This is actually a quote taken from David Bosch as used by Paul Knitter. I thought it worth sharing:
"Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put the church work above concerns of justice, mercy, and truth. Church people think about how to get people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world." (110).
Knitter actually uses this quote to generate a type of Kingdom oriented theology, practice and mission. This new 'regnocentric' (rather than Christocentric or even Theocentric) outlook recognizes that the church is not the mission of God but rather, "there is a church because there is mission."
The whole point that Knitter is trying to encompass is that if the church is not the mission of God, though it is still a necessary component of God's work of bringing about the Kingdom, then it may be possible to imagine other ways in which God is bringing about redemption and wholeness to creation.
It kind of puts a question mark next to the famous dictum: No salvation outside the church.
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1 comment:
YES!!
I was just talking to my mom about this (kind of) today. It's so helpful when other people have words for things that I'm thinking about.
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