{"id":2429,"date":"2012-03-10T21:51:51","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T01:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/?p=2429"},"modified":"2012-03-11T08:22:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-11T12:22:57","slug":"gospel-and-social-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2012\/03\/gospel-and-social-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Gospel and Social Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve not blogged on this topic in quite some time, but the topic of gospel and social justice continue to be a preoccupation of mine, and particularly the definition of the gospel and its larger context of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

I was reading recently and came across some useful ideas from John Stott. Here\u2019s the way Stott begins his book Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (1990).<\/p>\n

It is exceedingly strange that any followers of Jesus Christ should ever have needed to ask whether social involvement was their concern, and that controversy should have blown up over the relationship between evangelism and social responsibility. For it is evident that in his public ministry Jesus both \u201cwent about\u00a0 . . . teaching . . . and preaching\u201d (Matt 4:23; 9:35) and \u201cwent about doing good and healing\u201d (Acts 10:38). In consequence, \u201cevangelism and social concern have been intimately related to one another throughout the history of the Church . . . Christian people have often engaged in both activities quite unselfconsciously without feeling any need to define what they were doing and why\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition, in this same chapter, he refers to the Lausanne document Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility: An Evangelical Commitment<\/a><\/strong>. This document is well worth reading. In summing up the relationship between evangelism and social-political involvement, Stott writes:<\/p>\n

Social activity was said to be both a consequence of and a bridge to evangelism, and indeed the two were declared to be partners. Besides, they are united by the Gospel. \u201cFor the gospel is the root, of which evangelism and social responsibility are the fruits\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of the \u201cpartnership\u201d between evangelism and social responsibility the Lausanne document states:<\/p>\n

The are like the two blades of a pair of scissors or two wings of a bird. This partnership is clearly seen in the public ministry of Jesus, who not only preached the gospel but fed the hungry and healed the sick. In his ministry, kerygma <\/em>(proclamation) and diakonia <\/em>(service) went hand in hand. His words explained his works, and his works dramatized his words. Both were expressions of compassion for people, and both should be ours. Both issue from the lordship of Jesus, for he sends us out into the world to preach and to serve . . . Indeed so close is this link between proclaiming and serving, that they actually overlap . . . Thus, evangelism and social responsibility, while distinct from one another, are integrally related in our proclamation of and obedience to the gospel. The partnership is, in reality, a marriage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both these statements underscore the inextricable link between proclamation<\/em><\/strong><\/em> <\/em><\/em>about <\/em><\/strong>the Kingdom (evangelism) and procurement <\/strong>of<\/strong><\/em> the Kingdom (social justice). Both of these activities define the mission of the church. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For earlier posts on the topic see \u201cSo what is the Kingdom of God?<\/strong>\u201c<\/a> and my review of \u201cWhat is the Mission of the Church?\u201d<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve not blogged on this topic in quite some time, but the topic of gospel and social justice continue to be a preoccupation of mine, and particularly the definition of the gospel and its larger context of the Kingdom of God. I was reading recently and came across some useful ideas from John Stott. Here\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGospel and Social Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've not blogged on this topic in quite some time, but the topic of gospel and social justice continue to be a preoccupation of mine, and particularly the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2012\/03\/gospel-and-social-justice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gospel and Social Justice\" 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