There is a lovely story told about Dr Ida Scudder (1870-1960), a pioneering American medical missionary whose work transformed healthcare for women in India. Her legacy is especially tied to the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, where she founded what would become one of the most respected medical institutions in the world. She championed women’s access to healthcare and women’s medical education at a time when both were rare in India. She innovated rural healthcare through roadside dispensaries, bringing medical care to remote villages and inspired generations of doctors, nurses, and public health workers across India and beyond. One day a female Hindu patient asked Ida to pray with her because she wanted to become a Christian. When Ida asked why she wished to commit her life to Jesus Christ, the lady replied, ‘Because your God is so kind and loving… and you are just like your God!’

In this mini-series of ‘blogs’ I am re-visiting three questions that I have written about and spoken about many times before. Questions that we need to prayerfully ponder, both as individuals and as local churches, on a regular basis. Too many of us are still referencing personal and corporate ‘mission statements’ from way back that are well past their ‘sell-by date.’ Like the cassette tapes in the original ‘Mission Impossible’ series, ‘mission statements’ and the like need to automatically self-combust after three years max.

Julia and I have spent virtually our entire time as ordained and accredited British Baptist Ministers taking on numerically small, often struggling, churches, helping them (under God) to find a new direction. For the most part these churches knew that they needed to change, believed that God had a new direction and purpose for them, but were unsure as to what that direction and purpose was. We did not go to those churches with any preconceived ideas but simply with the intent to prayerfully explore the way forward together with the church leadership and congregation. Most of these churches had finally hit ‘rock bottom’ having exhausted all the usual means of achieving ‘self-revival’ – conducting endless inward looking ‘surveys’ to elicit the views of their members, calling a young Minister with young children to revive the non-existent youth and children’s work, engaging with the latest ‘quick fix’ programme promulgated in the popular Christian media – none of which actually achieved anything of value.

More by luck than judgment (sorry ‘divine providence’), over the years, Julia and I have alighted upon a process, a pathway, a way of prayerfully and corporately discerning God’s way forward believing that God has an ongoing plan and purpose for every individual and every local church (Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 2:10). Basically, it revolves around exploring the three questions – referred to above – that we need to ask ourselves, ponder thoughtfully and prayerfully, and take sufficient time to answer objectively. ‘What kind of God… and so what?’ ‘What kind of Church… and so what?’ ‘What kind of Mission.. and so what?’ In some cases we took up to a year to explore each of these questions in depth. Here, in this blog, I want to consider the first question (and come on to the other questions in succeeding blogs).

So, ‘What kind of God (do we actually believe in)… and so what?’ This is the first, and most important, theological question that we need to consider because – both as individuals and as local churches – our perception, our understanding, of God will dictate both our belief system and our consequential behaviour, life-style, ministry, mission, etc.

Thus, if we see God as just ‘other’ to ourselves – up there, out there, distant from us – then the likelihood is that we ourselves will be exclusive, separate, distant from others (and even reality). If we see God as somewhat hard, harsh, judgemental – a God whose primary purpose is to punish us for our sins and short-comings – then the likelihood is that we too will be like that as well. Our ‘gospel’ will be a ‘message of condemnation’ (as one preacher once proudly described his own ministry to me), and we will come across as hard and harsh and judgemental in our dealings with others. Equally, if we see God primarily as a God of justice – and justice issues are really important – we can become rather pedantic, always appealing to ‘the letter of the law’ rather than the ‘prevalence of grace’. However, if we see God as gracious and loving, kind, merciful and forgiving – a God who has already made a way for us to both find him and our God-given purpose in life through Jesus Christ (John 3:16,17) – then we too will have a Gospel that truly is ‘good news’ to share and a loving, gracious kindly way of living to back that up!

It is interesting that the Bible never argues ‘the case for God’ but simply states the existence of God as a ‘fact’. The opening verse of the Bible simply tells us, ‘In the beginning God …’ (Genesis 1:1). What follows (Genesis 1:1-2:4) is a poetic narrative (most probably designed for liturgical use in the worship services of God’s Old Testament people), the main theme of which is the wonderful truth that God and God’s creation are eternally bound together in a distinctive and delicate way. This is the presupposition for everything else that follows in the Bible. Only a foolish person leaves God out of the equation of life (Psalm 14:1; 53:1).  

Recognition of the reality of God is not just a matter of faith, however. Faith and conduct, belief and behaviour, are inextricably linked. We cannot divorce the two sides of the question we began with: ‘What kind of God?’ and ‘So what?’ Jesus began his public ministry by announcing (with his coming) the arrival of God’s Kingdom upon earth in a new way (Mark 1:14,15). A way that involved turning away from essentially a self-centred lifestyle to a God-centred lifestyle. Turning away from what we want to what God wants of us. And what does God want of us?  The Prophet Micah gave us the answer centuries ago: ‘God has told you, people, what is good and what he wants of you – to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8). All this is practically spelled out for us by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29). The real test of all this is not the ability to spout some formulaic nonsense about ‘having given our heart to Jesus’ but living a life full of God-given meaning, purpose, kindness, compassion, accountability, and responsibility in the light of God’s revelation of himself to us in Jesus. As Jesus told us (on more than one occasion) ‘By the fruitfulness of your lives, you will be known’ (Matthew 7:15-20).

So, ‘What kind of God (do you, and your church, really believe in)… and so what?’ Can it be said of us, and our church, ‘Your God is so kind and loving… and you are just like your God!’ As Dr Sherwood Wirt poignantly reminds us, ‘There is no point in talking about strong churches and weak churches, big churches and little churches, warm churches and cold churches. Such categories are unrealistic and beside the point. There is only a loving church or an unloving church.’

Jim Binney