Abstract
Michael Goheen is convinced that an English missionary to India born over 100 years ago named Lesslie Newbigin has much to contribute to discussions pertaining to contemporary ecclesiology. Goheen’s book, The Church and Its Vocation, bears this claim out as it introduces Newbigin’s ideas about the essential missionary nature of the church to a new generation and on a popular level.
Goheen begins by summarizing Newbigin’s teaching on the church as the community formed by the gospel as the climax of the biblical story. Rather than viewing the gospel as the church’s story, Newbigin argues that the gospel is the key to understanding universal history: a public truth claim that confronts all contending stories in the public square.
Unpacking the implications of this understanding, Goheen discusses what he refers to as the fourfold dynamic of Newbigin’s missional ecclesiology: the gospel, the biblical story, a missional people, and a missionary encounter with culture (9). Rather than functioning as distinct aspects of Newbigin’s teaching, Goheen demonstrates that each of these four dynamics is interrelated with the others.
For Newbigin, the church participates in the kingdom mission of Jesus as a first fruit of reconciliation and an instrument of restoration, declaring and displaying the truth of the gospel (103). Furthermore, Goheen demonstrates that, for Newbigin, the church is a missionary people, serving as a signpost to the kingdom both as it gathers and as it scatters. This means that the church has two simultaneous duties: to strengthen and vivify the believer’s kingdom citizenship and to involve itself deeply in the affairs of the world as a witness to the kingdom (111). Thus, he insists that the church not pit words against deeds when discussing its call to witness—an insistence the contemporary church does well to heed (79).
Ultimately, Newbigin’s perspective provides significant insight into contemporary ecclesiological issues. Yet, if one were looking for a point of critique, it might be found in Goheen’s reticence to overtly identify points of interaction between specific current ecclesiological debates and Newbigin’s work. Though sufficient for readers who keep abreast of such discussions, the less-informed reader might struggle throughout the book to see where the theological rubber of Newbigin’s ideas hits the road of today’s ecclesiological issues. Nonetheless, Goheen’s expertise on Newbigin’s thought comes through brilliantly. This book deserves unqualified recommendation as a primer to Newbigin’s important voice and relevant contribution as he argues for missional ecclesiology.