Reverend Alan L. Joplin Drums
The church is called to challenge its members to examine their behavior in private and social arrangements. Behaviors which perpetuate alienation and injustice, create the pent-up rage inside people and explodes as demons. Christianity in general is changing dramatically across the globe. Old paradigms are breaking down, and we need to explore fresh visions of what it means to be the church, and what it means to bear witness in our rapidly changing situation. I am particularly concerned with issues related to the impact of the gospel on American culture and the role of the church in living in that intersection between gospel and culture. The kinds of themes I plan to explore in my ministry will include:
- What does it mean to be the church in our culture
- What forms and practices best empower the church to bear witness in America
- What is the significance of the gospel in our global culture
- What are the theological challenges we face in our changing cultural context
- How should we look at our culture from the perspective of the gospel
- What are appropriate Christian analyses of modernity, post-modernity, pluralism and the other forces which are sweeping through our culture
My usefulness to the church comes with my teaching ministry and my commitment to community. Shepherding the congregation away from lethargy and towards pro-active, constructive action, which involves in listening to the pain and dreams of our nations people, and then to work passionately to make those dreams become real. The church has always taught Biblical messages of love. Today's version of such love includes radical insistence on renegotiating the value base of the social contract which holds us together and around the world.
My call to action: Declare an end to violence through educational forums, sermons and action strategies; Offer training for children, youth and adults in becoming justice seekers and persons not afraid of anger and comfortable/skilled in dealing with conflict; Celebrate justice and peace when you practice an act of affirmation of life. Call it a celebration of life and enable persons to see such rituals as an anti-violence act; Share my experience and strategies in courage in the struggle so we can build a variety of strategic responses, including worship materials, with other churches across the community; Develop a course on understanding violence showing and experiencing ways to resolve conflict without violence. Include resources to enable persons to understand the reality of death as a consequence of violence; To stand in solidarity with people is to describe this violence with an abundance of details so that their cry and their suffering shakes up the consciousness of majority America.
The Role of the Church is to make a sharp contradiction explode in the consciousness of the Christian, walking tranquilly toward Jericho when both sides of the street are full of dead, wounded, sick dying children and desperate mothers. When Jesus was baptized, says Luke, a dove descended and there was a voice proclaiming Jesus as the beloved Son of God. After this event, Jesus begins his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing, a sign that the kingdom of God is upon us. Jesus' baptism is the day of his "ordination," the beginning point of his work, his ministry.
Ordination is a Gift of God through the descent of the Holy Spirit. We are given the Spirit in baptism, not for some sort of personal comfort (though we will receive comfort from the Holy Spirit) but rather so that we might be empowered to participate fully in the ministry of Christ in the world. I believe God has challenged me to be who he wants me to be. He has challenged me to go as Jesus went. Ordination is my hearing Him and responding to his will for my life. (John 20:21) Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
My Choosing of God: He elects and chooses us to be the instruments of his work on this earth. He chose the disciples to distribute the loaves and fishes to the people that the people might be fed. I believe God has chosen me as one of his representatives to the hungry and thirsty. I was once hungry and thirsty and have seen the Lord at work in my life.
My Submission to God and to One Another: We are responsible and accountable to each other. We are obedient and submissive to the commands and to one another. This is who we are in the family of God. The Communion of the Spirit with the people: I am led to join with Him in his work and be used by him to do the work. Ordination is the sharing with one another in the power of the work/ministry of the Lord. The task of the ordained minister is a collaborative one, an enabling role. The leader aims to bring the best out of those who are led. I believe the service of leadership consists partly in provoking others to grow and experience movement in areas they have denied.
The Ordained Minister Should act in a critical and self-critical way, open to the ideas and corrections of others. It is this aspect which is so often absent in the understanding of collaborative leadership. The ordained minister's role will change as the collaborative nature of ministry becomes more of a reality, for its shape will inevitably be modified as new members are included and as different people move off and others join in.
Self-understanding is in key ways founded in the gospel of love and redemption. My own security and self-awareness, and the confidence to face the truths of self-knowledge, come from the love of God, the redemption Christ offers, and the empowering of broken humanity, which the Spirit brings. I view the role of the church as providing leadership in the struggle for change, Christ as savior and liberator. The view of the church as a leader in the liberation struggle is most closely identified with "Black Theology," which gained prominence in the 1960s. Theologically, this view of the church is influenced by the liberation theology, which has developed in Latin America, and the works of James Cone. A reading of the Bible from the vantage point of poverty or oppression places emphasis on God's partiality toward the poor.
Pressure on the Church to take on the role of leader and spokesperson for change also comes from its milieu. The majority of Christians in America are black and poor. Young people especially, in today's increasingly militant atmosphere, are writing off the church as irrelevant because Christians have not been willing to be radical in denouncing injustice. While the church remains important, increasing numbers sense that the momentum towards liberation resides elsewhere and that the church is merely responding to it rather than leading it. Nonetheless, in my view, the church needs to indicate clearly which side it stands on in the struggle. I view my role as helping to continue the dialogue and showing the relevance of church and God in the struggle for liberation.
Sanctification and Perfection: I hold that the wonder of God's acceptance and pardon does not end God's saving work, which continues to nurture our growth in grace. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to increase in the knowledge and love of God and in love for our neighbor. New birth is the first step in this process of sanctification. Sanctifying grace draws us toward the gift of Christian perfection, which I described as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." This gracious gift of God's power and love, the hope and expectation of the faithful is neither warranted by our efforts nor limited by our frailties.
Mission and Service: I insist that personal salvation always involves Christian mission and service. By joining heart and hand, we assert that personal religion, evangelical witness, and Christian social action are reciprocal and mutually reinforcing. Scriptural holiness entails more than personal piety; love of God is always linked with love of neighbor, a passion for justice and renewal in the life of the world. The mission and service represent one traditional expression of the intrinsic relationship between Christian life and thought as understood within a Christian framework. Theology is the servant of piety, which in turn is the ground of social conscience and the impetus for social action and global interaction, always in the empowering context of the reign of God.
Nurture and Mission of the Church: Finally, I emphasize the nurturing and serving function of Christian fellowship in the church. The worshiping community nourishes the personal experience of faith. I believe there is not religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. The communal forms of faith only promote personal growth; they also equip and mobilize us for mission and service to the world. The outreach of the church springs from the working of the Spirit. Christianity ties bind us together in faith and service in our global witness, enabling faith to become active in love and intensifying our desire for peace and justice in the world.
Reverend Alan L. Joplin
phone: 301.828.0844 Drums
