Pastoral letter – To the faithful of the LORD,
Peace to you in the name of the risen Savior Jesus Christ!
Last month RTMC focused on the theme, “Church: A Community around Christ”, where we said that the Church’ cannot be simply concerned with connecting within their own community but they must go beyond their walls. And yes this is hard to do by ourselves because we see that many churches become obsessed with their established way of doing things, while being unconcerned with those living in the neighborhood. But again, we were reminded last month that we must not be merely interested in ‘church preservation’ but in ‘community transformation’.
The church in our focus this month is an agent of change. It is the function of the church to emphasise ‘community transformation’; but for that the church must maintain its own cultural distinctiveness in thought and deed through the help of Christian theology, and the Holy Spirit.
The Christian theology of the human person gives us a very high view of human life, seeing humanity as the pinnacle of God’s creation. We have a lot to say in the society about life and our relationship with each other. And we have the Holy Spirit as our guide to go about doing the above.
When we study the history of the early Church we find that the early Christians challenged their society based on their Christian theology of the human person and how the Spirit led them to assess their culture.
For example: Infanticide was common in Rome and Greece (and also in China, Japan, Brazil, Africa). It was so common in ancient Greece that it was blamed for its population decline. Children were left exposed outside or thrown into rivers and left to die, and no one had a moral problem with it. Christians alone stood firmly against the killing of babies because it was murder, and because children are seen as a blessing throughout Scripture. The Church was able to persuade the Roman emperor to outlaw infanticide and many Christians rescued these children and adopted them as their own.
When we the Church understand Christian theology and discern what the Spirit has to say about culture in light of Christian theology, it is time to take action. In terms of infanticide, there was nothing to affirm, so the church had to take action to move society closer to God’s ideal.
The early church is a great example for us today. It knew its theology, discerned the Spirit’s leadership, and then put their ideas into action to demonstrate Christian values at work for the good of the marginalized, the oppressed, and in fact for all members of their society.
Given that there are many concerns which challenge our city today, which ones are we as the Church most passionate about? Which ones relate closest to RTMC mission? What part might we as a Church engage in helping our city move a little closer to God’s ideal? – for we are the church – an agent of change!
Together with the LORD,
Pastoral Team
Richmond Town Methodist Church
“The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer
