THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE COMTEMPORARY SOCIETY
By Mr Joshua T. Abu
“Just as it is in the world’s interest to acknowledge the Church as a historical reality, and to recognise her good influence, so the Church herself knows how richly she has profited by the history and development of humanity.”
- His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, December 7, 1965 -
(Pastoral Constitution: On the Church in Modern World, art. 44)
Introduction:
The Church is the body of baptised people of God which is created by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel to proclaim and follow God’s crucified Messiah our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the gathering of children, youth, women, and men who hear, believe and receive the living Christ in Word and Sacrament and who witnesses in word and deed to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The witness of the Church in society therefore, naturally, flows from its identity as a community that lives from and for the Gospel. Faith as we all know is active in love; with love calling for justice in relationships and structures of society. Through preaching, teaching, the Sacraments, and the Scriptures, the Church is gathered and shaped by the Holy Spirit to be a serving and liberating presence in the world. In praying for peace of the whole world and in interceding for those who suffer and for those in authority for example, the Church serves the world. As Christians we believe that we belong to the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic” Church (Church universal) irrespective of the denominations we belong to. The Church has a duty and responsibility therefore, to continuously give thanks to God for His blessings of creation and to pray for empowerment to do God’s will in society.
The Church within the Context of the Society:
The Gospel does not take the Church out of the world but rather it calls it to affirm and enter more deeply into the world. In doing so however, the Gospel does not allow the Church to accommodate to the ways of the world. Hence, even though the Church is “in” the world, it is not “from” or “of” the world. We must acknowledge that although in bondage to sin and death, the world is God’s good creation, for which and because of love, God in Jesus Christ became flesh and died for our sins and in that way guarantees us salvation. As a result, the Church and the world have a common destiny in the reign of God and in that way, Christians have double citizenship – that of the earthly kingdom (world) and that of the heavenly kingdom.
It is pertinent to point out here that the Church acts for the sake of the world in hope and prayer as we proclaim: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.” The presence and promise of God’s reign, here on earth makes the Church/Christians restless and discontented with the world’s brokenness and violence. In reality, acting for the sake of God’s world requires and implies resisting and struggling against the evils of the world. We must similarly appreciate the fact that although the Church is ideally “a new creation …from God” (2Cor. 5:17-18), it is still part of a fallen humanity (world), sharing fully its brokenness as well its evils and wickedness. This is the context and reality in which the Church and Christians operate and are expected to make a difference.
The Church’s Responsibility in the Contemporary Society:
As can be seen from the opening quotation, the Church has been constituted and structured as a society (organization) in this world and has gained from the experiences of past and present ages in terms of progress in science and technology as well as in ideas. The development of printing press, television, radio and other information technology inventions have for example, generally enhanced the spread of the Gospel. In essence the Church has been enriched by the development of human social life. On the other hand, the Church has responsibilities to this world and has in its own way influenced the world in so many ways. In playing its role however, the Church must be guided by one fact which is that the kingdom of God may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass i.e. for the fulfilment of the will of God on earth.
1. Evangelism:
Perhaps the best take off point for our discussion is to reflect on our Lord’s command when he instructed his disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations by baptising and teaching all that He commanded (Matt. 28: 19-20). Beginning with the story told in the book of Acts and continuing to the present day, the history of the Church is one of carrying out our Lord’s Great Commission. In spite of all efforts over the years unfortunately, the battle is not yet won as there are still billions of people who do not know Christ, meaning that they do not have a share in the life that He has won for them (and his kingdom).
This sad reality should naturally grieve and fill us (Christians) with the same compassion that our Lord Jesus Christ had as He looked out over the harassed and helpless crowd as sheep without shepherd (Matt. 9: 36). The people were distressed, troubled with many cares, doubts, fears, and sicknesses. They were like sheep without a shepherd. No one seemed to care for them. No one was helping them. The Jewish leaders were indifferent (so are many of us today). They were more concerned with keeping their rules and conducting proper religious services than with helping people in their needs. Jesus told his followers that a large crop was ready to harvest, but that there were few labourers available to work at the task. He asked his followers to pray that the Lord would find workers to send into his harvest field. Isn’t this the picture of the world today? Multitudes of people who don’t know the Lord are wandering around in the world. They are confused and lost in sin, searching for help in the wrong places and are like sheep without a shepherd. We need to pray for workers (and also make ourselves available) to enter this large harvest field before it is too late, before people around us die without Christ and salvation.
Our first task as a Church and as Christians is therefore to intensify our evangelical role in the society as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly however, instead of evangelizing to the un-reached we tend to be moving in circles looking for converts from within the Christian folk into our various denominations instead of winning souls to Christ and His kingdom (just as Christians keep on moving from one denomination to another looking for the “right” denomination/Church). Many open churches today not because they are necessary and needed but simply because of minor disagreements with the leadership of their parent churches while some do so as if they are business empires and limited liability companies, which pass from one family member to another as if they are personal properties or companies.
Worse of all, many churches and congregations are multiplying their memberships by going light on (watering down) theology and offering their worshipers diet of sermons and support groups that emphasize personal fulfilment (or prosperity). In doing so they depict to their members what one could call “user friendly” God who smiles at their lifestyles as they continue to live as they like, while dutifully attending these churches and dolling out lots of resources to them in form of tithes and offerings. But of course we know that Christianity is not like that. It is about commitment, servant hood and sometimes even sacrifice. Unfortunately, instead of turning the world upside down with the power of the Gospel, the Church has allowed the world to turn it upside down and to squeeze it into its mould (see Romans 12:2).
Consequently but unfortunately though, in our desire to make our churches more “seeker-sensitive” and “user friendly”, we have watered down the messages delivered from the pulpits and in doing so we have taken the “teeth” out of the Gospel to use the words of Greg Laurie (in his book: The Great Compromise, 1994). As long as we continue in this way, so long will there be many un-reached, since instead of going to the un-reached we prefer to go to the reached and by so doing recycle the reached within our churches and congregations. We must therefore return to the original concept evangelism aimed at winning new converts to the Kingdom of God.
2. Interacting with Constituted Authorities:
In witnessing to Jesus Christ, the Church announces that the God who justifies expects all people to do justice. Consequently, God’s good and just demands addresses people in the obligations of their relationships and the challenges of the world. As we very much know, through divine activity of law, God preserves creation, orders society, and promotes justice in a broken world and works through the family, education, the economy, the state, and other structures necessary for life in the present age. That is why the Church has a critical role to play in all of these sectors. Similarly, God institutes governing authorities and other worldly structures and expects that His children should be active participants in them, while holding them accountable to God (Romans 13:1).
As a Church and Christians we must interact with and be part of such authorities and structures to make a difference. To be effective, we must be in government and politics, in business and commerce, in education and health, manufacturing, banking, etc. with the hope that while there we will serve as Christ’s ambassadors. It is obvious then, that as Christians if we fail to be good citizens, we would have also failed to be good Christians. This is because both the state (society) and man belong to God.
The Church must however participate in such social structures critically, knowing fully well that not only God but also the devil and sin are at work in the world. Consequently, the Church must unite realism and vision, wisdom and courage in its social responsibilities Otherwise, it shall be found wanting in its involvement in these social structures as quite a number of Christians often are. The Church must constantly discern when to support and when to confront society’s cultural patterns, values and powers so as not to be maligned (messed up) with the world.
3. Rendering Humanitarian Service:
Humanitarian work has been and continuous to be a major role of the Church and Christians for which they must be commended even though much still needs to be done. This it has done through rendering services to members and non-members alike especially to the needy and destitute, widows and orphans; by establishing hospitals and clinics; orphanages and old peoples homes; schools and skill acquisition centres as well as universities among others.
The services that such institutions rendered in the past and continue to render are enormous and as such they need to be encouraged. Our Lord Jesus Christ in fact taught us this culture as he ministered to the needs of His followers, either by feeding them when he realised they were hungry, or healing them when they were sick (Mathew 25: 31-46). In so doing he combined spiritual needs with physical needs of his followers.
As a reconciling and healing body therefore, the Church is called upon to minister to human needs with compassion and imagination. It must strive to pioneer new ways of addressing emerging social problems like crime, corruption, violence and political thuggery, the scourge of poverty, hunger and disease especially HIV/AIDS as well as environmental degradation among others. The Church has also a responsibility to mediate in conflicts whenever and wherever they occur and to advocate for just and peaceful resolution of such conflicts and divisions as well as provide succour for those who become victims of these conflicts. The Church is equally expected to support institutions and policies that serve the common good and work with and learn from others in caring for and changing the global society. But how much of humanitarian services do we render this days? We must equally revive our humanitarian spirit of rendering service to humanity with our substances so that as we minister to the spiritual needs of men we also minister to their physical needs.
4. Exposing Evil:
The Church has equally the obligation to denounce the idols before which people bow (whether power or money, principalities or secret cults); identify the power of sin present in social structures; and to advocate in hope with the poor and powerless; the oppressed and the discriminated. The Church must similarly condemn arbitrary use and abuse of power; oppression and discrimination, violation of human rights and denials of fundamental rights of the individual. In essence the Church has the social responsibility for fighting against injustice, arbitrary rule, oppression, exploitation and the like and should set the standard for the society to follow and not the other way round.
In all circumstances however, when faced with challenges to our faith as Christians, “We must obey God rather than men” (or human authority) as we are admonished to do in Acts 5: 29. This may be easier said than done but all the same it is a divine injunction. The point is that while we should try to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12: 18), conflict with the world and its authorities is sometimes inevitable for a Christian (John 15: 18) as there could be situations where one cannot obey both God and man.
In such situations we are enjoined to obey God and trust his Word. We are encouraged in doing so, by Jesus himself as stated in Luke 6: 22: “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.” Martin Luther also opined that, the Church in contemporary world must understand that it has responsibility “to rebuke” those in authority “through God’s word spoken publicly, boldly and honestly” and that to so do is “not seditious” but “a praiseworthy, noble, and ….particularly great service to God” (Commentary on Ps. 82, Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan, Luther’s Works, Vol. 13: Selected Psalms II (St. Louis: Concordia, 1956).
5. Responsibilities as Individual Christians to the Society:
As individual Christians, we are expected to play our baptismal responsibilities in our daily lives as family members, friends, citizens, workers, and participants in public and private sectors as well as voluntary associations. This is because daily life is the primary setting in which we exercise our Christian calling. As we all know, the gift of God transforms the people of God for discipleship in daily life and in the body of Christ. The character, outlook, and moral convictions of Christians are however, shaped in distinctive ways. As a result, Jesus frees us to serve others and to walk with people, who are hungry, forgotten, oppressed, and despised. The example of Jesus Christ invites Christians to see people near and far away, people of all races/tribes, classes and cultures, friends and strangers, allies and enemies as their “neighbours.”
In these callings Christians experience both joy and brokenness and discover the sustaining power of faith. That power enables them to heal relationships, to challenge what dehumanises, to confront the structural obstacles to justice, and to seek more humane arrangements in their places of responsibility. We should recall the Beatitudes where we are reminded that: “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5: 13-16). The difference must always be clear!
The question however is whether as individuals and as a Church we are really the salt and light of the world. We wish the answer is in the affirmative, but sadly, the answer seems more likely to be in the negative going by daily reports of crimes, fraud, social violence, and other anti-social behaviours we hear every day involving Christians. The purpose of being light is clearly stated in the last portion of the above quoted passage (that men may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven). The fact of the matter is that if we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like (exemplary Christians).
On the contrary if we hide our light as individuals and as a Church by: (a) being quite when we should speak, (b) going along with the crowd, (c) denying the light, (d) letting sin dim our light, (e) not explaining our light to others, or (f) ignoring the needs of others, then we shall not shine. The expectation is that we should be the beacons of truth – we shouldn’t shut our light off from the rest of the world. It therefore matters a lot, how we live and interact with the world around us because it is through such interactions that we truly witness Christ to the world.
6. Promoting Good Governance:
Christians can also exercise their calling by being wise and active citizens. This may include service in public office. Along with other citizens Christians have the responsibility to defend human rights and work for freedom, justice, peace, environmental well-being, public order, and good governance. Christians should equally be concerned and critical of all forms of discrimination and under-representation in the political process and discussions that affect their lives. An important way through which Christians can carry out their civic responsibilities is through participation in civil society organisations and movements, both religious and secular, and through membership of political parties.
We also need Christians in politics if politics has to be clean. As citizens in the world, we can not abandon our political and civic responsibilities of voting and being voted for as we can not talk of changing the system from without. Instead we need to be in it to make a difference. The excuse often given that those who have been in politics have failed the Christian folk is not enough. Those who are convinced that they can make a difference in politics should have the courage to go into it to make a difference and they should be given the necessary support and encouragement. This is one major way through which Christians could play their role in the society and deal with some of the challenges they face.
Conclusion:
One could go on and on as the list of responsibilities of the church and of individual Christians in the contemporary society is endless. The few highlighted above are meant to stimulate further discussions. What needs to be emphasized is that we are in this world to do the will of God. In doing so however, we must be conscious of the temporary nature of our stay in this world and as such we should make the best use of our short stay in it.
We should endeavour to make a difference to humanity and set standards for the rest of the world to follow and demonstrate our faith through words and deeds and be role models. Let the society see the serving and liberating power of Christ as well as His compassion in us through the way we touch their lives, defend their rights, heal their wounds and minister to their needs. This is the only way we can be relevant and be true ambassadors of Christ in a world for which He shed His blood to redeem from sin.
