Towards a Theology of Social Service€¦ · 25/11/2017  · Church’s mission to the margins • Church was at the centre of the society. • Now Christendom has ended. Our Congregation-based

Towards a Theology

of Social Service

UnitingCare Leaders Forum

October 10-11, 2017

Colleen Geyer

Assembly General Secretary

Rev Dr Ji Zhang 张骥Assembly Theologian in Residence

40-Year Celebration of

Uniting Church in Australia

The Basis of Union

Statement to the Nation

Current ministry with the First Peoples Collaboration and mission together

Covenant with First Peoples

As the Church believes God guided it into union so it believes that

God is calling it to continually seek a renewal of its life as a

community of First Peoples and of Second Peoples from many

lands, and as part of that to

Recognise that:

When the churches that formed the Uniting Church arrived in

Australia as part of the process of colonisation they entered a land

that had been created and sustained by the Triune God they knew

in Jesus Christ

Through this land God had nurtured and sustained the First Peoples

of this country, the Aboriginal and Islander peoples, who continue to

understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians

(meaning ‘sovereign’ in the languages of the First Peoples) of these

lands and waters since time immemorial.

Commemorating the Inauguration of

the Uniting Church in Australia

22 June 1977

Statement to the Nation

We acknowledge with gratitude

that the churches from which we

have come have contributed in

various ways to the life and

development of this nation. A

Christian responsibility to society

has always been regarded as

fundamental to the mission of the

Church. In the Uniting Church our

response to the Christian gospel

will continue to involve us in

social and national affairs.

Inner unity and outer service• The Basis of Union: Unity is our identity.

• The UCA confesses Jesus Christ as the sole foundation of the whole church, and places the Uniting Church in a network of theological, ecumenical, social and cultural, and international connections.

• Statement to the Nation: Social Service is our identity.

• Social service is in the DNA of the whole church. A responsibility to the society is fundamental to the UCA mission. Its response to the Christian gospel would include a commitment to serving people through its community services.

Collaboration and Mission Together

We are pilgrim people

• The UCA is not a fixed entity, but our post-denominational identity is

always in the making by the Spirit of God.

• We are pilgrim people on the way towards a promised end. On the way

Christ feeds the Church with Word and Sacraments and the gift of the

Spirit. (The Basis of Union, Paragraph 3)

Church’s Mission

God’s Mission

Tension between the Church and Social Service

Calling to take part in God’s Mission

The Oneness of Life: 葛洪守一，以知其子，复守其母，Knowing the children is a pathway to affirm the mother.

The Church and the Service

• The division between the Church

and Social Service is not only

operational, but also ontological.

• The Sacred and the Secular:

Mission of the Church is to bring

salvation to the world.

• The doctrine of salvation is single-

directional, from the Church to the

world, not other way around.

• Social service is secondary to the

Church’s primary mission.

Church’s mission

to the margins • Church was at the centre of the

society.

• Now Christendom has ended. Our

Congregation-based ministry has

declined.

• UCA congregation is average a

classroom size.

• Service was in the margins.

• Now we are living in a pluralistic

world. Our service-based mission

has increased.

• UnitingCare is serving 1 in 12

Australians.

Our being in God’s becoming

• “Our church is in Exile”, the 12th President, Alistair.

• “God is changing us in a powerful way”, the 13th President, Andrew.

• “The church is all about making an impact – not merely surviving”, the 14th President, Stuart.

• In the Preamble, God is moving from the centre to the margins, like the Incarnation.

• After WCC and CCA, God is in the minority churches, like the Risen of the Crucified Lord.

• After the Middle East, God is hope, like the community of the early church.

We are in the Global South, a new centre of Christianity in the Asia-Pacific.

In 1910, 80% of Christian population are in the Global

North.

In 2010, 64% of Christian population are in the Global

South.

We are like our partners, a minority representing single

digit of population.

We are like our partners, the Church live within diverse

cultural and religious contexts.

God’s mission

from the margins

• Church’s mission to the margins:

mission was from the privileged to

the marginalised.

• God’s mission from the margins:

service in the margins is a pathway

for church’s growth.

• Mission is about to incarnate the

life of Jesus in a vast network of

human relationships.

• Relationship, relationship,

relationship: Mission is about

drawing people into God’s life at

the margins of faith.

The Service is

the Church

3 Relationships of

Social Service and the Church

What the Church does: worship, witness, service

What the Church is:

a) The People of God

b) The Creation of the Spirit

c) The Body of Christ

God is calling a new

church into being.A movement from “Church Service” to

“Service Church” – WCC Ecumenical

Diakonia

“The Son of Man does not come to be

served but to serve, and give his life as

a ransom for many”. (Mark 10:45)

God has already been calling a service

church into existence for 40 years.

Loving God and loving neighbours are

two sides of God’s love for the world.

既知其子, 复守其母. To fully know her

children is [a way] to reaffirm the

mother.

Service Church is the People of God

• The first article of faith is not the doctrine of salvation, but the doctrine of suffering 人间疾苦.

• The birth of the Church was to break down the boundary of insider/outsider, make the “Jesus-Sect” radically open to all people of God.

• Service Church is in solidarity with the poor, the marginalised, the voiceless, the vulnerable, and the fallen.

• Compassion for life is the common good among the stakeholders: the church, the people, the government.

Service Church is

the Creation of the Spirit

• From the Inner life of the Trinity to the

Economy of God’s creation - we are

standing at the opening space of God.

• Mission is Incarnation, “the Word became

flesh and lived among us”, (John 1:14)

putting roots down in the Land and living

among the people.

• From “Mission to the Gentiles” to “Mission

with the Gentiles”.

• Prolongation of a dynasty and longevity of

a person are the same - preserving Qi and

loving people 养气爱民.

• The essence politics is not power, but

preserving life. The UCA will always be in

the society.

Service Church is

the Body of Christ

• Social Service is in dialogue with the

communities – all relationships belong to

the UCA.

• “The rising of the fallen” 落而起之 is the

embodiment of Christ’s death and

resurrection.

• Christ calls people into the fellowship of

his sufferings, to be the disciples of a

crucified Lord, in his own strange way

Christ constitutes, rules and renews them

as his Church. (Basis of Union,

paragraph 4)

• Life is inwardly connected; the Body of

Christ is where Christ is witnessed.

The Pilgrim People

of Reconciliation

40 years is not long, but with remarkable

achievements: “30,000 employees,

40,000 volunteers, 6 programs in 1,600

locations, 1 in 12 Australians”.

This journey is the UCA in the making.

The Uniting Church affirms that it belongs

to the people of God on the way to the

promised end. The Uniting Church prays

that, through the gift of the Spirit, God will

constantly correct that which is erroneous

in its life, will bring it into deeper unity with

other Churches, and will use its worship,

witness and service to God’s eternal glory

through Jesus Christ the Lord. (Paragraph

18)

The Service is the Church

Zhuangzi and Butterfly 庄子梦蝶

The Church lives between the Christ-event and God’s final consummation.

Two Discussion Questions:

a) Is UnitingCare doing mission on the behalf of the Church? Or, is Social Service also shaping the life of Uniting Church?

b) Is the ARCCS the Church? Has the ARCCS been life-giving to the whole UCA as the Body of Christ?