12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

In response to what was written by Anonymous on Fri, 12/02/2010 - 10:20am.

"We live and serve out of obedience to God's call and equipping but we don't know, nor can we control, the effects of our humble witness on those in our path. Conviction and conversion are the work of God's spirit."

I heartily agree. And I think of the above passages and Paul's reminder that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation to plead with people to be reconciled to God.

And we carry out that ministry through the putting on of the new self remade in the image of Christ. But we still plead with people to be reconciled to God, while leaving the calling of people to salvation in the hands of our sovereign God who is pleased to call people to Himself in Christ. An authentic Christian community is narked by the transformation of the believer through their obedience and God then blessing the body through the growth of the church in obedience to the Great Commission.

Such a Lifestyle of a lived Faith in the Risen Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us will resound to the glory of God, and result in the growth of the Church both inwardly and outwardly through the adding of those whom God is calling in these Last Days.

Shalom

Grant Alcorn

As someone who takes an active interest in the issue of the Church's mission and our role in this supposedly Postmodern Culture, I read with interest the beginning article by Dr. Bryan Hagerman.

I would like to respond on several levels to the tenor of the arguments raised.

I agree wholeheartedly that our God is a sending God and that has never changed ever since Jesus commanded the first disciples to remain in Jerusalem for the power from on high to anoint them before setting forth on their mission of being witnesses to this unfolding of the Kingdom of God. God having finally spoken through the Son and setting in motion this time of living in the last days.

Whether or not our mission is being redefined by a supposed Paradigm shift to a Postmodern Culture is another issue altogether. I think Postmodernism is a term too easily accepted and not appropriately challenged.

The point is made in several fascinating essays by Michael Horton and others, that Postmodernsim is simply a revival of modern romanticism and the philosophical influence of Immanuel Kant. So, I would contend that Postmodernism is not something new but a rediscovery again of some old ideas.

Because of a very real, in some parts but not in others, depends on who you ask and what measuring sticks are used, lack of authentic discipleship in North American Christianity. Postmoderns have called again for a renewed emphasis on pietism (living our lives so that Jesus' character can be seen through us). An agreed upon necessity, but this ever increasing growth in religious individualism, codified in the 1980's through the work of Robert Bellah, results in a person who can become excessively introspective, and minimize the importance of propositional truth.

We need more than just a call to live as Jesus lives. Practically every religious movement focuses their program on the life lived in community. We are called to grow in the grace and knowledge that is in Jesus Christ. He Himself said that knowing the Truth shall set a person free.

We need to live out our faith but we do not need the Siren Song of the Postmodernist movement to show us how to live out our faith. We need to repent of the fact that we have not lived out our faith and be thankful that we are being called to live out our faith. But to do so within the radical call of Jesus to take up our cross, deny ourselves and to follow Him. The point can be made that Postmodernsim does not point us towards that but to a Most Modernist embrace of the self in the celebration of a Gnostic Styled Embrace of our own brand of spirituality. Incidentally, this new brand of Christianity is celebrated by the literary critic Harold Bloom, who detests the old Protestant Reformation Christianity.

Rather then saying we live in a Postmodernist age -- What is it anyways? I would rather submit we live in the Full Flowering Age of Individualism where many inside and outside of the church live as Practical Atheists. Saying we believe in God but living like He does not matter.

Until we in the Church repent of this, we will do little to attract people to the radical life of discipleship that Christ calls people to. What we will do is continue to create places where people can gather to celebrate their own journeys with little deepening of the communal life we are called together to share in as we become the Temple of the living God whom God dwells in through the Spirit. Dwelling in each person and moving us as we are obedient to do our part so that the Body will grow for the edifying of itself in love -- Ephesians 4:16-17.

My Contribution So Far. I look forward to the rest.

Submitted by Rev. Grant Alcorn

Thanks for starting this dialogue! I certainly agree that this is a "new approach to mission" for many of us, but not "new" in the sense of "original". That is, I think that this is the kind of understanding that Jesus actually envisioned when he established the church.

I love your line which says that "for the most part we were happy to send out missionaries globally, and our pastor locally"! However, I am often reminded that sometimes we miss or overlook a lot of the "mission" that our church members engage in, because there's no program and no one specifically identified what they are doing as "mission". But in small rural communities - and I suspect also in larger urban settings - a lot of what I would call "mission" goes under the radar of the church. All of the little acts of kindness and caring that people do for their neighbours - often in times of sickness or grief - are unsung evidences of God's grace.

I suppose in a sense we ought to be more intentional about seeing this dimension of mission, but on the other hand, it would be dreadful if we tried so hard to program it that we squash it.

And I think it's critical that we don't "target" people to receive our attention because our agenda is to get them "saved". Rather, I believe that we are to live out our faith in our families and communities, honestly serving all who God puts in our path and without any agenda but to live into and up to the transformational power of Christ in our own lives. We live and serve out of obedience to God's call and equipping but we don't know, nor can we control, the effects of our humble witness on those in our path. Conviction and conversion are the work of God's spirit.

Again, thanks for starting the dialogue!