THEOLOGICAL CORE, REDEMPTIVE ANALOGY, SPIRITUAL LIFE, AND MISSION Healing.
Mission: Theological Perspectives
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Transcript of Mission: Theological Perspectives
+Introduction
Defining "mission" is as challenging as clarifying
the relationship between mission and
evangelism.
Christian believers have a double missionary
identity: we are both objects and subjects of the
mission. That is, we live between the continuity
provided by inherited missionary patterns and
the discontinuity motivated by the creativity of
the Spirit of God in a new missionary situation.
+Definition
Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi defines mission as
the participation of the people of God in the
divine missionary activity in the world.
In other words, all missionary activity is a
testimony to what God (not the Church,
denomination or missionary institution) does in
the world and how that testimony creates a new
relationship between God and creation.
+Participation in God’s Mission
“The Church that participates in God’s mission
in the world incarnates itself in the world to be
a sign of the Gospel of the Kingdom (as an
object of mission), to discern God’s missionary
activity outside its institutional reality, and to
be transformed, together with the world,
through participation in God’s mission (as
subject of the mission of God).”
Cardoza-Orlandi, Carlos F. Mission: An Essential Guide (P. 47)
+¿Mission or missions?
Traditionally, people confuse the term
"mission” with "missions". For many,
"missions” refers to the Church’s efforts to
communicate the Gospel to those nations or
ethnic groups who have not been
evangelized.
Therefore, the aim of “missions” is to reach
the “unevangelized” and the “unchurched” so
that they can become part of the Church.
+¿A limited view?
This definition limits the concept of “mission” in two
ways.
First, it limits missions to Church activity. It focuses
missionary activity on an institution, be it the Church,
a denomination or a missionary organization.
Second, it limits missions to activity directed to a
particular group of people, the “unevangelized”,
understood as people who do not know God and are
not committed to a Church.
+A Broader Vision
The term mission does include evangelism to
non-believers. However, it must also include the
recognition that all missionary activity belongs to
God and that such activity creates a relationship
between God, the missionaries and the world.
In other words, the mission of the Church is
God's mission. Those engaged in mission
should be in close relationship with God and
with the world.
+Evangelism
Evangelism is just one of the many
dimensions of mission.
Through evangelism, the Church proclaims
the Gospel to those people who consider
themselves as "non-believers”, inviting them
to have an encounter with the truth of God in
Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
+Missiology
Theological reflection upon mission has
created the field of study known as Christian
Missiology.
Missiology is, therefore, a theological
discipline that studies the Christian mission,
considering its theological, historical and
pastoral aspects.
+Criteria for a Theology of Mission
God is the protagonist of all missionary activity.
Mission is a communitarian activity, developed in
cooperation with the Trinity. Therefore, the
mission begins, develops and blossoms in
community.
The Church is both object and subject of
mission, through which it grows and is
eventually transformed.
+No mission no Church, given that the Church
discovers new dimensions of the Gospel through
participation in the missionary task.
All missionary activity takes place in the world
created by God. Therefore, the Church does not
lead the nations to God, given that the Creator
God is already present in every corner of the
world.
Missionary activity transforms both the
communities who hear the message as well as
the missionaries sent to serve them.
+The Missionary Bible
Since the Christian mission emanates
from the character of God as it is revealed
in the Scriptures, the Bible is essential for
the development of a Theology of Mission.
Therefore, we must understand that the
whole Bible speaks about mission.
+The Main Element
Thus, we find that God’s Mercy is the
main element for the development of
mission.
Throughout the Bible, God is revealed
as the One who shows compassion for
the poor, the marginalized and the
oppressed.
+Hebrew Bible
In the Hebrew Bible, we can see such
divine mercy in:
The election of the people of Israel
(Deut. 4:32-38; 7:6-8.).
And in the liberation of God's people
from the yoke of slavery in Egypt (Ex.
20:2).
+Jesus’ Ministry
God’s mercy is definitively revealed in the ministry of Jesus. In the programmatic statement of Luke 4:16-21, Jesus declares that now is the time of grace.
Jesus revealed God’s mercy in his own life, acting on behalf of the marginalized.
+Revelation & History
The God of Jesus Christ is not an ahistorical
divinity; the Christian religion is not based on
a dream or a vision.
The basis of our faith is God's intervention in
history; first, in the history of biblical Israel
and, second, in the person, life and ministry
of Jesus Christ.
+The God who Acts
The God revealed in Scripture is the
One who makes new things among his
people.
He is the God who acts as showed in
the life of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) and in
the creation of the Church.
+Mission & History
Thus, the Christian mission is a task
thorough which the Church
participates in history.
This implies that the Church must take
into account the social, political and
financial reality of each community
that it wants to reach.
+Confession of Sins
We confess that sometimes the Church has
acted in a "triumphalist" way, oppressing
unevangelized nations and peoples.
Also, the Church has made the mistake of
identifying the culture of the missionaries with
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which led to awful
sins, such as racism and even genocide.
Today, the Church rejects those sinful practices.
+Witnesses
The Christian mission needs witnesses who
proclaim God's truth. Those witnesses must
communicate the faith not as a theoretical
utopia but as a personal experience with the
divine (I Jn. 1:1-3).
In the Hebrew Bible, the Suffering Servant of
Isaiah 53 embodies such witness. In the New
Testament, the witness par excellence is the
crucified Christ.
+Discipleship
Thus we find that following Jesus means not
only studying his teachings, but also
identifying with Christ’s suffering.
Why? Because it is precisely through
suffering that God has identified with
humanity.
+A Divine Enterprise
We must emphasize that the Christian
mission is a divine enterprise. God is
the subject of mission. It is God who
empowers us and drives us to fulfill the
mission.
Therefore, God and humanity are
partners in mission (2 Cor 5: 18-20).
+A contingent enterprise
The concept, theologies and practices of
mission have changed and will continue to
change throughout the history of Christianity.
Therefore, theologies and practices of
mission must be contextual and temporal.
They should not be rigid or absolute.
+A Multicultural Enterprise
The missionary enterprise is linked to humanity
and creation as a whole.
Theologies and practices of mission have
greater vitality in contexts where missionary
efforts are intercultural and interreligious.
Where they are integrated to daily life,
Christian worship, Bible study and theological
reflection.
+Bibliography
Cardoza-Orlandi, Carlos F. Mission: En
Essential Guide. Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 2002.
Costas, Orlando E. Compromiso y Misión.
Miami: Editorial Caribe, 1979.
Escobar, Samuel. Cómo comprender la
misión. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Certeza
Unida, 2007.