Pembangunan jemaat di desa dalam konteks tani dan nelayan di maluku tengah:The building up of the rural church in the farming and fishing context in central Moluccas

Abstract

This thesis is an effort, intended to bring the local church in to a conscious realization of the meaning of her own presence in the rural locco. The local church cannot be seen apart from her context. She is intrinsically related to her locco, since the rural locco itself can neither be judged only from geographical point of view nor from temporal point of view. I t is a human reality, bound up by a certain blood relation, lineage, common thought and also certain habits. Their pattern of everyday life is very much influenced by certain inherited values and experiences gained. This intrinsical relationship of the local church to the rural loco then, is basically Christological relationship where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Mat.18:20). That means that the very presence of the church here is not to be understood sociologically, rather it is to be seen as God’s act of calling, of uniting and of commissioning. In this respect Christ’s presence through his grace and spirit is essential. Since the local church cannot be understood sociologically, it therefore implies that the loco itself is neither a dead nor a static entity. The church is placed and commissioned by Christ in a process of renewal in order to renew the character of her loco. That means that the local church should function fully in order to bring up the sign of Christ’s presence in the context of her loco. In this respect, the relationship of the local church to her loco is provisional. What we are trying to say here is that the manifestation of the local church in herself is neither definitive nor normative. For not only the loco that needs to be changed, but also the church herself. Theologically, the local church is a provisional representation. She is a community on the road (Eph.4:13). Being on the road itself is provisional. Therefore the church should not be static, introvert, isolative, self-centeredness or individualistic. If all these happen, it means the church is in the process of denying her own nature as a Christ given community. The church is here for one and only purpose that is to live together, to move together towards the future and to do together what Christ’s wants her do. The church is here with and openness of correction and this should be her nature which should be consciously lived. It is on the basis of the meaning of this “open ecclesiology”, we are going to approach our problem from the point of: The building up of the church in the rural context. What we meant by the building up of the church here is not material development, rather we are talking about spiritual and vertical growth in a wider sense. The Gospel of Christ is an advent of communication. Where God the father through Christ His Son is willing to become man in order to save this world. Here the father and son in their divine unity become both Author and subject of this communication event. God Himself acts, communicating His very self to the world in form of a man.