Henry, Missional, and Redemptive

All those who want be known as missional should be made to sit down and read Carl Henry's classic: The Uneasy Conscience of Moderm Fundamentalism. Interestingly to me, through four years of Bible College, and another six years of post grad work, never once was I required to read this book. I cannot even recall any reference to it (maybe I was just not paying attention that day). Too bad! It should be required for all church leaders today.

In putting this work in the context of the current discussion on 'being missional," it reminds me of the old Huey Lewis song, Hip to Be Square. Carl Henry was missional long before it became hip to use the term. More accurately, Henry was concerned about the evangelical church's growing isolation from the world. The term he uses is, "redemptive" (his equivalent to missional). In 89 pages the word "redemptive," or some form of it, is used well over a 100 times - I quit counting at that number.

To understand Henry's concern one has to understand the historical context of the occasion of his writing (copyright, 1947). Henry is writing in the afterglow period of the fundamentalist versus liberalism battles of the early 1900s. That battle was over, and now he is in the forefront of the fledgling Evangelical movement, trying to steer a movement away from defining itself by what is was against, to now, what it was for. Henry writes, "Whereas once the redemptive gospel was a world-changing message, now it was (has) narrowed to a world-resisting message" (p. 19). And, according to Henry, this is not good.

In this particular work, Henry is calling the fundamentalist church (for him, the fundamentalist and evangelical church were the same and the labels are used interchangeably throughout the book) to have a dynamic redemptive presence in the world. His entire thesis is that the church cannot isolate itself from the world and must be intentionally and powerfully engaged in it. He writes; "The problem of Fundamentalism then is basically not one of finding a valid message, but rather of giving the redemptive word a proper temporal focus. Christianity still affords the supreme dynamic, the supreme world-view, the supreme hope" (p. 62).

The solution Henry calls the church to is to re-engage; to become "empowered ambassadors," and to understand the church's potential to be a "supernatural redemptive" force in the world (pp. 43-45). Henry states, his purpose is "to promote an evangelical conviction that nothing is so essential among Fundamentalist essentials as a world-relevance for the Gospel" (p. 48).

And this re-engagement must be at all levels and all spheres of society. This, according to Henry, is part of the church's mission. In his conclusion he writes; "The Evangelical task primarily is the preaching of the Gospel, in the interest of individual regeneration by the supernatural grace of God, in such a way that divine redemption can be recognized as the best solution of our problems, individual and social" (pp. 88-89).

Indeed, I believe the evidence suggests that Henry was missional long before the term entered the evangelical vocabulary. And I would suggest to all current church leaders who are interested in being missional (as I am very much for, by the way), that you get a copy of this primary source and read it carefully. It informs and reminds us well of the church's mission, or maybe a better word, redemptive role and responsibility in this world.

3 John 8

Bill H

You can purchase the book from Amazon: The Uneasy Conscience of Moderm Fundamentalism