Gospel, Story, Worldview, and
the Mission of the Church
Michael Goheen
Vancouver, B.C.
Good news of the kingdom
The time has come. The
kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the
good news!
Mark 1.15
Headline news!
God is acting in love and
power in Jesus by the Spirit
to restore the whole creation
and all of human life to again
live under His gracious rule.
Five observations on the gospel
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It is the power of God unto salvation
It is the restoration of good world
It is comprehensive in scope
It is the climactic moment of long
story of universal history
Church’s mission is the historical
logic of the gospel
Comprehensive gospel,
comprehensive mission
If the gospel is
comprehensive in scope,
then the church’s mission is
as wide as creation!
Not one square inch!
There is not one square inch of the
entire domain of human life of
which Christ, the rightful Lord over
all, does not proclaim: “This is
Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper)
Our World Belongs to God:
Comprehensive mission of church
The Spirit thrusts God’s people into worldwide mission.
He impels young and old, men and women,
to go next door and far away
into science and art, media and marketplace
with the good news of God’s grace. . . . (32)
Following the apostles, the church is sent—
sent with the gospel of the kingdom . . .
In a world estranged from God,
where millions face confusing choices,
this mission is central to our being . . . (44)
The rule of Jesus Christ covers the whole world.
To follow this Lord is to serve him everywhere,
without fitting in,
as light in the darkness, as salt in a spoiling world. (45)
Fox and the Crow
A fox compliments
a crow: “My you
have a lovely voice;
won’t you sing me a
song?”
What is the meaning
of this event?
Fox and the Crow
The crow sits perched high
in a tree with a piece of
meat. There is a famine in
the forest and all the
animals use different
strategies in an attempt to
get the meat. The fox
compliments the crow. It
opens its mouth; the meat
falls out and the fox runs
away with it.
Don’t be deceived by
flattery!
Human Life Shaped by Story
“The way we understand human
life depends on what conception
we have of the human story. What
is the real story of which my life
story is part?” (Newbigin)
“. . . a story . . . is . . . the best
way of talking about the way the
world actually is.” (Wright)
Bible tells story of world
“ . . . the whole point of
Christianity is that it
offers a story which is
the story of the whole
world. It is public truth”
(Wright)
Biblical Story as Six Act Drama
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ACT ONE God Creates His Kingdom:
Creation
ACT TWO Rebellion in the Kingdom: Fall
ACT THREE The King Chooses Israel:
Redemption Initiated
ACT FOUR The Coming of the King:
Redemption Accomplished
ACT FIVE Spreading the News of the King:
The Mission of the Church
ACT SIX The Return of the King:
Redemption Completed
Hindu’s Comment
I can’t understand why you missionaries
present the Bible to us in India as a book of
religion. It is not a book of religion–and
anyway we have plenty of books of religion
in India. We don’t need any more! I find in
your Bible a unique interpretation of
universal history, the history of the whole of
creation and the history of the human race.
And therefore a unique interpretation of the
human person as a responsible actor in
history. That is unique. There is nothing
else in the whole religious literature of the
world to put alongside it (Badrinath).
Bible as universal history
 Normative:
True
 Universal: True for all people
 Comprehensive: Give
meaning to all of human life
Clash of stories
In our contemporary culture . . . two quite
different stories are told. One is the story of
evolution, of the development of the species
through the survival of the strong, and the story
of the rise of civilization, our type of civilization,
and its success in giving humankind mastery of
nature. The other story is the one embodied in
the Bible, the story of creation and fall, of God’s
election of a people to be the bearers of his
purpose for humankind, and of the coming of
the one in whom that purpose is to be fulfilled.
These are two different and incompatible stories
(Newbigin).
Missionary Encounter
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Normal position of church in cultural
context if church is faithful
Clash of ultimate and comprehensive
stories
Requires church that believes gospel and is
committed to shaping whole life by it
Recognises much good in every culture that
is to be embraced and embodied
Opposes and rejects idolatrous story
Offers credible alternative
Call for conversion
Encounter takes place in every sphere of
life
Claimed and counterclaimed
‘There is no neutral ground in the
universe: every square inch, every
split second, is claimed by God and
counterclaimed by Satan.’ (CS
Lewis)
Self-Chosen Name: Ekklesia (public
assembly)
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Contrast with names given by
enemies
Private religious communities
offered private salvation
Received protection from Roman
law
Refused these designations
Ekklesia: Launched into public life of
empire to challenge competing
allegiances
Church as Public Assembly
Such private religion flourished as vigorously in
the world of the Eastern, Mediterranean as it does
in North America today. It was permitted by the
imperial authorities for the same reason that its
counterparts are permitted today: it did not
challenge the political order. Why, then, did the
church refuse this protection? Why did it have to
engage in a battle to the death with the imperial
powers? Because, true to its roots in the Old
Testament, it could not accept relegation to a
private sphere of purely inward and personal
religion. It knew itself to be the bearer of the
promise of the reign of Yahweh over all nations
(Lesslie Newbigin).
Conversion of West at the
Enlightenment
European
European
Christianised
Humanism
Scientific
Humanism
Society
Society
Narrowing of Salvation
The early Christian belief [i.e.,Scriptural
belief] that the Fall and Redemption
pertained not just to man, but to the
entire cosmos, a doctrine already fading
after the Reformation, now [under
secularism of 19th c.] disappeared
altogether: the process of salvation, if it
had any meaning at all, pertained solely
to the personal relation between God
and man (Richard Tarnas).
Narrowing of Salvation
Ever since the Enlightenment, western culture
has found it difficult to articulate a clear and
compelling vision of God’s relationship to the
world. In reaction to the Enlightenment, the
theological stream of pietism has tended to
confine the presence and action of God to the
interior subjectivities of the individual
believers: “You ask me how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart!” . . . Since we find
ourselves in a scientific, rationalistic,
technologically driven society that leaves little
room for God, it is simpler and more
accessible to shift the focus to human
experience instead (James Brownson et al.)
Fact-Value Dichotomy
Truth
Claims
Opinions
Values
Private
Believe
Truth
Facts
Public
Know
Rise of term ‘worldview’
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Arose in German philosophy
(weltanschauung)
Introduced into North America by
James Orr and Abraham Kuyper
Made popular by Carl F.H. Henry,
Francis Schaeffer, Al Wolters, Brian
Walsh and Richard Middleton,
James Sire, Arthur Holmes, and
others
Need for Worldview
No one, I think, whose eyes are open to the
signs of the times, can fail to perceive that if
Christianity is to be effectually defended from
the attacks made upon it, it is the
comprehensive method that is rapidly becoming
the more urgent. The opposition which
Christianity has to encounter is no longer
confined to special doctrines . . . but extends to
the whole manner of conceiving the world. . . .
It is no longer an opposition of detail, but of
principle. The circumstance necessitates an
equal extension of the line of defence. It is the
Christian view of things in general which is
attacked, and it is by an exposition and
vindication of the Christian view of things as a
whole that the attack can most successfully be
met (James Orr).
Need for Worldview
If the battle is to be fought with
honour and with a hope of victory,
then principle must be arrayed
against principle; then it must be felt
that in Modernism the vast energy of
an all-embracing life system assails
us, then also it must be understood
that we have to take our stand in a
life system of equally comprehensive
and far-reaching power. (Abraham
Kuyper).
Agreement between Orr and Kuyper
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Christianity has a unified, and coherent
worldview derived from a central belief
Modern worldview is a unified system that
also derives from central belief, is
fundamentally religious, is embodied in
forms of life and activity, and is antithetical
to Christianity
Christianity’s only defence against the power
of comprehensive modern worldview is to
develop an equally comprehensive
worldview.
This worldview has bearing not only on the
religious (theological, ecclesiological) sphere
but on the whole of cultural life.
Worldview mediates gospel to
public life
PUBLIC LIFE
WORLDVIEW
GOSPEL
Mediating the gospel to public life
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Unpacks the Bible’s teaching on its most
basic and comprehensive beliefs
Clarifies the relationship between those
beliefs (cf. Niebuhr)
Defends gospel against error
Establishes foundation for vigorous
cultural engagement
Enables us to avoid misuse of Bible-biblicism and dualism