A renewed doctrine of salvation fundamentally alters the way we view mission. Instead of seeking to help people board the life-raft (church) on the sinking Titanic (the world), we are called to work with God in saving the whole ship. The "Titanic" theology that assumes we are simply trying to save souls misses the boat (pun intended). We cannot desert the ship.
The mission of the church is to renew the world with God, knowing that one day God will make all things new. In the meantime, the church works as an extension of God to bring renewal now. We live in the already/not yet tension of God's inbreaking future and save the people, not from the world, but for the renewal of the world.
N.T. Wright is right when he says, "the way forward is to rediscover a true eschatology." (Surprised by Hope, 264) If we want to move towards God's future, we must understand where that future is heading. If our understanding of the eschaton is destruction and desertion of the world, we will marginalize the world. If, instead, the eschaton is renewal and redemption of the world, we will engage the world and join what God is already starting to do here. This is a fundamentally different approach to the mission of the church and, ultimately and essentially, the mission of God.
shine!
Jason
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