Four Shapers For Gospel Communication

Address to the Korean Seminary Q I count it a great honour to be invited to Youngnam to address you all. I am aware that I am following in the footsteps of a fellow Scot, who was a great servant of God who came among you all and shared the Gospel and I know is held in high regard by many here in Korea. John Ross may well have been among the last of the great 19th century missionaries who were not only diligent in their calling but were scholarly in how they progressed the faith among the indigenous people here in Korea. Ross tried to understand the society in which he was called to minister. When it came to translating the gospels Ross saw the importance of using the HANGUL script instead of using the Chinese script. This of course reflected his reformed thinking that the scriptures should be given to the people in their native language. Although he never worked in Korea his influence has been immense. Korean congregations were founded in the Kando area on the Chinese side of the border and many students attended the theological college he started in Moukden and I believe it is still used today but is now called the North East Bible Seminary. His passion was to find creative ways to allow the word of God to speak to the common people directly. This is what inspired him to translated the Gospels for the Korean people. How wonderful that it is the same gospel which has brought us together this week from all around the world to celebrate our completeness in Christ. PCK Anniversary What a memorable year for all the Presbyterian Churches in Korea as you celebrate the the 100th anniversary of the PCK. This particular anniversary gives all of us who are Presbyterians an opportunity, not only to reflect on the values we cherish most in our communities and resolve to find ways to sustain and strengthen them, but also to develop stronger links with each other as members of the worldwide family of the Church. We need continually to ask how can we work to promote the call of Christ to go into all the world and preach the gospel? On thing is for sure we need to do it in partnership with each other and in partnership with Christians from other denominations. Our duty is to seek the unity of e body of Christ at all times. Change of 60 years Morality verse Technology? This time of celebration, also invites us to consider and reflect upon the unparalleled change that has happened in the world throughout the past sixty years and especially the changes that have occurred here in Korea. As you move from being a nation that was once closed to the free world to being one of the leading trading technology partners with the free world. Technology the new addictive drug Korea is one of the best placed technologically advanced nations but perhaps we need to be reminded that humanity cannot survive on technology alone. Technology has become the daily bread of the many. For others it has become an addictive fix which can have a destructive downside. Technology is a tool We all need to ask ourselves, how we can be effective missionaries in a rapidly changing culture where morality is being challenged by the ever increasing advances made by technology. How we use this technology to proclaim the gospel in such a way that is honouring to God continues to be on the agenda. Regardless how we use technology in our churches we need to embrace a code of practice that will help us engage in a meaningful way with the world around us. Four essential Shapers of 21st Century Church I believe that there are four shapers that will help us deliver our message in a way that those outside the church can understand. First and foremost we need to be people who are shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel that is at the heart of the Church. Paul writing to the early church in Romans Chapter 1.16 explains that the essence of the Gospel is forgiveness and reconciliation through e cross of Christ. This is the message that is still relevant in a world of broken and abused relationships at a personal level and also an international level among nations. The Gospel has the power to heal restore forgive and continually sustain and renew people. It is the most wonderful joy filled message anyone can ever experience. this is a relational message that requires no technology to share. At is most effective it is person to person. Secondly we need to be a people shaped by friendship. Not simply friendship among ourselves as believers but we need to become friends with those who live around us. Mission is in the DNA of the Christian, it is a DNA that draws us to love our neighbour as ourselves. What should mark us out from the rest of society is our openness and our willingness to befriend the lost, the lonely and the poor. Jesus is the great example of that, he befriended those who were outcasts and strangers. The church that gets the reputation for friendship with the poor will begin to become effective disciples of Jesus. Drawing along side the outcast and reminding them that they were made by God for a greater purpose, can be such a wonderful life changing revelation Reminding the poor in Spirit that God takes great delight in them is the work of the Spirit of God. Thirdly we are called to be people who are shaped to engage with the culture around us, but not shaped by that culture. We need to understand the heart beat of the people we seek to serve and win into the Kingdom. This is what Paul meant when he said I seek to be all things to all men that I might win some. (1 Corinthians 9.22 ) He didn't mean that he diluted what he believed, no he tried to make the connection between what he believed and find out an area of belief that he had in common with those he was seeking to reach. John Ross believed it was essential to listen and understand Korean culture, thus he translated scripture in a form that was meaningful. We need to find ways to be church that embraces the good in all of our cultures. We need to guard against importing western culture and imposing it upon world Christianity. The fourth shaper for the church are the gifts of God's people. In Ephesians 4 Paul reminds his readers that they are to seek out the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order that the Church can grow and multiply. These gifts are also listed in Romans 12 . We are to be people who are not squeezed into the mould of the world around, instead we ourselves are being called to live holy lives. A church built around these four shapers will be effective and winsome for Christ. These four shapers are derived to help the church engage with a world that knows very little about the gospel but knows a great deal about broken relationships. . I believe that the story of the gospel highlights the paradox of the one and the many in Christ. The story of the lost sheep highlights for us the heart of God. ( Luke 15. 1-7) Individuals matter because community matters because God brought about the redemption of the world through the community of the Godhead. The Father sent the Son the Son willingly responded to the Father and the Spirit raised him up on the third day. The one in three and three in one. Connected and disconnected Now let me return to the use of technology as a communication tool. It can help create community and also destroy community. This rise of technology draws us into an incredibly strange paradox. We are the most connected yet disconnected of all the generations that has ever existed. We can talk to people half way round the world yet many people in the UK don't know their immediate neighbours. We never need to have personal contact if we don't wish it. Technology can't replace personal relationships We can grow large impersonal churches centred around technology but with no real soul or sense of belonging. The pastor doesn't know the issues that many of the congregation struggle with because he doesn't know them personally. Jesus talks about the good shepherd who knows the sheep by name. Church calls us to be integrated. To be a functioning body living out Gospel values in our communities. How do we train leaders and ministers to be effective in this environment? One thing I do know is that this generation whether in Korea or Scotland are looking for ways to develop more personal and intimate relationships . This is even seen in the world of celebrity where people look for that special relationship through twitter of Facebook. Community on the Net Church buildings for centuries were where Christian people met to build community and relationships. Today many of the most vital relationship that people have are sustained on Facebook. Of course the easy access to transport means that people travel in a way they never did before and it means that church buildings are no longer the glue pot where people return time and time again to be sustained and connected to community. We are people continually on the move. No fixed location -but centred on the Presence of Christ We need to find a different way to sustain Christian fellowship and community. We can no longer depend on fixed locations. The great danger that comes with a fixed location for worship is that the building itself can become the object of the worship. Too often churches have built identities around buildings and locations rather than around the Presence of Christ. It's time to re-focus our thoughts on these four shapers and allow the Holy Spirit of God to do his work God's Mission We need to discover and rediscover the Christ whom we meet in the communities we serve in the circles of connections we make in our families, friends, neighbourhoods and work place. The idea that it is God's mission in the world and we as the church are invited to accompany him is indeed a liberating idea. Let each of us discover this freedom for ourselves. Let us be prepared to use technology but be careful that the message never becomes digitised rather than humanised in our everyday lives. In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Four Shapers For Gospel Communication

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