Missiology, Theology, Worship and the Church

To support a sustainable commitment to mission, missiology needs both a modest and a strong place among its fellow theological disciplines:

It needs to be modest in that while missiologists may be champions of the mission of the church they are not its owners. Other theological specialities, and the faith of church leaders and Christians generally are stakeholders in determining and obeying the mission of the church in particular times and places. Missiologists may help provide the tools, but they are but partners in the exercise.

It needs to be strong since missiologists have things to say that those with less experience in mission across and within cultures are less likely to say. Their place in the church, and in the training of the church's leaders needs to be  assured. Left to themselves other disciplines do not always appreciate the learnings that lie in the story of the church's mission, or the importance of cultures other than one's own for understanding what it is about.

While sustainability is no infallible indicator of truth, if a particular vision of mission is not sustainable for a Christian community it at least raises questions about whether the fundamentals are right or not. The history of churches and mission societies that have tried to make mission the sole reason for their existence does not lead me to believe that such an emphasis, however sincere and worthy, is in fact sustainable. Indeed by its neglect of worship and failure to address the demands of community it may in fact be theologically suspect as well as socially impracticable.

Discussion about the mission of the church and missiology involves:

1) Exploring the triangle of relationships between God, the Church and the World.

We cannot understand what is required of the Church towards the World, or understand the importance of culture for the Church, without taking into account what is going on between God and the World, the World and God, and between God and the Church.

2) Exploring Worship, Community and Mission as the fundamental dimensions of the Church's life:

 

Lists of the fundamental dimensions which constitute church are usually longer than three items, and the categories identified often do not have a hierarchy of relationship. Discussion of what it means to be church is in my view better served by taking the three dimensions of Worship, Community and Mission as primary and then differentiating these further as required. The three do of course interrelate and particular elements such as leadership appear across the three. We can debate what constitutes mission and what should be priorities, but mission outside the community needs to be placed alongside worship and community as foundational to church identity.

Although this linking of Worship, Mission and Community arose for me out of reflection about what were the core dimensions of the purpose of the church, not surprisingly they also appear elsewhere! However not as much I as would expect. Writings that I have come across include Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries, A three fold vision for worship, community and mission, Herald Press, 1997, and in Daniel Schipani, "The Church and its Theological Education: A Vision" in  Nancy Heiser and Daniel S. Schipani. Theological education on five continents : Anabaptist perspectives, Occasional papers (Institute of Mennonite Studies (Elkhart, Ind.). Strasbourg, France: Mennonite World Conference, 1997, pp.14-21. The phrase also appears in Grace Wenger, Witness: empowering the church through worship, community, and mission. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1989.

3) Working with others to explore the issues of today.

Christians and churches participating in debate about ethics, ecology, economics, globalisation and politics and bringing their faith to these conversations has a theological basis in our faith in the Lordship of Christ over the whole of life. Christians do not need to be afraid of growing in and sharing what it is to follow Jesus Christ through dialogue with other people in their understanding what the Bible means and what Jesus is about.

John Roxborogh (amended 22 September 2004)

Thoughts along the way:

A comment from Pentecost 2008

These convictions were developed particularly while involved in teaching missiology from 1991 to 1999. It seemed against the grain for a missiologist that less is more as far as the promotion of mission is concerned, but I think I am trying to say something important. I acknowledge I need to work at how to present this material more adequately, including theologically.

I have often had a polite but bewildered reception to these ideas - the primacy of mission in ecclesiology is considered so theologically self-evident that it seems ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

Yet I continue to believe that discourse about mission which shifts from saying the church has a missionary dimension to saying mission is what the church is all about is actually a theological and a strategic mistake.

I see around me calls to mission running out of steam and people discovered the need for a grounding in spirituality if they are to be able sustain their own interest and the interest of others. If some churches were dead in their liturgies then the answer was not after all to say "rise up and be missionary because that is your identity" it is to say "renew your liturgy and in that you will find your power for mission."

The Holy Spirit always has more to say than we can formulate, but some of this seems to me to be part of the message of Pentecost.

If you have thoughts on these issues please email me on john@roxborogh.com