Rediscovering Missional Identity: A Biblical Perspective
Embracing a new understanding of mission rooted in God's redemptive purpose for creation, this content challenges the traditional missionary approaches and highlights the vital role of the Church in participating in God's ongoing mission. Through insightful reflections on Missio Dei and the Bible as the true story of the world, it calls believers to align their mission with the biblical narrative of redemption and restoration.
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For the Sake of the World: Getting Our Missional Identity Straight Michael Goheen Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.
Traditional Understanding of Mission Geographical expansion From Christian West to non-Christian non-West (mission field)
Problem with Traditional Understanding Growth of the Third World church: Numbers, vitality, missions Decline of Western church: Numbers, vitality, missions Too narrow
New Understanding of Mission Today God s mission: Long-term purpose to restore creation Church s mission: Participation at God s invitation and command in His mission Sender (Jesus); Sent (whole church) Mission is to, from, and in all six continents Mission not one activity of church but identity of church
Missio Dei Bible renders to us the story of God s mission through God s people in their engagement with God s world for the sake of the whole of God s creation. 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. (Chris Wright)
Bible as One True Story Bible as true story of the world Role of God s people in this story The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world. It is public truth (N.T. Wright).
Role of church in story of Bible What is the role of the church in this story? Old Testament people of God: Abraham: Chosen to be a channel of blessing to the nations (Gen 12.1-3) Sinai: A light to the nations (Ex 19.3-6) On display in the land Failure and scattering Prophetic promise
Prophetic Promise Coming of the kingdom Gathering of Israel Purification of Israel (e.g., Ezek. 36.24-27) Gathering in of all nations Growing hope in intertestamental period
Starting point: Gospel of Kingdom Jesus announces that the kingdom has come (Mark 1.15-16) God is acting in power and love through Jesus and by the Spirit to restore all of human life and all of the creation to again live under God s loving rule. Already here but not yet arrived
Prophetic Expectation Spirit Messiah Knowledge of God Love Joy Justice Sin Death Evil Satan OLD AGE AGE TO COME
New Testament Fulfillment Powers of sin death evil Satan Power of Spirit s renewing work OLD AGE AGE TO COME
Why the overlap? The meaning of this overlap of the ages in which we live, the time between the coming of Christ and His coming again, is that it is the time given for the witness of the apostolic Church to the ends of the earth. The end of all things, which has been revealed in Christ, is so to say held back until the witness has been borne to the whole world concerning the judgment and salvation revealed in Christ. The implication of a true eschatological perspective will be missionary obedience, and the eschatology which does not issue in such obedience is a false eschatology. (Newbigin)
Already-not yet: Time of gathering Parable of the Great Banquet (Lk. 14.15-24) Delay in coming of the end Gathering of the lost sheep of Israel (Jesus) Gathering of the nations
Gathering, Purified, Sent on a Mission Jesus gathers the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 15.24) Jesus purifies gathered community and gives Spirit and new heart: Death, resurrection, Spirit Sent on a mission (John 20.21)
Era of Witness Spirit Salvation Judgment Kingdom mission of Jesus to Israel death resurrection exaltation Pentecost Kingdom mission of church to nations Accomplishing kingdom Making known kingdom Continuing kingdom mission
Making Known the Kingdom Jesus: Announced the kingdom with his words Demonstrated the kingdom with his deeds Embodied the kingdom with his life Prayed for the coming of the kingdom Struggled against opposition to kingdom Formed kingdom community
Sending of the church As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Jesus has not left us with a rigid model for action; rather he inspired his disciples to prolong the logic of his own action in a creative way amid the new and different historical circumstances in which the community would have to proclaim the gospel. (Bosch). Need to accomplish kingdom: cross, resurrection, ascension, Pentecost
A Witnessing Community (Acts 1.6-8) Now you re going to restore the kingdom, right? (1.6) Not for you to know when (1.7) Until then you are a witnessing community starting here to the ends of the earth (1.8) You ll need the Spirit (1.8)
Spirit, foretaste, and preview Spirit gives a foretaste of the kingdom Foretaste is real taste now Complete meal coming in the future Constitutes church as previews of kingdom Preview is real footage of coming movie/kingdom Designed to interest viewer in coming movie/kingdom Church in midst of world as picture of salvation that is coming
Three Marks of Church: Acts 2:42-47 Devotion to apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer: Celebrating and nourishing kingdom life (v. 42) Life of kingdom manifested: Attractive good news people (v. 43- 47) Lord adds to number (v. 47)
Church as Missionary Community: Nearby and Far Away Pattern in Antioch (Acts 11, 13) Evidence of the grace of God (11.23) Great number of people were brought to the Lord (11.24) Sent Paul and Barnabas to establish witnessing communities in areas where there was none (13.1-3)
Pauls Pattern Pioneer church planting (Rom. 15:23) Three missionary journeys Build them up for faithful witness Visits on journeys Letters
Ending of Acts: 28 and 29? Why so abrupt? Loose ends? Story of Acts has not ended Continues today until Christ returns . . . the ending of Acts is truly an opening to the continuing life of the messianic people, as it continues to preach the kingdom and teach the things concerning Jesus both boldly and without hindrance (Johnson).
Mission of the church today Being a light to the nations: Continuing the mission of Israel (Ex 19.3-6 cf. 1 Pet 2.9) Making known the kingdom: Continuing the mission of Jesus (John 20.21) Bearing faithful witness: Continuing the mission of the early church
Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary nature of the church As the Father has sent me, so I send you defines the very being of the Church as mission. In this sense everything that the Church is and does can be and should be part of mission. Esse of the church not the bene esse Without mission, the Church simply falls to the ground. We must say bluntly that when the Church ceases to be a mission, then she ceases to have any right to the titles by which she is adorned in the New Testament. (Lesslie Newbigin)
For the sake of the world The church does not exist for itself or for what it can offer its members. When the church tries to order its life simply in relation to its own concerns and for the purposes of its own continued existence, it is untrue to its proper nature. (Newbigin)
Church as sign, instrument, firstfruit (or foretaste) of the kingdom The business of this 7 percent [church in Madras] is to be an effective sign, instrument, and firstfruit of God s purpose for the whole city. Each of those three words is important. They are to be a sign, pointing men to something that is beyond their present horizon but can give guidance and hope now; an instrument (not the only one) that God can use for his work of healing, liberating, and blessing; and a firstfruit a place where men and women can have a real taste now of the joy and freedom God intends for all. (Newbigin)
Mission First order of business: Getting our missional identity straight Activities and commitments that flow from this identity
For the Sake of the World: Living as God s Missionary People Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, ON Mission Conference Michael Goheen Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.
Living as Gods Missionary People: Five Characteristics Lifestyle: Live as a contrast community Live out a missionary encounter in their callings Involved in social needs of neighbourhood and world Evangelistic Take part in missions
A Contrast Community People of love and truth over against pluralism and relativism People of selfless giving over against a culture of selfishness People of justice over against economic and ecological injustice People of hope over against despair and consumer satiation
Missionary Encounter in Our Callings A missionary encounter with the West will have to be primarily a ministry of the laity. (Bosch) . . . There is a deep-seated and persistent failure of the churches to recognize that the primary witness to the sovereignty of Christ must be given, and can only be given, in the ordinary secular work of lay men and women in business, in politics, in professional work, as farmer, factory workers and so on. . . . the enormous preponderance of the Church s witness is the witness of the thousands of its members who work in field, home, office, mill, or law court. (Newbigin)
Need for community A fellowship that nourishes the life of Christ through the Word and sacraments. A fellowship that supports: encouragement, prayer, financial support, and insight. Structures that equip: study of culture, sharing of struggles, professional gatherings, small groups, frontier groups (groups of Christians working in the same sectors of public life, meeting to thrash out the controversial issues of their business or profession in the light of their faith). A leadership that enables.
Social involvement Jesus ministry of justice and mercy Global need
Global Crises and Social Need Environmental degradation Worldwide arms race/nuclear threat Crippling ideologies Hunger scandal Inappropriate food/agricultural policies worldwide and Family farm crisis Unemployment Increasing gap between rich + poor Population explosion Colonial legacy Multinational corporations + 3rd world leaders AIDS Third world debt
Social involvement Jesus ministry of justice and mercy Global need Good news in your own neighbourhood
Neighbourhood involvement A church that exists for itself? Or a community that does not live for itself but is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighbourhood. Opportunities . . . Opportunity blindness
Evangelism Indispensible part of church s mission Only effective if church is attractive demonstration of kingdom Good news of the kingdom Invitation Sales pitch or good news Relating good news to all of life
Organic or Methodological Evangelism One of the fundamental laws of all presentation of the Christian truth everywhere in the world is that this truth is vitally related to all spheres and problems of life, the most common and trivial as well as the most elevated. . . . The radically religious view of life as embodied in Biblical realism is of the same vital significance to man s relation to his friend or fellow-villager, or to the way in which he spends his money or works his fields or accepts his material successes or adversities, as to the nurture of his spiritual life or to his religious needs and experiences in the more restricted sense of the word (Kraemer).
Missions One part of task of mission Establish a gospel witness where there is none or where it is weak Will sometimes be overseas/cross- cultural but not always
Missions And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). Missions: Important part of mission of church Missions: Horizonof church s mission
Why is this distinction important? The scandal of the disproportionate allocation of missionary resources (Myer) In the unevangelized part of God s world About 5.6% of income to Christians went to foreign missions. Only 0.36% of this went to sharing the gospel with the 1.2 billion people in the least-evangelized world.
World Need Unreached people groups: 11874 ethno- linguistic groups in the world; 3915 unreached 10-40 Window
In 10-40 Window we find . . . Half the world s population The 55 least evangelized countries in the world; 97% of people in least evangelized countries The heart of Islam The three main religious blocks--Islam, Buddhist, and Hindu 80% of the poorest of the poor live there Less that 10% of missionaries there
In the least-evangelized part of Gods world Live 86% of the world s people groups, of which less than 2% are Christian. Live over 80% of the world s poorest people. There are 34 Muslim countries, 7 Buddhist nations, 3 Marxist nations and 2 Hindu countries. Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
World Need Unreached people groups: 11874 ethno- linguistic groups in the world; 3915 unreached 10-40 Window Asia
Need in Asia Over half of the world s population 6 countries less than .1% Christian 15 of 26 countries have less than 1% Christian 2658 ethno-linguistic groups; 1600 not evangelized
