For the Sake of the World: Getting Our Missional Identity Straight

Michael Goheen

Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.

Traditional Understanding of Mission

Geographical expansion From Christian West to non-Christian non-

West (mission field)

Problem with Traditional Understanding

Growth of the Third World church: Numbers, vitality, missions

Decline of Western church: Numbers, vitality, missions

Too narrow

New Understanding of Mission Today God’s mission: Long-term purpose to restore

creation Church’s mission: Participation at God’s

invitation and command in His mission Sender (Jesus); Sent (whole church) Mission is to, from, and in all six continents Mission not one activity of church but identity

of church

Missio Dei

‘Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation.’

‘Fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission, within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.’ (Chris Wright)

Bible as One True Story Bible as true story of the world Role of God’s people in this story

“The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world. It is public truth” (N.T. Wright).”

Role of church in story of Bible What is the role of the church in this story? Old Testament people of God:

Abraham: Chosen to be a channel of blessing to the nations (Gen 12.1-3)

Sinai: A light to the nations (Ex 19.3-6) On display in the land Failure and scattering Prophetic promise

Prophetic Promise Coming of the kingdom Gathering of Israel Purification of Israel (e.g., Ezek. 36.24-27) Gathering in of all nations Growing hope in intertestamental period

Starting point: Gospel of Kingdom Jesus announces that the kingdom has come

(Mark 1.15-16) “God is acting in power and love through

Jesus and by the Spirit to restore all of human life and all of the creation to again live under God’s loving rule.”

Already here but not yet arrived

Spirit MessiahSpirit Messiah

SinDeathEvil

Satan

Knowledgeof GodLoveJoy

Justice

AGE TO COME

Prophetic ExpectationProphetic Expectation

OLD AGE

Powers of sin death evil Satan

Power of Spirit’s renewingwork

AGE TO COMEOLD AGE

New Testament FulfillmentNew Testament Fulfillment

Why the overlap?The meaning of this ‘overlap of the ages’ in which we live, the time between the coming of Christ and His coming again, is that it is the time given for the witness of the apostolic Church to the ends of the earth. The end of all things, which has been revealed in Christ, is—so to say—held back until the witness has been borne to the whole world concerning the judgment and salvation revealed in Christ. The implication of a true eschatological perspective will be missionary obedience, and the eschatology which does not issue in such obedience is a false eschatology. (Newbigin)

Already-not yet: Time of gathering Parable of the Great Banquet (Lk. 14.15-24) Delay in coming of the end Gathering of the lost sheep of Israel (Jesus) Gathering of the nations

Gathering, Purified, Sent on a Mission Jesus gathers the lost sheep of Israel (Matt.

15.24) Jesus purifies gathered community and gives

Spirit and new heart: Death, resurrection, Spirit

Sent on a mission (John 20.21)

Era of Witness

Spirit

K in g d o mm is s io n o fJ e s u sto I s r a e l

d e a thre s u r re c t io ne x a lt a t i o nP e n te c o s t

K in g d o mm is s io n o fc h u rc hto n a tio n s

SalvationJudgment

Making known kingdom Accomplishing kingdom Continuing kingdom mission

Making Known the KingdomJesus: Announced the kingdom with his words Demonstrated the kingdom with his deeds Embodied the kingdom with his life Prayed for the coming of the kingdom Struggled against opposition to kingdom Formed kingdom community

Sending of the church ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ ‘Jesus has not left us with a rigid model for action;

rather he inspired his disciples to prolong the logic of his own action in a creative way amid the new and different historical circumstances in which the community would have to proclaim the gospel.’ (Bosch).

Need to accomplish kingdom: cross, resurrection, ascension, Pentecost

A Witnessing Community (Acts 1.6-8) Now you’re going to restore the kingdom,

right? (1.6) Not for you to know when (1.7) Until then you are a witnessing community

starting here to the ends of the earth (1.8) You’ll need the Spirit (1.8)

Spirit, foretaste, and preview Spirit gives a foretaste of the kingdom

Foretaste is real taste now Complete meal coming in the future

Constitutes church as previews of kingdom Preview is real footage of coming movie/kingdom Designed to interest viewer in coming

movie/kingdom Church in midst of world as picture of salvation

that is coming

Three Marks of Church: Acts 2:42-47

Devotion to apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer: Celebrating and nourishing kingdom life (v. 42)

Life of kingdom manifested: Attractive ‘good news people’ (v. 43- 47)

Lord adds to number (v. 47)

Church as Missionary Community: Nearby and Far Away

Pattern in Antioch (Acts 11, 13)

‘Evidence of the grace of God’ (11.23) ‘Great number of people were brought to the

Lord’ (11.24) Sent Paul and Barnabas to establish

witnessing communities in areas where there was none (13.1-3)

Paul’s Pattern

Pioneer church planting (Rom. 15:23) Three missionary journeys

Build them up for faithful witness Visits on journeys Letters

Ending of Acts: 28 and 29? Why so abrupt? Loose ends?

Story of Acts has not ended

Continues today until Christ returns

. . . the ending of Acts is truly an opening to the continuing life of the messianic people,

as it continues to preach the kingdom andteach the things concerning Jesus both

boldly and without hindrance (Johnson).

Mission of the church today Being a light to the nations: Continuing the

mission of Israel (Ex 19.3-6 cf. 1 Pet 2.9) Making known the kingdom: Continuing the

mission of Jesus (John 20.21) Bearing faithful witness: Continuing the

mission of the early church

Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary nature of the church

‘ “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” defines the very being of the Church as mission. In this sense everything that the Church is and does can be and should be part of mission.’

Esse of the church not the bene esse

‘Without mission, the Church simply falls to the ground. We must say bluntly that when the Church ceases to be a mission, then she ceases to have any right to the titles by which she is adorned in the New Testament.’

(Lesslie Newbigin)

For the sake of the world

‘The church does not exist for itself or for what it can offer its members. When the church tries to order its life simply in relation to its own concerns and for the purposes of its own continued existence, it is untrue to its proper nature.’ (Newbigin)

Church as sign, instrument, firstfruit (or foretaste) of the kingdom

The business of this 7 percent [church in Madras] is to be an effective sign, instrument, and firstfruit of God’s purpose for the whole city. Each of those three words is important. They are to be a sign, pointing men to something that is beyond their present horizon but can give guidance and hope now; an instrument (not the only one) that God can use for his work of healing, liberating, and blessing; and a firstfruit—a place where men and women can have a real taste now of the joy and freedom God intends for all. (Newbigin)

Mission First order of business: Getting our missional

identity straight Activities and commitments that flow from

this identity

For the Sake of the World: Living as God’s Missionary PeopleKnox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, ONMission Conference

Michael GoheenTrinity Western University, Langley, B.C.

Living as God’s Missionary People: Five Characteristics Lifestyle: Live as a contrast community Live out a missionary encounter in their

callings Involved in social needs of neighbourhood

and world Evangelistic Take part in missions

A Contrast Community People of love and truth over against

pluralism and relativism People of selfless giving over against a

culture of selfishness People of justice over against economic and

ecological injustice People of hope over against despair and

consumer satiation

Missionary Encounter in Our Callings“A missionary encounter with the West will have to be primarily a ministry of the laity.” (Bosch)

. . . There is a “deep-seated and persistent failure of the churches to recognize that the primary witness to the sovereignty of Christ must be given, and can only be given, in the ordinary secular work of lay men and women in business, in politics, in professional work, as farmer, factory workers and so on.”

“ . . . the enormous preponderance of the Church’s witness is the witness of the thousands of its members who work in field, home, office, mill, or law court.” (Newbigin)

Need for community A fellowship that nourishes the life of Christ through

the Word and sacraments. A fellowship that supports: encouragement, prayer,

financial support, and insight. Structures that equip: study of culture, sharing of

struggles, professional gatherings, small groups, frontier groups (groups of Christians working in the same sectors of public life, meeting to thrash out the controversial issues of their business or profession in the light of their faith).

A leadership that enables.

Social involvement Jesus’ ministry of justice and mercy Global need

Global Crises and Social Need Environmental degradation Worldwide arms race/nuclear threat Crippling ideologies Hunger scandal Inappropriate food/agricultural policies worldwide and Family

farm crisis Unemployment Increasing gap between rich + poor Population explosion Colonial legacy Multinational corporations + 3rd world leaders AIDS Third world debt

Social involvement Jesus’ ministry of justice and mercy Global need Good news in your own neighbourhood

Neighbourhood involvement A church that exists for itself? Or “a community that does not live for itself

but is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighbourhood.”

Opportunities . . . Opportunity blindness

Evangelism Indispensible part of church’s mission Only effective if church is attractive

demonstration of kingdom Good news of the kingdom Invitation Sales pitch or good news Relating good news to all of life

Organic or Methodological Evangelism

One of the fundamental laws of all presentation of the Christian truth everywhere in the world is that this truth is vitally related to all spheres and problems of life, the most common and trivial as well as the most elevated. . . . The radically religious view of life as embodied in Biblical realism is of the same vital significance to man’s relation to his friend or fellow-villager, or to the way in which he spends his money or works his fields or accepts his material successes or adversities, as to the nurture of his spiritual life or to his religious needs and experiences in the more restricted sense of the word (Kraemer).

Missions One part of task of mission Establish a gospel witness where there is none

or where it is weak Will sometimes be overseas/cross- cultural

but not always

Missions “And this gospel of the kingdom will be

preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

Missions: Important part of mission of church Missions: Horizon of church’s mission

Why is this distinction important? “The scandal of the disproportionate

allocation of missionary resources” (Myer) In the unevangelized part of God’s world…

About 5.6% of income to Christians went to foreign missions. Only 0.36% of this went to sharing the gospel with the 1.2 billion people in the least-evangelized world.

World Need Unreached people groups: 11874 ethno-

linguistic groups in the world; 3915 unreached

10-40 Window

10-40 Window

In 10-40 Window we find . . . Half the world’s population The 55 least evangelized countries in the world;

97% of people in least evangelized countries The heart of Islam The three main religious blocks--Islam, Buddhist,

and Hindu 80% of the poorest of the poor live there Less that 10% of missionaries there

10-40 Window

In the least-evangelized part of God’s world… Live 86% of the world’s people

groups, of which less than 2% are Christian.

Live over 80% of the world’s poorest people.

There are 34 Muslim countries, 7 Buddhist nations, 3 Marxist nations and 2 Hindu countries.Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001

World Need Unreached people groups: 11874 ethno-

linguistic groups in the world; 3915 unreached

10-40 Window Asia

Need in Asia Over half of the world’s population 6 countries less than .1% Christian 15 of 26 countries have less than 1%

Christian 2658 ethno-linguistic groups; 1600 not

evangelized

Need in Asia Slums Most unreached Fastest growing Most responsive Least targeted!

Questions for churches and Christians What is your role in the mission of the

church? How can you contribute to the task of

missions?