Ecclesiology is first of all about the church’s identity—who we are and who we serve. And if the biblical story is not the place where our identity is forged, then by default this place will be somewhere else, almost certainly in our cultural story and social location. That will mean we are no longer the people we are called to be and will be serving the wrong master. So the choice for the church in every age will always be, Will our identity be shaped by Scripture or by our culture—by the biblical story or the cultural story? This is why ecclesiology is so important: it demands that we return to the Bible to find out who we are and whom we are meant to serve. (Mike Goheen in his book, The Church and Its Vocation: The Missionary Ecclesiology of Leslie Newbigin)
This week Thursday (Dec. 9) at 12 pm EST, Mike Goheen will carry us into the important topic of a Missionary Ecclesiology. Sign up at Church Now Conversations. A Zoom link will be sent to you!
Church Now Conversations are sponsored by Vibrant Congregations and its partners.
Comments
Should be good! Let me add in the context of the above quote from Michael's book that the church's first mistake in the book of Acts is the apostles(!) expecting the risen Christ to reduce God's Kingdom to political nationalism (1:6). The church has been making this mistake ever since. Today is no different.
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