Saturday, January 06, 2007
Judaism and mission
(backposting) Had a very interesting couple of sessions today. We had three people - two students, one ex-student - from the Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations. It appears that I was lucky, and got the best session. We had a very interesting and wide-ranging discussion, from the state of Israel to supersessionism (the question of whether God's initial covenant with the Jews has been superseded by the new covenant - or testament - of Jesus: a very fraught question), to questions of appropriate modes of interaction (and/or mission) between Christians and Jews.Malcolm presented another session on Judaism and mission generally. He raised the question of how we, as Christians, tend to be too hung up on using proselytising for mission, and altogether too obsessed with numerical growth. He wondered whether we should look at conversion by example: how if we live right, people may follow our example. This really got me thinking: our living isn't just at the personal or cell level, but also at the corporate level. The main reason that people who I know give for not being interested in Christianity is that we - Christians - live hypocritically: "how can I take you seriously if you don't even treat women and homosexuals properly?"
A tough evening on the pastoral side: thanks to Sarah for the support.
Labels: ERMC, mission, pastoral care, theology
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