All talked out
One hundred and one years ago, there was a very important conference in Edinburgh. One hundred years later there was another conference in Cape Town inspired by the conference in Edinburgh. Today there was a conference in London talking about the conference in Cape Town and its development of the themes from the conference in Edinburgh.
The findings of the conference about the conference were presented in a shiny book, and helpfully annotated at today’s conference by the extremely capable theologian who had put it together. The book has two principal thrusts, sixteen major sections, and between them they have one hundred and thirty-five subsections, along with a few further sub-divisions on the next level down. The bits which I have read are insightful, challenging, thoughtful and profound.
However, when a plea was given from the front by a senior figure behind both conference and book that we should ‘take it to our churches and pass on the insights’, my heart began to sink a little. Would my church really want to hear about, much less study, the one hundred and thirty-five subsections, I wonder? And if so, which of the regular weekly activities or pastoral concerns would be put on one side whilst they did so? Church always holds heavenly aspiration and earthly reality in tension- but at that moment I felt it particularly acutely.
There has to be a place in the Kingdom for big-picture thinking and hard theological questioning. I’m all for it, in fact. However, there also has to be some realism about how and where that thinking strikes the ground of the local mission field.
What do you think?
3 comments
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June 27, 2011 at 10:02 pm
barrykennard
Isn’t that always the tension?
Many a theologian (smarter than me) has probably struggled with this question. In my denomination (Nazarene), which is based strongly on the teaching of Wesley, we hold that our theology is formed through:
Scripture – the Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments)
Tradition – the two millennia history of the Christian Church
Reason – rational thinking and sensible interpretation
Experience – a Christian’s personal and communal journey in Christ
Here’s what I think: I’m pretty sure Jesus wanted us to get people into the Kingdom. Discipleship is a definite part – but evangelism has to occur in order for their to be someone to disciple. With that said – I concur with your statement…
“There has to be a place in the Kingdom for big-picture thinking and hard theological questioning….However, there also has to be some realism about how and where that thinking strikes the ground of the local mission field.”
But would need to add – “Lord, grant me the wisdom to know how to spend my time and energy in order to be most effective for your Kingdom and the development of your Kingdom!”
June 27, 2011 at 10:23 pm
preachersa2z
Yes yes yes Barry – wisdom is of the essence – especially when balancing big-picture & fine detail in kingdom building
June 28, 2011 at 9:33 am
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