In describing the missional paradigm, Michael Frost articulates four postures that must inform the life of the church. While listening to the podcast of one of Frost’s addresses to Dallas Theological Seminary in March 2010, I followed his points eagerly, nodding in agreement and wonder as I was inspired, challenged, and awakened anew to the implications of the life of our Lord – a life of proximity, presence and powerlessness. But when Frost spoke of proclamation, something resonated within me. Of all four…surely this should be the easiest! Yet I was flooded with realizations of the ways I fail to proclaim Jesus in my life. Alongside the other three, the church must proclaim the story of his life, death, and resurrection and the story of the Kingdom of God which he inaugurates. Yet, as Frost uncovered, it often seems as if the “only paradigm we have for talking about Jesus is the four spiritual laws” and our proclamation is more akin to a dry sales pitch. The question why forced itself to the forefront of my mind. Why did silence fill the room when Frost asked a group of enthusiastic Christian surfers to describe Jesus to him? Why do we, as the church, most often tell the story of Jesus with strangers and acquaintances? Why is it easier for me to explain the colors of the wordless book to VBS kids in Mexico, in a language I barely know, than to tell my own grandparents of how Christ is transforming my heart or how his Spirit speaks to my life through the pages of Scripture? What has contributed to the seeming inability of the church at large, and to the hesitancy I sense in my own self, to truly proclaim the good news? While the reasons are surely broad and deep, a few likely factors come to mind. Frost and other missional theologians have touched on the point of isolation. So many of us are part of churches which swim only in the waters of their own culture and construction. Surely, it is difficult to speak fully of Christ to those outside the church when we do not actually have on-going relationships with such people. The problem of fear also seems pertinent; specifically, the fear of exposure. How many of us fail to proclaim because of the sinking realization that we so inadequately testify to his Lordship with our lives? Personally, I think that my own acquaintance with the ways I struggle to truly enthrone Christ as King in my life – and the accompanying guilt, the awareness of my failure in this – holds me back from proclamation. Finally, I would point to lack of practice as a devastating factor in this equation. In my own experience, there is a lack of speaking about Jesus – as utterly real, a dear friend and master, powerfully full of grace and truth for the broken – in our churches and faith communities. Maybe we simply need to practice telling each other the stories of Jesus and testimonies of his presence in our lives in a way that is genuine, excited, and on-going before we can speak of him in this way to those who have not yet encountered our Lord.
– Adrienne
Thank you both for your thought-provoking comments. One of the best examples that comes to mind regarding these things (both a vital experience of Jesus and an embodied witness)are the stories found in the early chapters of Acts, like Peter healing the crippled beggar and then immediately speaking to the onlookers. It seems like the experience of the resurrected Christ…and the Spirit…was so immediate that proclamation was just natural and unstoppable for them – like you said! Seeing one’s experience of Christ is as the basis for proclamation is at once daunting and helpful for me. Helpful because it relies less on my own rhetorical ability and skills, yet daunting because of the emphasis and exposure it puts on the actual relationship. But despite the anxiety I am tempted to feel with this understanding, I think it is a correct and good emphasis – becuase God being in relationship with humanity is at the core of the Gospel.
I think the idea of proclaiming what God is doing to each other is a good start.
What I have found for myself is that I tend to talk about that which I think about and love most. While in seminary before embarking on mission, I became known by a prof as the guy who always asked “are we smoking what we’re selling?” And this is core to it, if we are experiencing it, and actively learning how loved we are by God, even if we try not to talk about Jesus, it finds its way of coming up.
The other facet of this that I’d point out is the concept of embodied witness. That is, our actions proclaim a certain message, and if we are looking to align our lives to Jesus teaching to love God and to love our neighbor and not put our interests first, that is a proclamation that there is a different way of viewing the world than the way we naturally think of it operating. That inevitably ends up to asking questions of motivation.
Thanks for touching on this idea of proclamation!
Adrienne,
I’d say for me one of the biggest complications with proclamation is that i’m not actually experiencing the thing of which i’m supposed to be proclaiming. I have no problem talking about things that I’m really into. Its surprising to me how many people know about my hobbies, but not the ONE who is supposedly central in my life. Maybe, as you say, we need to practice telling each other. But maybe before we can practice we have to experience.
Dave