The Parish Principle

The relation between the Church in a 'place' and the secular reality of that 'place' is intrinsic, not extrinsic. It is not just that it happens to be located in that spot on the map. It is the Church of God for that place, and that is because the Church does not exist for itself, but for God, and for the world which Jesus came to save.

I do not think we shall recover the true form of the parish [the Church of God for a place] until we recover a truly missionary approach to our culture. I do not think we shall achieve a truly missionary encounter with our culture without recovering the true form of the parish. These two tasks are reciprocally related to each other, and we have to work together on them both. (Weston, Paul. "Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian." Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 2006 p133, 142)

In the past several weeks, the parish principle has been brewing in me, realizing that the very definition of the Church is the mission of God to a particular place. We are His ambassadors, which makes the Church a local embassy of the Kingdom of God among those who do not acknowledge His rule. We are not an affinity club for Christians of similar doctrine, worship preference or social agenda. We are placed in a place to bring the good news of the Kingdom to that place, and if we function otherwise, we are dysfunctional.