{"id":22853,"date":"2014-12-29T23:54:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T04:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/"},"modified":"2021-01-28T13:44:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T18:44:20","slug":"college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Mission in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cThe Church in Mission is the Church for Others\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A focusing biblical text: Exodus 3: 7-12<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then God said, \u201cI have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.\u00a0 Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.\u00a0 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.\u00a0 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.\u201d\u00a0 But Moses said to God, \u2018Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?\u2019\u00a0 God said, \u2018I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you:\u00a0 when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Reflection Questions:<\/strong>
1.\u00a0 Describe the action and nature of God in this text.
2.\u00a0 What are the implications of this understanding of God for the church and the world?
3.\u00a0 How does this understanding of God, the church and the world shape the practice of mission?<\/p>\n

Description of \u201cthe Church for Others\u201d<\/strong>
The growing closeness of the Church and mission means that the whole Church and every part of the Church is involved in mission.\u00a0 The location of God\u2019s mission is deemed to be the world.\u00a0 An interpretation of world events is a determining factor for mission because the world is the locus of the continuing encounter between God and humanity.\u00a0 Instead of the Church as a starting point for the action of mission that involves God and moves to the world, God is understood as the instigator of mission directly in the world.\u00a0 God invites the Church to participate in that mission.<\/p>\n

Church\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God\u00a0\u00a0 World\u00a0
\u00a0TO God\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 World\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Church<\/p>\n

This places much more importance on interaction with secular justice and development movements than previous church-initiated mission emphases. Mission in this emphasis necessitates the church\u2019s participation in secular programs for urban renewal, civil rights, and humanization. A 1966 study project sponsored by the International Missionary Council articulated goals of mission as \u201cshalom\u201d and \u201chumanization.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was especially poignant in a world context moving to a new era of colonialism. Many new nations were emerging from 19th-20th century colonial territories.\u00a0\u00a0 With these new understandings of geography, colonial legacies and interfaith relations, mission also recognizes that the boundaries between Christian and non-Christian lands are nuanced by new missionary frontiers between belief and unbelief within every country.<\/p>\n

Illustrating Hymns \"\"<\/strong>
\u201cWhere Cross the Crowded Ways of Life\u201d
\u201cWe Would Be Building\u201d<\/p>\n

Ecumenical meetings that describe \u201cChurch for Others\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reflection Guides:<\/strong>
1.\u00a0 Outline world events during the 1960s \u2013 early 70s.
2.\u00a0 Identify the role of the Church in mission from these excerpts.
3.\u00a0 Describe the purpose of mission presented in these excerpts.\u00a0 Discuss the positive and
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 negative aspects of this emphasis of\u00a0 mission.<\/p>\n

A.\u00a0 World Council of Churches Third Assembly, New Delhi, 1961<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe integration of the IMC and the WCC brings into being a new instrument of common consultation and action to serve the Churches in their missionary task under the new conditions of the second half of the twentieth century.\u00a0 In it we see the good hand of God leading us into the next phase of the Church\u2019s mission.\u00a0 It is at the same time a fitting symbol of the fact that missionary responsibility cannot be separated from any other aspect of the Church\u2019s life and teaching.\u00a0 The Church\u2019s mission is one throughout the world, for there is but one Gospel of salvation for all men, one Savior and Lord, who is the light of the world.\u00a0 Today, thanks to the faithful witness of those who went before us in the missionary movement, the Christian mission has a world-wide base.\u00a0 Every Christian congregation is part of that mission, with a responsibility to bear witness to Christ in its own neighborhood and to share in the bearing of that witness to the ends of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 (The New Delhi Report, The Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches 1961, New York:\u00a0 Association Press, 1962,\u00a0 249)<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0 International Missionary Council Meeting, Mexico City, 1963<\/strong><\/p>\n

New missionary frontiers were illustrated by the theme of the 1963 IMC meeting in Mexico City \u2018Witness in 6 Continents:\u2019\u00a0 \u201cEvery Christian congregation in all the world is called to show the love of God in Christ, in witness and service to the world at its doors.\u201d It articulated the goal of mission as, \u201cIt must be a common witness of the whole church, bringing the whole Gospel to the whole world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

United Church of Christ and United Church Board for World Ministries documents:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0 Dr. Alford Carleton, Executive Vice President of the UCBWM,\u00a0 \u201cThe Breadth and Depth of Mission Today,\u201d\u00a0 Keynote Address,\u00a0 <\/strong>United Church Board for World Ministries, <\/strong>October 23, 1963<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is becoming increasingly clear that the major problems, as well as the greatest opportunities which of course, result from two great new developments in the Christian world.\u00a0 The first of these is a new sense of discovery on the part of Christians everywhere\u2014discovery of other Christians, of their problems, of the interdependence which we share, of the range of concerns which we have in common.\u00a0 There is, in other words, a sense of total involvement which we have never had before.\u00a0 We are suddenly discovering in the local congregation that the cause of \u2018Missions\u2019 is not something limited to a small Missionary Committee and concentrated upon a few distant areas the other side of the world.\u00a0 We are discovering that social action is not something limited to a few zealots, concentrating upon unpleasant problems in the neighborhood that we might like to leave alone.\u00a0 We are discovering that the question of relationships to other major religions is not one of distant philosophy but of our own youth in our colleges today.\u00a0 Now everyone knows that what happens to the Mission in Angola or Ceylon is of vital importance to us in our church life, that what happens in Mississippi is of vital significance to our own neighborhood, and to our Mission in South Africa; that evangelism and stewardship are not just strange words out of a religious past but vital responsibilities \u2013 in whatever terms we may express them.\u201d\u00a0 (UCBWM 152nd Annual Report, 1963, UCC Archives, UCBWM Collection, UCC 2002.05, Appendix A,\u00a0 87-88)<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0 Dr. Ben M. Herbster,\u00a0 (President, United Church of Christ) \u201dWholeness\u201d\u00a0 Keynote address, United Church Board for World Ministries,\u00a0 November 12, 1963<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have chosen for my theme the word \u201cWholeness.\u201d\u00a0 I chose this theme because it seems to me that one of the imperatives of our day is to make plain the wholeness of our faith and to establish the wholeness of the Church.\u00a0 Negatively, I could say that the failure to achieve this wholeness has been and is now one of the reasons why the Church is no stronger than she is, why her message is no more effective, why her life is a no more potent witness.\u00a0 The very life of the Church, the very life of the mission, the very life of the people and the very life of the world depends on it.\u00a0 There is great need for wholeness.
\u00a0\u2026 The unity of the faith, the unity of the Gospel, the unity of the word is one of the imperatives which we in the Church must face and face it quickly, face it courageously.\u00a0 Unless this Board for World Ministries is willing to say our task is to proclaim the whole Gospel, be witnesses to the whole word, be ambassadors of the whole truth, we might as well go out of business.
\u00a0\u2026\u00a0 The mission is one.\u00a0 The work of the Church is a whole mission to the whole of life.<\/p>\n

This whole mission must be carried on by the whole Church. Now this has two aspects each of which proposes a challenge to the Church in our day.\u00a0 First, we are challenged to make the Church a unity.\u00a0 This means pursuing the ecumenical movement, breaking down these walls of partition, of segregation, that separate our churches into little competing groups when the task is so tremendous and the challenge is so gigantic that there is no time to spend on trivia.\u00a0 This, of course, is more evident upon the so-called mission field than upon the mission field here in America.\u00a0 The very fact that in other parts of the world Christianity is so much more a minority religion tends to bring groups closer together for counsel, to form a common strategy and to establish a common front.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u00a0 We need to unite our efforts and our mission because God calls us to that type of unity.\u00a0 It is the will of God that his children shall act as members of one family.\u00a0 The mission must be pursued by the whole Church.\u00a0 By the whole Church I mean all the people in the Church must be engaged in mission.<\/p>\n

\u2026And finally, the whole Church must be involved in mission to the whole world.\u00a0 That is where particularly the BWM comes in.\u00a0 The Church must come to see that what we do in Africa, Asia, or South America is no different from what we do in the US.\u00a0 Although we may do it in a particular fashion, though the language is different, though the circumstances into which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is introduced are different, though in other lands we work through the indigenous Church, the end is the same \u2013 to help people come to know Jesus Christ, to help them through their acquaintance with Jesus Christ to understand God\u2019s will, to shape their lives according to that will and purpose, to understand and to live by the way God has been working in His world.\u201d\u00a0 (UCBWM 153rd Annual Report, 1964, UCC Archives, UCBWM Collection, UCC 2002.95, Appendix A,\u00a0 97-99).<\/p>\n

C.\u00a0 Frederick Shepard, \u201cOur Ministries in the Near East,\u201d Keynote address to Annual meeting of Near East Mission in United Church Board For World Ministries, 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition of mission, given at the Aleih Conference, was that of having each individual give a Christian witness where he is \u2013 in the community, school, clinic, or office; this puts the Christian into society rather than in a small enclave.\u00a0 The emphasis on the importance of the witness of the layman is promising in this clergy-centered church situation\u2026\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 (UCBWM 153rd Annual Report, 1964, UCC Archives, UCBWM Collection, UCC 2002.95,\u00a0 28).<\/p>\n

D.\u00a0Dr. Alford Carleton, Executive Vice President of UCBWM, <\/strong>Annual Meeting Address <\/strong>United Church Board for World Ministries <\/strong>November 10, 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIn the third category of new <\/strong>adjustment to a secularized world we are deeply concerned with the studies of the forms of the ministry, of the missionary structure of the congregation, of lay leadership in the Church, and of the Church in the world.\u00a0 We participate in very significant experiments in industrial evangelism in the Philippines and Japan; in India, in Africa, and in Germany, especially in the great new industrial complexes growing up far from the established centers of population, and often under governments that would resist the building of churches in the conventional way.\u00a0 In Asia and Africa there are many ways in which the Gospel must be carried beyond the reach of the Church itself.\u00a0 We must pass beyond the boundary of church extension into the uncharted realm of mission to people of whatever race or creed under unfamiliar and often discouraging circumstances.\u00a0 That is the meaning today of the call that we \u2018go into all the world.\u201d\u00a0 (UCBWM 154th Annual Report, 1965, UCC Archives, UCBWM Collection, UCC 2002.05.155, 10-16).<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Demonstrate how the United Church of Christ attempts to embody and reflect ecumenical mission emphases.
2.\u00a0 How do these themes and actions affect the identity of the United Church of Christ?
3.\u00a0 Do you see these emphases in the action of mission today (and into the future)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","topic":[20180],"region":[20049],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGod's Mission in the World - Global Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God's Mission in the World - Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u201cThe Church in Mission is the Church for Others\u201d A focusing biblical text: Exodus 3: 7-12 Then God said, \u201cI have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their … Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-28T18:44:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/\",\"name\":\"God's Mission in the World - Global Ministries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-30T04:54:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-28T18:44:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/college_of_mission_gods_mission_in_the_world\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"God’s Mission in the World\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\",\"name\":\"Global Ministries\",\"description\":\"Global Ministries is a common missional witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. 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