The reign of Godde
On the whole subject of post-modernity and Christianity in all its post-forms I can’t think of two quotes that better summarise my feeling on the whole situation than those by Mike Breen and Eddie Gibbs in the following video:
For those who don’t YouTube I’ll loosely quote:
Lance Ford poses the following question to Mike Breen and Eddie Gibbs, “Christendom is over. Is the death of Christendom a good or bad thing?”
Breen says the following:
I think it is both a good thing and a bad thing. The reality is that when the Berlin wall came down everyone was free but a lot of people went hungry. When the crisis came to wall street it gave us opportunities to look at finance and world banking in a new way. When you see the collapse of a system, however quickly or slowly, there’s always going to be a negative and positive effect for that. In terms of mission, which I’m interested in, overall the opportunities are going to be greater than any of the losses because we do mission in a more authentic way. We’re not dealing with Christendom questions and concerns like whether we baptise babies or only adults. Rather, we’re the minority and we have a message to change the world. Let’s go for it.
Gibbs says the following:
The principle challenge of the church lies in that it has been the majority for 1600 years. That’s generated a ‘come to us’ mentality. In a post-Christendom context the church can’t just invite the world to itself on its own terms. Rather we go to the world on its terms. Also, not every church was reproducible. We now need reproducible churches, not in terms of cloning but in terms of figuring reproducibility out.
Those two statements summarise both the frustration and the hopes I have with Christianity. You may wonder what this has to do with the subject of the kingdom of Godde. Basically:
1. Christians have been caught up with Christendom issues
2. We’re reforming while shifting paradigms
3. We need to rediscover our message and express it in a contemporary way
I’ve asked everyone I know that’s trying to reinvent Christianity what their message is and though several make allusions to the kingdom of Godde I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone say “Christ and His Kingdom to a post-modern world and life in the Spirit in the church” with any kind of certainty (and here I don’t mean a modern kind of explanatory certainty but rather a personal conviction based on real world experience).
Many have said I/we want to reinvent Christianity or I want to reinvent Church. But in many instances this amounts to not having enjoyed or liked or appreciated one form of church or other where Godde has served as reference point but not where Godde is truly present. Sure, why don’t we just do the same old stuff in a more enjoyable way? I don’t believe that ought to be our point of departure. For me the message and demonstration of the kingdom of Godde ought to be central for both mission (missiology) and church life (ecclesiology).
Why is the kingdom of Godde so central?
The message of Jesus is the kingdom of Godde (see Mark 1:15) and the message of Paul, and the apostles (see Luke 9 and 10 and Matthew 10), is the King and His Kingdom (see Acts 28:30-31). This is a message they were to announce and demonstrate. It is in the demonstration that the evidence that the King and His kingdom have drawn near that serves as verificationary evidence for the claim itself. Jesus also says that we are to make it our highest priority (Matthew 6), letting its reality and agenda shape our prayers and our practice of mission (reorient your life around the kingdom of Godde which is near and at hand!) and church life (life in the Spirit).
The message about the King and His Kingdom is one about knowing Godde, about hearing Godde, about co-labouring with Godde to bring His Reign in and around us. It is the one about Godde loving us actively in speaking to us and acting in and through us.
I’m looking forward to us recapturing the message of the King and His Kingdom as well as life in the Spirit. I’m looking forward to seeing a postmodern expression of church shaped in its mission by the one and its communal life and worship by the latter. I’m looking forward to church experiences that are about knowing and relating to Godde in a present and immediate sense, where we draw near to Godde and S/He draws near to us.
Synchroblog
This post is part of a synchroblog on the theme of The Kingdom of God. You may see other posts on this theme at:
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Andrew Hendrikse (Christian) of Feotu on The Kingdom of God is…
Susan Barnes (Christian currently attending a Baptist church) of Abooklook on My kingdom goes
Matt Stone (Christian) of Glocal Christianity on The only Christian nation is the Kingdom of God
K.W. Leslie (Christian/Pentecostal/Assemblies of God) of The Evening of Kent on Politics and the Kingdom of God.
Timothy Victor (Christian) of Tim Victor’s Musings on The reign of Godde
Ronald van der Bergh (Dutch Reformed) of Ronalds Footnotes on Notes on “the Kingdom of God” in the New Testament
Bryan Riley (follower of Jesus) of Charis Shalom on Multiple Bloggers on the Kingdom of God
Liz Dyer (follower of Jesus Christ) of Grace Rules on The Kingdom of God is at Hand
Nic Paton (fundamentalist, charismatic, liberationist, apophatic, heterodox) ofsoundandsilence on The “Kingdom”: of God?
Beth Patterson (Non churched follower of Christ) of Virtual Tea House on What it’s like rather than what it is
Jeff Goins (Non-denominational Christian) of Pilgrimage of the Heart on The Kingdom of God: Now and Not Yet
Phil Wyman (Non-denominational Christian) of Square No More on Jesus as the Archetype Shaman (Part 2): A Nostalgia for Paradise
Stephen Hayes (Orthodox Christian) of Khanya on Kingdom, power and glory
Tim
It seems to me that the Christendom take on the KOG which you are (rightly) intent on moving away from, has patriarchy at its heart.
I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on the “Queendom of Goddess”.
Nic
Yes, I’m very happy to move away from patriarchy in the doing of church as it is a non-essential.
I think that speaking about the “Queendom of Goddess” has a spot in the sun and will offer a non-patriarchal view on Godde as Ruler and Owner and Nurturer.
Tim
“Nurturer” is a key word:
How possible is it to reclaim this quality in Jesus sayings of the Kingdom?
P.S. In my questions I’m not tyring to make you work harder or necessarily enter a Rabbinnic mode of discourse, I just want to tease out a matriarchal line of reasoning.
Thanks Nic
I believe that Nurturer is incredibly key to understanding Godde. The notion of a Queendom of Godde is, akin to Kingdom of Godde, a bit removed from our experience.
We’ll be exploring that at http://godde.wordpress.com. As a topic it deserves a thorough writeup.
Tim, I too look forward to “recapturing the message of the King and His Kingdom as well as life in the Spirit” not just as an individual but as collective followers of Jesus. Right now I am having a hard time finding a community of believers where this is happening. There seems to be a lot of people scattered that are doing it but not a lot of groups of people doing it. Of course in the meantime I will keep striving to receive and enter into the Kingdom of God in my own ways – I guess it is like me planting a seed, knowing that it will grow into a tree at some point.
gracerules,
It would seem that there are a number of scattered individuals thinking like this. I’m reminded of how Christ scattered the church in the Book of Acts and how it was through that that the ‘beyond your own borders’ got fulfilled.
Hopefully we’ll likewise see a move from the Jerusalem of the embers of our Christendom to an Antioch or even a Rome.
These are subjects we definately need to give some more attention and elaboration to
Please find a reference which points out that all conventional ideas about God and Reality are self-serving anthropomorphisms. This is especially true of those that come from an exoteric religious background. Exoteric religion being the only kind of religion that now exists. Protestantism being entirely exoteric.
http://www.adidam.org/teaching/aletheon/truth-god.aspx
John
I’m really not sure where your statement comes form or how it relates to this post. Sounds like your making some sweeping statements. Could you please elaborate?
Tim,
On the whole I agree with you, but the idea of “Christendom” is a very Western Eurocentric point of view. When people say things like “The principle challenge of the church lies in that it has been the majority for 1600 years.”
People speak of being “post-colonial” but people who say things like that have Western Eurocentric tunnel vision — Western Europe is not just central to their worldview – it is the only thing in their worldview. For them it is the entire world.
After the Arab invasion of North Africa 1600 years ago, the cdhurch may have remaned a majority for a few centuries, but its members became second-class citizens, and are now definitely a minority. And one can say the same of the Near and Middle East.
So to say “The principle challenge of the church lies in that it has been the majority for 1600 years” is simply narrowminded Eurocentric chauvinistic nonsense.
Steve,
I’m not 100% sure how to respond to your last paragraph, so please bear with me.
The Eastern Orthodox (and Greek and other) are a minority where I go about my living and being and likely the same for the vast majority of Western peoples – and I live in an African context.
I don’t understand them to be speaking for the whole Church but rather just one stream thereof – a hermeneutics for conversation. To speak Eurocentrically about Christendom is to speak relevantly to the history of much of the Western churches. That it is their principle concern and that is not relevant to all does not mean that is narrowminded or chauvinistic, but rather that they are honestly speaking from within and seeking to reform their own traditions.
As an African the Orthodox Churches have played no role in my life – they only featured in my studies of Historical Theology. The Mainstream, coloured Pentecostal and Modern Independent Churches have pretty much been all there is.
Tim,
Long before I became Orthodox I became aware of the introversion of Western European theology — the writer you quoted was just one of many. I spent two years studying theology in Britain, and they lived in a narrow chauvinist cocoon, and many still do.
African Christianity is a mosaic of elements taken from all over, and it influences and has influenced Christianity in other parts of the world. Even Western European theology has been influenced a great deal by African theologians — Athanasius and Augustine, to name just two. Neopentecostal churches are mushrooming in Africa, influenced by American models, but adapting and altering them too. Reggae musicians in the Carribbean, like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, died as members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
All I ask is that Western European theologians stop acting as though Western Europe were the centre of the universe, or even the only thing in the universe, and stop making such sweeping generalisations as that guy did.
You said, “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone say “Christ and His Kingdom to a post-modern world and life in the Spirit in the church” with any kind of certainty”. That may be true but I have heard a few saying their message is “Jesus is Lord” which is much the same thing, or in more everyday language, “Jesus changes everything”.
I find that “Jesus is lord” varies in meaning from person to person and context to context. For many I’ve debated with over the last season Jesus reigns through the Bible – there is no present expression of the kingdom apart from morals and values and no encountering or experiencing Godde apart from reading the Bible. That’s not quite the same thing.
But I do agree, there are many who pursue Jesus as His disciples.
Tim,
Thanks for a great video link. The observation that we are caught up in Christian issues is most striking to me, and something I have been re-considering for the last couple weeks myself.
Peace out,
Phil
Phil,
It’s quite a challenge to us in our deconstruction and reconstruction of faith and I believe mission gets inhibited by people’s exposure to secondary Christian issues and concerns.
Jesus also said “The Kingdom of God is all around you but you do not see it.” Consider the lilies….
Steve,
I don’t think that the comment concerning Christendom extends to the Church universally. I understand your concern but don’t feel that it’s relevant here.
In a Western and Modernised context, at least in my corner of the earth and others in their W&D corners, The “come to us” mentality within Christians is something that literally dominates the doing of church and mission and is a concern that does need to be deconstructed. I understand your response but don’t you at least agree with the analysis of the concern as relevant within that context?
Steve,
Let’s be fair here.
Christains = 2.03 Billion and dropping
Islam = 1.2 Billion and growing
Hinduism = 830 Million and stable
Chinese folk rel. = 390 Million and dropping
Buddhism = 360 Million and stable
Top 5 religions (2000) and Christianity still out there ahead of the rest.
The Kingdom is all around us and yet beyond our grasp – at least the false expressions of “kingdom” seem to have less pull…a bit
Eddie Gibbs has aged! (One of my past professors).
A sad fact that it happens to us all
What was he like as a professor?