Missio Dei

Introduction

That the church in Africa is rising to the challenge of global mission is not in doubt, what is not new however is a close scrutiny of both missions to and in Africa, in his book, the missions on trial, Walbert Buhlmann argues that missions in Africa have for many years been in the crossfire of criticism. In an earlier age they were much admired but later they are attacked and accused by radical Christians, cold atheist and by black nationalists.[1]  Certainly the need for greater involvement cannot be over emphasized. It has been stated again and again that “Christianity’s centre of gravity has shifted to the global South”[2]. This is the amazing fact that within just one century, Christianity grew incredibly 70-fold from a mere 7 million to 470 million such that now approximately one-out-of-five Christians in the world are from Sub-Saharan Africa[3]. Surely this is tremendous advance of the Gospel.

Congruent with the general growth of the Church in Africa is the slow but certain growth in mission engagement. The African church has diverse needs and chief among them is qualified workers to engage with the current generation.  Thankfully,  there is an emerging vision for missions among African churches and communities. One such movement is iServe Africa, an indigenous African organisation that seeks to recruit and train fresh graduates on the basics of missions through the apprenticeship model. This paper seeks to explore the nature of iServe Africa and its contribution in the mission of God and especially her role in the emerging African mission enterprise.

Towards an Understanding of Mission

Missions in Africa has been understood as an event, a short term, usually week-long series of meetings with door to door witness in the morning and an open air crusade in the afternoon. Once the event is over the volunteers from different backgrounds head off to their homes until the next mission event. This has largely been the case with university students who hold ‘annual missions’ on similar understanding with the emphasis on the unreached/less reached people groups in the rural areas. The model is no different in towns where mission typically means  door to door witnessing, an open air meeting in the afternoon and a 'revival' in the evening. 

Whereas this understanding of mission has seen thousands, perhaps millions won to Christ, little or no discipleship has followed leading to lack of follow through on those commitment and an eventual need for another ‘mission’. Again, this model has failed on many fronts where longer term cross cultural activity is concerned. Besides this has led to a limited understanding and ultimately involvement in world mission. Long term cross cultural mission has traditionally been associated with a white man, sent and supported from Europe or America and usually with some developmental interest. To many in Africa, a missionary is not an African, without a considerable amount of wealth and can by no means expect to take the message of the gospel to other lands, not least among a racially different community. This, unfortunately, is the predominant view of mission.

In his book, The Mission of God, Christopher Wright defines mission as Mission: Our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation. [4] Essentially the meaning of mission is not what churches, missionaries or agencies do but what God is s doing. Missions need to be thought of in terms of God’s redemptive actions in history. [5]

Wright argues that a biblical theology of mission finds its genesis all the way back at creation and the subsequent call of Abraham. “In the call of Abraham God set in motion a historical dynamic that would ultimately not only deal with the problem of human sin but also heal the dividedness of the nations” [6]  I agree with him in asserting that the first Great Commission was Abraham’s commission to “Go . . . [and] be a blessing . . . and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:1–3). He shows from the Scriptures that when God entered into a covenant with Abraham, he had in view the rest of the nations as well. The church of Christ, therefore, is nothing less than the fulfillment of the hope of Israel—that all nations will be blessed through the people of Abraham. The people of God are those who are sent to “be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2) and not simply to share a message of blessing. “When God set about his great project of world redemption in the wake of Genesis 12, he chose to do so not by whisking individuals off up to heaven, but by calling into existence a community of blessing”[7]   

This understanding of mission as the mission of God or Missio Dei places God and not the task or the missionary at the centre of the mission enterprise. Mission is therefore a work of God through and through and human agents are mere instruments at His will and disposal.  It also clearly captures  the intentionality and purpose of God in the mission task and especially the creation of a community of faith – this places discipleship at the core of mission and not separate from it as has been understood in Kenya type missions. Wright goes on to say   "There is one God at work in the universe and in human history, and ... this God has a goal, a purpose, a mission that will ultimately be accomplished by the power of God's Word and for the glory of God's name.  This is the mission of the biblical God" 

It is of this holistic understanding of mission that iServe Africa comes into being.

TBC next week.

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[1] Buhlmann Walbert: The Missions on Trial, Orbis Books, MaryKnoll New York 1979, p9.

[2] Jenkins, Philip : The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity Oxford University Press 2002.

[3] The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life- Study on Religion in Africa, 2010 available at http://www.pewforum.org/executive-summary-islam-and-christianity-in-sub-saharan-africa.aspx

[4]Wright, J.H Christopher  The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative, InterVarsity Press

[5] Caleb Chul-Soo Kim et al: African Missiology:Contribution of Contemporary Thought, Uzima Publishing, Nairobi 2009,

[6] Wright J. H. Christopher. The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission. Biblical Theology for Life. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.P 41, 73

[7] ibid