A Question about Centripetal Force


In Biblical Studies there are debates about whether God intended Israel's ministry to the nations to be centripetal or centrifugal. Centripetal ministry is about inward movement, drawing the nations inward toward Israel to learn from its example and glorify God by wanting to emulate the way Israel lives in obedience and blessing. Centrifugal ministry is about outward movement, actually going to the nations in order to share the blessings of God with them.

While both seem to be at work in the Old Testament, the basic mode of operation for Israel seems to be the inward, centripetal kind of ministry. Israel was intended to live in such a way that the other nations would want what they had. They were supposed to be the model of obedience, worship, and love. Of course there were exceptions, Jonah for example, who was explicitly sent to Nineveh to preach repentance. This is an example of centrifugal ministry, but it’s an exception in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, there is a change in the way that ministry happens, so that the basic mode of operation is centrifugal, outward movement, intentionally going to the nations to make disciples. The gospel has been made available to the whole world in a very unique way, and it’s our responsibility to bring it to them.

But should we think of centrifugal ministry as replacing centripetal ministry? I don’t think so. We still have a responsibility to both kinds of ministry. Sometimes, especially out here in a place like Turkey, we are tempted to focus on the outward kind of ministry: going to the nations, preaching the gospel, making disciples, planting churches, etc. But we still have a responsibility to the inward kind of ministry, to live as examples in this world so that people on the outside will want to join us in obedience and blessing.

God has given us the church, the community of believers, as the context for both kinds of ministry. It is the church which sends us into the nations, and it is the church which is supposed to be an example to the world. The church should be the place where forgiveness, reconciliation, sacrifice, obedience, and love are demonstrated. In the context of the community of believers, the world should get a sense for what the Kingdom of God could be like.

Jesus did call us to “go into all the world and make disciples,” but he also told us that the world will know that we are his disciples “by our love one for another.” He sent the church on a mission to proclaim the gospel “even to the ends of the earth,” and he prayed to the Father: “May they be brought into complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Our ministry is not just to talk about God, but to demonstrate what life with God is like, especially by the way we live with other believers.

So, the question is: How do we give unbelievers (in Turkey, for example) the opportunity to see power of the gospel at work in the way we live with one another?

Comments

Neil said…
Was centripetal ministry in the Old Testament actually God's purpose? My reading of Scripture leads me to see a God who is always attempting to move his people outwards in order to bring understanding of God to others, whilst living the kind of faith that makes the message attractive. I suspect that Israel did not live up to either of these facets - the prophetic ministry of the Old Testament is constantly calling Israel to "shuv" - personal and national repentance, in a way that would effect lifestyle and outgoing witness. The nation's obsession with the a chunk of real estate led them to forget their real calling, that of being the means of bringing blessing to all families of the earth.

It seems there is not much different today - we too are called to live our faith to the full - centripetal witness - and not become so preoccupied with our own environment that we forget that we too, by faith, are children of Abraham, heirs not only of the promise but also the commission - centrifugal witness. It has always been both/and rather than either or...
April 18, 2007 at 8:50 PM
Unknown said…
This sounds like "replacement" theology! Many at Biola would hang their heads in shame. Good man.
I'm praying for you guys.
April 25, 2007 at 10:26 PM
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