Vatican II (1961-1964) and the Evangelical mission conference held in Lausanne in 1974 each provided major missiological statements of continuing importance.

Between 1974 and 1989 there was a remarkable convergence in missiology among and between Evangelical, Catholic and Ecumenical communities. Although such agreement should not be overstated, there developed a common reluctance to prioritise between saving souls and saving society, evangelism, church planting, and social justice. Traditional symbols of difference between traditions ceased to function accurately even if new ones began to arise.

At an important foundational level in the consensus is now regarded as orthodoxy - that the church is missionary by its very nature and that to be valid theology must be missionary. While in my view this can  be expressed to suggest an overly narrow and instrumental view of the nature of the church and place worship at the risk of irrelevance except as a tool for evangelism, "missional church" thinking certainly points in a direction we need to heed: God intended the church to share in his mission. Orthodox missiology has long placed worship at the centre of mission and the Western tradition may have something to learn here.

Theology and worship test and nurture mission. Engagement in mission grows our understanding of God, and enriches our worship, and development in our understanding of God changes our understanding of mission. We need to know more about what mission does to hermeneutics, and more about the connection between theology, mission and worship.

Key Documents

John Paul-II Redemptoris Missio

Documents of Vatican II Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity, December 7, 1965, Ad gentes

Documents of Vatican II Declaration on the relation of the church to non-christian religions October 28, 1965 , Nostra Aetate

WCC, Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies (1979); Ecumenical considerations for dialogue and relations with people of other religions.

Lausanne Covenant, 1975

Paul VI Apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi

Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Education for Dialogue: a Duty for Christians and Muslims Message for the End of Ramadan - ‘Id Al-Fitr 1421 A.H./2000 A.D