Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society

Conversation 3. Toward a Progressive Missiology

170 Conversation 3. Toward a Progressive Missiology W hat’s our mission as the church? Theologian John Cobb believes it to be, “working with God for the salvation of the world.”2 That is one serious task. But to really understand our mission we need to move past a couple possible misunderstandings . Some could hear “salvation of the world” within a colonial framework and think we should take the truth that we possess and give it to others in order to make them “saved,” just like us. This is not the case. Instead of possessing the truth, we are to be shaped by it and called to live redemptively within it. Others could assume a very narrow definition of salvation , thinking that the only problem the world has is its own individual separation from God. While the brokenness of individuals is clearly something God intends to heal, more than that is needed as we look at nations suffering from war, a planet suffering from our exploitation, and more than a billion hungry people suffering under the tyranny of a system that has forgotten them. In this world of broken persons, peoples, and planet, our God is living, present, and active on a mission for the salvation of the world. We are called join in. Expanding the Horizon of God’s Mission The church in America has long been divided about the nature of God’s mission in the world. Just think about the debates over the kingdom of God. It can be interpreted as a possibility for the present or the future of our world, it can be a message for individuals or nations, or it can be about redemption or a call to justice. There are so many ways by means of which to reduce the mission of God to something manageable, saying it is either solely about this Conversation 3. Toward a Progressive Missiology | 171 or that. But in doing so we actually move against the trajectory of Jesus’ own mission. He expanded the mission so that it included those with physical and spiritual burdens. His mission put him in conflict with the religious, social, and political authorities. Jesus and his movement called people to personal and social transformation. His movement did not monopolize God’s mission but directed people towards it, and at the end of his ministry he sent his disciples out into the world to make more disciples of this way and this movement. What fears or concerns come to mind when you hear the word • mission? Do you ever use the word • mission? How would you define it for yourself and your faith community? In part 3 there is a discussion of Jesus’ own description of his • mission based on Luke 4, 6, and Matthew 25. Look through these passages and craft a mission statement for disciples in the way of Jesus. With Jesus’ mission statement in mind, assess your own life mis- • sion and the mission of your church. Where do they cohere? In what ways could you expand the mission of your church? What would it look like in your situation? A Mission of Impartial Love An essential part of a progressive missiology is the ability and willingness to internalize the impartiality of God’s love. Impartial love does not mean a blind affirmation of all actions, systems, and structures that might be considered Christian; nor does it mean a harsh application of general principles to judge others. It is, however, a departure from the “Us versus Them” mentality that has plagued the church through its history. As David Ray Griffin puts it: What this doctrine of God’s impartial love implies is that God’s unhappiness with some people’s lives does not involve hate. It implies that we cannot translate our hatred into divine hatred and thereby justify and reinforce it. It implies that, when we find ourselves fighting against other people, we are fighting against people whom God loves as much as us. It implies that we cannot justify and reinforce our own indifference 172 | Transforming Christian Theology to some people’s welfare by assuming divine indifference. In brief, it implies that there can be no divine sanction for the typical bipolar, imperialistic viewpoint, which divides the world into the favored saints and the hated enemy, with the rest of the world being a matter of indifference except insofar as it figures into the bipolar battle.3...