Because mission is a local affair there must be an essential relation between the catholic character of the church and what it means for the church to be mission. That church as mission must be “in place” requires the church to be connected in a manner that challenges “the boundaries” that threaten to divide Christians from one another. The catholic character of the church will not be secured through institutional means, but rather by way of mutual accountability and reconciliation. At the very least it means that the missionary task of the church depends on the refusal of Christians to kill one another. — Stanley Hauerwas, “Beyond the Boundaries: The Church Is Mission”
An interesting collection of essays was published recently by Eerdmans: Walk Humbly with the Lord: Church and Mission Engaging Plurality edited by Viggo Mortensen and Andreas Østerlund Nielsen. Pub. Dec 2010.
One of its papers, and the primary one I want to read is the paper by Stanley Hauerwas. David Fitch includes the opening quote that begins Hauerwas’ essay. It’s a quote by John Howard Yoder:
The political novelty that God brings into the world is a community of those who serve instead of ruling, who suffer instead of inflicting suffering, whose fellowship crosses social lines instead of reinforcing them. The new Christian community in which the walls are broken down not by human idealism or democratic legalism but by the work of Christ is not only a vehicle of the gospel or only a fruit of the gospel; it is the good news. It is not merely the agent of mission or the constituency of a mission agency. This is mission. (Yoder, Royal Priesthood, 91)
Fitch reflects, and it was this (plus the Yoder quote) that particularly struck me:
“…This quote heads an article where Hauerwas is trying to show that the church cannot be de-materialized in mission. In other words, we must be careful when we say “missiology precedes ecclesiology” lest we think the church is a mere pragmatic enterprise. We cannot devise a technique to lead us into being this (the church in mission). Hauerwas would rather say not “missiology precedes eccelsiology” but “missiology is ecclesiology” and of course, “ecclesiology is missiology.” In other words, there are certain practices given to us by Christ that shape us as a people that God inhabits incarnationally through the Spirit to in essence extend His presence into the world where He is already bringing in His Kingdom…”
Here’s the blurb for the book that Hauerwas' essay (noted above) is published in:
“…Arising out of that recent conference, Walk Humbly with the Lord presents a broad, multinational
spectrum of contemporary approaches to both theology and missiology. Recognizing that the old Western notion of Christendom — which formed the cultural backdrop of Edinburgh 1910 — is now long obsolete, the book’s twenty-seven forward-thinking contributors respond to globalization and the enormous growth of religious pluralism worldwide, offering reflections on the future of missiology and the relationship of church and mission. Together they speculate about the possible shape of Christianity in a multireligious age, as God works out new and unforeseen schemes in the reconciliation of the world."
You’ll find the contents page here.
You’ll find an excerpt (PDF / Church and Mission Engaging Plurality: Edinburgh 1910–Aarhus 2010 by Viggo Mortensen and Andreas Østerlund Nielsen) here.
Recent Comments