First thoughts – notes towards a theology of missionfor the UnitingCare Network project

John A. EmmettMission Officer – Property Services (2013 – 2015)

Mission Catalyst – Commission for Mission (2007 -2013)

October 2015.

Context of requestSome members of the UnitingCare Network Project Control Group (PCG) requested a conversation with the author of this paper as a preliminary, sort of ‘pre-game’ warm up to investigating a theology of mission that might be applied, or developed and applied to the PCG’s tasks. The PCG’s Terms of Reference provided the necessary guidance to focus the conversation. It was recognized that UnitingCare Network structural, organizational and governance matters would be impacted, if not directed, by a theology of mission.

Any ‘theology of’ is in essence a consideration of matters core to identity, nature and purpose. Such a consideration is offered in the context and through a process of ‘reasonable talk about God’, and reflection on God’s relationship with us – the body of Christ. One way to position such a conversation is to ask, “Whose are we, and whom do we serve”?

This paper does not seek to offer a full-blown ‘theology of mission’, but to highlight some elements of theology of mission that might be applicable to the PCG’s task.

Further work will be required and there are persons and institutional bodies of the church that can assist in the task. We begin with a consideration of God, move onto a consideration of the Church, then to identify principles of God’s mission, and finally to offer some marks by which God’s mission may be noted.

GodAny theology of mission begins with consideration of the identity, nature and purposes of God.

For the Uniting Church in Australia, God is understood in Trinitarian imagery and terms. Perichoresis is one Trinitarian concept, drawing on the Greek notions of God as One-in-Community. Peri = circle, and choresis = dance. God as One-in-community, involved in a perpetual circle dance.

From Wikipedia: Perichoresis is a Greek term used to describe the triune relationship between each person of the Godhead. It can be defined as co-indwelling, co-inhering, and mutual interpenetration. Alister McGrath writes that it "allows the individuality of the persons to be maintained, while insisting that each person shares in the life of the other two. An image often used to express this idea is that of a 'community of being,' in which each person, while maintaining its distinctive identity, penetrates the others and is penetrated by them."

Some theologians refer to Trinitarian perichoresis as inspired and energized by two ‘forces’ to God’s nature– mission and communion. When acting together as One-in-community, God’s mission is said to drive God outwards into all creation. God’s communion draws God back into being One-in-community. This is an expression of the perpetual ‘circle dance’, illustrating the co-indwelling, co-inhering and mutual penetration of each ‘person’ in Godhead relationship.

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God’s mission is usually understood as the ‘sending nature’ of God. God calls sends creation into being, calls and sends the son / redeemer, and father / creator and son / sustainer together send the spirit / spirit, who in turn calls and sends the church / people into God’s mission in the world. These callings and sendings are for the reconciliation, restoration and renewal of all creation. Yet at the same time, and even in response to God’s sending forth, God gathers creation into communion with God’s-self, gathers the son / redeemer and spirit / sustainer into God’s communion, gathers the church / people into communion with God’s self and one-another.

Some key concepts that emerge from Trinitarian theology include: Mission - is one of the essential, characteristic energies of God Communion - is one of the essential, characteristic energies of God Incarnation – Repeated, embodied actions; any body associated in and drawn up into God’s

mission will experience and express these same two energies – outwards into mission and inwards into community – working together in a perpetual motion

Vocation – the sense of a calling to be, to know, to do and relate – is an essential expression of any body associated with God

Partnership - God (One–in-community) has a particular people, ‘church’, as a partner to God’s mission. It is not that the Church’s mission has God, but that God’s mission has a church – a people

Purpose shaped - The church, sustained in and through the Spirit of God, is called to be a sign, foretaste and instrument of the communion and community of God (BoU para 3)

A goal - The church’s end is expressed its calling and being sent into the purposes of God – that is: to be agents of and witnesses to God’s healing purposes (reconciliation, restoration and renewal) to all the world, for all the world.1

Relationships – these will be evident right at beginning, threaded throughout the entire journey, always at the centre, and still remaining at the end of all callings and being sent into God’s mission. Relationships are the currency of Christ-like vocation.

The ChurchThe Uniting Church (UCA) is one, particular tradition of ‘church’, set in a particular context, called and sent to diverse cultures within that context. The UCA draws on numerous historical traditions, but for convenience self describes as Reformed and Evangelical. As an inheritor of these two broad streams of Christian tradition, the UCA has some core characteristics that find expression in the ways in which the Church extends God’s good news (the gospel) in the various contexts and cultures to which it has discerned it is called and sent by God to be about God’s mission of reconciliation, restoration and renewal.

Some core characteristics impacting mission include: Congregations – these are core modalities2 of mission in and through community (BoU para

3). Modalities are always called to be nimble, to change shape, elements and direction according to the discerned calling and sending of God. For the UCA, incarnationality is a critical factor to the nature and character of any congregation. To be incarnational implies that

1 Darrell Guder: Definition of missional church, taken from Walking Worthily, Princeton Seminary Bulletin Vol 3, 2008 2 Ralph D. Winter The Two Structures of God ’ s Redemptive Mission, 1973. Winter has written extensively about modalities and sodalities, raising various theories concerning operational matters, connection, interaction and integration. Winter’s writing is considered pivotal to the church / agency relationship discussion.

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the gospel is shaped by the context and culture to within which it is proclaimed and experienced, yet is also recognizable as the gospel, and not something other than the gospel. [See Lesslie Newbiggin, “Foolishness to the Greeks”; and others’ works on Gospel and Culture.3]For the church, incarnation means the

o coming of the gospel to a particular context and culture, staying to plant the gospel in that context and culture, the context in which the Christ and good news is emboddied

o making disciples, demonstrating God’s healing (reconciliation, restoration and renewal) of the gospel in that context and culture – again, the context in which the Christ and good news is embodied;

o then the sending of that ‘church’ - having being effectively planted in the context and culture’ - discerning the calling to ‘send out’ again to another similar, or different culture or context... so that the Christ and God’s good news may be embodied in another context and culture.

One African theologian spoke of the gospel imperative to “come see, go tell’.4 Another school of contemporary practical theologians describe mission as “go out, stay out, move out again...5”

Agencies – these are core sodalities of mission in and through specialist or focused approaches to applying gospel to context and culture. Sodalities are bodies formed by modalities (congregations) to undertake specific mission works. Sodalities have been with the church since the very first Church in Jerusalem, when a diaconate (deacons = those who serve) was formed to collect and distribute food and so forth to the poor and those in need. The early churches created sodalities to act as caring giving in respect to widows and orphans, centres of hospitality and healing, famine relief, funeral and burial activities, support of prisoners, education, places of sanctuary, medical assistance, and so forth. Sodalities are the many organizations, societies, convents, monasteries, businesses and agencies formed by the churches over centuries to serve God’s mission effectively in sustained ways. Sodalities are birthed as imaginative, creative responses to opportunity. As purpose designed and developed bodies, they

o work well for a period, o require constant modification as context and cultures in which they operate change, o remain focused on opportunities to be active partners to God’s mission and,o are constantly open to review and reform against the criteria of the gospelo may end when both or either of need and opportunity no longer exist, or cease to be

relevant or necessary in shaping the agency / sodality to the gospel in a specific context and culture.

Conjoint activity - Modalities and sodalities work conjointly in God’s mission. Each has a responsibility to be, know, act and relate within a living tradition. Each is open to critique against the gospel and to be reformed so that the gospel is upheld. Each is to remain open to scholarly consideration of scripture and tradition. Each is to engage in reasoning so that interpretations of the gospel are what fuels their purpose and accountability. Each is to remain in strong relationship to the other, so that Word (usually associated with the modalities) and Deed (usually associated the sodalities) remain in creative, dynamic, contemporary tension.

3 Lesslie Newbiggin, Foolishness to the Greeks, See also H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, Harper Collins 1951.4 Bishop Festo Kivengere – summarizing the message of the four gospels 5 Michael Moynagh – Church for Every Context – an introduction to Theology and Practice SCM 2012. Referring to the UK Fresh Expressions practical theologians.

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Each is to discern God’s calling and sending into God’s mission of reconciliation, restoration and renewal. Each contributes to other in knowledge about and works of mission. Each contributes to building a holy communion between all parts of the Church, and with God. Each assists the other to develop communities characterized by the faith of Christ.

Councils – the UCA is committed to being a conciliar church, as described in the Basis of Union and Constitution. The operational practice of being conciliar in everyday affairs of the church is set out in the Regulations and the Manual for Meetings. Each Council plays a particular role, in the church as a whole, and works to the limits of its role and functions always dependent on the other councils working together to achieve a ‘whole-of-Church’ communion–in-action character in practice. Each of the various councils of the church is to ‘take heed’ of the others. The ordering of the Church’s worship, witness and service government of UCA is not hierarchical. Nor is the conciliar character of the Church hierarchical. Interconciliarity understood as the practice of communion-in-action could be frustrating to those shaped by hierarchical organizational theory and practice. However, it is critical that the communion-in-action practice is sustained for it is in the experience of this dynamic that the Church believes God discerns Church in all of its humanity yet promise, and that people discern God in Christ as Lord of the Church, enabling right decision making by the Church.

Totality, and unity in diversity: all expressions of the Church are called to and sent into God’s mission. This is the Church’s vocation. There is not one part of the Church that is about God mission and another than is not. This means that all congregations, councils, agencies and institutions of the Church, are called to and sent into God mission of reconciliation restoration and renewal.Sometimes the provisions of the Constitution and BoU are interpreted to support one part of the Church being more about God’s mission than another. This is an error in both truth and substance. Either all of the Church is about God’s mission or none of the Church is. There are many differences as to the particular ways in which the various parts of the Church engage in God’s mission. Likewise, all parts of the Church are involved in the Church’s communion with God and between all parts of the body of Christ, as well as in the Church’s community building in contexts and cultures where the Church worships, witnesses and serves. One part of the Church cannot, for the sake of a convenience to suit a political context or a particular cultural reality, simply or unilaterally withdraw from the communion to which it is party based on the grace and love of God. All parts of the Church are held together in the covenant God has with us each and all through Christ Jesus, the Church’s Lord. And we have the abiding presence of the spirit of God / sustainer to teach, guide and lead us works through the things that unite as well as the things that divide.

God’s mission in actionIf the previous discussion seems to have been pitched a theological level, what guidance can we derive from scripture, tradition and experience for practical activities on the ground?

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The recent Major Strategic Review exercise produced a set of seven mission principles6. The intention of the principles is “to capture something of God’s purposes for loved creation and the mission of the Church within those purposes.”7

These principles can be applied to any mission purpose, relationship, program, activity or review, whether associated with a modality or sodality of the Church.

The MSR mission principles offer guidance to any agency of governance body within the Church in its determination of what is true to God’s mission in principle and practice.

MSR Mission principlesGod in Christ reaches out to the world and calls the Church in the Spirit to:The New Testament vision is cosmic in scope. It tells of a loving, gracious and merciful God who desires a living relationship with the whole of God’s good creation. The Church exists both to enjoy this love and to participate with Christ in realizing God’s wonderful purpose for the world. The Spirit empowers us for this.

share the Good News of Jesus ChristJesus Christ reveals the Good News of a new life with God. This is revealed through Jesus’ life, teachings, death and resurrection. God invites response through the hearing of the Good News. So telling the story means telling it to those who have not yet heard it. (Romans 10:14)

nurture disciples in life-giving communities of reconciliationFollowing Jesus and his way of life brings about positive transformation in all aspects of a person’s life over time. This “discipleship” takes place within a faith community, because the new life in Christ is both personal and communal. The life of the Church community is a witness to God’s reconciliation as barriers are overcome and all find a place at God’s Table. The witness is the mutual love, which is Jesus’ mark of discipleship (John 13:34-35). Discipleship is not a withdrawal from the world because the Spirit immediately draws us into the world where Christ is at work.

respond in compassion to human need This response begins within and moves us to action. It occurs in like identification with those in need, in feeling the pain with those in pain, and in responding in the hope that God has given in Christ. We are to be a community of healing not injury.

live justly and seek justice for all God is just, calls us to be just, and to work for that day when justice fills the earth. The church must also shine the light on itself, and in humility and repentance acknowledge that it too must fight the darkness found within it.

care for creationGod’s care is for all creation. In following the witness of the First Peoples, we are called to care for God’s creation, to uphold its integrity and to protect the life that comes from God as gift

6 See: Property for Mission Workbook, VicTas Synod (property Services) 2015 – Appendix Six. P487 Ibid: A Guide for leaders using the MSR Mission principles: Taking a proactive approach to developing mission. MSR Team, (Adopted by Synod Standing Committee 2015.) p53.

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and blessing.

express the Gospel in fresh ways for each generation and cultureGod desires reconciliation with people of all cultures, generations and places. In making mission primary and Church forms and traditions secondary, the Spirit frees us from cultural captivity, teaches us to respectfully listen, and leads us to be open to new words, deeds, and forms of Church.

pursue God’s Mission in partnershipThe Uniting Church in the name of the God of reconciliation seeks to be reconciled with the rest of Christ’s Church and will work side by side in mission. Furthermore, there are many in the world who work for justice, compassion and care for the creation who do not own the name of Christ. It is proper that God’s Church work in partnership with all people of good will to fulfill God’s purposes.8

Reflecting on mission in practiceThere are many opinions, diagnostic instruments and groups eager to assist the Church to gain information about and reflection on ‘effective mission’. There are also varieties of opinions about whether or not it is both possible and / or desirable to gain some sort of metric account of effective mission. There are also diverse opinions about models of organizational science that might or might not apply to the Church’s organizational practices to faithfully and in a cruciform manner engage in Gods mission purposes.

At all times it is essential to remember that it is God’s Church and God who calls and forms the body of Christ in God’s own peculiar ways9. And that the Church is at once and always to be a cruciform body, called to the sufferings of Christ. This is not a body triumphant, but a body that suffers with Christ in God’s mission. The Church is always called and sent by God to the least, the last and the lost. Therefore, the Church is a contrast society, which on the one hand proclaims God’s new society yet on the other suffers with those marginalized, alienated and cast out from the contemporary society in the members of the body of Christ live. The church looks to the promised end and walk worthy of its calling to be the body of Christ in this world.

Various theologians have commented on the ‘marks of mission’ over past centuries. The most commonly known at the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic” fourfold creedal statement. Incidentally, I like to reverse the order here to begin with the apostolic – church called and sent, then to catholicity / universal – to everywhere people everywhere in every era; then to holy – being uniquely the Body of Christ, in whatever expression the church may take givens its contextual and cultural particularity; then to being One – unified in Christ, but diverse in particular expressions and vocations. This reverses the implied order of the empire.

However, getting to grips with the ‘marks of the church’ is a continuing work as each generation and culture seeks to understand God’s mission in its own time and place. Indeed, the MSR mission principles reflect some recent developments on the ‘marks of mission’ arising from the context of the United Kingdom and the culture of Episcopal Church, the Church of England.

8 Ibid. 9 Basis of Union Para 4

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The UCA Synod of Victoria and Tasmania applies some principles to demonstrate a local body of the Church is about God’s mission when considering property matters10. These ‘marks’ of mission might be applied to the wider mission relationships, Activities and programs of the church.

Mission ‘at work’ looks like: Vocation – there is a clear and evident calling, focused on the mission purposes of God (see

the MSR Mission Principles above) that is determining the relationships, activities and programs of this expression of the Church. This vocation means that not everything that is considered desirable by policy makers and funders is embraced. Indeed, the preferential option to be associated with and amongst the least the last and the lost is uppermost in determining with whom, where, when, what and how the relationships and programs are being designed, implemented and assessed.

Relationship – there is a clear and demonstrated commitment to making and developing relationships that engage, empower, include and deeply value the other. Sometimes these are abiding relationships – for the long haul. Sometimes these are supportive and releasing relationships. People are known by name, values for what they bring by virtue of their human being to the ‘table’. People are seen as having gifts and graces to share, and partners in a mutual healing of themselves and others. People are valued as contributors, rather than consumers of a service. Relationships bridge the modalities and sodalities of the Church, as well as barriers to a full participation are community life. Relationships offer mutuality in human healing through reconciliation, restoration and renewal.

Community building – the church offers, through congregations and its institutions, participation in community. The church invites all comers to discover and explore a sense of belonging with, even if and when alignment with particular practices and beliefs might not be embraced. The relationship, activities and programs of the Church – whether by congregations or institutions of the Church – are marked by social inclusion, mutuality, and deep respect. People are not considered or described by apparent disabilities or degrees of social dysfunction- their ‘defects’. All are welcome in the Lord of Church’s community. The Church joins in suffering with those who suffer, extending God’s unconditional love, extravagant compassion and ever-available grace.

Presence – the Church, true to its calling and gifting by the Spirit to be a ‘sign, foretaste and instrument’ of God’s contrast society (sometimes known as the kingdom of God), establishes a particular, even is peculiar presence in the neighbourhood. Here it may be the ‘instrument through which Christ may work bear witness to himself’11. Practicing the presence of Christ is what discipleship looks like in a particular context and culture. Those who come into contact with any particular expression of the Church ought to be able to ‘spot the difference’; even if that difference might be difficult to put into words.

Story – the gospel is a story. In a sense the gospel is a never-ending story. Each expressions of the Church engaged in God’s mission where they are is weaving another story line to be added into the great, never-ending–story. God’s mission is a story because it includes a plot – the healing of the whole creation; characters in relationships with God and each other; is

10 Understanding the Practice of Mission Motivated Development – Synod of VicTas 2011. Revised 2013, 2014.11 Basis of Union Para 3

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working towards a climax – the promised end. Any expression of the Church engaged in God’s mission would be able to tell a story about

o God’s calling and sending into missiono God’s ‘work’ in reconciliations, restorations and renewalso God’s healing and peaceo God’s provisions and blessings...

Place – God’s mission happens in particular places. Context matters. The nature of the place matters. Place shapes our human sense of identity and informs any expression of the Church’s mission awareness. Place also includes cultures – those patterns of life and living that have become associated with the realities of that particular place and its people. Any expression of the Church engaging in its particular call and sending into God’s mission ought to be able to give an account of how the good news has been understood, shaped for and by the context and cultures in which God’s mission is at work.

Conclusion:This paper has been a quick response to a request for some primary assistance by some members of the UnitingCare Network Project Control Group (PCG). This paper is by no means a definitive statement on a theology of mission that may be applied to the Project by the PCG. As such this a pragmatic and partial development of some key themes that might be considered in any robust theology of mission.

There are theologians of mission – academic and practical – within and beyond the life of the UCA in Victoria and Tasmania. These people can be identified. The author of this paper urges the PCG to contact such people and to draw upon their insights, knowledge experience and wisdom.

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