Missio-Dei
to holistic Mission
The sprouts of missio
Dei concept, though not the exact words, have been attributed to Karl Barth. In
his opinion all theological endeavor including mission is God’s own activity
(actio Dei). He also gave expression to the similar view of Karl Barth, i.e.,
mission as an activity of God. Though, the exact term missio Dei
was not used, the fame of surfacing out clearly the mission as Trinitarian
activity was mainly associated with IMC’s Willingen Conference in 1952. However
missio Dei as a missionary sense was first used by German Missiologist, Karl
Hartenstein. The later popularisation of missio Dei concept was greatly
credited to another German Missiologist, Georg F. Vicedom. In his book Missio
Dei, he emphasizes that “God is the acting subject in mission. Both the church
and the mission of the church are tools of God, instruments through which God
carries out His mission”
Definition of Missio Dei
concept
The expression missio
Dei is from Latin meaning Mission of God. Missio Dei is God’s self-revelation
as the One who loves the world and is actively involved in the world. Missio
Dei defined mission as “... primarily and ultimately, the work of triune God,
Creator, Redeemer and sanctifier, for the sake of the world, in which church is
privileged to participate” So it not primarily activity of church but an
attribute of God. It was recognized that the church could be neither the
starting point nor the goal of mission. In other words, it is not the Church
that has the mission to fulfill in the world rather it is the mission of the
Son and the Holy Spirit through the Father that includes the Church. The nature
of Church was changed from being the sender to the one who is being sent to
participate in God’s mission.
Characteristic of
Mission Dei
(a) God is a missionary God, people therefore
are missionary; church is sent by God
(b) A focusing biblical text: John 17:
20-21 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who
will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you,
Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world
may believe that you have sent me.”
(c) Ecumenical meetings with this as a primary
emphasis: Willingen meeting of IMC,1952; and beyond
(d) Emphasis on God as a missionary God --
mission from the nature of God, attribute of God – trinity is a model of
mission
(e) Emphasis on unity of the church – because
it is God’s mission we all participate with God
(f) Illustrating quotations:
i. 1966 Stephen Neill: “The age of missions is
at an end; the age of mission has begun”
ii. Karl Barth 1952: “the church exists in
being sent and in building up itself for the sake of its mission”
Features of Missio Dei
Concept
1) Emphasis
on Trinity
Missio Dei concept
gives importance to Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as the source of
mission. Before Willingen the major missiological discussion were revolved
mainly around Christological sources.
2) Wider
understanding of Mission
Therefore, God’s
mission is not the sole property of Church. God’s mission can be wider than
Church’s effort. Church is privileged to participate in God’s mission in this
world which originated and still carried out by triune God. This broader
understanding of Missio Dei opened a wider scope for mission. Thus missio Dei
is beyond the frontiers of church and wider than mere salvation of the soul.
Extreme polarized use
of Missio
Dei Concept
After Willingen, the
missiological discussions of missio Dei concept varied from one group to
another. This is mainly on the debate over Church’s place in God’s Mission.
Some, like evangelical and even Catholics, maintains the prominent place of the
church in God’s mission. On the other extreme, some others reject the
significance of the Church in missio Dei or gave only very marginal role. For
them proclamation of the gospel (evangelism) and adding number to the Church is
not important. This even led to the polarization between evangelicals and
Ecumenical’s. But later we could see a middle approach in the mission understanding
which we call Holistic Mission.
Holistic Mission
According to ‘holistic’
understanding mission is a comprehensive activity which embraces evangelism and
social action, and refuses to let them be divorced. Social activity not only
follows evangelism as its consequence and proceeds as its bridge, but also
accompanies it as its partner. Mission can be identified with the very nature
of God who out of love sends Jesus Christ into the world to save and to
establish God’s reign. The God of biblical revelation is a God who cares about
the total well-being (spiritual and material) of the human beings. God cares
for the poor and the hungry, the alien, the widow and the orphan.
In this approach words
and deeds are two sides of the same coin. Words without works lack credibility;
works without words lack clarity. So Jesus’ works made his words visible; his
words made his works intelligible. As Christopher Duraisingh elaborates,
mission refers to the Church’s ‘sentness’ or ‘out going and self giving love’.
The church’s Mission has to do with its engagement in reaching out beyond its
four walls. Fullness or wholeness of life is the aim of the holistic mission.
Mission deals with “the dynamic relationship between God and the world. Some of
the characteristics of Holistic mission can be summed up as follows
- In Holistic Mission there is no dichotomy between spiritual world or physical world.Both are important. Spirituality is not unrelated to matter, and life in the Spirit is not some kind of escape from matter. Salvation includes body and soul.
- Holistic Mission takes the entire cosmos seriously. Sin destroys the relationship and creates alienation. Sin is alienation between God, fellow human beings and nature. Holistic mission emphasizes just relationship between God, human beings and nature.
- Holistic mission takes proclamation of the gospel and social involvement (word and deed) as two parts of the same coin. Church’s words should be articulated in their work. In this regard LesslieNewbigin wrote that “The preaching of the Gospel and service of men’s need are equally authentic and essential parts of the Church’s responsibility. But neither is the substitute for the other”. According to Bosh “the deed without word is dumb and the word without deed is empty. Words interprets deeds (Social action) and deeds validates the word (proclamation)
- Holistic mission hold the view that “evangelization is mission but mission is not just evangelization but more than that”
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