Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/70

Contributor - Frank De Vries

Title - Faith is Lived in the World

Topic - Faith

. . . to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6: 8b

The Problem stated:

"One of the tragedies of our times is the serious division which has of late been reaching alarming proportions not between the Church and the world, but within the ranks of Christians. It is the tension between the pietists and the activists, between those who believe implicitly in personal redemption and individual faith on the one hand and those on the other who have little place for faith but see only social reform as the mission of the Christian. Irresponsible sniping at each other might well be called the 'name of the game' and while engaging in this divisive activity the strength of the Christian church is seriously undermined in its approach to the world."

These words of Dr. Leslie Hunt, chairman of the Congress on Evangelism, clearly state the problem that is plaguing the Church of Jesus Christ in Canada. Namely, the confusion how social action of the Church and proclamation of the Gospel by the Church are related to each other. It is a problem that exists throughout Western Christianity. Our own R.C.A. is a good case in point. The R.C.A. Synod of 1961 may well go down in the Orange Book as the "sniping" Synod. Activists and pietists sharing in this game. Nobody won! The problem of reconciling the opposing views has been practically solved at the 1970 Synod by "Regionalization", which constitutionally allows each group in the Church to do its own thing as it pleases. Has the strength of the R.C.A. been practically undermined?

Elton Trueblood states in his recent book "The New Man for our Time": The tragedy is that each party is losing something of essential value that it needs for its own authenticity" (as quoted by Dr. Hunt). The tension between the pietist and the activist seems to be a peculiar problem for Christians living in a Capitalistic Society in which the members often seem to be unscrupulously selfish and greedy. A society in which being rich must defensively be called "blessings of the Lord" although these so called blessings are often gained by falling down at the feet of Satan which Jesus absolutely refused to do and consequently had 'no pillow to lie His head upon'. Besides, only what Satan gives we are allowed to keep, what the Lord gives we must share and often simply give away - that is love!

BIBLICAL SOLUTION:

The activist as well as the pietist holds to a sectarian view of the Gospel. The speakers at the Congress on Evangelism did a marvelous job in showing both groups where they are wrong, and how the two views are related. In his workshop paper "Preparing for Evangelism", Rev. Dr. Mariano Di Gangi writes: Christian stewardship is expressed through compassionate service, as love finds ways to minister to human needs in the Lord's name. Such good works are not performed to merit salvation, but to thank God for His saving grace. They are not wrought in the spirit of humanistic humanitarianism, but part of the believer's testimony to the Christ who cares (Eph. 2:18ff, Gal. 6:9f; Luke 10: 25-37)." Archbishop F. D. Coggan spoke in a similar vein when he said that Jesus, the Servant, was more than a 'do-gooder" - the best of humanitarians; more than just a 'man for others'. Jesus was most significantly a 'man for God' indeed a 'man of God'! In this reLyard he said about the servant Church: "The Old Testament Church was not a servant in the humanitarian sense of service to the community, but servant in the sense that it was the guardian of certain truths without which the community could not be whole." It was not just the man for others, but the man with God's Word for others. For 'man cannot live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God'." The Archbishop continued to observe: "A Christianity which includes in its scriptures the writings of the Hebrew prophets and the record of the teachings of Jesus and yet is marked by a conscience socially lethargic should ask itself some pretty straight questions about its own credentials . . . But social concern is not the Gospel - though it is part of the Gospel.

Mairiano Di Gangi is of the same opinion: "Evangelism and Social concern are indissolubly related. To divorce them, or confuse them, would be disastrous for the progress of the Gospel and the highest interest of a lost world . . evangelism focuses particularly on the call to repentance and faith. Social concern may be preparation for evangelism, an accompaniment of it, or a consequence of evangelism . . . If it is wrong to neglect the works of love, it is no less sinful to forget the words of faith (Rom. 10 : 13-17)." Dr. Coggan fully supported this view: "Every Christian must be a humanitarian, deeply concerned for the temporal welfare of his fellows all over the world. But he is far more than that. He is an apostle with a Gospel which concerns the whole man, here and hereafter."

Dr. Kenneth Hamilton summarized the problem - Gospel, social reform or preaching for individual conversion - more than adequately. "Were Christian faith merely a matter of words spoken then Christianity would have faded out of history long ago. Yet, the converse is true, equally. Were Christian action self-authenticating in the absence of words, then evangelism through words recalling Jesus Christ, God with us in Galilee and Jerusalem, the Victim upon the Cross and the Victor ascending to Heaven: that would have been discovered to be superfluous, and the name of Christ Jesus - mere words, after all would have disappeared from human memory.

No, Christian presence witnessing in life cannot be enough. The task of the Church is certainly to serve human life, to be secularly active in the secular sphere, to be in the world (as Jesus Christ was) in the form of a servant. But the task of proclaiming the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, Christ crucified and risen, is an equally pressing obligation. And, since no one can claim without presumption to live the life in Christ to the measure of Christ Himself, the proclamation in word is primary, in the order of life in the Church; just as for the individual Christian before God, to be Christ's true disciple is primary and his duty to proclaim the name of Christ and tell His story is secondary. The victory that overcomes the world is our faith (1 John 5:4). Faith is lived in the world. In the world it must be proclaimed."

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