Should We Care About Our Approach To Mission?

God has commanded that his message of salvation be communicated to all cultures. However, there are barriers to effectively communicating that message. If ever there was a mandate for the masses, Jesus communicated that mandate in Luke 4:18-20. Bob Ekblad posits that communicating the Scriptures can result in “reconciliation, unity, joint mission and spiritual renewal.”[1] In order to communicate the Gospel, communicators must “provide safe spaces for people to share openly their problems and thoughts,”[2] present fears, needs and concerns. If the communicator is to be effective, he/she should: (1) be aware of their own cultural and theological assumptions; (2) identify the racial/ethnic, cultural and class assumptions of the audience; (3) be fully aware of pitfalls to hearing the Good News; (4) seek to develop a spirit of awareness and dependence on God’s spiritual gifts and (5) learn effective pedagogies and communication strategies.[3]

The Historical Jesus

Christ and his work are inseparable. This presupposition has fueled Christological debates for centuries and held as dogma by the early church. A shift occurred during the medieval period when “scholastic theology separated the doctrine of the person of Christ from the offices and work of Christ, making it more difficult for the average Christian to appreciate how this plays into their everyday living.”[1]  The quest of the historical Jesus was a means of making sense of all this.

Erickson considers the “Christology from above” approach as fideistic.[2]  Understandably so as Scripture went mostly unquestioned during the early years of church history. It makes three assumptions: (1) foundational to the Christian faith is the witness of Christ and his word proclaimed (the kerygma); (2) there is a preference for the “explicit theological interpretations of the apostle Paul and the Synoptic Gospels (especially John) and the witness of the prophets and apostles; (3) faith in “the Christ in the flesh” as foundational; “he or she will accept historical statements by being rationally persuaded.”[3]