The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications, which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a "global village." The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration in their behavior as individuals, families and within society at large. In particular, the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media. To some degree perhaps this Areopagus has been neglected. Generally, preference has been given to other means of preaching the Gospel and of Christian education, while the mass media are left to the initiative of individuals or small groups and enter into pastoral planning only in a secondary way. Involvement in the mass media, however, is not meant merely to strengthen the preaching of the Gospel. There is a deeper reality involved here: since the very evangelization of modern culture depends to a great extent on the influence of the media, it is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the "new culture" created by modern communications. This is a complex issue, since the "new culture" originates not just from whatever content is eventually expressed, but from the very fact that there exist new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology. Pope Paul VI said that "the split between the Gospel and culture is undoubtedly the tragedy of our time," and the field of communications fully confirms this judgment.
It is clear that from the very origins of Christianity, the laity - as individuals, families, and entire communities - shared in spreading the faith. In modern times, this active participation of lay men and women missionaries has not been lacking. How can we forget the important role played by women: their work in the family, in schools, in political, social and cultural life, and especially their teaching of Christian doctrine? Indeed, it is necessary to recognize - and it is a title of honour - that some churches owe their origins to the activity of lay men and women missionaries.
If I knew I would be planting a church in any metropolitan area I would begin by going on the Internet and looking up information available from the Census Bureau about the community. This information can give vital
insight about what your future congregation may look like. It will have information about the demographics of an area, including median age, median income, and whether or not the population is blue-collar or white-collar.
Contrast this with a story from a current British mission. Traditional churchgoing has been in decline for many years in Western Europe. In Liverpool, a large city struggling to make the transition to new forms of
livelihood after the collapse of its industrial economy, the mighty Methodist Central Hall faced closure. In a previous generation it had drawn hundreds of worshipers to the city centre and hosted a wide range of midweek activities, but successive ministries had been unable to reverse the decline in worship
attendance. In the late 1990’s Central Hall closed. But rather than withdraw from the city centre, the Methodist Church appointed a minister, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Glasson, to plant something new. She was given free licence to try to discern what the shape of God’s mission might be in a context where the
traditional methods had failed.
What would any of us do with such an assignment? The temptation was to attempt high-energy evangelism or church planting according to one of the many models available from other people and places. That way, given enough hard work, there would hopefully be something to show for the denomination’s resources and trust. But this would have been an expression of that functional atheism: there isn’t any God to direct this, so I need to do something myself.
Instead, Dr. Glasson chose to trust God. She immersed herself both in God and in the city, and for the first year she simply walked the streets, met the people who live and work in the city centre, and reflected and prayed as she observed the changing seasons and moods of the city. In her wanderings God gave her a word, “bread”. She didn’t know what it meant, but in time she found herself led to invite some of her new friends to make bread with her. This simple action grew into a ministry that has now touched the lives of hundreds of people, from homeless people and asylum seekers to city bankers and university professors. They meet in a shop front “church”, and they make bread together, and they talk of God. While the bread is rising they share in simple Bible study and worship. They exercise a presence in the city centre where the welcome is unconditional, human need is met with the compassion and wisdom of Christ, and a Christian community is formed out of a band of unlikely individuals.
The fact that there is a diversity of activities in the Church's one mission is not intrinsic to that mission, but arises from the variety of circumstances in which that mission is carried out. Looking at today's world from the view point of evangelization, we can distinguish three situations.
First, there is the situation which the Church's missionary activity addresses: peoples, groups, and socio-cultural contexts in which Christ and his Gospel are not known, or which lack Christian communities sufficiently mature to be able to incarnate the faith in their own environment and proclaim it to other groups. This is mission ad gentes in the proper sense of the term.
Secondly, there are Christian communities with adequate and solid ecclesial structures. They are fervent in their faith and in Christian living. They bear witness to the Gospel in their surroundings and have a sense of commitment to the universal mission. In these communities the Church carries out her activity and pastoral care.
Thirdly, there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a "new evangelization" or a "re-evangelization."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leaving your perspective matters...