IN THE BEGINNING AND NOW

by Dr CB Peter Morgan

“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too…” (Acts 17:6)

I wonder, if these charges were brought against us in a court of law, would we be found guilty?

MAN CREATED FOR DOMINION
It is commonly held, at least in traditional religious circles, that the Heavens and the Earth were created by God. They both reflected His glory and His handiwork, “The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Earth manifests His handiwork.” (Psa.19:1)

Although His creation was self-sustainable, it required management to guard it and to steer its development in keeping with the will and purpose of its Creator. Hence God created mankind to steward and to govern it. And man was made in the “image and likeness” of God. (To borrow an expression from my son, Pastor Christopher Morgan, we were made with the DNA of God i.e. with the “Divine Nature Attributes”.)

As the Biblical narrative goes, we were placed in an idyllic Garden with all that was needed for our wellbeing, and all that was required to ensure  our stewardship in the governmental development of the environment. 

MAN GOING IT ALONE
But something went wrong. Man was deceived into believing that he could go it alone without God. He knew that he had in him the very nature of God and possessed much of the ability of God. Indeed, He never lost the potential and the capacity to be visionary, creative and purposeful. Unfortunately,  he assumed himself to be  a god,  pursuing all his goals for his own sake and toward his own end.  The rest is history!

Everything that man creates, initiates, produces and organizes looks like a marvel and a great wonder. Indeed, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.” So the narrative records, “Every imagination of the heart of man is evil continually.” This is true in man’s domestic life, his social communities, his townships, cities and nations. 

History has left behind the artifacts of Empires, Kingdoms and Civilizations which have become empty and fully depleted.  Man made in the “image and likeness of God” has become a self-deceived, disoriented, disillusioned, despairing and self-destructive creature.

REDEMPTION AND RESTORATION
But God made provision for man’s redemption from sin and reconciliation with the Father-Creator. He would be restored to fulfil his stewardship role over creation and mandated to govern nations but only within the will and purpose of God.  

THE MANDATE OF THE  EKKLESIA COMMUNITY

It is in this context and for this purpose that the Church was established, or more precisely, the “Ekklesia” community. To them was given “the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven”. This was a judicial and governmental authority entrusted to God’s “New Creation” saints. They are now possessed by the indwelling Spirit and Nature of Christ to steward the earth as in the beginning. Jesus stated it emphatically:

  “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  (Matt.16:18)

This mandate was effectively initiated by Christ and left to be completed by His “Ekklesia”, as outlined in the prophetic promise recorded in Isaiah 61. Hence in the inauguration declaration of His ministry, He announced:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

And to declare the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk.4:18-19a)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS COME

It is no secret that from the outset the religious and judicial authorities within the Temple, the Synagogue, and the Sanhedrin were at odds with His declaration and with the focus of His ministry. This was especially so when He hit the road with the public announcement: 

“The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand…” (Mk.1:15)

This is the responsibility of the Ekklesia Community, to go into all the world and disciple nations, evangelizing the people and being the witness of Christ across the globe until the Kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. (Rev.11:11)

HAS THE CHURCH LOST ITS WAY?

Somehow, somewhere and at some time, the Church seems to have lost its way. It has become more protective and preoccupied with itself than for God’s lost people and for the stewardship of His creation. Rather than liberating the people to manifest God’s Kingdom rule in the earth, the Church is redeeming them to abandon the world and to anticipate their escape into the next world. 

In other words, the Church has for so long defined its mandate in narrow evangelistic terms that it has blinded the eyes of its own people to their responsibility as the righteous, redeemed people of God empowered by God to transform their communities and to develop their nations to the glory of God and for the good of the people.

As a consequence, the evangelistic imperative has been understated, undermined, underdeveloped, and misapplied. It has not been adequately related to the full message of the Kingdom of God.

Contrary to the culture of the traditional Church, in my immersion within the inner cities and within the sub-culture of our nation, I have developed an appreciation of the sensitivity of the people and the efforts of many of the marginalized to raise the consciousness of the citizens like themselves who are often ignored.   The offer of hope and liberation out of the poverty, brokenness, oppression, and bondage is coming from among their own prophets from themselves. Unfortunately, this often comes in the midst of crude, unconventional and extra-legal activity condemned by the status quo. 

“TWO TRUTHS THAT TELL A LIE.”

There are “truths which tell a lie” and which must be exposed as a challenge to the Church today. Sometimes what is true to some is a lie to others. What we see in open reality is not always the truth in its totality.  The Church must learn to face the truth in the external realities of the people and do something about it based on the hidden truth deep within the potential of the people. To do so we must engage ourselves beyond the walls of the Church and between “Sabbaths” as Jesus did. 

As Spectators hid within the sanctimonious security of our Churches, looking from the outside in, the following are condemnatory observations and conclusions we have drawn about the inner city communities: 

1. The urban poor in their vulnerability is characterized as despised, demeaned, and publicly stigmatized. 

2. To the uninitiated and the detached observer  marginalized communities are described as scary dens of iniquitous citizens dominated by crime and violence 

3. Academic and social researchers produce statistics of crime and violence that identify urban communities as the major problem centers of the nation.

4. They are considered an adversarial threat to the status quo and to the institutions of the State that consistently have exploited them.

On the other hand, immersed in the community,  looking from the Inside Out,  a privilege I have earned through my engagement with inner-city communities, (especially in Trench Town, Majesty Gardens and Southside in Kingston, and with Canterbury in Montego Bay)  I see them with new eyes and appreciate their struggle for survival. This is how I see them:

1. They are more ordered and organized than most other communities, with their own internal security system well armed to protect themselves from external incursions from rival communities, and at times from State forces against which they think it necessary to aggressively militate.  They rule by pragmatic leadership with efficiency and consistency not often seen in the wider society. Unfortunately, it is often governed by fear and intimidation. 

2. They are diverse in their economic resourcefulness developing informal economic systems some of which are extra-legal or downright illegal. They support the underground drug trafficking systems both locally and overseas, and are heavily involved in extortionist practices. This is their modus operandi for their survival. 

3. They mentor their own youngsters with remarkable devotion, insisting that every boy must grow to be a man,  able to defend himself  and fend for his neighbor. Every young girl must prove her allegiance to the community and assume her responsibility of womanhood by childbearing within the bond relationships of the community. 

4. In the world of sports and entertainment they have produced many of the most prominent sportsmen, musicians and entertainers widely acknowledged across the world. 

5. The inner city also has a high spiritual sensitivity which expresses itself in the indigenous and sometimes cultic religious forms inimical to the urban black African  culture. 

6. In the inner-city communities, they function with a judicial ethic as austere and rigid as the legalism of Old Testament Judaism. 

7. What was traditionally described as the sub-culture is fast becoming the dominant culture of the society. What was once regarded as base and crude public manners, have been nationalized and commercialized throughout the society. The ghettorization of the society has legitimized the culture of the inner-city, which  unintentionally liberates them. 

8. They have either become fugitives of the State or they have developed overt, defiant and extra-legal forms of survival resorting to criminality, banditry and other forms of social outlawry.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHURCH

In the midst of this phenomenon sits the Church, commonly acknowledged as the most pervasive institution within the society. It is said there is more of them per square mile than anywhere else in the world. How effective has it been? What is its posture toward the newly empowered masses within the inner-city communities of our Caribbean nations?

The Church is undoubtedly the most significant entity in the national landscape, first by virtue of its sheer numbers, and then by its ability to rally reactionary support against any action of the State, it deems injurious to the society and contrary to the biblical decrees of God. In actuality, its potential as a socio-political force is far less realized than it should be. 

THE ESCAPIST CHURCH CULTURE

In conclusion, it may be true to say that the Church within the inner-city communities has become more evasive and escapist in its mentality than intrusive and liberating in its effect. As indicated before, the Church is in danger of being seen as benefiting more from the vulnerable masses than it actually contributes to their social and political empowerment. It provides relief but it does not promote development. It may be evangelistic but far less transformational. 

THE KINGDOM CHURCH

It is my conviction that the Church is an instrument in the hand of God designed to build a community of righteous men and women who are prepared to go beyond evangelism to community transformation and national development. I always remember a statement I made in an article written years ago when I was still in my teens: “The people you fail to lift up from the ground may one day put you under it.”

I LEAVE YOU TO PONDER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1. To what extent is the Church aware of its mandate to disciple nations?
2. What will it take for the Church today to respond to the needs of the people and of the State?
3. Does the local or Caribbean Church have a theological perspective that makes it relevant to its times?
4. Will God need to set aside the present traditional Church and declare again, “I will build my Ekklesia”, to answer the critical need of our contemporary culture?
5. Will the people who are poor, oppressed, sick, in bondage, powerless and imprisoned – will they still look to the Church for their hope, empowerment and acceptance in every sphere of their lives — spiritually, socially, psychologically and economically? Or will they continue to look to the sub-culture of entertainment, sports, gang leadership and the informal economy for their support and liberation?

LET’S TURN THE WORLD “RIGHT-SIDE-UP”. IF WE DON’T WHO WILL?