SCM Studyguide: Christian Mission. Stephen Spencer

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СКАЧАТЬ third player is Jesus and his followers who point to the inauguration of God’s kingdom (the macro dimension) and call for a response to this in the hearts and lives of all the people (the micro dimension). It is a ministry that is not primarily about creating a sub-culture within the wider Jewish society of his day, but of working to change the consciousness of everyone within that wider society. Jesus does not do this through force and coercion but through being vulnerable; he does not work alone but includes others within a collaborative ministry; he does not wait for the people to come to him but goes to them, to where they live and work, and so becomes locally identified and rooted; he does not just preach but finds surprising symbolic actions taking place, actions which show the saving reality of the kingdom breaking into people’s lives; he does not seek to be sensationalist and is secretive about the wonders, keeping a low profile on occasions; he addresses the actual needs people have, and includes the marginalized and excluded in this ministry, pointing to the holistic liberation of the kingdom. Finally, he incorporates periods of retreat, listening and contemplation for his followers and himself within this mission.

      Some Galilean principles

      If, as John 20.21 makes clear, Jesus’ followers are called to continue his mission, what does all of this imply for the Church?

      It shows that the Church is only one among three players, the other two being the society in which it lives, and the coming kingdom of God, which is the participative and saving movement of the Trinitarian God within the world. The Church must always see its place and role within this wider drama: it does not exist to serve its own ends but has been formed to point to the inauguration of that kingdom within that society. This is a prophetic role expressed through word and deed. It is one that calls for a response in the hearts and lives of the people of that society, and will result in surprising instances of the kingdom’s saving presence in those lives. It is not, then, primarily concerned with creating a special society within the wider society of the day, but has a vocation of working to assist the transformation of everyone within that wider society.

      The Church is therefore called to a kind of diaconal activity, of being an ambassador for the coming of the kingdom, rather than of being a static institution that exists to serve its own life. (See Clark 2005, for an exploration of the diaconal dimension of the life of the Church.)

      This prophetic role continues the mission of Christ. Based on exegesis of Mark 1 with its overview of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, and drawing on the insights of contemporary biblical scholarship, we can deduce that it will embody the following principles of interaction with others, principles that can be used to assess subsequent developments in mission:

       Contemplative listening, which frames Jesus’ ministry: listening to God, to other people, to himself, especially in times of prayer and retreat.

       Addressing society as a whole, at points where people live and work, including and especially the marginalized. This results in being received and accepted by some but rejected and opposed by others.

       Pointing to the inaugurated yet still awaited kingdom, in word and in surprising saving deed (symbolic actions) which address the actual needs of people (both individual and structural); but without publicizing the wonders.

       Calling for a personal response to the coming of this kingdom by those who hear and see what he is doing.

       Doing all this through a collaborative team, who themselves are powerless and vulnerable and must suffer the consequences.

      Taken together, these principles show that mission encompasses every aspect of who Jesus’ followers are as well as all that they do: it encompasses their being as well as their doing. In other words the principles show that Christian mission can no longer be seen as one discrete aspect of church life alongside others such as worship or pastoral care. Christian mission will encompass the whole way the Church lives out its life in society, including its internal life as well as its outreach. Its congregational worship, music, social life, administration, stewardship of buildings, and at a deeper level its spirituality, are all part of mission. At a wider level the whole network of ways it relates to its surroundings, formally and informally, is part of the picture. It will also include the whole difference the Church makes to the community and society in which it exists. This is not just a sociological question about things that can be measured and quantified, such as attendance or giving, but is an ethnographic question about the difference a church makes to the lives of the people it touches within the complex web of relationships within a community (see Jenkins 1999, for illuminating explorations of this dimension).

      But this introduces a further dimension, for communities and cultures do not stand still but are continually evolving and developing through time, sometimes in dramatic ways. They are formed by shifting currents of social and cultural change, so that the way the Church participates in mission in one culture and at one time will need to be different from the way it participates in mission in another culture at a different time.

      The five Galilean principles provide general guidance about the nature of this participation but they do not provide detailed guidance about its expression within different cultures and regions, among people of different languages and customs and peculiarities. For that kind of guidance it is necessary to visit the currents and cross-currents of human history, where Church, culture and kingdom interact in different ways at different times. Through the study of this changing interrelationship it will be possible to get to know the specific ways the Christian community has participated and does participate in the missio Dei. As Bosch writes,

      the Christian faith is a historical faith. God communicates his revelation to people through human beings and through events, not by means of abstract propositions. This is another way of saying that the biblical faith, both Old and New Testament, is ‘incarnational’, the reality of God entering human affairs. (Bosch 1991, p. 181)

      The study of the history of this participation and communication is the subject of the next and central section of this Studyguide.

Discussion questions Are there other important mission principles within Jesus’ Galilean ministry? In what order would you place them and why? Which episodes from the Gospels especially exemplify them?

      Further reading

      Bauckham, Richard (2003), Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World, Paternoster

      Bosch, David J. (1991), Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, Orbis

      Brueggemann, Walter (2001), The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd edition, Fortress Press

      Clark, David (2005), Breaking the Mould of Christendom: Kingdom Community, Diaconal Church and the Liberation of the Laity, SCM Press

      Gillingham, S. E. (1998), One Bible, Many Voices, SPCK

      Hooker, Morna D. (1991), The Gospel according to St Mark, A & C Black

      Hooker, Morna D. (1997), The Signs of a Prophet: The Prophetic Actions of Jesus, SCM Press

      Jenkins, Timothy (1999), Religion in English Everyday Life, Berghahn

      Knitter, Paul (1996), Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and Global Responsibility, Orbis

      Myers, C. (1988), Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus, Orbis

      Powell, Mark Allan (1999), The Jesus Debate: Modern Historians Investigate the Life of Christ, Lion

      Senior, D., and C. Stuhlmueller (1983), The Biblical Foundation of Mission, СКАЧАТЬ