Active participation ...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012. If we look back into history, we find many different attitudes of Christians how goals should be set and how to relate to the world. Here, “the world” is usually used as a term for the social setup with and without faith, i.e. the wider community we live in, state, business etc.

Stay away from the world? …

There have always been some Christians who were convinced that Christians should stay away from “the world”. People retracted into monasteries. There were various communities, who wanted to be silent places of the Lord. And we have seen quite a lot of influence of these communities in particular periods of history. The monks have influenced European history strongly, and by this world history until today.

There were other Christians. Being a Christian was reduced to “church membership” - and then everything was open. There were periods in history where faith did not play any role any more … church politics was in the centre, the New Testament forgotten, … Historical mistakes of the church led to counter movements, where monks tried to restore faith and keep away from worldly activities. In the evangelical area there were other movements like pietism, trying to restore a life full of faith facing a more and more secular or purely political church.

But what is the right relationship between faith and world? Is there one “correct” option, or are there many possibilities, a world of freedom which has to be filled? Do we need to split, or fully immerse ourselves? What is a good way to move forward?

God's directions …

God does not want Christians to be fully equal to the world, but he wants Christians to be fully part of the world. “Be in the world, but not of the world”, is said in the New Testament. Christians should be linked to the eternal source by the Holy Spirit. That will give their life a dimension which is beyond the world. It will give in put and power, which is completely different from something which is purely within the world.

There can be historical situations, where separation is right. If Christians are forgetting their faith, and pushing the wrong directions, it may be right for people of faith to step out and leave, founding new communities to keep faith alive. There can be other historical situations, where Christians need to do the contrary, go and be part of society, to live faith in the middle of a secular world.

The point of all of this is that God does not give us a system, but a heart and a mind, to judge ourselves and to make decisions depending on the particular environment. We are asked to actively participate … and live within the world together with him. That is a great and fantastic challenge! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts