Bayne: the Church's mission?

Thursday, October 1, 2015
    Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
    Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
    —John 6:44 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Church has no mission of its own. All we can have by ourselves is a club or a debating society; and our only hope, left to ourselves, is to win as many members for our own club and away from other clubs as we can. And whatever this is, it is not Mission. Mission belongs to God. The Mission was His from the beginning; it is His; it will always be His. He has His purposes from the foundation of the world, and the means to fulfill them; and the only part the Church has in this is obedience—a share in the eternal and life-giving obedience of the Son of God... And the most terrible judgment on the Church comes when God leaves us to our own devices because He is tired of waiting for our obedience—leaves us to be the domestic chaplains to a comfortable secular world—and goes Himself into the wilderness of human need and injustice and pain. This judgment does come on churches and nations, when they forget that God is in command, that! He does the choosing.
    ... Stephen F. Bayne, Jr. (1908-1974), An Anglican Turning Point, Austin: Church Historical Society, 1964 (see the book)
    See also John 6:44; 1 Chr. 16:23-24; Ps. 96; Isa. 43:7; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 13:2-4,47; Rev. 14:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church must follow You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah