CONCEPTS OF MISSION - Orbis Books

Mission in Contemporary Missiology 15
for a fervent cooperation in mission among the various confessions.
Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants are invited to question themselves and
to share what they have understood and discovered in Christ according to
their respective confessions. They must work together to proclaim Jesus
Christ effectively in the world today and tomorrow. Collaboration already
exists in several areas: social progress, religious education, theological
research, etc. (Oborji 2002b, 27-30). Any reflection on mission trends today
must include this renewed invitation to an ecumenical dialogue.
In taking this direction, Vatican II intimately links the call to Christian
unity to the church’s mission (AG 6). All baptized people are called upon to
come together in one flock that they might bear unanimous witness to Christ
their Lord before the nations. The Vatican II missionary decree goes on to
say, “And if they cannot yet fully bear witness to one faith, they should at
least be imbued with mutual respect and love” (AG 3, 19-23). And the council’s
dogmatic constitution on the church states categorically that those “who
are sealed by baptism which unites them to Christ . . . are indeed in some real
way joined to us in the Holy Spirit” (LG 15). The Vatican II decree on ecumenism
(Unitatis Redintegratio) also speaks in favor of improved relations
and mutual acceptance. In general, Vatican II considers ecumenism as one of
its principal concerns and states that division among Christians contradicts
the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy cause,
the preaching of the gospel to every creature.
This new development is also experienced in the Protestant churches. The
formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948 has been
described as a great new fact leading toward Christian unity. Churches
became aware that, today, it is impossible to say “church” without at the
same time saying “mission”; by the same token it has become impossible to
say “church” or “mission” without at the same time talking about the one
mission of the one church. This is the new trend in mission (Bosch 1991, 464).
There is a growing awareness of the relationship of the question of Christian
unity and the unity of the human family. In fact, some have asked
whether the unity of the human family is not somehow linked to visible unity
among Christians joined in a single faith. There is also a strong view that
stresses that the coming of the kingdom of God and the second coming of
Christ must not be separated from this invitation for the unity of the human
family. Mission aims toward the unification of all in Christ. For this to come
about, missionary activities must also be directed toward building bridges
across those things that divide diverse peoples: religious beliefs, ethnicity,
race, ideologies, etc. As recent events and conflicts in the world are showing,
the reign of God also means tolerance, reconciliation, peace, and justice. All
this means that humanity is in dire need of ethnic and racial redemption
(Mushete 1991, 152).
Christian mission is rooted in the common faith that all Christians profess
in Jesus Christ. The proclamation of this faith calls for communion if not