Missiology
v
13/3/2012
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Course
outline
1.
Concept of Missiology
2.
Brief history of
missionary activities in Asia, America and Latin America
3.
Scriptural foundation of
mission
4.
The Trinitarian origin of
the mission
5.
Universal missionary
vocation of the Church
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The
three stages of missiology – Biblical, Historical
and Theological dimensions
·
The Biblical angle helps
us to understand the foundation of mission in the Bible
·
The historical aspect
helps us to understand the Church in which we live in today. This is because in
the modern epoch, the Church have many implications in what we have today
·
In the theological
aspect, we encounter the Trinitarian origin of the mission. Here, we see Jesus
as the first missionary sent by the Father.
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Missiology
Missiology
is a theological discipline which is quite recent in comparison to other areas
of theology. Its origin goes back to the 13th century. The
discipline of Missiology came into existence as a result of the great renewed
missionary revival of the Catholic Church during the 11th century.
In the 13th century, there was also another missionary revival on
the part of the Protestants in other to Christianise the whole world. This
effort became pronounced in the 17th century. This same idea was
followed by the Muslims who tried to Islamise the whole world. These efforts
inspired the birth of missiology.
The
birth of missiology as a discipline is tired to Ramon Lull, a protestant
theologian. He was the one that urged the Catholic Church to establish schools
where languages could be learned or taught to help in the Church’s missionary
activities in other countries. These schools of learning would undertake to
teach the missionaries the languages of those countries to which they would
eventually be sent on mission. On his own part, Ramon established a school in
Majorca in Spain where those that are being prepared for the mission could
learn the Arabic language.
Missiology
therefore began as an effort to teach people the languages necessary for
evangelisation in foreign lands. Missionaries were trained in the language of
those to whom they were to evangelise. He also added further theological themes
as an academic discipline. Following Ramon’s urge, the Catholic Church in the
year 1711, at the Council of Vienna, established chairs (Office/Schools) in
Rome, Paris, Bologna, and Salamanca for the study of languages. The birth
Catholic missiology therefore received a stimulus from the fact that on the
part of the Protestants, missiology as a discipline to a certain extent was
being developed. The Protestants actually started missionary activities and in
turn inspired the Catholic Church to establish her own missionary schools. In
the Protestant world, the founder of missiology is called Gustave Warnec. He
contributed so much on the historical and doctrinal aspects of missiology. The
Catholics considers Joseph Schimidlin because he was interested in missiology;
that is, in the promotion of theological course in all its ramifications. He
was put in charge of the teaching of the problems of mission at the University
of Munster. As a result, he was given the first “Cathedral” in charge of
missiology all over the world.
All
these were the conception of missiology as a discipline but the birth date of
missiology is 1911. The first one was the establishment of the foundation of
International Institute for Missiological event while the second one was the
apparition of missiological magazine. These show that missiological students
have come to stay.
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Structure
of Missiology
There
are four main sectors to the structure of missiology
1.
Theology
2.
Anthropology
3.
History
4.
Usual missionary
procedure.
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Meaning
of Missiology
Missiology
is a combination of the Latin word “missio” and the Greek word “logos.”
Missiology is a study of the salvation activities of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit throughout the world geared towards bringing the kingdom of God
into existence. From this definition, we see that the task of missiology is to
investigate scientifically and critically the presuppositions, motives, the
structures and leadership which the Churches bring into their mandates.
In
addition to this, missiology also examines every other type of human activity
which combats various evils to see if it is the criteria and goals of God’s
kingdom. Missiology also ought to test the practice of world mission, world
service and development projects and programmes against the stand of the Bible.
Missiology also ought to inspect those who administer such programms and serve
them with advice on how to carry out those programms. It also ought to examine the
structures of the different congregations in the Church, the relationship
between the Church in the West, Africa, Asia and Latin America and also the
nature of missio ecclesia today and the plans for future projects. Missiology in the final analysis can be seen
as the tool or instrument used in examining the missionary activities of the
Church so that these activities could be better understood, appreciated and
lived.
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15/3/2012
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The
Concept of Mission
The
term “mission” cannot be found in the scriptures. The term came into use in
1500 at the same time as the term colonialism. This made Christianity difficult
to gain ground in Africa and Asia because when you talk about Christianity, the
negative connotation associated with colonialism comes to mind. Christianity
was seen as having come with colonialism. The colonial masters came with the
term ‘mission’ and so in Africa and Asia, the term ‘mission’ connotes a
negative concept because it denotes colonialism. For this reason therefore,
Pope Paul VI choose to adopt the term evangelisation instead of mission.
However, Pope John Paul II restored the use of the term mission in his
encyclical “Missio ad Gentes.” He felt that abandoning the term mission
deprives the Church of its characteristic which is missio ad gentes.
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Historical
origin of the word “Mission”
The
historical origin or ecclesiastical use of the word ‘mission’, used to describe
the ministry goes back to the tradition of many centuries. It first appeared in
the Mendicant Order and promoted by the Jesuits because they are the ones that
adopted and used the word in today’s ministry. The term ‘mission’ therefore
came with the foundation of the Jesuits.
St.
Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 maintains that a religious who wants to belong to
his Order must be ready to bind himself with a fourth vow, which is the vow of
mission. According to him, “since the society intends to establish itself in
various places, anyone who becomes a member must accept every destination, that
is, mission, coming from the Pope (authority) in the Church to carry out the
ministry in any place (territory) you are sent to. Therefore, before a person can become a
Jesuit, there is need to declare one’s disposition to be sent and to serve in
any part of the globe.”
From
this explanation given by St. Ignatius, mission would therefore mean “mandate”
for carrying out a ministry established by the Church. The term also means
function in relation to the destination. With time, the term ‘mission’, seem to
have been restructured to transitory posting to places different from one’s
habitual residence. Therefore mission could mean places and activities.
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27/3/2012
After
the foundation of Propaganda Fide in 1622 (founded to consolidate the world
mission) the term ‘mission’ was used in a more specific and restricted sense to
determine a particular ecclesial activity carried out in a determined
territory. Mission in this sense assumed a technical term of ecclesiastical use
to determine a precise assignment.
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Etymological
Meaning of Mission
The
word mission is derived from the Latin word “Mittere”, which simply mean ‘to send.’ In a direct sense, mission
means that act of sending a particular person or group of persons. In a derived
sense, it could mean the physical or moral object of the mandate. It could also
mean the place or the result of the missionary activity.
The
etymological meaning of mission giving above says nothing about the nature or
character of the mission or the dimension of the use in which this mission is
to be carried out. Because of this, people began to think of the mission as a
concept. This is because mission as a concept is more encompassing. It includes
other aspects that are not in the etymological definition, such as the
character and the nature of the assignment entrusted to the person but the
etymological meaning does not include these. The etymological definition does
also express the way in which the mission is to be carried out.
Mission
as a concept expresses both what the person sent must do, how he or she is to
do it and to whom it should be done. The concept of mission therefore goes
beyond the etymological meaning or definition of mission. The concept of
mission was there before the term itself. This is because a particular word
does not have a fixed value for all times. Talking about concepts and
development of concept, there are some values.
In the past people have referred to the concept of mission as propaganda
of faith, proclamation of the gospel, expansion of God’s kingdom, conversion of
pagans, planting the Church.
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The
concept ‘Mission’ as understood by the Church
In
Vatican II document Ad Gentes, missionary activity of the church is synonym to
the word ‘mission.’ According to Ad Gentes number 6, ‘Mission is a special
undertaking in which preachers of the Gospel sent by the Church and
going into the world carry out the work of preaching the gospel and implanting
the church among people who do not yet believe in Christ. This particular
mission is carried out in a determined territory referred to as mission land or
mission territory.
The
definition given above is narrow or limited in its scope. It indicates that
missionary activities of the church are limited to unbelievers alone. Because
of this limitedness, Ad Gentes uses another terminology which indicates the
entire missionary activities of the church. Thus Vatican II uses missionary
activities of the church to refer to other missionary aspects carried out
in the Church. When ‘mission’ in the sense of traditional North-South movement
started phasing out, Pope Paul VI adopted the term ‘evangelisation’ to mean the
same thing as missionary activity of the Church – cf Evangelii Nuntiandi. The
Pope felt that there should be a term encompassing both believers and
non-believers. Mission then is synonymous with missionary activity or evanglisation
or evangelising mission.
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Evangelisation
as understood by the Catholic Church
The
term evangelisation encompasses three areas, namely:
1.
Ad Gentes – in this
sense, evangelisation is meant for the conversion of unbelievers
2.
Pastoral – in this sense,
evangelisation is meant for those that already converted and are within the
church.
3.
Re-evangelisation – in
this sense evangelisation is meant for those of us who were baptised as
Catholics but are no longer in the Catholic Church.
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What
is evangelisation?
Evangelisation
could simply be described as the announcement of God’s message to all men and
women, to all religions, cultures, social, political and economic situations.
The term ‘evangelisation’ is of protestant origin. The Protestants of southern Europe used the
term in their effort to reconvert Catholics of that that region whom they felt
should be reconverted to Protestantism.
In
a wider sense, evangelisation is announcing Christ to those who do not yet know
him in order to make believers of them. It is the preaching of the Good News to
boast the faithful and non-believers with the aim of obtaining change of heart
and incorporating them into the Church through baptism and to make perfect
Christians of them.
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29/3/2012
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Universality
world history
From
the year 1500, the universality of the world history was realised. During this
time, the Portuguese decided to descend into Africa – south of the Sahara. Before this time their effort to penetrate
into African hinterland had been impeded by the Muslim presence in North
Africa. Navigating through the sea therefore, they were able to discover this
part of the world. First they landed a Mauritania and from there to South
Africa, and other parts of the continent.
The
Spanish followed suit after the Portuguese by deciding to go to India.
Unfortunately however, they ended up landing at Latin America and they thought
they had discovered India. Later however, they discovered that they were far
away from India which is in the East. However, they called the Latin American
Red Indians.
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Motive
Three
reason propelled the Portuguese and the Spaniards to embark on their sea
voyaging.
1.
Commercial
purposes.
The
Portuguese and the Spaniards were interested in the gold coming from Africa and
the far East. These treasures had been reaching them through the Arab Muslims
who at that time controlled the African and Eastern trade routes. Because the
Spaniards and the Portuguese get these treasures at a high price, they decided
to take control of these trade routes by going to the source themselves so as
to obtain this gold at a cheaper rate.
2.
Religious
purposes.
The
coming of the Portuguese and the Spaniards apart from the commercial motive had
a religious motivation as well. They were also interested in converting the
people they come in contact with. Queen Isabel of Spain for instance was
interesting in the conversion of the people. There were also the twelve (12)
Franciscan apostles who carried out evangelical works in Latin America.
Christopher Columbus was equally interested in the conversion of the people. In
1459, Rome issued a Bull in which she encouraged the Spaniards and the
Portuguese to undertake the conversion of the people whom they come in contact
with in these expeditions.
3.
Cultural
purposes
Cultural
motive is another aspect of the Spaniard’s and the Portuguese expeditions.
Before this time, people were familiar with the world of the Roman Empire and
had little or no idea of other people living outside this confine. The meeting
of the Spanish people and the Latin Americans was therefore a discovering of
the other. They discovered through this meeting that there were people
different from themselves, different from their own culture, way of life and
reasoning. This is equally the same with that of African explorers. Coming in
contact with Africans revealed to them that there were people beyond their own
shores and different from them and their way of life.
Given
the discovery of these differences in culture of the Latin Americans and
Africans, this discovery was termed the meeting of a superior and inferior
culture. The Spanish and Portuguese felt that their own culture was superior to
those of the Africans and Latin Americans. They looked down on the people they
have discovered and their culture as inferior. Consequently they see the people
as a people to be dominated.
v
3/4/2012
In Latin America, the Spanish had their
first missionary activities and experience. Having no missionary experience
before, they had to apply the techniques they had used back in their own
country which was basically by the use of force. The different institutes they
employed in carrying out this mission were the Augustinians, the Jesuits etc.
This missionary adventure was rather a failure because the Spanish meet
different cultures such as the Incas’ culture which practices human sacrifice
and at the same time eats human beings. The missionaries wondered and concluded
that the Incas were not human beings. The Church however, told the missionaries
that Incas were human being despite the fact that they have different cultures
from those of the Spaniards. In all, the first missionary activity in Latin
America was a failure because it did not totally achieve the aim of the
missionaries. Trying to use force did not work because the Incas fought back
the missionaries.
Having realised that the force would not
work, two questions remains to be answered namely;
1.
Since the Church has said
that the Incas were human beings, the question was what kind of human beings
are they? Are they fully or half human beings?
In
answer to the above, the Church through Bartholomew Della Scasa answered that
they are fully human beings who had been deprived of their freedom, and that if
well educated, they would be on the same level with the missionaries.
2.
The next question
bothered on who owns the land. The Spanish claimed that they and not the Incas
have the right of ownership over the territory which they (the Spanish) have
conquered. Again through Bartholomew Della Scasa, the Church answered that the
land actually belonged to the Incas. In the year 1800, Propaganda Fidei
eventually took over the missionary activities in Lain America.
The missionaries of Latin America (the
Spaniards) used force to evangelise the people and they had no respect for the
people and their culture.
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Africa
South of the Sahara
The
Portuguese that came to Africa, they came not only because of commercial
purposes but also for religious reasons as well. Because of the Muslim presence
in North Africa, it has been difficult for the missionaries to penetrate into Africa
south of the Sahara. However, when the
Portuguese learnt of a Christian King and community in Congo, they had to
travel by sea, to make contact with him. The effort was join forces with this
king to fight the Muslim dominated Northern part of Africa. Their intent from
this perspective is therefore more of a political need that the quest for
conversion of the people which came later on.
The
Portuguese came through Mauritania, passing through Ivory Coast and then on to
Congo. Here they built a lasting missionary presence. The king of Congo was
converted to Christianity because he foresaw the benefit which would come to
him if he becomes a Christian. Having become a Christian, his son was trained,
ordained a priest and consecrated a Bishop. He was the first black African
bishop – Dom Henrique by name.
Because
the Portuguese regarded the Christian converts of Congo as inferior, the king
of Congo eventually request Rome to separate his jurisdiction from the
territories controlled by the Portuguese. This necessitated the Capuchins being
sent by Rome to take charge of the missionary activities in this region
separated from the territory controlled by the Portuguese. The case of Congo
brought to light two problems:
1.
The corruption of
Europeans who were dedicated to slavery and the involvement of Africans
themselves.
2.
The direct relationship
that these missionaries had with the Pope made them to be arrogant.
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Asia
In
the Asian countries the mission lands were India, China and Japan. When they
arrived in India, the missionaries saw that there was some Christian already
there present. This group of Christians was believed to be the disciples of St.
Thomas the Apostles who was said to have preached in India.
Apart
from the above, St. Francis Xavier was the missionary who went to India where
he lived for 14 years. On coming in contact with the Christians in India, he
wrote to St, Ignatius asking for more missionaries to help him in evangelising
the Indians. In response, Vagriano was sent to China for missionary works.
Before his arrival, Francis Xavier was on his way to China but he took ill and
died. Vagriano discovered that the Chinese had a religious rite different from
Christian practices. Writing to his superior, he asked for a permission to
retain these rituals of the people. His superior responded that he could keep
them as much as Christianity allows.
In
India, Robert, decided to live among the people in other to carry out an
effective evangelisation. Leaving the missionary settlement, he went and lived
with the people, spoke their language, dressed like them, eating their food and
so on. He entered into the culture of the people. This method is called the
method of adaptation.
Matheo
Richi is another Jesuit who worked in China and Japan. In Japan, he tried to Japanise
Latin terms. He took Latin Terms and tried to Japanise them. According to him,
the cult of the ancestors which was strong in Japan, was not idolatry but is
similar to what we call the cult of the saints. Rome however, rejected his
request to use this cult of the ancestors to evanglise the people. In 1947
however, Rome later gave permission.
The
problems encountered by the missionaries in Asia and China were that of
Language, different religions and rites. Another problem was on how to announce
the good news to these people’s culture. The missionaries were able to succeed
because they used the method of adaptation.
After
the first missionary expedition, the support of the Kings in Europe towards
missionary activities was no longer necessary because Church now became
responsible for the evangelisation of the world. The terminology used at this
time now changed. The idea now became mission to the people of God. There was
no longer any political or commercial connotations attached to missionary
activities. The Church now entrusted the missions t religious institutes and
missionaries
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Scriptural
Foundation of Missionary Activities
The
missionary precedence recorded in the scriptures starting with the Prophet
Jonah all to the Israel’s role, as a light to the pagans and up to the Apostles
themselves can be cited as a legitimatisation for modern missionary witness.
The scriptural witness proves to be a constitutive element both in context and
content. Since the writings of the New Testament took shape as a missionary
witness, we no longer need to search for motive of the mission in individual
passages of the New Testament. The whole of the writings bears witness to the
fact of mission. We should therefore begin our search for the foundation of the
mission from Old Testament.
In
the Old Testament, God is described as a sending God. He is always sending
people. And we have described mission as the act of sending. In this case, the
Old Testament could be seen as a book of mission. In the New Testament, we see
Christ being sent by the Father and He (Christ), in turn sending the Apostles.
In the Old Testament, the foundation of the missionary task can be divided into
four (4) motifs:
1.
The universal motif
2.
The motif of rescue and
liberation
3.
The missionary motif
4.
The motif of antagonism
·
Assignment: What is the
message of Genesis chapter 10:1-32? – Hand written one page.
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24/4/2012
Genesis chapter 10 presents us with the
table of the nations. The important point in this chapter is the fact that:
1.
All nations came from the
creative hand of God and stands before his watchful eyes
2.
God’s activity is
directed to the whole of humanity. When God chooses a person, he always reaches
out to the whole of humanity through this individual person
3.
All nations are like
dotted line. In time however, these dotted lines are linked together as one
4.
Another thing we realise
is that Israel is only an opening word in God’s proclaiming word of salvation.
In other words, God chose Israel so as to reach the whole world.
5.
Another thing is that
Israel is just a minority chosen to serve the majority. Therefore whenever
Israel forgot that God chose her with the view to speak to other nations, a
prophet is always raised to remind Israel of God’s intent by choosing them.
Israel was chosen not because she was great but because God loves them. God
chose Israel to bring back all people to himself and God used Israel to fulfill
this mission – the mission of Israel.
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The
Motif of Rescue.
This
is a common theme that runs through the Old Testament which is the theme of
soteriology. This theme is the fact that
Yahweh is the Redeemer of Israel. In the Old Testament, we find that Israel is
often stubborn, refusing to follow God’s injunctions. Consequently, the nations
around them are always waging war against them but God is always rescuing
Israel, saving them from the oppressions of other nations around them. He saved
them from the Egyptian slavery and so forth.
In
all these interventions, God uses a method in saving Israel. In Isaiah chapters
49: 6; 42: 4, we see the method God uses in liberating his people. In the first
passage, God uses Israel to bring his salvation to the ends of the earth. God
preserves Israel, rescues Israel so that God’s salvation may reach the ends of
the earth.
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The
Missionary Motif
The
prophets in Israel kept reminding Israel that their call is not a privilege but
a call to service. This call of Israel to service involves a duty and a
mission. Every call therefore is for a purpose. The call of Israel involves the
mission and duty to witness among the nations and also the duty to become a
light that will lead the other nations to God. Israel has the mission of
presence is witness.
The
divine appointment of Israel becomes a sign or a bridge for all the other
nations. This motif should not only be seen as a presence but may sometimes be
accompanied with words and deed. There were many pagan nations for instance
that were won over or converted to the assembly of the Israelites just by
living close to the Israelite nation and witnessing their way of life. These
people came to trust the living God by the example of the Israelites. A typical
example is Melkezedek who was a pagan king – cf Genesis 14: 17-20. We also have
the example of Ruth who changed both her nationality and religion to that of
the Israelites. Job is another example in this category. He was not a Jew but
an Edomite. He came in contact with Israel and became a model. The stories of
these people are windows through which we can see people who are not Israelites
but who had heard the missionary call through Israel. We can see the missionary
impact of Judaism in Diaspora. This could be explained as an understanding the
Jewish people had to witness among the peoples.
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Motif
of Antagonism
In
the Old Testament, we have read how God wagged war against those powers and
forces which opposed his liberating authorities and all those false god that
human beings fashioned for themselves. This is because God has a purpose for
Israel. The whole of the Old Testament is full of feverish desire to defeat
these opposing forces. For instance, in Isaiah 2, Mich 4 and Isaiah 65, we see
that for one to be a missionary or to take part in the mission, he needs to
wage war against any form of forces or powers that stands in opposition to
God’s intention to save the people. Apart from these four (4) motifs, we can
also cite the call of Abraham (Gen 12), the call of Isaiah (Isaiah 66: 18-23,),
and the call of Jeremiah (33: 31-4)
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New
Testament Foundation of Mission
From
the beginning, the New Testament is said to be the book of mission because its
existence is due to the mission work of the early Christian church beginning
with the mission of Christ himself. In the four (4) Gospels, we have the
missionary mandate - Matthew chapter 10 and 28. Matthew’s gospel was written
specially to instruct new converts about the life and work of Jesus. Also it
has the aim of assisting the new converts in their effort to preach to others
about Jesus.
·
Matthew’s
Gospel
In
Matthew chapter 10: 1-6, the missionary mandate is restricted to the household
of Israel. Chapter 28: 18-19 however gives us the image of universal mandate.
The missionaries are therefore not static – they must carry the Gospel to all
nations. Missionary work entails therefore the movement from one end of the
earth to the other. The restriction of the missionary mandate in chapter 10 to
the Israelites could be interpreted from the angle that the disciples where
still undergoing their formation. Once they were fully equipped, they had to go
to the ends of the world bringing people to surrender their live to the message
of the Gospel.
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8/5/2012
·
Mark’s
Gospel
Marks
gospel was written around 70 AD. It was written in a gentile environment.
Therefore Mark’s tone of writing is different from that of Matthew. Mark’s
gospel is missionary in nature. Mark’s purpose for writing is to give useful
instruction for winning human beings over to Christ. The mandate in Mark’s
gospel is found in chapter 16: 16. To all nations of Matthew is replaced by
Mark by “to all creation.” The missionary is mandated to go and preach the good
news.
·
Luke’s
Gospel
Luke’s
gospel and the Acts of the Apostles were written around 75 AD for the Gospel
and 95 AD for the Acts of the Apostles. The two books were meant to be taken as
one book because they complement each other. The missionary mandate in Luke’s
gospel is found in chapter 24: 47 and in Acts of the Apostles chapter 1: 8.
According to Luke’s passage quoted above, “the preaching of repentance is for
the whole world but the beginning is from Jerusalem.” In Acts of the Apostles
cited above, the disciples were to receive the power of the Holy Spirit which
would come upon them and then they will be witnesses not only in Jerusalem but
throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to earth’s remotest end. Both the
gospel of Luke and the Acts of the apostles therefore singled out Jerusalem as
the starting point of the missionary mandate.
·
John’s
Gospel
The
gospel of John is different from the other gospels we have thus far considered.
John’s selection of material for his writing shows his missionary aims which
includes:
1.
To bring people to faith
in Jesus Christ
2.
To keep them steadfast in
the faith
3.
To continue the
fellowship which believers have in Christ
The
missionary mandate in John’s gospel is found in chapter 20: 21 – 23 “After
saying this, he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are
retained.” It is only in John’s gospel that we notice the striking analysis of
the Father sending the Son. Again the horizon or territory of the mission is
not given.
In
all, the content or the message of the gospel mission mandate is the same;
namely, to go and preach the message. The universal mandate in all the gospels
presents the essential elements of the missionary activity.
1.
Active go for – Go! Go to
preach
2.
Preach what? Preach the
good news. The message of love
3.
Destination: To the whole
world – an unlimited horizon.
Every
one of the gospel and Acts of the Apostles has its own way of presenting the
missionary mandate. In every one of them, the command was given by the Risen
Lord; and thirdly, all the evangelists connects Christ’s mandate to his
Apostles.
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The
Trinitarian origin of the Mission
The
mission originates from the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This implies the
divine origin of the mission of the Church in general and in particular of the
activities of the missionary himself or herself. This divine origin of the
Church’s mission and that of the individuals make us talk about Missio Dei,
Missio Ecclesia, and Misio Homini (God’s mission entrusted to the Church and we
as members of the Church partake of this mission), it becomes our own mission.
Vatican
II document Ad Gentes number 2 tells us that this mission flows from the
fountain-like of the Father. Christ was sent by the Father and he received the
mission from the Father and entrusted it to the Church whom he sent the Holy
Spirit to establish or found on the day of Pentecost. Each of the Trinity
therefore has a role to play in the mission. The Father is the originator,
Christ is the Principal Agent and the Holy Spirit is the Principal Motor
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The
Father as the originator of the mission
In
the Old Testament, God is seen as a sending God – God sends the prophets to
warn his people, send people after another. This sending God is also always on
the move. He could therefore be regarded as the first missionary in the sense
that he is always moving with his people. God cannot however, be described as
the first missionary since this will imply using human terms. However, God can
be described as a missionary God; he is always moving with his people.
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Christ
as the Principal Agent of the Mission
In
the New Testament, Christ is described as the one sent by the Father into the
world in order to redeem humanity and to establish the economy of the new covenant.
Christ should therefore be considered as the first missionary per excellence.
It is from Christ that the Church received the capacity of life and action to
redeem mankind. The mission like any other ministry remains the work of Christ
who intervenes as the primary agent. This makes Paul in 2nd
Corinthians 5: 20 refer to missionaries as ambassadors for Christ. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 6: 1,
he also refers to them as cooperators, or fellow workers.
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The
Holy Spirit
In
Lumen Gentium number 17, the Church refers to the Holy Spirit as the principal
motor of missionary activities. It is the Spirit that urges the growth of the
Church on earth with the gifts of the Pentecost which marks the beginning of
the union of all peoples and the catholicity of the faith – the Spirit
motivates the missionaries to go out and preach.
According
to St. Paul, the Holy Spirit is the communication of the grace of Christ and of
divine love - 1 Corinthians 13: 13. The Holy Spirit is the distributor of
gifts. After Pentecost and the inauguration of the Church, the Holy Spirit
continues to act in the Church and gifts of the Pentecost is developed in
connection with the missionary office which is illustrated in the first stages,
that is speaking in tongue. After the
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit intervened extremely in such a way that it moved
those responsible for the Church which is being born to concrete universality.
See this in Acts of the Apostles chapters 10: 19 and chapter 11: 12. The Holy
Spirit guides the missionary works in such a way that it is presented as the
Diakonia of the Spirit. – I Corinthians 3: 8. This is what has resulted in the
universal vocation of the Church.
NB.
The Church is universal because it is everywhere in the world. And it is
everywhere because the Holy Spirit sends people to proclaim the good news –
missionary mandate!
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10/5/2012
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The
Universal Missionary Vocation of the Church
In
today’s emerging ecclesiology, the Church is seen essentially as missionary.
This implies that the mission or evangelisation is a vocation that is proper to
the Church. In Evangelii Nunctiandi number 14, the Church tries to put the
words of Luke chapter 4: 13 and 1 Corinthians…… into the mouth of the Church.
The Church has the mission to proclaim the good news. The above passages show
us the seriousness of this mission. By nature therefore, the Church on earth is
missionary. This should not surprise us because the Church has her origin in
the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the Church is the immediate
visible result of the mission of the twelve – this implies that the Church is
the immediate concrete result of the preaching of the twelve. In other words,
the twelve preached, people were converted and believed and this resulted in
the formation of the Church.
The
Church has from its foundation and nature, a mission to all men and women. This
implies that the Church has a universal mission because the Church is the one
sent by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Church
is to everyone. God the Father sent his Son to reconcile the world to himself.
This is evident in the last three years of Jesus Christ. He brought the good
news to the poor and that which is preached during his life must be proclaimed
to the ends of the earth. In order to accomplish this intensive mission or
preaching the good news, Christ sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles who
later formed the Church.
Before
the Pentecost, Christ expressed the universal mission of the Church when he
asked the disciples to go out to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to all
creation – Mark 16: 15. Since the Church must obey the express command of her
founder, hence the obligation that has come down to us today to proclaim the
message of Christ.
According
to Schumacher, the Church and mission go together. In other words, mission is
the very nature of the Church. Consequently, we cannot for instance, talk about
Church and Mission as this would imply a separation between the two. The Church
and mission are one aspect of the same reality. Thus instead of speaking of
Church and mission, we instead speak of mission of the Church. The fact that
God’s love is universal; the mission of the Church is equally universal.
Christ’s death was for all and not for just a few.
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