Transforming Power

Transforming Power: Biblical Strategies for Making a Difference in Your Community
Robert C. Linthicum
InterVarsity Press (2003)
The main idea of this book is relational power, especially as it relates to the engagement of Christians in urban ministry and community development. The first part of the book provides a foundation for a theology of power through such biblical examples as the lives of Nehemiah and Jesus. The second part of the book is more practical with strategies clearly outlined for people who want to make a difference in developing their communities.
The author argues that Christians must engage in the proper understanding and usage of power through relationships, although many evangelical Christians have tended to shy away from the use of power in the world over the past century. The first couple of chapters present the various dynamics of healthy and dysfunctional communities. The next section focuses on specific ways that Christians utilize relational power to engage broken systems, with Jesus and Paul serving as guides. Linthicum says that Paul was “very sophisticated in his understanding of and use of power, and that use of power was built upon a highly developed theology of public life.” (113) From the material that is presented, the reader gathers that Christians have a crucial role to play in public life in our modern society. In fact, many aspects of a healthy community, or what the author describes as shalom in the city, become broken when Christians fail to engage in the use of power.
The remaining chapters in the book focus on the exchange of relational power through individual meetings, which lead to the mobilization of the broader church, or body of Christ, en mass in the engagement of relational power. The author also presents strategies for strengths and weaknesses that can occur when the church becomes powerful. For instance, Linthicum cites accountability, confrontation, civil disobedience, negotiation, and agitation as five biblically-based strategies that the church can use to take on corrupt systems. Of all of these actions, the author argues that confrontation is the most difficult for the church to utilize because they “believe it to be inconsistent with a loving, Christ-like faith. But… you can’t hope to bring about change – in a church or in a Christian organization or the world – and avoid confrontation.” (171)Linthicum’s main points are very timely in a modern climate in America where Christians are disengaging from systematic power issues in order to pursue a more individualized brand of spirituality apart from the inconveniences and messiness of power struggles. I believe that this generates a huge void that many government and social service agencies are more that willing to jump in to. Unfortunately, a healthy society will never be fully restored if the church disengages. However, one common misconception that I hear from people is that the church, defined by some as the people located in a building on Sunday mornings, must be the only source of power to rise up in order for communities to be transformed. I’m learning about the power of a theology of work, which outlines the need to build relational power with Christians who are leaders in the business world, politics, and other “secular” systems in society. These leaders also must be considered in the mobilization of the church toward issues of systemic change.