一篇多年前翻译的介绍Newbigin思想的短文。
关于本人系统梳理纽氏神学思想的专文，请戳这里：
或上文的全文链接，最初发表在《福音与当代中国》杂志网站：
https://gospelchina.cn/article-detail/251.html
本人多年前为TGC翻译的另一篇介绍性文章：
https://www.tgcchinese.org/article/how-a-man-named-lesslie-changed-the-way-i-think
The Message of Mission：Leslie Newbigin on the Mission of the Church
In theological circles, the idea of ‘mission’ is clearly the concept du jour. While the idea of the missio Dei–the mission of God–extends at least as far back as Saint Augustine’s magesterial De Trinitate, the notion that the Church should likewise be ‘missional’ has only caught fire in the last decade.
在神学圈子里，教会的“使命”（mission）的观念无疑是当今的热门话题。虽然，至少早在奥古斯丁的巨著《论三位一体》（De Trinitate）中，“上帝的使命”（missio Dei）这理念已有所展现，但是教会也当照样成为“使命的教会”的观念，是在过去10年中才火起来的。
In other words, the idea that Christians should be ‘missional’ is not a new idea at all. The evangelistic impulse led to the spread of the Gospel in the Roman Empire and has been renewed in every generation since then. The contemporary impulse to return ‘missional’ to the center of the life of the Church, however, has been largely a reaction to the professionalization of missionary activities and the alleged isolationist, protectionist ecclesiology of 19th century Western Christianity.
换言之，认为基督徒应当成为“使命群体”的观念绝非新兴事物。初期教会在传福音上的动力将好消息传遍了罗马帝国，并从那时开始，福传的动力在每一代基督徒中都得到了更新。在当代，要将“使命动力”带回教会生活中心的努力，很大程度上，是对19世纪西方基督教被认为是过度职业化的宣教活动、备受指责的与世隔绝和小圈子主义的教会论（protectionist ecclesiology）的反动。
In the background of this discussion is British missionary, pastor, and theologian Leslie Newbigin. His work The Gospel in a Pluralist Society is an extended critique of the Church’s response to modernity and his proposal for Christian living in a pluralist society.
在此议题的讨论中，一位重要的人物是英国宣教士、牧者和神学家纽毕真（Leslie Newbigin）。他的著作The Gospel in a Pluralist Society是对当代教会对现代性孱弱回应的广泛批判，也是他对基督徒在多元社会中当有之生活的一个提议。
Upon reading Newbigin, I was surprised to read that his concept of ‘mission’ differs considerably from many of its proponents today. The term is often used to describe the external focus of the Church–that is, focused on the lost and on the world–in everything she does. Those churches that are not ‘missional,’ by implication, have focused only on experiencing life together as Christians. In its worst forms, missional churches strike me as little more than hip and theologically sophisticated seeker-sensitive churches–tailoring everything they do to the presence of unbelievers.
在阅读纽毕真时，我惊讶于他对“使命性”的认识是如此不同于此观念的众多当代支持者。此术语现今常用来表述教会对外部的关注，即，在教会生活的每一个方面关注失丧之人，和世界的需要。在此定义下，那些并非“使命的”教会，被暗指为仅仅专注于寻求一同经历基督徒生活的群体。对这个术语最糟糕的理解，就是神学上稍微比“对慕道友敏感的教会”（seeker-sensitive churches）复杂一些的群体，后者将教会的一切都针对慕道友的需要来量身定做。
Newbigin’s account of being ‘missional,’ though, is different than its current uses. He writes: In discussions about the contemporary mission of the Church it is often said that the Church ought to address itself to the real questions which people are asking. That is to misunderstand the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. The world’s questions are not the questions which lead to life. What really needs to be said is that where the Church is faithful to the Lord, there the powers of the kingdom are present and people begin to ask the question which to which the gospel is the answer. And that, I suppose, is why the letters of St. Paul contain so many exhortations to faithfulness but no exhortations to be active in mission.
但是，纽毕真对成为“使命教会”的认识，不同于这术语的当代用法。他写到：“在对教会的当代宣教使命的讨论中，常有人说教会应当努力认同人们在问的那些重要问题。但是，这实际上是误解了耶稣的宣教使命和教会的宣教使命。世人关注的问题并非是真地将我们引向生命的问题。真正应当被强调的是，只要在教会忠于主的地方，天国的权能就会临到，人们就会开始问那些只有福音才能成为其答案的问题。而正是因此，我认为，在圣保罗的书信中包含了如此多对基督徒要忠于福音的劝勉，而几乎没有对他们要活跃于宣教使命的劝勉。”
Newbigin’s idea of being ‘missional’ is much more sophisticated than “reaching the lost.” Indeed, he moves that goal to the periphery of the mission of the church. He writes:
纽毕真对教会要成为“使命性群体”的观念远比“触及失丧之人”来的复杂精妙。确实，他将此目标扩展到了教会使命的更广阔外延。他写到：
In this sketch of the logic of mission, it is obvious that the center of the picture is not occupied by the question of the saving, or the failure to save, individual souls from perdition…We must also consider the important passage in Romans 9-11 where Paul gives his most fully developed theology of mission, and here the center of the picture is the eschatalogical event in which the fullness of the Gentiles will have been gathered in and all of Israel will be saved…Plainly Paul is not thinking in terms for the individual but in terms of the interpretation of universal history. The center of the picture is the eschatological event in which the fathomless depths of God’s wisdom and grace will be revealed.
“占据这个宣教逻辑的速写图画中心的，并非是个人灵魂能否从灭亡中得救的问题……我们也必须考虑Romans 9至11章的重要段落，保罗在那里给出了他发展得最成熟的宣教神学。在此图画中心的，是一个末世性事件。在此事件中，已达圆满的外邦选民会被上帝召聚，而以色列全家也将得救……就此段落而言，保罗明显不是在思考个人得救的事，而是在诠释普世历史。图画的中心是这个末世性事件，上帝那无法测度的智慧和恩典将在其中显明出来。”
Our desire to preach the gospel, then, is not fundamentally motivated by the salvation of individual souls, though that is clearly important. Rather, at the center of the mission of the Church is our desire to be with Christ. Again, Newbigin writes:
因此，我们传扬福音的渴望，不仅是出于看到个人灵魂得救，虽然这也明显是很重要的。而更应该是，在教会宣教使命之中心，是我们渴望与基督同在。
纽毕真再次写到：
When Jesus sent out his disciples on his mission, he showed them his hands and his side. They will share in his mission as they share in his passion, as they follow him in challenging and unmasking the powers of evil.
“当耶稣差遣他的门徒去完成他的使命时，他将自己手上的钉痕和肋旁的枪伤指给他们看。当门徒们跟随他，并挑战和暴露邪恶的权势时，他们将分享他的使命，正如他们也分享了他的受苦。”
There is no other way to be with him. At the heart of mission is simply the desire to be with him and to give him the service of our lives. At the heart of mission is thanksgiving and praise.
除此以外，别无跟随基督的道路。宣教使命的核心，单单就是渴慕与基督同在，并以我们的生命来侍奉他。宣教使命的核心，是感恩与赞美。
Churches that promote being missional, then, run the risk of moving the peripheral concerns of the gospel to the center. A Church need not try to be missional. If it is a Church at all–that is, if it is the people of God gathered together to dwell with Christ in the power of His Spirit–then it will inevitably be missional.
因此，那些刻意想要“成为”使命群体的教会面临着一个风险，就是把对福音边缘事物的关注，移到了教会的中心。一个真正的教会其实无需努力着“变成”使命的群体。如果她真是教会，如果她真是藉着圣灵的权能而与基督同住的上帝子民的聚集，那么她必然将会是一个使命的群体。
The critiques of American evangelicalism by emergent Christians and post-evangelicals have some merit. But on a deep level, they miss the mark. The problem with late 20th-century evangelicalism is not that it ceased to be missional. Rather, it is that it ceased to be marked by a deep desire and love for the person of Jesus Christ.
“新兴教会运动”（emergent Christians）和后现代福音派对美国福音主义的批判确有一些价值。但是在一个更深的层次上，他们都错失了焦点。20世纪晚期的福音派的真正问题，不在于其使命特质的终止，而是其丧失了对耶稣基督的深切渴慕和热爱。
That is, it ceased to say with Paul that it desired to “know Him, the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection, being conformed to His death in order that [he] may somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead.” If they had made this their intent and focus, they could be nothing but missional in their approach to the Gospel.
换言之，美国福音派真正的问题是，他们已经不再切慕和保罗一起说我们渴望“know Him, the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection, being conformed to His death in order that [he] may somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead.”（Phil 3:10-11）若他们以此为意图和焦点，那么在对福音的认识和实践上，他们必定会成为名副其实的使命性社群。
原文链接：https://mereorthodoxy.com/the-message-of-mission-leslie-newbigin-on-the-mission-of-the-church/
作者简介：Mathew Lee Anderson是Mere Orthodoxy网站的创立者及供稿人。他也是几本书籍的作者。
发表回复