| Original Message |
Bob Carter (no login)
Posted Mar 19, 2004 12:38 PM
Sorry to have not gotten back to you sooner. My schedule has been wild. I'm still in Zambia, but since January I've taken time away from clinical duties to focus full-time on improving my ability to communicate in the local vernacular of Kikaonde. I have a long way to go before I will even approach fluency, but at least I can see a little progress. But Mukinge functions too much in English, so for most of this month we have "shifted" to a different location where Kikaonde is more prevalent (and email less accessible, I might add!) My language coach wants me to produce and deliver a devotional message and a health education lesson both in Kikaonde before we return to Mukinge on 21st March. This is a huge undertaking for me to attempt. Upon returning to Mukinge we'll have only two days to refresh and repack before leaving for Kenya, where I will be delivering the graduation message at Friends Theological College in Kaimosi on March 27. I'm not sure at this point when I'll have time to prepare it. I've been praying about it and have some general ideas but don't have anything down on paper yet. This all means that in spite of good intentions I probably won't get to work on answering your survey until sometime in April. I still want to do it, but at present these other tasks are compelling my time and attention.
I'm glad you sent the questions with your email, because web access is functionally impractical for me. Email works, with some effort and long-distance telephone expense.
To soothe my guilt, I'll attempt a quick response to question #3 - at least to get started. I may try to flesh it out more later.
I grew up in Western Yearly Meeting, and I don't recall ever hearing the question of gospel vs. social witness discussed in terms of a historically preferred approach to evangelism. But the yearly meeting has historically taken a Christ-centered approach in most issues and I would assume that it would have been even more so in evangelism. Certainly while growing up it was made clear to me that a spirit-empowered relationship with Jesus Christ was supposed to be the center wellspring from which flowed the outward life of the believer. That is, the reason we bear witness to social and ethical issues is because of the indwelling Christ of compassion and justice who calls us to be salt and light in the world.
That said, it was also made clear that the Spirit witnesses to each person differently, according to his/her place of need. Being a witness for Christ involves maintaining sensitivity to what the Spirit is doing in the lives of others. Not everyone who needs Christ is in a place of receptivity to the theology of the gospel, but all are in one way or another able to receive and respond to evidence of His love. That evidence may take different forms depending on the sense of need the person may have. For some, it may be social issues, for others it may be practical or physical helps, and for even others it may be just a silent, caring presence. For each, bearing witness to Christ effectively requires a searching dependency on and careful obedience to the Holy Spirit.
If one looks at the historical outreach activities of the yearly meeting, one can see evidences of both approaches. So if you want to take this as a kind of "it depends" answer, then I guess I would have to say it depends on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives and hearts of those receiving the ministry of Christian witness. Being a creative Quaker at heart, I prefer to take the third option where none was offered: that is, that evangelism that is true to the heart of Christ balances both together at the same time. One is not lifted up as more important than the other any more than one could say that one attribute of God is more important than another. For instance, which is more important, Truth or Justice? The truth is, you can't have one without the other. I think evangelism is similar. Jesus brought together proclamation and demonstration in his message about the Kingom of God being at hand. If the message is to remain true, proclamation and demonstration cannot be separated. And frankly, the demonstration that is often needed (and perhaps most clearly seen) is in social and ethical concerns. |
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