Church History as a Witness of God's Mission in the World

so the title of this post is the title of the class lesson i just went to tonight. i know, it does not sound very interesting nor exciting. but surprisingly, it was the best talk about church history that i've ever heard! (not that i've heard a lot of talks about this subject since i'm not really interested in it and can never stay focused on the topic)

the speaker was the guy who is in charge of spu's school of theology and he basically gave a cliff notes version of church history with the emphasis on how the gospel was spread to "the ends of the earth". it was very impressive as he showed us how this actually came to be and very exciting to see how Jesus predicted this in Acts 1:8 when He said "You will be my witnesses....to the ends of the earth".

then the speaker gave highlights of each of the centuries starting in the 16th century. he highlighted what the major schools of thought and movements were in those times but he made it interesting by showing how it tied into how/why the church is where it is today. it was seriously the best cliff notes version i've ever seen and it made sense too...i didn't get lost in all of the heady, philosophical stuff. he even threw in some interesting notes about women's rights and the prohibition.

and at the end of it all, it wasn't just history for the sake of knowing history, but i learned about why there's a division amongst churches and how our mission needs to change so that people may see the "evidence of the grace of God" (Acts 11:23) through His people. and i also loved how he brought it all back to Jesus' prayer for his disciples (John 17:15-18). that we are called to live in the constant tension of living in the world (being relevant and not kept apart from it) and yet not a part of the world (we should not be consumed by the world so that we blend in). i loved the "constant tension" part b/c it's so true that it's difficult to live in that and not to give in and go to one side or the other which is what causes division between churches and christians.

great stuff....if you're interested in hearing this talk i think it will be posted online sometime...i'll put a link to it once it comes out.