NEWBIGIN STUDY GUIDES Study guides built around key works by Lesslie Newbigin that are designed to create thoughtful discussion on the endless intersections that exist between culture, mission, and the church.
The Original Context of Witnessing to Jesus Christ : Witnessing to Jesus Christ, began its literary life not as an essay but as a sermon that was preached at a Synod service on the 12th of January, 1956. The essay retains much of its sermonic character. Its an address and an appeal more than simply a theological tractate. But the essay/sermon is nevertheless deeply theological. It bears the marks of the man who delivered it. A seasoned churchman and missionary addressing a room filled with other leaders carrying similar burdens. Whether you are a leader like those who were original addressed or just apart of the wider Christian community or perhaps a curious skeptic you will find within these few pages a deep compelling statement of the reason and influence behind all Christian missionary endeavors. Because this essay began its life as a sermon there are some spelling and grammatical errors that you as the reader will encounter throughout it. Most of them are straightforward and easy to read through. (You can download or read online for free this entire article by Newbigin at www.newbigin.net) A Brief Summary of Witnessing to Jesus Christ : In this brief essay Newbigin sets out to answer a number of vital questions that anyone wrestling with the nature of the Christian life and mission must wrestle with: why do we witness?; whom or what do we witness to?. For Newbigin the reason we witness is because the Spirit of witness, God s Holy Spirit, dwells within us. The whom or what we witness to is Jesus Christ and the glory of God the Father. These questions while general in nature to anyone interested in mission had a particular scope for Newbigin and the audience he was speaking to at the Synod in India. They were being challenged by Gandhian friends who also at times made use of Christ but did not have the same theological affirmation of his person and work. Aware of the need to on the hand affirm the ethical virtue of the Gandhian friends in India, Newbigin still nevertheless drew a clear line for his listeners between their foundation for witness and their neighbors. To be a witness to the truth requires that the Spirit dwells within you and draws you to draw all people to Christ.
Key Quotes and Discussion Questions Based Upon Them The work of witness is primarily the work of the Spirit Himself, and only secondarily is it our work. We have an obligation not to hinder that witness, an obligation to let the light that is kindled in us shine before men. It is as if witness was something which happens to the Christian if he does not prevent it, just as a branch which abides in the vine bears fruit naturally if something does not prevent it. I do hot think that we find in the New Testament the kind of fervent appeals for evangelistic effort with which we are familiar in our Church life. It is rather that the Christian life is itself life in that Spirit who is Himself Christ's witness, and that therefore the Christian life is itself in its very nature a life of witness. - pg. 1 I. How is, The work of witness is primarily the work of the Spirit Himself, and only secondarily is it our work.? When people talk about mission do they typically highlight what the Spirit has done or what the missionary has done? How does way of viewing causality in mission change how we should think about and practice mission? II. How does Newbgin describe the Christian life above? If a sociologist were to spend several months in the average church in your community would she or he leave with the impression that mission was at the central of the Christian life or would she or he leave with a different picture of what was central? The whole character of God's revelation in Jesus is summed up in sonship. All His words and works are the words and works of the Father which the Son does because they are His Father's words and works. His whole life is simply obedience to the Father, and therefore to see Him is to see the Father. His glory is not something in Himself: it is His obedience to the Father and the Father's love for Him. It exists in the relation between the Son and the Father. - pg. 2 I. How does Newbigin describe the proper object of Christian witness when he says, The whole character of God s revelation in Jesus is summed up in sonship. All His words and works. His whole life i simply obedience to the Father, and therefore to see Him - is to see the Father? The Spirit who makes it possible for us to abide in Christ is Himself the witness to Christ. The life which the Spirit produces in us is a life which refers all the time to Christ, just as His life referred all the time to the Father. It is a life which has no glory and indeed no meaning in itself, but only a glory and meaning in its relation to Christ a relation of obedience and gratitude which points all the time to Him. - pg. 2 I. Newbigin is famous for defining mission in relation to the Trinity. How does he spell out the Trinity in these two previous quotes? II. Does the idea that we are called to witness to a divine community feature at all in the previous two quotes? If so Is community a valuable and relevant subject in todays global pluralistic culture? Most of our Churches are doing a good deal of preaching to non-christians, though we may sometimes be doubtful about whether the preaching is really making contact with the minds and hearts of the hearers. But what challenges us in the India of today is the rise of individuals and groups who have taken large parts of the ethical teaching of Jesus far more seriously than. we have, and who put to us, in a
way that we cannot evade, the question ' what have you got that we do not have?' So long as we stand at a safe distance we can certainly protect ourselves from that challenge with sound theological arguments. - pg. 2 I. What approach does Newbigin model as a witness to Christ in a religiously pluralistic setting? II. Is it possible that other religious traditions can actually take dimensions of Christian ethics more seriously than Christians do? If so, why do you think that is possible? The deep and fundamental difference between this life in the Holy Spirit and the life of the kind of non- Christian communities that I am thinking of is surely this: that life is one in which holiness, righteousness, purity are to be found in men, in ourselves; the life in the Spirit is one in which holiness, righteousness, purity are in Christ alone, and our position is simply that of forgiven and grateful sinners. It is thus a life which is itself witness, which has nothing in itself, which draws men not to itself but to Christ.. I am sure that this makes an enormous practical difference. The one kind of life must lead to an ever-increasing sense of strain under the intolerable burden of being the guardians and examplars of holiness; the other is a life of freedom, a life not under law but under grace, a life in which love is not a duty or a program, but the overflow of a forgiven heart. - pg. 2 I. According to Newbigin what is the deciding difference between Christian missionaries and those from other religious traditions who may in an eclectic sort of way integrate parts of Christian ethics into their messages? II. Is it going to far to say that for Newbigin there are only two fundamental causes for mission: a graceless sense of religious duty, or a gracefilled posture of love that flows from a forgiven heart? But this means that it is a life which is all the time referred to Christ and His atoning act, Because He had died for me, I am absolutely free free to be at the service of my brother in whatever way he needs me. The operative, controlling fact all the time is this: He died for me. Without that there is nothing. At every moment, in every word and deed, this life is the product of that act. - pg. 3 I. Is the atoning death of Christ central to mission for Newbigin? If so, why? Very deliberately I would say that the first requirement for presenting Christ to India today is not a new program of evangelism (though we need that), and not even a new theological clarity (though God knows we need that); but a rediscovery of the truth that Church life is life in the Spirit. That rediscovery will mean that both in word and in deed we point away from ourselves to Him, that we make no claim for ourselves, but a total claim for Him. - pg. 3 I. What do think Newbigin meant by a rediscovery of the truth that Church life is life in the Spirit? II. Newbigin acknowledges that the Pentecostal tradition focuses more about Church life as life in the Spirit? How does Pentecostalism realize that? In what ways is that particular traditions view of the Spirit helpful, in what ways is it not helpful? III.At the closing of his sermon Newbigin shared a story of a singular act of courage by a Christian teacher at a governmental training institution in India. How did that story illustrate what witness should look like?
N I G DES I B I U W G E Y D N U T S (THIS STUDY GUIDE WAS AUTHORED AND DESIGNED BY TONY STIFF) W W W. T O N Y S T I F F. C O M