For NetACT Institutions

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Fundamentally our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated), means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission, within the history of God’s world, for the redemption of God’s creation. Our mission flows from and participates in the mission of God

Wright 2006:22

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To say that the Bible is “all about

mission” does not mean that one try to find something relevant to evangelism in every verse. Rather, you refer to something deeper and wider in relation to the Bible as a whole that is missional by nature.

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.To speak of the Bible being “all about Christ” should not mean that one try to find Jesus in every verse. Rather one means that the person and work of Jesus become the central hermeneutical key by which we, as Christians, articulate the overall significance of these texts in both Testaments. Christ provides the hermeneutical matrix for our reading of the whole Bible.

Wright 2006:31

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The mission of God is far greater than

the church, as the Reign of God is greater than the church; however, the mission of God needs a church, among many other institutions, to carry out God’s mission

Keifert 2006:166

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The very life of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is a process of mission: a Father who sends a Son, a Son who sends a Spirit. In this very likeness of God we are called, gathered, centered and sent within the life of the triune God and God’s mission, an infinite journey of being called and sent

Keifert 2006:64

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What follows is an attempt to suggest certain elements that should be reflected in the general curricula of NetACT institutions but also in the discipline of Missiology.

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Theological institutions should seriously take note of the Trinitarian approach in Theology and then especially as a modus operandi framework for missions.

A Biblical foundation for missions should not be build just on isolated Bible texts but on the Word of God as a missional hermeneutic text.

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The Old Testament should also be read from the viewpoint of a missional God reaching out to the nations. The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 2 and the prophecies of the “suffering Servant” in Isaiah should serve as an important source for an understanding of missions. Curricula should reflect the eschatological perspective of the Old Testament within a missional context.

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The Incarnational model of Jesus with all its

implications should be taken seriously also in Ecclesiology and should especially serve as a model for church leadership and church structures.

Unity in the church and ecumenical relations should also be derived from this model

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In Missiology the Incarnational model should serve as a model for inter-cultural evangelism.

The Incarnational model should motivate church leaders and future leaders to a servanthood attitude against the temptation to dominate and control.

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Following the example of Jesus the church should deliberately work towards holistic missions.

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Missions history should get the necessary attention in curricula especially from the starting point of missions as an image reflector of the missional work of God in this world.

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The work of the Holy Spirit in the church and in missions should be re-evaluated in theological institutions

The primitive church in Acts and the gifts of the Holy Spirit should be taken as normative. This will have an impact on worship, prayer life and missions and the realization that the time for things like demon expulsion, dreams, visions, signs and wonders is not over.

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Theopraxis should get the necessary attention in the curricula of Theological School. Although there are place for reason, reflections, abstract thinking, higher thinking skills etc., a deliberate effort should be made to balance it with the ontic principle of a personal and intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Practical work also under more unreached people, should be part of the curricula

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Curricula for Ecclesiology, Church

History and Church Polity should be written within a mission dei framework. Public worship, liturgy, prayers, congregational duties, the use of spiritual gifts, etc should all happen within the Ita, missa est –“Go, you are sent,” framework.

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A Missiology of Laity should be in place. There should be reflection on questions like:

To what extend does systematic theology and

Church Polity serve as stumbling blocks for the ordinary members of a church to become “missionaries” in society and how can this be rectified?

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There should be a sound theology as far

as the relation between the church and para-church organizations are concerned. The principle of modality and sodality as put forward by Ralph Winter can serve as a base where para-church organization should always be held accountable to the church.

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Curricula should help students to think theologically about the Christian Church’s relation to other religions, especially then Islam and Traditional African Religion. A Theology of Religions from a biblical and sound theology point of view should be in place. There should especially be clarity on the role of the general revelation of God and the possibility to learn from one another.

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The role of Suffering and Persecution should not be neglected in curricula. There should be clarity about what Christian suffering and persecution entail.

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Students should be motivated to know the newest categories and strategies towards the so-called unreached people groups in the world. Not should they only be aware of what Winter’s E’s category stands for but also of the relatively new P-Scale that is indicating the cultural distanced between a “reached” and a nearby “unreached” people group.

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Sound collaboration with the global church but also the pitfalls of dependency should be part and parcel of curricula

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Curricula should be aware of the philosophical and theological threats and theological reductionism that plagues the church of today.

The changing context should constantly be taken into consideration especially then the growing population, globalization, urbanization, HIV and Aids, Nominalism and Post-modernity.

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R. Jermy G. Hovel in his doctoral dissertation, wrote about the need of leaders that can think biblically and theologically about themselves and their world, and do so out of godly commitment (Hovil 2005:355). And, may we stress, can thing contextually and culturally correct. This will be the theme of the next presentation.

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