Conversion to Christ does not isolate the convert from his or her community. It begins the conversion of that community. …Discipling is a long process—it takes generations. Christian proclamation is for the children and grandchildren of the people who hear it.Andrew Walls
The spread of the gospel is often presented as inexorable progress outward, like an inkblot, but Walls saw that time and again the real story was of ebb and flow. The loss of Christian territory happened not just on the periphery but at the heartland. Jerusalem was the first heartland until the Romans leveled it, and the Jewish church all but ceased to exist. Then came Rome, until the northern Vandals sacked it; Constantinople, until Islam overran it; northern Europe, before Enlightenment skepticism cut its heart out. At each turning point, the gospel made a great escape, crossing over into an unknown culture just before disaster struck. History suggested that Christianity lives by this pilgrim principle.
ChristianityToday, on Walls' thoughts on church history.
1 comment:
I really like that first quote - where's it from? I think it's especially helpful for people (like me, like us) who are not from a long-line of Christians. Thanks for posting it, Badger.
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