Rupert’s Blog

I am a day late on posting the next installment of the paper on integrating mission and development, but yesterday I was enjoying a bit of time off after the Incarnate conference. So here is part 5.

Many years ago there was a divide in the church between evangelism and social action (in this paper this is called development). Over the last few years, evangelicals have tried to add a social action element to their evangelism, but often it has not really been clear how that fits into the mission of the church or it has been a thinly veiled excuse to see people ’saved’. Neither are good enough, in my opinion. So here we looking at how we see both proclamation of the gospel and social action as integral to the mission of the church.

We have looked at the consistent way that God acts in the world according to his nature (part 1), this action could be described at Shalom (part 2) which is incarnate in Jesus (part 3) but still remains somewhat hidden (part 4). Now we look at the church’s role in participating in this mission:

The task of the Church in the world is to participate in the missio Dei

While the reign of God is hidden in history, God has not left Godself without a witness. In the power of the Holy Spirit, God has called into being a fellowship of those who have been touched by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, who believe that he is the life of the world, who want both to experience and to manifest shalom in their lives, and who long to be agents of God’s shalom. This community of faith - the Church - thus has no other purpose than to bear witness to the ongoing work of God in the world, and in this way the task of the Church in the world is faithful participation in the missio Dei.

As we have seen, the missio Dei concerns the work of shalom - peace with justice; what Jesus calls ‘abundant life’. It is an all-encompassing vision that includes enjoying good relationships with God, with creation, with all humans and with oneself. It is a vision of life in all its fullness, and it is a calling for the Church to be involved in caring for life. In faithful witness to the God of life, the Church is thus called upon to be involved in the works of life - healing, restoring, nurturing, caring - and - in the name of the God of life, whose desire is shalom - to challenge the forces of death: injustice, violence, rape, pollution, poverty, slavery, racism. Thus while the Church has very often not lived up to its high calling in Jesus Christ, where it has, its life has been characterised by integral mission with the works of caritas, diakonia, prophetic challenge and kononia.

My Comment: I love it! I am beginning to see a vast mission that God has for His people. It encompasses telling people about Jesus, inviting them to the party, telling of what God has done in our lives. It also encompasses bringing justice, caring for the environment, bringing peace, hope, nurture … and all the things that de Gruchy says in this part of his paper. All of this is spiritual. All is God’s mission in this world.

Tags: Development, Environment, Evangelism, Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Poverty, Social Development