The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

your passion for seeking justice right here and right now.” What do you think about the Director’s opinion of the role of prophetic vision, especially the Messianic prophetic vision to in some cases undermine efforts toward justice seeking?

Including the Unlovely and Hard-to-Fit-Ins

An aggressive outreach among punk rock culture has been bearing fruit in a downtown church. Through a series of aggressive outreaches to youth in the downtown area of a major American city, a number of street kids have come to the Lord. These are striking people: they are in their early and late twenties, heavily tattooed and pierced, and certainly not conservative in culture or background. Yet, it is clear that they have made authentic commitments to Christ as Lord, and truly desire to learn what it means to be a 21st century disciple of Jesus. One of the things that has been instrumental to so many of them coming to the church and its evangelistic outreaches is the emphasis on freedom. The leaders of the efforts have preached fervently and brilliantly God’s intention to include Gentiles in his mercy, ordinary people from any place, non-religious, even the most unlovely and alienated can have a place in the Kingdom of God. The Lord used this message to attract these young people to the church, which has only begun to wrestle with what it will mean to bring them into full fellowship. The church, while open to all people, is largely a middle-class black church, and the vast majority of these kids are white, in love with rock music, and yet feel at home in the church. How would you advise the church to proceed in their own particular form of Gentile inclusion in their fellowship? Convicted by the total disregard in his preaching and teaching over the years on the “Judeo” side of the “Judeo-Christian heritage” of his faith, an urban pastor has determined to preach a series entitled “Jewish Roots: the Ground We Came From.” His intent is to expose his congregation in his sermons, special services, and the next retreat to the specifically Jewish-informed practices of the early Church, enabling the people to see as clearly as possible the connection of the Christian faith to its Jewish foundations. After about three months into the preaching and teaching, the Pastor has invited all to the church fellowship hall for a “Passover Celebration.” His intent is to walk the people through a Passover service, to explain all the dimensions of it, and show its connections to our Lord’s Supper. In a recent Board meeting he That’s Over and Done With - We’re Not Under the Law

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