Page 7 - Moravian Messenger October 2019

Some thoughts on 'Mission'
Prepared for World Mission Committee, 14th March 2018
Mission is often understood as 'telling / sharing the Good News of God's love' and following the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). It is a correct interpretation if it is seen as wide as possible. However, if it is seen in a narrow way ('telling') it is insufficient. Even if we add deeds to it, it is still not enough.
There is an argument as to what the balance between words and deeds should be ('preach the gospel, and if necessary use words'), ('. but . deeds alone are not enough either .'). The balance between the two aspects may vary and depends on the particular context.
There is also the statement about Missio Dei, God's Mission: Mission is always God's doing and we are invited to join in. This is not a new thought. We find it already in Zinzendorf's understanding of Mission. He saw the Creator-Saviour as the originator of Mission and as the real missionary who gives his people the legitimation to mission. ('Zinzendorf, Texte zur Mission', compiled by Helmut Bintz, p.22).
Whilst the above-mentioned approaches are all correct, I would want to argue that Mission needs to be seen in the widest possible way.
The biblical perspective is this: in the beginning of the bible we learn about God creating everything, and it was brilliant. Soon after this we learn about the falling apart of the relationship between God and humans, caused by humans. The whole of creation is suffering under this situation. Therefore, the whole of creation needs to be made whole again. Various images for this process can be found throughout the bible. One of the most prominent ones is the image of a wedding: implying that God and his creation will come (back) into perfect harmony with each other. The heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is one of the best examples. As it is God's mission to restore (actually more than restore: Renew!) the whole of creation, our understanding of mission has to correspond with it. In David J. Bosch's book 'Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission' (p.10) it is so expressed: 'The church begins to be missionary not through its universal proclamation of the gospel, but through the universality of the gospel it proclaims. (Frazier 1987:13)'
In our own Moravian tradition, we can look at Zinzendorf's understanding of Mission. He had a very broad view of it: 'The whole wide world is the Saviour's pulpit, his lectern. There is no person, no nation, no religion, no devastation (situation) in the world that could withstand His fire. The sparks go
everywhere and cannot be stopped.' ('Textezur Mission', p.24). 'Everything is by him and through him and for him created: from the smallest worm to the archangel.' ('Texte zur Mission', p.22). We can see in this statement already the inclusion of the whole of creation that needs renewal.
As our generation is witnessing the suffering of the whole of creation as no generation before us, we need to emphasise even more the universality of Mission. The Mission Statement which we as the Moravian Church in the British Province share with other churches needs to be seen in its entirety. As followers of Jesus Christ, and as part of the Universal Christian Church, we commit ourselves to:
• proclaim the good news of the Kingdom
• teach, baptise and nurture new believers
• respond to human need by loving service
• seek to transform unjust structures of society
• safeguard the integrity of creation, sustaining
• and renewing the life of the earth.
The care for creation, working for justice and caring service are clearly part of the Christian Mission. What does it mean in a time when we learn so much about the pollution of the world by plastic and so much more, and what are our conclusions? What does it mean for our dealings with finances etc.? What does it mean for our dealings in and with society?
We can see that Christian Mission is more than telling the Good News about God's love. Christian Mission has to be all- encompassing in the same way as God's desire for renewal encompasses the whole of creation.
If we single out aspects of this statement then it must only happen for the purpose of responding to a particular need in a particular context, but never with the intention of raising one aspect above the others.
I would like to loosely add two more thoughts on Mission:
1) Is Mission active or passive?
The Great Commission implies that Mission is active by nature. However, there is also an argument for a certain passive approach or at least passive beginning of Mission.
Our Christian life can easily become task- orientated: “'What I do for God', 'How I serve the Church', or 'How we work for the coming of God's kingdom'. Of course, being and doing are inter-linked, and are not mutually exclusive modes. Nevertheless, being comes before doing; in other words,
mission arises out of worship. Anything else tilts the focus of Christian life and the Church in an unbalanced way towards activity.” (God-shaped Mission: Theological and Practical Perspectives from the Rural Church, by Alan Smith, p.52)
We do need to ask the question whether our worship services are like a magnet that draws people in? If not, what needs changing?
2) Some theologians refer to 'Truth, goodness and beauty' in conjunction with Mission e.g. see blog by Jeffrey Wattles, 'C. S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft, and the sequence: truth, goodness, and beauty': “'Truth, goodness, and beauty', [Kreeft's] writes, 'are the three things we all need, and need absolutely, and know we need'; truth relates to the mind, goodness to the will, and beauty to the heart, feelings, desires, or imagination.”
The use of truth and goodness in Christian mission may convince some people, but beauty appeals to everyone and therefore has the potential of converting even the hardest heart. As we see God in the business of creating things beautifully (“see the lilies in the field .”) so we need to follow and use beauty in our endeavours of Mission (music, art etc.).
This can easily be dismissed by mentioning the misuse of it, e.g. the over-indulgence in splendor in some churches. After all everything is a matter of getting the balance right.
In the Moravian Church we pride ourselves with 'Simplicity', which is a good thing as it points us to the essentials (Zinzendorf: 'Heart-relationship with the Saviour'). But we do need to ask the question whether we are sometimes tempted to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' and rob ourselves of means that would help us to join in God's mission. As an example: The liturgical colours that I experienced as a child in the Lutheran Church still stay with me. But I am also fascinated by the beauty of the Hosanna-Anthem.
What is Christian Mission? Keep in mind the image that the triune God, Father (Creator), Son (Saviour), Holy Spirit (Mother / Love) draws the
whole of his creation into his circle of love.
Br Joachim Kreusel Minister of Ockbrook and Leicester Congregations
115