Mission - At A Turning Point

During the past 25 years, a new missionary movement has been reawakened in orthodox Anglicanism in the U.S. after years of dormancy to the point of being almost non-existent. That is not to say that there were not Episcopalians serving overseas as missionaries for the greater part of the 20th century. There were! But their work was mostly hidden and unknown to several generations of Episcopalians. In fact, even when missionary work was acknowledged, some considered it unseemly to do Christian Gospel work in cross-cultural settings. As someone once told me, “We should not be so arrogant as to impose our beliefs on other faith groups.”

Then, in the mid-1970s, a group of evangelical Episcopalians got together and founded the American branch of the South American Missionary Society. This venerable society had existed in the United Kingdom for 120 years — and the founding of SAMS-USA, coupled with the work of the Rev. Walter Hannum and his wife, Louise, through the Episcopal Church Missionary Community, began to give a higher profile to the work of mission in the American Episcopal Church. The formation this year of Anglican Global Mission Partners, a network of mission agencies, demonstrates this ongoing commitment to mission and the desire to cooperate with our overseas partners in mission.

We know that the Great Commission is at the heart of missionary work. And it is not just the familiar Matthew 28:19 ff. passage: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”¹ There are other Great Commission texts in the New Testament that give us a fuller picture of what Jesus is requiring of His followers.² We are Christians today because someone somewhere along the line was faithful to the call of missionary service. The work is not finished by any means. In fact, in spite of all that has been going on, it has just barely begun.

What are the implications of these Great Commission passages for us as orthodox Anglicans today?

First, mission is at the heart of all that we are to do — and it is ongoing. Mission begins in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who empowers us by His Holy Spirit. The local congregation — the community of faith — is missional at its center and at its core. All the local congregation's activities are to be focused on the mission of God: to reach the lost with the message of salvation and to allow God to transform that community so that it reflects the nature and character of God.

Second, men and women are being called to join in God’s mission. Mission does not start with us. Mission begins out of obedience to God’s call to participate in His mission. Writes David Bosch in his book, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission: “To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love.”³ God is the initiator and the provider. Mission is His own activity. The only authentic missionary activities are those in line with the mission of God.

All too often, mission becomes an “add on” that is done out of following one’s own agenda, rather than allowing God to establish His priorities. This often is an easy trap to fall into. Even on the orthodox side of the Church there is a tendency to put too much emphasis on the corporate, institutional nature of the Church and forget God’s call to mission. The local church ends up existing solely for the purpose of perpetuating its own life instead of praying for ways in which it can be salt and light — or leaven — in a secular, post-Christian world. Energy and resources are put into buildings, programs, and other activities that are more for the maintenance and preservation of the institution than for the extension of the Kingdom.

We are living in an age that is getting progressively more secular and more “post-Christian.” Non-Christian religions — in addition to the fad spiritualities and cults that seem to be endemic to our American culture — continue to gain in popularity. The values of our society in the United States and in the West are no longer values that are shaped by a Judeo- Christian heritage. As long ago as 1987, Bishop Lesslie Newbigen was asking the question: “Can the West be converted?”⁴ If the past 17 years are any barometer, the answer would, sadly, be “No!”

This does not mean that we should give up hope or play a funeral dirge for the death of the Church or the death of the Christian faith in the West. It does mean that we need to be all the more diligent in discerning how to bring God’s message of salvation to a lost people. How can the Gospel be contextualized in a post-modern, post- Christian society? What is the missional approach to our life and work as a Church? How does overseas mission inform the work that we are doing here? What can and should Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry be doing to prepare men and women for the task of mission today?

I believe that these questions must be answered. I also believe that even in the midst of our current difficulties, God is giving us a tremendous opportunity to be faithful to His call to mission within and without the U.S.

The health of a local congregation cannot be measured in terms of the size of the budget, the number of clergy on staff, the average Sunday attendance, or the number of programs that the parish is offering. The health of the congregation is measured by the number of church planters, missionaries and evangelists that are being discipled and sent out because the congregation fosters a missional climate.

What this means is that the entire way in which we “do church” is going to have to be restructured to reflect a missional outlook. Each local congregation is to be a “seamless missional community,” to use the current vocabulary. This means that the worship, discipleship, community life and all other aspects of the church’s ministry will be in obedience to the Great Commission. The passages cited above become the lens by which we seek God’s will in our lives and respond in obedience. If God says, “Arise, go…”⁵ — we need to go. We cannot bury our father first or say farewell to those at home.⁶

An example of a denomination — or, more appropriately, a missionary movement — that has produced “seamless missional communities” is the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) Church. In 1887, the movement’s Canadian founder, the Rev. A.B. Simpson, had a vision for the mission of the church that resulted in the formation of the denomination. Over the next 120 years, the CMA Church has grown to over two and a half million members worldwide who continue to have a heart for God's mission and a desire to be obedient to His call. Internationally, there are now 1,100 CMA missionaries serving in 49 nations and the denomination has churches in 66 countries.⁷

Orthodox Episcopalians in the United States need to look seriously at their model and their example. Our strongest partners in the Gospel are those orthodox Anglicans that make up 75% of Anglicans in the entire Communion. We have more in common theologically with the Provinces of Nigeria, Kenya or the Southern Cone in South America than we do with the majority of Episcopalians in the U.S. How are we to be related to worldwide Anglicanism so that the Gospel can continue to be proclaimed and the lost are reached for Christ? What are the special gifts and ministries that God has given us to enable us to partner with them in their mission? The orthodox Episcopalians in the United States might be a small group, but we will make a significant contribution if we are open to follow God's call to mission.

If mission is at a turning point in the Episcopal Church — if the life of the Church is at a turning point — we should be thinking more in terms of "turning the world upside down."⁸ It was an accusation made against the first Christians. We should be accused of the same thing.

The Rev. Canon John A. Macdonald is Assistant Professor of Mission and Evangelism, and Director of the Stanway Institute for World Mission and Evangelism.

1. The English Standard Version is used for all Biblical quotes unless otherwise specified.
2. Other Great Commission texts are: Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46ff., John 20:21, Acts 1:8.
3. Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY: 1991. ISBN 0-88344-719-3; p. 390.
4. Newbigen, Lesslie. "Can the West be Converted?," International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 11(1), Jan. 1987, pp. 2-7.
5. Jonah 1:2a
6. Luke 9:57-62
7. Information taken from the Christian and Missionary Alliance website
8. Acts 17:6