하워드 스나이더(Howard A. Snyder)의 선교적 교회론

Abstract

Howard A. Snyder is world-renowned for his church renewal studies. He, however, is one of the front runners of missional church theorists along with L. Newbigin, D. L. Guder, and C. Van Gelder. Snyder considers Newbigin as the deepest theologically and most comprehensive. In this sense he sees Guder and Van Gelder as derivative, but helpful. Snyder thinks his work overall is more comprehensive than theirs, and in that sense closer to Newbigin. The major goal of this article is to articulate Snyder's missional ecclesiology, his missional church view, based on interviews with him and investigation of his various writings. On questions “How do I frame your ecclesiology? Can you give me a big picture of your ecclesiology?” Snyder answers as follows: “Fundamentally biblically, which means an ecclesiology grounded in the biblical images and metaphors of ‘church’-particularly people of God, body of Christ, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. All these are relational and organic; images from life. So in that sense they are ecological, reflecting and tying in with the whole biblical revelation and the Triune character of God. Ecclesiology must never be divorced from the larger oikonomia of God. If it is, it is not wholistic (thus not fully missional) in the biblical sense. Quite clearly in the New Testament, the church is primarily the community of people joined to Jesus Christ (‘membered together,’ as Paul puts it), and so the primary agency by the Holy Spirit for continuing God’s work in the world today — though the Spirit works beyond and ahead of the church, and at times in judgment on the church.” On question “How is your church renewal theory, Kingdom theory, and ecological ecclesiology related to the missional church?” Snyder replies as follows: “My ideas were developed before the term ‘missional’ became popular. But of course they are inherently ‘missional.’ I would put all these within the circle of what today is labeled ‘missional.’ Biblically speaking, ‘missional’ should include the whole missio Dei, including the kingdom of God in fullness and ​God’s plan for the restoration of all creation-the importance of the ‘land’ theme. I don’t find a lot in the current ‘missional church’ discussion that was not already present in The Problem of Wineskins, at least in seminal form.Snyder believes that there are important genetic links between God as Trinity and the missional nature of the church. The church's fundamental DNA makes the church the sign, foretaste, and intial embodiment of the reign of God and a reflection or echo of the Trinity. In this sense, he describes the church as a community that is missional, alternative, covenantal, and Trinitarian.