An Ecclesial Missiology of the Cross
world where Jesus is the model. In a familiar list of New Testament personalities his appeal is to the “‘narrow conversion’ of individuals who performed concrete acts of righteousness without any explicit confession of sin.”136 His list includes those who really live in the ordinary events of life without becoming anything special—either as saints or sinners. Shepherds are caught up in messianic suffering by simply being drawn to the crib by a star, the Capernaum centurion is a model of faith without any public conversion experience involving the confession of his personal sins. There is nothing in these lives which suggests a specialized “ministry” in a religious sense. Their “sharing in the suffering of God in Christ is their faith without method or religious act involving the whole of their life.”137 Bonhoeffer’s missional strategy for a church of the cross requires a provocative identification with persons modeled by Jesus Christ’s love for the whole person. The messianic sufferings of God in Jesus Christ imply being truly human demonstrated in powerless love for the neighbor—near and far—by living faithfully in daily events on earth as the place God loves.
An Economically Redeemed Church Finally, Bonhoeffer’s missional approach calls for an economically countercultural change for the church in its existence identified with the guilt of sinners existing solely for others, not for its own prestige or preservation. “To make a start, the church should give away all its property to those in need.”138 Along with this challenge to any church sustained in so capitalistic a culture is in North America, he suggests the radical
136 Ibid., 362. 137 Ibid. 138 Ibid. 319