
We find ourselves in times of great turmoil and unrest.How should we respond to such challenges? What can and should the church do?
The commission was directly given to the apostles but indirectly given to the ecclesia in every generation. After the early apostles died, the commission remained – and so does the authority, until it is fulfilled it will remain in force.
So they had a commission and were sent to fulfil it. In their generation the church grew like crazy and changed everything, everywhere. We have the same commission and we are sent to do it. That’s the key, they went, because they were sent. That’s an apostolic church.
As I stood there on Tuesday praying in the waters of the Jordan where He was baptised I reflected that Jesus did not just drop down some divine dictat from the safety of heaven for us to try to follow. He chose to come into the midst of the mess in the Middle East as the Prince of Peace by revealing himself as the friend of sinners, the one John the Baptist saw is ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ God got his feet wet in the Jordan. God got his hands dirty. He is the answer.
Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.