Faith, Economics, and the Public Square.

 "Is God interested in the public square? Many Christians seem to operate on the everyday assumption that God is not. Or at least, they assume God is not interested in the world of everyday work for it's own sake, as distinct from being interested in it as a context for evangelism. 

    God, it would seem, cares about the church and its affairs, about missions and missionaries, about getting people to heaven, but not about how society and its public places are conducted on earth.

    The result of such dichotomized thinking is an equally dichotomized Christian life. In fact it is a dichotomy that many Christians a great deal of inner discomfort caused by the glaring disconnect between what they think God most wants and what they most have to do.

    ...Yet the Bible clearly and comprehensively, in both Testaments, portrays God as intensely interested in the public arena of human social and economic life - interested, involved, in charge, and full of plans for it." 

Christopher Wright, The Mission of God's People pp 222-223.

Last week we asked how theology and mission - how theology and day to day life - can be seen as vitally intertwined. And here in The Mission of God’s People we see one area of our day to day lives being addressed that has for too long been overlooked by the way Christians frame mission and theology. 

This sort of insight, and these sorts of questions, are what we hope you can wrestle with and be helped by in the new series Biblical Theology for Life which Wright’s volume began.

If this specific issue of Christian thought and economics has struck a cord with you I’d point you to two resources. 

First be on the lookout for an upcoming volume of BTL by Craig Blomberg (author of the ZECNT volume on James) which addresses stewardship.

Second, if you happen to be in the area of Grand Rapids MI, you might be interested to attend the conference Doing Ministry During an Economic Downturn at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary on Monday October the 4th. Blomberg will be a key speaker, and we will also hear from local Christian business leaders.