2020 A New era Pt 1
REMISSIONING THE CHURCH IN DISRUPTIVE TIMES OF COVID-19
By Apostle Narriett butler Published on 4.11.2020Prior to this life threatening transmission of a respiratory illness, Corona-virus disease (COVID-19), which is a pandemic attack on the world globally which pushed the world into a new era. An unprecedented era of new normal for the lives of humanity around the world. The church was already going through transition of post-modernism.
What is post-modernism? The word is made up of two parts: post, meaning after, and modernism. Modernism was denoted by the cultural shift that happen as result of industrialization throughout the social strata of the United States. Modernism was about changes the norms that existed in the fields of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, because the new social climate that emerged felt that they were outdated due emerging fully industrialized world. Sound familiar! Now, with post-modernism represents a new way of looking at the world and the reality of truth. Christianity, over the centuries, has shaped our Western culture both locally and globally since the time of Constantine and Licinius, and it is why that Christianity shaped the worldview prior to post-modernism. Religious scholars agree that there is significant cultural shift from modernism to post-modernism which is impacting the Christian Church, and its connectivity with the local community in the United States and globally. The Christian Church was already undergoing transition and the challenges of change prior to COVID-19. Major cultural shifts were occurring in every arena of life due to globalization and technology for which the church could not escape its impact. This is very visible within the cities that are undergoing urbanization[1] and gentrification.[2] The challenges that faced the church prior CORVID-19 are institutional, ethical, doctrinal, political, and cultural. They cut across different faith traditions, denominations, ethnic groups, and sectors of the population. The challenges that faced the church prior CORVID-19 are institutional, ethical, doctrinal, political, and cultural. They cut across different faith traditions, denominations, ethnic groups, and sectors of the population. As leaders, we need to face that public perception has shifted; and that the church no longer functions with the social authority that it once held, because a growing percentage of adults today do not identify with any religious group according to the Pew Research Center. For the most part, they self-identify as “nothing in particular,” and as “religiously unaffiliated” (also called the “nones”).[3] This perspective comes as a major shock to many in Christendom. Christian leaders do not realize the impact of religious pluralism, and the embracing of secular values and norms would cause America to lose its Christian character as a nation. This are some of the challenges that faced the church prior to CORVID-19. |
The Church
Since the Church is the visible manifestation of Christ and that his eternal purpose for mankind will be made known through the church (Ephesians 3:6-11), we must therefore grasp the notion that the purpose of the church is to be God’s community of believers on his missional assignment.
Since the Church is the visible manifestation of Christ and that his eternal purpose for mankind will be made known through the church (Ephesians 3:6-11), we must therefore grasp the notion that the purpose of the church is to be God’s community of believers on his missional assignment.
As a missional and apostolic community, the Church is to be constant and dynamic in movement regarding the proclamation of the gospel of light amidst the darkness of this world.[4] Yet, we must also grasp that the Church is not the Kingdom of God, but only a part of the Kingdom.
I have done ministry in Philadelphia for over twenty years and, unfortunately, this foundational truth gets lost for Christians amidst their various church building projects and formulas to promote church growth. The value of the sacrifice that was made by Christ should really propel us to grasp the value of our worth in and to God. Therefore, as a sent community of believers, the church will always be on missional assignment for Christ, who is the head of the Church: |
to[1] the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .
(Eph. 3:10-11, NKJV)
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In like of this it is important that we grasp the Mission[2] seeks to strengthen the implication of that apostolicity. As the apostles are sent by Jesus, the Church is sent by her Lord. And it is in the going, in the sentness itself, that the Church emerges toward the world and toward the continuing office of the apostolate . . . not as an optional matter, but as an essential element of the Church’s being . . . the biblical theology of the Word-made-flesh, Jesus Christ, contains the concept of “sentness” . . . The Word-made-flesh created, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, an apostolic band of 12, then 3,000, then 5,000, then 8000-a community of faith to whom Jesus says, “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14) . . . proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of light in the midst of the kingdom of darkness . . . Vatican Council II in Ad Gentes Divinitus stressed this essence of “mission” when it said that the nature of the Church is missionary.[5]
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus commanded the disciples to wait upon the entrance of the Holy Spirit before carrying out the Great Commission (Luke 24:46-49). Jesus commanded them to wait on the Holy Spirit that would provide them with the power to carry out the Great Commission. So often we try to do ministry without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit by using preexistent prototypes, formulas, and models. However, it is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit that gives us the boldness to meet the challenges that face in doing 21st Century Church and ministry.
There is a notable quote by Francis A. Schaeffer that is still very relevant in this postmodern society and express my sentiments regarding this necessity for the power that states[3] :
“The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually and corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always amid the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.”[6]
There is a notable quote by Francis A. Schaeffer that is still very relevant in this postmodern society and express my sentiments regarding this necessity for the power that states[3] :
“The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually and corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always amid the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.”[6]
Remissioning The Church In Disruptive Times of CORVID-19
Therefore, we going to need to be sensitive to the voice of God during this new global era that was ushered in by COVID-19. This pandemic has pushed the church outside the wall of our sanctuaries into the community, which was our original assignment to impact our community. It is time to remember that we serve an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Father, and Jesus is the head of the Church. |
Some of your members will not be returning to your churches because they will hear the cry of God heart in the streets and must be about evangelism.
We are now on the front lines to mobilize and recalibrate the church with our communities. For the first time for some in the church, you will hear the sound of God’s voice rushing up and down the streets and giving us instructions as to how to meet the need of our community. As the rich young ruler during this pandemic Jesus is putting his finger on our hearts and showing us where our treasures are, just like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30, Matt. 19:16-30, Mark 10: 17-31). He was caught up in his possession and have we.
We must engage this new world that will emerge after COID-19 with the heart and wisdom strategies of Christ Jesus. What does that look like, it will not be cookie cutter because for each congregation and community it will look different. Some of your members will not be returning to your churches because they will hear the cry of God heart in the streets and must be about evangelism. During this new era, we will as His Church become reacquainted the power of the blood and it just will no longer be a communion song, “There Power Of The Blood “of Jesus Christ! In the fourth stanza, the lyrics are
We must engage this new world that will emerge after COID-19 with the heart and wisdom strategies of Christ Jesus. What does that look like, it will not be cookie cutter because for each congregation and community it will look different. Some of your members will not be returning to your churches because they will hear the cry of God heart in the streets and must be about evangelism. During this new era, we will as His Church become reacquainted the power of the blood and it just will no longer be a communion song, “There Power Of The Blood “of Jesus Christ! In the fourth stanza, the lyrics are
During this new era, we have a great opportunity to recalibrate our denominations and non-denominational structures and become new fresh expressions and model Christ in and just not to our communities. Know that “…no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’’[7]
Author: Apostle Narriett Butler is the founder of Fresh Fire Inc. Ministries and the Provision of Promise Worship Center, and FireNet Pastor Network. She is a graduate of Biblical Seminary, Hatfield Pa. (Now know as Missio Seminary). She is widow and proud mother of one son James and nine grandchildren. www.freshfirepa.org.
Author: Apostle Narriett Butler is the founder of Fresh Fire Inc. Ministries and the Provision of Promise Worship Center, and FireNet Pastor Network. She is a graduate of Biblical Seminary, Hatfield Pa. (Now know as Missio Seminary). She is widow and proud mother of one son James and nine grandchildren. www.freshfirepa.org.
References
[1] Urbanization as a “magnetic pull that attracts and migrates people from rural and suburban areas into the city.” Conn, Harvie M, The Urban Face of Mission: Ministering the Gospel in a Diverse and Changing World. Edited by Manuel Ortiz and Susan W. Baker. Phillipsburg, New Jersey. P&R Publishing, 2002, 30.
[2] Gentrification is defined as the “revitalization of communities and properties that are deteriorating in the city which leads to the augmentation of the city property taxes. Unfortunately, the indigenous poor are now displaced due to increase proper values and taxes.” Conn, Harvie, and Manuel Ortiz. Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City & the People of God. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 291. The more popular understanding of gentrification involves the in-migration of new persons to a recently revitalized urban area. These new persons are typically middle class or higher and/or are of a culture/ethnicity different from that of the long-term residents of said urban area.
[3] Lipka, Michael, "Why Some Americans Left Religion behind." Pew Research Center. August 24, 2016. Accessed February 12, 2019. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind
[4] Engen, Charles E. Van. God's Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a Division of Baker Publishers, 2013, 78. Professor of Theology of Church Planting, BIOLA/TALBOT, Los Angeles, CA. Previously Assistant Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary
[5] Van Engen., 78.
[6] Schaeffer, Francis A. No Little People. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003. 66. Francis August Schaeffer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912. He was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland.
[7] Horwitz, Paul. "Churches as First Amendment Institutions: Of Sovereignty and Spheres." Harv. CR-CLL Rev. 44 (2009): 79. Quote from Dutch Statesman Abraham Kuiper.
[1] Urbanization as a “magnetic pull that attracts and migrates people from rural and suburban areas into the city.” Conn, Harvie M, The Urban Face of Mission: Ministering the Gospel in a Diverse and Changing World. Edited by Manuel Ortiz and Susan W. Baker. Phillipsburg, New Jersey. P&R Publishing, 2002, 30.
[2] Gentrification is defined as the “revitalization of communities and properties that are deteriorating in the city which leads to the augmentation of the city property taxes. Unfortunately, the indigenous poor are now displaced due to increase proper values and taxes.” Conn, Harvie, and Manuel Ortiz. Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City & the People of God. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 291. The more popular understanding of gentrification involves the in-migration of new persons to a recently revitalized urban area. These new persons are typically middle class or higher and/or are of a culture/ethnicity different from that of the long-term residents of said urban area.
[3] Lipka, Michael, "Why Some Americans Left Religion behind." Pew Research Center. August 24, 2016. Accessed February 12, 2019. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind
[4] Engen, Charles E. Van. God's Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a Division of Baker Publishers, 2013, 78. Professor of Theology of Church Planting, BIOLA/TALBOT, Los Angeles, CA. Previously Assistant Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary
[5] Van Engen., 78.
[6] Schaeffer, Francis A. No Little People. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003. 66. Francis August Schaeffer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912. He was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland.
[7] Horwitz, Paul. "Churches as First Amendment Institutions: Of Sovereignty and Spheres." Harv. CR-CLL Rev. 44 (2009): 79. Quote from Dutch Statesman Abraham Kuiper.