’s account (2:1-12) of the healing of the paralyzed man, brought to Jesus by his friends. 3. Interpreting the gospel, when the gospel moves into new cultural settings, as in the cases of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, Peter and Cornelius, Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, and Paul’s visit to Athens, all four from the Acts of the Apostles. 4. Shepherding as a missionary endeavor, founded on the calling of Simon Peter by Jesus after he was raised (John 21) and the example of Jesus himself in seeking out the sheep outside his fold (John 10). 5. Building and planting, which comes from Paul, particularly from I Corinthians 3.
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If teh purpose of mission as sharing Christ with friends is somehow to make Christ present for others, then the fullness of a Christian's experience of Jesus needs to be expressed in ways that respect his obvious solicitude for the whole person... a desire to shar Christ with family, friends and community properly aims to incarnate the gospel at every possible level of human existence. 115
The author chooses five New Testament images of disciples in mission. 1. Announcing good news, the public proclamation of the gospel, to which the commissioning texts (Matthew 28:16-20 and parallels) and the Acts of the Apostles give primary expression. 2. Sharing Christ with friends, the communication of the gospel in interpersonal communications with kin, friends, and close neighbors, illustrated in John’s gospel, for example in the calling of Peter by Andrew (1:35-42), in the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), and also in Mark’s account (2:1-12) of the healing of the paralyzed man, brought to Jesus by his friends. 3. Interpreting the gospel, when the gospel moves into new cultural settings, as in the cases of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, Peter and Cornelius, Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, and Paul’s visit to Athens, all four from the Acts of the Apostles. 4. Shepherding as a missionary endeavor, founded on the calling of Simon Peter by Jesus after he was raised (John 21) and the example of Jesus himself in seeking out the sheep outside his fold (John 10). 5. Building and planting, which comes from Paul, particularly from I Corinthians 3.
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