Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

A significant part of the work of the Church is to fight the enemy, the devil, through a proclamation of the Word of God. We remain in continuous battle with the devil and his minions (Eph. 6.11-18), who seek to render us ineffective through direct attack, lies, deception, and oppression, both physically and spiritually (1 Cor. 5.5; 1 John 5.16). We overcome all of the satanic and demonic fury through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev. 12.11), as we take up the armor of God and stand against his wiles in the evil time (Eph. 6.11-18). Discussion of these important images of the Church will demand an efficient and effective use of time. All of the images allow for a wide berth of angles and issues to be explored, so for the sake of time stewardship, it will be necessary to determine how much time you will give to each image. It can easily be argued that the Holy Spirit provides us with a diversity and variety of images in order that we might derive a maximum amount of insight from each image. The apostles did not feel the need to share each image with each congregation or group of congregations in every letter. Rather, they employed the images to counsel and to instruct the churches about various dimensions of their unique and particular community life, and what they needed to change or do in order to remedy a particular problem, or resolve some relational tension. Use the times of discussion to show your students how to analyze and reflect on the images in order to fulfill pastoral and counselor responsibility. This is how the apostles thought, and you can use your discussions of these images to think their thoughts after them–or at least, imitate their methods. In discussing the student application and implication questions, it will be important to help the students understand the wisdom of the Spirit’s providing us with a diversity of images. There is no attempt by the apostles to harmonize them or classify them; they use them freely to address issues or needs, or simply provide us with richer insight into the nature of God’s community. As you answer questions with the students, help them understand how these marks and images can be an invaluable resource to understand the nature of the Church. Focus carefully on the

12 Page 140 Student Questions and Response

13 Page 142 Student Application and Implications