THE ROLE OF THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCH IN THE EDUCATIONAL, INFRASTRUCTURAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD Part II

...By their good works, Christians reveal how people ought to live in their marriages, their families, their work, and their communities in all spheres of life. History has consistently shown that the people of Christ have always been at the front of such movements in society which reveal the mercy, goodness and justice of God. An example of this was the abolition of slave trade in Britain by William Wilberforce. He received encouragement from fellow-brethren who saw the injustice and evil of slavery. Orphanages, schools for the blind and deaf, ministries to the handicapped, needy and the less privileged and have been promoted by Christians wherever the church has been planted around the world. God wants the church to restrain the world from becoming more evil. God’s plan for the good works of His Church is to touch all parts of human life.
Christian gatherings were called the church ever after the Pentecost. The role of the church in our contemporary generation can be exemplary explained from Mark 6: 34-39 above. The stated scripture above explains how Jesus, firstly, met the spiritual and educational needs of the people (…and he began to teach them many things). Secondly, meeting the infrastructural needs of the people at the time since he held his teaching on an environmentally favorable avenue (39And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass). And lastly, how he met the social needs of the people he was teaching by feeding them. (41And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.42And they did all eat, and were filled). It is pertinent to note that these people were not necessarily poor people, but rather multitude, representing the society as a whole declassifying that it was not a particular class of people.
The work of the Church continues; it did not cease when Jesus himself left the earth or when the first twelve disciples died. But, rather the Church’s mission has passed to each generation of God’s people. If our Lord and savior Jesus Christ said to us that we are the salt of the earth and a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. And he showcased this exemplary leadership. It would therefore mean, ipso facto that the church has no option than to do like him: Christ-like. However, in the Bible times and even centuries later including the 21st century that we are now are quite different. The last of the religious war which ended in 1648 at Westphalia resulted in the Separation of the Church from the state. However, the principle towards the exemplary role of the church in the society remains the same.
In the quest to restore God’s ultimate purpose: reconciliation of mankind to God, the 21st century church must, as a principle engage the society educationally, infrastructurally and socially.

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