What is a holistic gospel witness?
A holistic gospel witness is a challenge to popular reductions of the gospel that diminish the full scope of the good news that Jesus proclaimed and lived. In Luke 4:16-21, Jesus declares that the Spirit “has anointed (him) to proclaim good news to the poor” and “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Colossians 1:20 affirms that through Jesus, God was pleased “to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” All things! Holistic gospel witness affirms that the good news is the redemption and reconciliation of all things!
In contrast to this understanding, the gospel (and our mission) has often been reduced in three ways. The first reduction emphasizes accepting Jesus so that you go to heaven when you die. From this perspective, evangelism is about saving souls and involves a simple transaction between an individual and God, after which we’re good to go. A second reduction defines the gospel in terms of belief statements and doctrines. In this version, being a Christian is about believing and adhering to these scripts, again limiting the scope of God’s grace and reign. A third reduction is to conclude that the gospel is (only) about social activity, such as caring for the poor and advocating for justice. But holistic gospel witness is so much more than any of these truncated versions.
God is about making all things new and establishing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. The testimony Our World Belongs to God emphasizes the holistic nature of the mission of God’s people by asserting that the Spirit calls all Christ-followers to embrace God’s mission in their neighborhoods and in the world by feeding the hungry, bringing water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and freeing the prisoner. We repent of leaving this work to a few, for this mission is central to our being.
As we seek to discover and join the Spirit anew on God’s mission in our neighborhoods, may we do so with the holistic, all-encompassing, life- and world-transforming good news that “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. … ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away,” for Jesus is making everything new! (Rev. 21:3-5).
About the Author
Karen Wilk is a Go Local catalyzer with Resonate Global Mission and Forge Canada. She is a pastor of Neighborhood Life (a home church movement) in Edmonton, Alta., where she also enjoys being a wife, mom, and neighbor.
