In addition to what was said yesterday, the trans-congregational church can help make connections for ministry possible across diverse and distant communities. If the message of Christ in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that our neighbor is anyone in need, then the denominational structures, with their larger connections, can enable local people and congregations to hear the cries of God’s people and also discover ways in which to offer effective ministry. A global ministry for a global Christ allows us to hear how “God so loved the world that God gave his only Son…” (John 3:16) and to respond faithfully.
A third opportunity for the trans-congregational forms of the Body of Christ is to help us experience the pluralistic Christ in a way that helps us to move beyond the milk of the faith and begin to chew on solid food. (1 Corinthians 3:1-4)
The increasing global contact of Christians has opened our eyes to the reality that the words of Scripture sound different depending on the situation you are experiencing when you hear it. “To sell all you have and give to the poor” sounds different to a wealthy person than it does to a peasant. That God would hear the cry of slaves and act to liberate them in a manner that resulted in violence would sound different to a member of a comfortable congregation in a society which is primarily concerned with order and safety than to a peasant who virtually works as an indentured servant without prospect of a changed future.
The complexity of the world requires that Christians grow in maturity. To recognize how Christ is heard so differently in different contexts challenges us grow in our capacity to listen to a God who is not encapsulated by our culture and situation. The fact that the church is spread across the world enables the trans-congregational structures to bring together a diverse people to listen to the Christ address us in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. (Galatians 3:28) We are in effect building the theological community that can give witness to the oneness of Christ.
