CTHTHEO 226

The Christian
Community

Assignment Two: Critical Engagement.

Andrew McDonald
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The Christian Community

Assignment Two: Critical Engagement.

Anderson, Ray, Where Mission Leads the Church Emerges. In An

Emergent Theology For Emerging Churches, 186-90. Downers Grove,
Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

In this chapter Ray Anderson attempts to define the nature of Church

in terms of Gods mission to the world. By grounding the nature of
Church in the mission of God, the author argues that the Churchs self
understanding and existence are necessarily dependent on its
understanding of mission. The nature of the Church results from Gods
mission and from its participation in that mission.

In order to understand mission, Anderson establishes the priority of

Gods own mission to and for the sake of the world. The author argues
that the Churchs understanding of Gods nature is only known as it is
revealed by God in mission; a mission that is accomplished through the
reconciling life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Likewise the
Churchs understanding of itself must be formed as an outworking of
that same mission of God. The Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit
in order to witness to the resurrection of Christ and to his continuing
power and presence in the world. The existence of the Church results
from the Spirit of Pentecost and therefore its nature cannot be isolated
as an object of abstract theological reflection.

Andersons understanding of Church emphasises the pneumatic nature

of the Church. The Churchs institutional existence, even as a God
ordained institution, is downplayed in favour of the Church as an

1 Ray Anderson, Where Mission Leads the Church Emerges. In An Emergent

Theology For Emerging Churches. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).,
186.
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incarnational expression of the Spirits mission. To a large extent

Anderson even downplays the Great Commission as the intrinsic
mission imperative of the Church. The strength of this understanding
lies in the attempt to direct the Churchs nature as flowing out of Gods
action. By rightly understanding its true nature, the Church may be
liberated from a preoccupation with its own existence and ministry,
into an outward posture of mission to the world. The Church is
Apostolic only when it responds to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

It seems to me that the weakness of Andersons approach lies in his

tendency to use abstract, dogmatic theology that is difficult to ground
within any concrete sense of the Churchs historical and contemporary
mission. By emphasising the Spirit of Pentecost over against the Great
Commission, the author also seems to greatly reduce the significance
of Jesus earthly mission in favour of an explicitly Trinitarian basis for
mission. This is unfortunate, because elsewhere he attempts to trace
the continuity between the messianic mission given to Israel, Jesus
self-offering and the contemporary presence of Christ through the Holy
Spirit.2 Given that this is an extract from a book, it would be premature
to accuse Anderson of failing to articulate more clearly how and for
what purpose the mission of the Church takes form. His final
observation that Gods mission is for the humanizing of humanity at
least projects his understanding of mission toward a tangible, visible
end. Overall, this chapter serves as a necessary corrective to locating
the Churchs mission in ministry to its own members, thereby
diminishing the significance of its participation in the greater
redemptive movement of God.

2 Ray Anderson, Where Mission Leads the Church Emerges., 189.

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Bibliography.

Anderson, Ray. Where Mission Leads the Church Emerges. In An

Emergent Theology For Emerging Churches, by Ray Anderson, 186-
190. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.