What is the Primary Role of the Church in Today's World?

What is the primary role of the Church in today’s world?

The primary purpose of the Church contemporarily, as it has been historically, is developing a fellowship of believers who mature into genuine disciples, adhering unconditionally to The Great Commandment and achieving The Great Commission by evangelizing the entire world.  The Church meets these biblical mandates by prioritizing people.  More practically, the Church has a stewardship obligation to utilize her resources to assist each disciple in actualizing his God given talents to the fullest extent of his natural endowments and personal application.  More especially, the Church has the prophetic and social justice prerogative to demand a just and equitable society.  Whether the local homeless, the rising national prison population, or the instability in the global economy and international geopolitical relations, the Church must fulfill unflinchingly her divine charge to care for “least of these” through serving direct needs and prophetic advocacy.  

I greatly lament the disappearing distinctions between the Church and the dominant culture.  Is there any longer a clear and discernible difference between the priorities, allocation of resources, principles and personal behavior of the average church attendee and that of someone who espouses any Christian beliefs?  The Church possesses a particular prerogative to transform society into the kingdom of God in which grand aims of the Hebrew prophets concerning truth, justice, mercy, and integrity become a reality.  The Church ought to resist the tendency to emulate the felicities of bourgeois culture and its concomitant bohemianism.

In Matthew 25, the Lord Jesus declares we best serve Him by caring for the most vulnerable citizens: single mothers, impoverished children, physically and mentally challenged, senior citizens on fixed income and facing major health challenges, and the economically disadvantaged who lack health insurance.  In accordance with the biblical mandate to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves, I contend the Church intervenes in governmental affairs, policy decision making and the distribution of resources to prevent the further dehumanization and marginalization of this segment of the population.  The Lord characterizes these citizens as “the least of these.” Very unfortunately, many Christian clergy and laity support policies that denigrate the very people they serve.  In some sectors of the Church, the lines between a devout Christian and a social conservative have been so blurred that public discourse fails to make critical distinctions.  The values of privatized, consumerist capitalism emphasizing “rugged individualism” arguably are very different from a biblically based worldview that centers upon social advocacy and justice.

The tendency of church attendees to assimilate popular culture and secular, humanistic society creates the greatest impediment to Christian spirituality.  Accommodations to cable television, Hollywood and Madison Avenue advertising greatly undermine the Church’s ability to transform society into the kingdom of God.  The removal of all political, economic and social barriers is a prerequisite to the emergence of the kingdom.  Acknowledging the Lord’s words that the poor will remain always, the kingdom of God fulfills the grand visions of Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18 and Matthew 25.  “The least of these” receive particular care to preserve their human dignity and sanctity as children of God.  It is the Church’s particular prerogative to ensure society distributes its resources fairly and care for the poor in the process.  Nonetheless, when church attendees have greater clarity about their political affiliations than their biblical and theological beliefs, they remain ignorant of “The Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:34-40) and “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16-20).  Regrettably, many church attendees listen more attentively to the clarion calls of lobbying firms of “Avenue K” in Washington DC than they do local pastors who offer the prophetic vision of the kingdom of God.