Thursday, April 11, 2019

Mission and Ministry Week 1

Over the course of the next month or so I am teaching / facilitating learning on the Certificate in Christian Studies Course being run by the diocese - This evening was the opening night of the course.  

During the evening the participants looked at an overview of 'Mission' as we understand it within the Anglican Church

The evening consisted of

outlining the Module:

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES: On completion of this module, students will be able to-
  • Discuss the theological basis of mission and evangelism
  • Explain contemporary approaches to mission and evangelism
  • Evaluate  the influence of social context in defining the mission, nature and purpose of the local church
  • Discuss the relationship between mission and pastoral care


Discussing what comes to mind when we think about mission - this provoked a bit of discussion both  positive thoughts and also the negative side of mission.

Praying the collect for mission
Almighty God,
who called your Church to witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. 2 (BCP 334)
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 Looking at a definition of Mission - beyond the stereo types

Mission is the creating, reconciling and transforming action of God, flowing from the community of love found in the Trinity, made known to all humanity in the person of Jesus, and entrusted to the faithful action and witness of the people of God who, in the power of the Spirit, are a sign, foretaste and instrument of the reign of God. 

With such a definition there is tremendous scope to understand that mission is actually the act of God into which he calls us to work with him. The God of Mission has  a church! 

For more on this see Bosch - Transforming mission 

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In theology - we have the 4 sources of theology 
  • Scripture
  • Tradition 
  • Reason 
  • Experience 

Looking at Scripture 

We highlighted that with such a scope as per the definition above we need to go right back to the beginning ... 

God interacting with humanity  and throughout the pages of scripture there is God's action with his creation 

  • OT Narratives & Characters
  • The Beatitudes 
  • The sheep and the goats 
  • 12 & 72 Sent out
  • Great Commission 
  • Pentecost 
  • Epistles

and we see that there is a continuous revealing and partnership with God and his people 

In the ministry of Jesus we see mission continuing - the relationship developing 

We could pick umpteen passages: 

One of those is 

Matthew 9:35–38 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”



What do we notice from these verses? 

Key words:  Teaching, Proclaiming good news, Healing, compassion, harassed and helpless, lack of workers, ask (prayer)

Focusing in on : word, action and compassion 

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What does mission look like today? 

Tradition - Yes there are negative stereotypes but actually we need to get beyond those 

The Anglican Church has 5 marks of mission 


  1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
  2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
  3. To respond to human need by loving service
  4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
  5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

I got a bit controversial here and said that some parts of the church have some tendency to  focus primarily on one of these but actually we are called to have a balanced approach. 

Some deep discussion occurred around these. 

for more on these check out - 5 Marks of mission  


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This then led into a discussion about the nature of where we are in history and what the means pastorally. 

A quick outline from 

  • New Testament Times 
  • Early Church History 
  • Constantine  Conversion 
  • Christendom (Church and State)
  • Enlightenment 
  • Post- Christendom 

The example was given of us as a post-christendom church - what does it mean when parents want to give their children a choice as to whether or not to baptise kids? 

which then led to the issues around church beyond the doors of church and the problems with a bounded set of parishioners and the challenges of 21st Century Church as opposed to 50 years ago. 

The tensions of locality v's network society and the difficulties of choice in our society and the range of decisions people are able to make today. 

If mission is bigger than the Church of Ireland ... we're not baptising babies into the Church of Ireland -but rather the church universal of which we are members.   how do we offer choice, maintain membership and do those things that we're called to do in those 5 marks. For more on post christendom check out - Stuart Murray

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Discussion was had around Historical Inhibitors to mission in the context of the Republic of Ireland - Issues such as Souperism and Tithe as well as issues with inter church Relations - Difficulties with Irish Catholic Church - highlighted by people like - Fr Joe McDonald  and 5 years to save the Irish Church  coupled with the difficulties around Centenaries commemorations and the work of reconciliation. 

These are very live issues - and need to be carefully handled - some discussion time was devoted to this. 

The point was made that history is important but must not forget that actually mission needs to continue as well as working for reconciliation of the past - a 2 track approach perhaps? 

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After coffee these images were shown - one wonders if maybe there is some truth in these? 


The stereotypical church in popular  - boring, sleepy people sitting through a sermon irrelevant to their lives

The doors of the church building closed - either 6 days a week physically shut - what's that saying to people? 
or people who see the church door shut metaphorically due to their circumstances, past or present? 

or those who do go into the building but see an empty shell - they don't feel they belong or that there is nothing in there for them? 

This sadly for so many people is a reality.  What can we do about it? 

It surely brings us back to the 5 marks of mission - and then also searching for what's in our inherited structures but not yet implemented ... see Earl Storey - Apologetic for mission

We concluded with a Franciscan Benediction 





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