Newbigin on Missional Community
Lesslie Newbigin was a missionary to India during the 20th century. Upon his return to the United Kingdom after a lifetime of service in Asia, he was confronted with the reality that his nation was less Christian than it was when he left to serve on the mission field. Newbiggin realized that his homeland along with the rest of the Western world was now a mission field. His writing and speaking urged Western Christians to rediscover the power of the Gospel to capture the hearts of women and men. He pushed the Church to recognize the crucial role that its witness as the people of God served in engaging Westerners with the Gospel:
How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power, which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it. I am, of course, not denying the importance of many activities by which we seek to challenge public life with the gospel‚ evangelistic campaigns, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature, conferences, and even books such as this one. But I am saying that these are all secondary, and that they have power to accomplish their purposes only as they are rooted in and lead back to a believing community.
Why is it important for a community of faith to embody faithfully and fully the values in which it claims to believe?