By Ann Boutros
Living on the other side of the Resurrection, the word “mission” has been used for two millennia to describe the continuation of the work Christ undertook during his earthly pilgrimage.
What was Christ’s mission? To bring the reign of God to earth, to preach God’s love, and to reconcile us to the Father through his death and resurrection.
If we proclaim ourselves witnesses to this, then the baton is now passed to us to continue this mission unto our dying breath. In a culture often proclaiming the opposite, the Christian is called to be a missionary of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mission is not just a lofty idea involving sending the most qualified person into the poorest pocket of the world to preach Christ to an unbelieving people. Nor is it simply about converting multitudes. Mission goes deeper. Modern scholarship introduces us to three theologies of mission.
Prophetic dialogue
This is aimed at building relationships and encountering people where they are. It is about stepping into the other’s culture, ethnicity, struggles and brokenness without an agenda to change them. The success of the ‘prophecy’ depends on the value of the dialogue.
Christians speak the Gospel when they speak words of encouragement, hope and comfort in times of trouble, in ways that are clear, challenging, attractive, intelligent and engaging, using language relevant to those with whom they are in dialogue.
Transforming or missionary discipleship
This recognises the power found on the margins and makes room for them to lead the church’s mission. Discipleship is a call to mission. “The pilgrim church is missionary by her very nature” (Ad Gentes, 2), and therefore all baptised Christians are called to participate in the mission of Christ.
It challenges believers to be constantly open to the promptings and movings of the Holy Spirit, demanding a life steeped in prayer, contemplation, participation in liturgical life and theological reflection.
Thirdly, it invites believers to have a firm commitment to transform the world by protecting creation, confronting injustice and standing in solidarity with those on the margins.
Missiology of attraction
This is making Christ attractive to others. It concerns presenting the Gospel in a way that draws the attention of those who might otherwise view the church with indifference or even animosity. This is seen most eloquently in liturgy and hospitality.
The Eucharistic table becomes a place of welcome that attracts people to Christ. This is seen clearly in the Emmaus story. Christ meets the downcast disciples exactly where they are. He does not come in strength and power ready to convert their hearts. He encounters them on the road, in the midst of their hopelessness.
He builds relationship and then explains all that is written about him in the Scriptures. This trust is imprinted so deeply on their hearts that they invite him with the words, “Stay with us” (Luke 24:29). The Risen Christ then draws the two disciples to the Eucharistic table. In reverence and awe, they discover the True Presence that was with them all along.
The two who were leaving Jerusalem, going further and further away, now become missionaries to the apostles. Their openness to the promptings of God has now allowed them to carry this joyful news back to the apostles and beyond.
The word ‘mission’ comes from the Latin missio, meaning “act of sending, a dispatching.” It is formed from the past verb mittere, which means “to release, let go, send, or throw.”
As Christ was ‘dispatched’ and ‘sent’ from the Father to encounter our broken humanity, to proclaim and to attract others to him and then create more disciples to continue his saving mission; so too he does the same to us today.
Mission needs to start with dialogue. It relies deeply on encounter. We must allow Christ to encounter us, to meet us in whatever valley we are in and whatever storm we so happen to be caught up in.
He becomes attractive to us in the liturgy and at the Eucharistic table. Only then, can we in turn encounter others and make Christ attractive to them, forming new disciples and thus truly fulfilling Christ’s mandate before his glorious Ascension: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
