#Across the great divide movie#

Forty years ago, he advocated a different method, a third way, for this inevitable interaction between declaring the message and doing good works. Stott insisted that both of the above positions in the social justice/Gospel preaching divide are rooted error. Social action authenticates the message, but is otherwise subservient to evangelical proclamation leading to salvation decisions as the biblical means for spreading the Gospel.Good works with a social justice focus is superior to and more effective than proclamation of the Gospel communicating words in growing the Kingdom of God.Writing in Christian Mission in the Modern World, Stott identifies three basic ways that social action and evangelism interact, or вЂ“ as I like to think of it вЂ“ mingle:

#Across the great divide movie#

John Stott, one of my heroes when it comes to theology, also addressed this issue, way back in 1975 (which is, incidentally, right around the same time that movie Across the Great Divide hit theaters). assisting local churches with grain distributions in famine stricken villages Both men represented views at the far ends of a spectrumвЂ¦ but all still on the same continuum. A churchвЂ™s social justice involvement is not organizational, but is instead implied as members of that church are changed by the message of the Gospel and become increasingly active disciples of Jesus doing good works. Churches must choose to get involved with social justice issues because justice is integral to the Gospel message.

As Ron Sider (both a professor of theology and author) says, вЂњPeople are both spiritual and material beingsвЂ¦ Addressing only half the problem only gives you half of the solution.вЂќ baptismal celebration вЂ“ at the conclusion of yearly rains and crop harvestДЇour years ago, in the fall of 2011, two high profile Christians, Al Mohler and Jim Wallis, publicly debated this issue, each charged with answering the question: вЂњIs social justice is an essential part of the mission of the church?вЂќ Wallis argued yes.

Most readers here would agree, at least in theory, that the Gospel clearly contains both. The other вЂњgospel,вЂќ found at the other extreme, is a gospel striving to achieve GodвЂ™s Kingdom on earth through the mechanism of social justice, but often sacrificing message proclamation in the doing of good works. This вЂњgospelвЂќ leads to вЂњpreachingвЂќ the story of Jesus so that others, too, can repent and be saved. He identified two вЂњgospels:вЂќ one centering around an individualвЂ™s salvation through the mechanism of faith in the sufficiency of JesusвЂ™ atoning death on the cross. Matt Chandler, relatively recently wrote about this question. One very key вЂњdivideвЂќ is the focus, or ultimate goal, of different ministries: evangelism and church building versus social justice. Within Christianity, there are a number of these вЂњgreat divides,вЂќ and missions is no different. Thus, metaphorically, what could be seen by some only as only a source of division could, conceivably, also become a summit meeting place, a place for conversation and dialogue, a place for challenge, growth and changeвЂ¦ It was also the converse вЂ“ it was the place where, for a moment, those ultimately heading in very different directions actually met. The Great Divide was not just that place where geologically, water flow separated. There is, however, another more symbolic meaning to those words. To the east of the divide, all water drains, ultimately, into the Atlantic Ocean. Those orphans had to cross the Continental, or Great, Divide вЂ“ a hydrological boundary that runs from the Bering Strait in Alaska to the Strait of Magellan, at the tip of South America. The title of the movie has an obvious meaning. In the process, they meet up withвЂ¦ and end up partnering withвЂ¦ a con man which ends up being key to reaching their goal. I donвЂ™t remember a ton of details вЂ“ essentially two orphan kids have to get across the Rocky Mountains and to the West Coast to get their inheritance. As a kid, I vaguely remember watching a movie called Across the Great Divide.