Christian mission has changed. It used to be thought of as
churches in Britain
sending missionaries abroad. These missionaries were selected, trained and sent
by special agents, the missionary societies of the various denominations.
Today, mission is from everywhere to everywhere. The
missionary agencies have either changed their role or even ceased to function.
Instead of thinking of missionaries as special agents, we now think of the
church as a whole as being called to mission, and of every Christian as sharing
in that call. Moreover, the mission thinking of the worldwide church is now
that the church does not even have a mission. It does not have a mission; it is a
mission. The mission is the mission of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit engaged
in a huge project to love and redeem the whole of creation.
In seeking to understand what the mission of God might mean,
in 1984 the Anglican communion worldwide recommended five marks of mission as a
sort of checklist - http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/mission/fivemarks.cfm.
In 1996 the general synod of the Church of England adopted these, which are now
known as “the five marks of mission”. Would you like to test your own Christian
life against the expectations of these marks? If that seems a bit too personal,
then perhaps you would like to assess the life of our own church in Kings Heath
as a mission church. Here we go!
The first mark of mission is to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
This expression is taken from the teaching of Jesus himself, who saw the Kingdom of God coming in his words and deeds. In
what ways do we bear witness to the Kingdom
of God?
The second mark is to call people into discipleship to Jesus
Christ and to nurture them in faith. The Holy Spirit does that through us
whenever a child is baptised or people are prepared for confirmation. How else
do we do it?
The third mark of mission is to extend loving care to the
community. This is where we really score! Surely the medical centre, the
services to young people and senior citizens, to say nothing of the village
square are all extending care to the Kings Heath community.
The fourth mark of mission is a tricky one. It is to
transform the unjust structures of society. What is an unjust structure? Can
sincerely good people find themselves working in unjust structures? Who
benefits from the unjust structures, and how can these be identified,
challenged and changed? Clearly, these are important questions for our society
and for the world: about the growing gulf between rich and poor, and about the
worldwide situation of hunger, sickness and war. How does our church measure up
to this mark of mission?
The fifth mark of mission is to strive to protect creation
and to restore the face of the earth. Here again, as with the third mark,
perhaps we are doing rather well in All Saints. After all, we are an eco
congregation and are about to have solar panels installed on at least one of
our buildings.
How do you respond to the five marks? Should every Christian
be involved to some degree in all five? Is it right for a particular
congregation to specialise in one or two of these? What steps can we take to
ensure that through our lives, our worship and our witness the whole mission of
God is being expressed?
John M. Hull
The Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education
3
September 2012
