Showing posts with label Leslie Newbigin. Show all posts

Image via WikipediaRob Bell. Rob Bell. Rob Bell.   Man, haven't we heard enough?

No!, I say.  This is good stuff.  This is good discussion.  And, a lot of the blogs I follow have taken sides on the "Rob Bell Issue."

Well, more fuel to add to our theological fire.

I was reading over at NextReformation.com about the ongoing debate.  There, I found a great quote about this issue.  The post closed with this quote from Leslie Newbigin.  This rides the fence in wonderful fashion.

“exclusive in the sense of affirming the unique truth in the revelation of Jesus Christ, but not in the sense of denying the possibility of salvation to those outside the Christian faith; inclusive in the sense of refusing to limit the saving grace of God to Christians, but not in the sense of viewing other religions as salvific; pluralist in the sense of acknowledging the gracious work of God in the lives of all human beings, but not in the sense of denying the unique and decisive nature of what God has done in Jesus Christ.” The Gospel in a Pluralist Society 1989 182-3

Cover via Amazon“Allen’s charge against modern missions was that they had been tempted by their alliance with colonial powers to act as though the mission of the church could be pursued in the style of a cultural educational campaign, as though the object was to multiply replicas of the sending churches. In contrast Allen rightly saw that in the New Testament portrayal of mission the central reality is the active work of the living Holy Spirit himself. It is the Spirit who brings about conversion, the Spirit who equips those who are called with the gifts needed for all the varied forms of ministry, and the Spirit who guides the church into all the truth. The Spirit is not the property of the sending church or the missionary who is sent. It is not part of the missionary’s duty to mold the new church in to the style of the old. The Spirit is sovereign and free…”

Newbigin, The Open Secret, 130

(H/T -- The Next Reformation)