Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission

by David E. Fitch

Yet Hunter, in my opinion, jumps the gun on assuming that such a community can exist without a new kind of formation.3 If he is calling for the church to change and be a faithful presence in our culture, Hunter skips the question, How might our churches themselves be changed so as to be capable of faithful presence?

Faithful presence, I contend, must therefore be a communal reality before it can infect the world. It must take shape as a whole way of life in a people. From this social space we infect the world for change. Here we give witness to the kingdom breaking in and invite the world to join in. For this to happen, however, we need a set of disciplines that shape Christians into such communities in the world.

But Moses intercedes, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. . . . Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Ex 33:15-16 NASB) God’s people are not his people apart from his presence.

I would say that a few Christians joined hands with God, who is already at work in the world. We discerned God at work in the neighborhood and then cooperated with each other to open space for his rule among us. There, around that table, with Joe, the landlord, and some friends, Christ became present (literally) and renewed our lives according to his purposes.

The Great Commission is fulfilled when the two (missio Dei and incarnation) come together in one concrete place. In this space the Father (reigning), the Son (being sent), and the Spirit (making the Son’s presence real) work together.

If you are a Roman Catholic, you may notice I do not include baptism and marriage in my list of disciplines even though they are part of the seven Roman Catholic sacramental practices. This is simply because they are not repeatable. They are initiatory practices. At their best they are not repeated in our lives even though we frequently reconsecrate or celebrate our vows from time to time.4 I have chosen to focus exclusively on the disciplines of Christ given to the church that we live daily as central to our everyday life.

At the core of the disciplines then is mutual submission. The disciplines gather people together into a circle of submission to his reign. Submission to the King defines each subject, and the kingdom is composed of the King’s subjects. Each discipline then creates a space for surrendering our control. Each works against the impulse to take control and impose my will on a situation. In this process a marvelous

space is opened up for Jesus to become Lord. We can then tend to Christ’s presence among us.

God is at work in the whole world, including, but beyond, the church (missio Dei). Yet he is uniquely present in Christ (incarnation) wherever the church is faithfully present to his work in the world. The church is the extension of Christ’s presence in the world, making his reign over the whole world visible. Each of the seven disciplines therefore transgresses

Nonetheless, our world starves for presence. After work is over, after we arrive home on the train, we swarm to restaurants and bars just to share a beverage or a meal in hope of making contact. Whole train cars on the Chicago Metra commuter train are segregated for those who want to bring a beverage and share conversation at the end of a long day. It’s not much, but it’s something. People everywhere long to be known. Our culture bears the signs of people wanting to share life meaningfully with one another. The world longs for Eucharist.

The world runs on antagonism. It’s always easy to stir up a crowd to hate an object or a group we are against than to gather both sides in one place to be present to each other.

And so we weep for the broken relationships everywhere manifesting their ruin on towns, cities, neighborhoods, our children, families, marriages, businesses, school systems, and gang life. Though our laws might make prejudice and discrimination illegal, the oppressive relations simmer beneath.

Scholars have pointed out that the “binding and loosing” language of Matthew 18:18 was a rabbinic phrase used to describe discernment of multiple kinds of disagreement.3

By participating in this discipline of reconciliation, we are in essence opening up space for Christ’s kingdom to take shape. Jesus promises to be present in this space. In this space we seek clarity and eventual agreement. This may include repentance or mutual sharing of peace. All the while this space is determined by the good news that Jesus as Lord is working for his will in this conflict. Furthermore, we are determined by his forgiveness and his promise to renew all things.

The goal of this discipline is not vindication or punishment. It’s not that someone wins and another loses. It is restoration, healing, and renewed common fellowship.

As always, it is important for the one in perceived power to submit first to the one whose voice is being heard less. Make space for the other voice. As Jesus around the Eucharist went first in submitting to the others by washing the disciples’ feet, the leader must always go first. “The first shall be the servant of all” (Lk 22:26, my paraphrase).

you will not kill me. I can give up all defenses. Submitting together to Jesus as Lord opens up the space for reconciliation. It is the start of a new community. We must give up ego and surrender to Jesus as Lord and his kingdom our right to be right. And, again, so very importantly, just as Jesus modeled around the table when he washed the disciples’ feet, those presumed to be in power must go first. The fear of the oppressed is eased here, and a space is cleared for his presence. Christ’s rule now begins to work for the future of the world. This is what faithful presence looks like.

Because the one time it is received, Jesus promises to be there and unwind the antagonisms and violence of the world and heal and renew. The kingdom will begin and spread in this one entry point. This is truly faithful presence.

organizations and governmental strategies. I would never want to discourage such larger efforts. But in order for such efforts to avoid becoming another bumper sticker or a T-shirt slogan, they must be shaped by the discipline of face-to-face presence that Jesus teaches us in Matthew 18:15-20. The

As one of my white friends says about marching with black brothers and sisters in Chicago’s Black Lives Matters protests, “I’m basically there to check my privilege and show my face.”

Space does not allow a full recital of the entire history of the discipline of reconciliation. I can only note that anytime the discipline of reconciliation has been extracted from the space of everyday life, it is a sure sign the church is slipping into maintenance mode. Perhaps the most egregious (and notorious) was in the fifteenth century when the rites of penance were used to raise money for the church by the selling of indulgences.

“The proclamation of the Word is a sacramental act par excellence because it is a transforming act. . . . [It] is the eternal coming to us of the Risen Lord.”7

There is an inherent kinship in gathering people in the presence of Jesus. It is closer than a brother or a sister. In Christ’s new kingdom no one becomes an object to or a project of someone else. We are invited to participate in life together with God. This is life lived in withness, kinship, faithful presence with one another.

Sixty years ago the average dinnertime was ninety minutes; today it is less than twelve minutes.

Our children are the casualties of a crazy, confusing, frenzied society. They are cast adrift from the moorings of their relationships at home, church, and in the neighborhood. The world can’t be trusted, they are told. We therefore need certified programs for everything. Sports, music, tutoring, dancing, the arts, boy scouts, girls scouts, and gaming must all be programmed, and leaders must be screened for past crimes and sexual history. As the children shuffle from one scrubbed program to another, their souls are pushed and pulled, looking for the right path to direct their passions. They are waiting to be drawn in to a place worthy of their trust. They are longing to know and be known. The world is obsessed with its children. Meanwhile the children want presence. They yearn for face-to-face presence.

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Mt 18:5). He uses the important word welcome (dechomai), which is used elsewhere for the way strangers receive missionaries sent by Jesus into their homes in his name (Mt 10:40). It is used to describe the patience one must have to hear Paul in the midst of his foolishness (2 Cor 11:16). It is used to describe the posture of receiving generosity and love (Phil 4:18). It connotes patience, embrace, openness, and genuineness. It communicates the posture of receiving someone into my very presence. Jesus says, when you do this with a child, you enter the very kingdom of God (Mt 18:3). When you receive a child into your presence, you also receive the presence of Jesus.

Paul, contrary to the prevailing culture, calls parent and child into a space of mutuality in the Lord. The parent is not singularly over the child. The child is considered too. Parent and child come together under the one Lord in a mutuality between them that honors their respective roles. This text falls under the opening text of the Household Codes (Eph 5:20–6:9), where Paul says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21 NIV). And so the apostle is describing a revolutionary relationship of presence between adult and child under the Lord’s reign.8

Rather the focus here is unmistakably on the presence of Jesus being there and his authority coming and working in the space of being with children.

The stunning reality is that being with children is an encounter with the living Christ. Just

to know the presence of God and be ordered by his purposes.