HONOLULU — Christians are called to be agents of liberation, but they also desperately need to be liberated themselves, ministry educator Janet Clark stressed at the 20th Baptist World Congress in Honolulu July 30.
Jesus focused on liberation in his first sermon, noted Clark, dean of Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada.
In that sermon, Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,” Clark said, quoting from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
Janet Clark (Photo by Peter Traynham)
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“It is absolutely clear … that the ‘good news’ for the poor is not only verbal proclamation. It is accompanied by action — release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free,” she affirmed.
“Jesus’ mission is both proclamation and liberation. Good news and good deeds go hand-in-hand. The ministry of Jesus is holistic. The rest of the gospel is an extended account of how Jesus goes about accomplishing this integral mission.”
Jesus’ mission of liberation also is balanced — both material and spiritual, she added. For example, she cited both economic and spiritual poverty, as well as physical and spiritual blindness — all of which are objects of Jesus’ liberation.
Today, Christians often fail to maintain that balance, she said. “In our day, evangelicalism — especially in its Western manifestations—has tended to over-spiritualize the references to the poor and the oppressed and ignore their political and social meanings.
“But Jesus comes to make people ‘whole.’ His mission was scripturally promised, spirit-anointed, holistically demonstrated and fully integrated. How is it we miss this?”
As followers of Jesus, Christians are called to be agents of liberation—both for others and for themselves, she reported. “Are the features of Jesus’ mission and ministry reflected in my own life’s mission, in the mission of my church, in the mission of the churches of the Baptist World Alliance?
“Are our churches known for standing in solidarity with the poor? Are we known as tireless advocates for justice and as agents of liberation?”
Those are not rhetorical questions, Clark insisted. She acknowledged they are questions that must be answered by her seminary as well as by each congregation.
Still, even though Christians have a duty to help liberate others, that task is perilous, she warned.
“Christian history is fraught with horrific examples of the use of supposedly Christian theology not to liberate but to oppress to — justify slavery, colonization, the persecution of Jews, the ruin of ancient civilizations,” she lamented. “Often, this was done by well-intentioned people who were sincere in their beliefs but blinded by their social and theological locations and perspectives.”
Christians must take steps to avoid these dangers, she said.
“We as the global church must create partnerships of true mutuality and reciprocity as co-laborers in the mission of God,” she said. This involves learning to listen well and finding and choosing partners who will critique the mutual efforts — “challenge ideas, interpretations and directions, knowing there is sufficient trust in the relationship to bear it.”
“My greatest hope for the Baptist World Alliance is that, together, we can create such a space, a location, for genuine partnership, true reciprocity, deep listening, mutual critique and shared obedience to the call of God to be agents of liberation … and understand the call to liberation as inseparable from the ministry of proclamation.”
Liberation is good news for everybody — even those who typically don’t think they need it, she observed.
Participants at the Baptist World Congress included well-off and protected Westerners, as well as others who have experienced prison, poverty, persecution and oppression, she said.
“For the privileged, it is often difficult to recognize one’s own complicity in the oppression of others, harder still to recognize one’s own oppression and need for liberation,” she admitted. “Sometimes, bondage and oppression are hidden under outer trappings of apparent well-being, but its insidious impact is nonetheless crippling and life-destroying.
“This is not to over-spiritualize bondage or imply that all are oppressed in one way or another and thus gloss over horrific injustice. But it is to say that all stand in need of liberation from the forces of evil.”
That’s because the Holy Spirit’s call to liberation demands self-examination, she added. “I invite you: Hear the voice of the Spirit offering liberation for you — from what it is right now in your life that binds you, holds you captive and keeps you from walking boldly in the circumstances God has placed you.
“Ask God, even this day, to reveal to you where you need to be liberated.”
Marv Knox is editor of the Texas Baptist Standard.