Community transformation v church growth...
"words without deeds are empty, but deeds without words are dumb. It is stupid to set them against each other" (Newbigin)
The Officer Magazine is an in-house Salvation Army publication that sometimes has some pretty thought provoking material in it. It seems a shame that it isn't available on-line but there you go!This was in the Feb/Mar 2006 issue. I wanted to keep it somewhere here seemed as good a place.
"I preached my heart out and people responded - it all seemed good. But the sick remained sick, the poor remained poor, the lonely remained lonely and the community that they and I moved in remained unchanged..."Crowden, D (2006) Community transformation v church growth. The Officer. Feb/Mar 2006
"You grow a church with talent and leadership. You impact a community with compassion...Churches which are blessed with talent and great leadership are likely to grow. Most of these churches are considered good churches and in many ways they are . But that doesn't mean the community has been changed - which for me is the mark of a great church."
It has been pointed out to me - lovingly and with respect - that my posts could be seen as 'action' to the point of denigrating 'word'. I am sorry for that impression - word and action for me are woven together seamlessly and naturally and I would always say that there is little point to a life of grace without proclaiming the answers that only be found in the life of Jesus.
I'm not convinced that Daryl is saying that it is 'action' over 'word' but is more a capturing of the intense power of grace filled incarnational living that transforms communities.
Catherine Booth called us to be a "living embodiment of Christianity .... if The Salvation Army is not going to be that, may God put it out!". I'm worried because if that embodiment has been allowed to become humanitarianism, that embodiment is partial and represents the 'sham compassion' that Catherine was so vehement about in her age of philanthropy.
Yours striving for the balance that Newbigin points to "words without deeds are empty, but deeds without words are dumb. It is stupid to set them against each other."
Comments
Antony I agree completely.
As Booth Believed change the man and he'll change the community.
I love this blog - especially the following quote "the intense power of grace filled incarnational living that transforms communities."
This is what the Salvation War is all about. Hallelujah! Bring it on!
Love and prayers Andrew
What an excellent post! My biggest concern about the various discussions that are going on is that they are tending to empthasise the spiritual aspects of mission over the more practical side. To me, the 2 are totally entwined and to seperate them is to weaken the whole!
The Salvation Army is called not just to preach the word, but to be the word to a fallen world.
On a aslight aside where did you get the Newbiggin quote?
Graeme
Newbigin, L.(1988) Mission in Christ's Way: A Gift, a Command, an Assurance. Library of Christian Stewardship
Catchy title !
Glad we have found some common ground.
Here's what I am hoping will develop over the next few months how holiness is what drives that transformation of community.
I've been thinking more about the Catherine Booth quote and in the light of a post on my own blog today suspect that this drift into humanitarianism has already happened. In fact I suspect it might even be one of the 'sins in the camp' that General Clifton mentioned might be within TSA.
Graeme