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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Friends:
At the center of the experience of the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus for the early Christians was the reality of something new.
Clearly, as the pastoral letters demonstrate, the early believers
were not called to something perfect but something new. They struggled
to take in this call to a new creation or to a new humanity. I would
think that the earliest believers were both compelled by this new
power released in the Jesus event and also perplexed by it. Compelled
to consider how through Christ, God’s love called them to
a new life with new power and with a new community. They must have
been perplexed by all the potential difficulties this new reality
might cause them. For instance, they had to change their social
location and their political affiliation. To be in the new humanity
meant that faith commitments were more important than family relations.
To be in the new humanity meant that no political or social allegiance
could take precedence over one’s commitment to Christ. Life
was now to be defined by discipleship to Jesus while living in the
new community, the church.
When the apostle Paul talks about this new thing, he tends to
talk about reconciliation. Romans 5:10 – “For if while
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of
his son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved
by his life.” – is a good example of how Paul thinks
about what is available to the believer through Christ. Not only
is new power available to both Jew and Gentile, but the church is
also given the ministry of reconciliation. In II Corinthians 5:16-20,
Paul makes this bold affirmation:
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point
of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of
view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ,
there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything
has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message
of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since
God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf
of Christ, be reconciled to God.
How do we journey together toward this new creation? In the midst
of a world of division, how do we train Christian leaders who can
navigate the ship of faith toward the new creation? It is important
that we understand difference and diversity as we move toward the
new. It is not sufficient to act like new “creatures”
are all the same. We certainly are not. Nor can we pretend that
we live in a world that acts like it has been reconciled to God
or to others. We live in a world filled with greed, war, and violence.
Yet, we are called to be new and the restoration of justice is a
large part of what reconciliation must be about. This call to be
reconciled is not an option you can choose; it is a demand that
the Gospel makes on believers and on the church.
How do we work on reconciliation at ABSW? We are working as a
faculty and staff to talk with each other and we are centering our
worship as a community of faith on the theme of reconciliation.
I am hopeful that our focus on the theme of reconciliation will
help our students to learn to lead in a more compassionate manner.
The church is too often consumed with bickering about who is in
charge or who is “correct” rather than on “making
an appeal” to be reconciled to both God and each other.
I am excited about the conversations that we are having together
here at school. Reconciliation is my theme for the year and I will
be preaching and teaching on this new reality every time I have
chance. I look forward to reporting in later issues of Perspectives
on the fruits of our conversations.
Please pray for our school and our students. We are working hard
to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.”
Faithfully yours,
Keith A. Russell
President
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