In some of the talks I have given, there has been a real concern about the word "Mission". I often use the words for church as the activity of worship, mission and community. When we talk about mission, we do need to be aware that it creates the sense of colonialism, power-abuse and a lot of nasty church history.
What I mean by mission, is more the sense of the apostolic, of being sent out as God's servants. A vision of transformation and reconciliation. It is about dreaming of what might be.
Simon Barrow of the Ekklesia think tank put it well recently:
“The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programmes, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.” Bonhoeffer's Meditations on the Cross
So Mission is this sense of transformation, of God drawing all things back into restored relationship with the divine.
What I mean by mission, is more the sense of the apostolic, of being sent out as God's servants. A vision of transformation and reconciliation. It is about dreaming of what might be.
Simon Barrow of the Ekklesia think tank put it well recently:
“The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programmes, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.” Bonhoeffer's Meditations on the Cross
So Mission is this sense of transformation, of God drawing all things back into restored relationship with the divine.
3 comments:
Yes. I agree that the word mission is rather misunderstood. My experience has been that the concept of mission tends to get divided from the rest of our everyday lives and placed somewhere a bit more important than hanging out with friends, working as a waiter or taking the bins out. It has a tendancy to become something we do rather than something that's closely linked to who we are. Most of us don't need another task in the week to tick off, or some kind of project we get roped into unwillingly because of a feeling of guilt that we're not 'doing enough mission'. Hopefully we can work towards re-imagining how mission can play-out in our everyday lives and we might just be going somewhere.
Interesting that you mention this now Ian, as it seems that the subject has been coming up in conversation rather regularly with some Mooters recently.
Hi David
I agree, it is not about getting legalistic, more about an inclusive lifestyle, where time and room is given for worship mission and community as a healthy patterning of spirituality - not about being guilt of not doing!! It's more about living out the rhythm of life, and our ability to share and give love to people an the world...
I think there's an important convergence between mission and social action, too. Our calling to live God-breathed lives in society is perhaps where community and mission overlap. I was brought up in a context where mission - "winning people for Christ" - was the expected fruit of living a life of faith. It's not something you do apart from who you are all day, but something you do by who you are all day.
In moot we have a lot to learn about our social calling, I feel. If we can deepen that, we may find that our sense of mission becomes natural. Being a closer community day by day - not just when gathered on Wednesdays or Sundays - should also help (and will also increase the challenges of being a community together).
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