Salt, Light and Cities on Hills:
Evangelism, Social Action and the Church by Melvin Tinker
The uneasy relationship
between social justice and evangelism has troubled evangelicals for some
time. The desire to focus on social
justice issues as primary puts evangelicals in a bind because they often feel that
evangelism and gospel believing proclamation is lost. Yet, as Pastor Melvin Tinker points out that
there should not be a strong division between the two if we rightly understand the
good news of Jesus Christ.
Broadening
the landscape of social action and evangelism, Tinker gives us a historical
snapshot in the first chapter surrounding these issues in Britain in the 19th
and 20th centuries. With some
groups, social action was carried out with little or no biblical basis (24),
yet others such as D. Marty-Lloyd Jones were convinced that the Kingdom of God,
the salvation of souls was primary and Christian witness in the halls of
justice were second (24-26). There is an
uneasiness in the history of evangelical thought regarding social action from
Stott to Jones, and this is no more apparent in their writings.
In chapter
3, Tinker looks at Reformers and Radicals with special attention to John Wesley
and William Wilberforce. As for Wesley,
Tinker writes,
“…Wesley’s impressive endeavours in promoting social action,
working towards slavery abolition,
ameliorating the effects of liquor and
gambling abuse, promoting literacy and education amongst the poor,…arose from a
Spirit-fired application of the following fundamental Christian doctrines: (1)
Our unity and responsibilities as creatures before the Creator, (2) The
corruption of the will by sin, so that all social problems are fundamentally
spiritual, (3) the principle of stewardship and the future judgment to
come. At no point did Wesley conceive
social action as possessing the same theological weight or primacy as Gospel
proclamation, although the latter entailed the former (39).”
We know from
Wesley’s itinerant ministry that he preached as much as 4 times a day and
ceaselessly went from town to town telling all people about Jesus Christ. Yet, he did not deny that people needed to
read, that alcohol wrecked lives, and that slavery should be abolished. In fact, his gospel proclamation undergirded
his social action activity.
Dr. Tinker
shares of his personal experience in church at how social action and gospel
truth go hand in hand. He speak of both
debt counselling and ESL, especially for people from Easter European countries
(112). Melvin makes a point to mention that
this work is long term work, work that takes much time and much effort from
many volunteers. Yet, Melvin never mixes
up the priorities of gospel proclamation and social activity in the
church.
Thanks to
Cross Focused Reviews and EP Books for the copy of this book in exchange for an
honest review.
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