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Introduction:
The Church and the Kingdom of God
Derek Poole
Comment:
A Question of Belonging
Peter Wilson
From
the Director
David Porter
Colosse
Michael Whitley
Revisiting
the Kingdom of God and the Church
David McMillan
Faith
and Practice - Baroness May Blood
Ruth Hutchinson
Ephesus
Heather Morrow
Lead
us not into temptation
Alan Wilson
Galatia
Priscilla Reid
CEPU...a
personal testimony
Ken Irvine
Econimail
- Fancy Models or Straw Dolls?
Book
Review
Ethel White
THE
CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The mission of the Church is to point to the Kingdom of God and to live
in the present the values of that reality. The Church is the keeper of
this vision. It receives it through promise, holds it in faith, and expresses
it in hope through the concrete witness of love, forgiveness, peace and
justice.
The Kingdom of God cannot be identified with the Church or any social institution. However, the Church uniquely makes way for the Kingdom by keeping history open to the fulfilment of God’s promise. The Church keeps history open by resisting the “the institutional stabilising of things, and by ‘raising questions of meaning’ to make things uncertain and keep them moving and elastic in the process of history” (Jurgen Moltmann). This role of the Church as Prophet is essentially a negative one. The Church is prophetic when it publicly critiques all social structures, political ideologies, and economic powers in the light of the Kingdom of God. “The Church” says Wolfhart Pannenberg, “must always witness to the limitations of any given society. The very existence of the Church depends upon its playing this critical role. When this critical witness is abandoned, the Church becomes superfluous.”
In the context of Northern Ireland, this prophetic criticism takes on particular concerns. In our main articleRevisiting the Kingdom of God and the Church David McMillan explores some of these, inviting us to consider the relationship between the values of the Kingdom of God and the life of our local Churches.
As Christians living in Northern Ireland we are constantly wrestling with complex political, ethical and theological issues that can absorb our energy, leave us confused and overwhelm our faith. At times of despair our divisions and theological squabbling can seem infantile in the light of what we consider to be the pristine life of the Early Church. The reality of course is that first century Churches were not dissimilar to our own. They were full of ordinary people, struggling to make sense of their faith in a community that called them to new ways of living and relating in the world. The pastoral letters of the New Testament unembarrassingly exposes the controversy and discord of these faith families. The mystery is that, rather than this diminishing our confidence in God and his people, the Biblical account reassures us that despite our human frailty God continues to work in his church for the sake of the world. To remind us of this gracious reality we have included three short pieces that highlight aspects of the struggle for faithful witness in the Churches at Corinth, Ephesus and Galatia.
Finally, we have included the first interview in a new series Faith and Practice. The format is designed to let a variety of people from different backgrounds share their thoughts on the ways in which their faith has influenced their life and work. In this issue Baroness May Blood speaks of the vision and values that have guided her life, and talks about her work with the Greater Shankill Partnership.
Derek Poole - Editor
ECONI WELCOMES the submission of unsolicited articles, but does not guarantee publication, and manuscripts cannot be returned. Opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECONI. Permission to reprint any original article in Lion & Lamb should be sought from the Editor.
Editor
Derek Poole
Asst Editor Ruth Hutchinson
Design Colin Maguire
Cover Spring Graphics
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