The Officer’s Blog
MISSIO DEI
Major Drew McCombe writes:
As I write, the Roots 07 conference with the theme “ ‘Others’ , the lost, the last and the least” is still causing me to think what is involved in mission today.
First a bible verse– Genesis 3:8-9…
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
….ever since the separation caused by the sin of Adam and Eve – God’s cry where are you!-reveals the missionary heart of God …theologians call it Missio Dei – it literally means ‘Mission God’. It’s a concept that has been rediscovered and given greater and growing significance in mission since the 1950’s and essentially its saying that God is mission – its an attribute of God just like holiness or justice or love - mission is not a part of God……it is God – this is seen essentially in God sending his son into the world and ……then the father and son sending the spirit and …….then the triune God sending his church into the world. Mission is not primarily an activity of the church but a movement of God to the world – its an attribute of God. There is church because there is a mission God and not vice versa
This has implications for our understanding of the scope of mission.
Sometimes it has been narrowly interpreted as saving individuals from eternal damnation and making them a church member but you see God never simply wanted to save souls – but to facilitate communities living in harmony. Have a look at Isaiah Ch 58. God mission is equally about children growing up in faith and safety, individuals making a positive contribution to the place where they live and nations co-existing in peace with their environment and each other.
This also has implications for way we do mission
…we do it knowing that he is already active in the world and as a result active in our communities - its about discovering what he is doing and joining in! Remember we are not the sole initiators but the participants. This should give us confidence – if we are to do mission then he is already out there - God is not restricted to the church or his people – he is active outside of the church sometimes long before we get involved and he sometimes uses the most unlikely people circumstances and situations
… we do it with a strong connection to our communities particularly the marginalised – it does extend to real peoples lives, good housing, good education, good standards of living, safe streets for children to play in, etc …it’s the William Booth don’t preach on empty stomach philosophy
…we do it as a way of life – not just through mission events. Its the end of missions (plural) and beginning of mission (singular). We do it as an ongoing activity – holding God up to the world through who we are. Just as we are encouraged elsewhere in scripture to take on the attributes of God like holiness then we should take this attribute of mission and make who we are. That means the church which comprises the people of God needs to evaluate all it does in relation to mission… it calls for a critical analysis about what we do – each church needs to audit its purpose in line with Missio Dei and where needed realign its activities. Mission must take precedence over tradition or any kind of church order – if the church stands in the way then we must move the church – the church has no liberty to invent its own agenda. The church is a community of people who give witness to God’s mission by communication the good news – telling and retelling our story in word and in deed.