Incarnational Ministry
Mar.09, 2011 by
in
Modern Reformation
J. Todd Billings, who wrote an appreciative critique of the idea of incarnational ministry for our March/April 2009 issue, has recently given a lecture on the same at Fuller Seminary and Westmont College.
For more, see this article and podcast from Fuller and this video and podcast (number 23) from Westmont.
Update – 10.25.11: Prof. Billings discusses his assessment of incarnational ministry further in the September/October 2011 issue of Modern Reformation.
March 9th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Basically, what should be said rather than incarnational ministry is: Be a mensch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch
July 10th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
[...] or ministry? Is the Son’s incarnation descriptive or prescriptive?J. Todd Billings in a lecture entitled “Ministry in Union with Christ: A Constructive Critique of Incarnational [...]
September 12th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
In a lecture at Fuller on Thursday, February 24, 2011 Professor J. Todd Billings of Western Theological Seminary quoted from portions of my book, Ministering Cross-culturally, Baker Academic 2003 (pp. 13-25) that presents the case that the incarnation of Jesus Christ is God’s metaphor for those of us who hope to engage in cross-cultural ministry. I was at the lecture, and felt that did not approve of my characterization of Jesus as a 200% person (100% God, 100% human), and the idea that humans could aspire to be 150% persons.
Billing’s critique of this common missiological theme is appropriate, and helpful. I agree with his point that the incarnation is “a divine act—something only that God can do,” and that “the power in the incarnation is precisely in its uniqueness.” As I have read back through my work, I would no longer write, “If we are to follow the example of Christ, we must aim at incarnation!” (p.25). I have never imagined that humans could become “fully incarnate” into another culture, as Jesus, wholly God, became fully human in our world. In fact my metaphor of becoming 150% persons makes that very clear. We can never achieve “full identification” with people of cultural origins different from our own. Therefore to state that we should “aim at incarnation” is clearly sloppy language and gives people poor direction for ministry.
At the same time, I continue to be moved by the power of the metaphor, and I find it compelling, particularly as presented in Philippians 2: 1-12 (NIV). The apostle Paul pleads with these new believers in Philippi to “have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had,” and then he unpacks that thought, saying, “who, being in very nature God … made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant … as a human being he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross.” We can imitate this attitude of Christ, and in fact, if we embrace this as God’s metaphor for our lives as followers of Jesus, we will have the insight to “not cling to” our self-centered cultural ways, and to take on “the very nature of a servant” among whatever people and ministry to which God calls us.
Professor Billings chooses to call this “ministry in union with Christ.” As long as he uses the Philippians text as Paul did to describe this union, and seeks to motivate us to step out of our cultural bias and add to our repertoire those values and practices which enable us to effectively serve and share the living Christ with others, he and I have no disagreement. Sherwood Lingenfelter, September 12, 2011.
October 25th, 2011 at 11:55 am
[...] Billings wrote an article for Modern Reformation challenging greater reflection on this question (see here for links to articles and audio). In that article, he engaged the eminent missiologist Sherwood Lingenfelter, who pioneered the [...]