Comments on: The missio Dei institutes the missiones ecclesiae (Bosch 1991:370)

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:04:08 +0000

I thought you might be interested in a digital collection of books on missional theology from Paternoster. They're currently avialable for pre-order from Logos Bible Software: Paternoster Missional Theology Collection (16 Vols.)

By: Can we really mess things up? « my contemplations

Can we really mess things up? « my contemplations — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:53:52 +0000

[...] knowing that God is in any case working in the world, whether we are doing something or not. Now, I have some thoughts on the Missio Dei, but decided not to take part. I have my doubts whether we can say this, when I read the gospels [...]

By: Cobus

Cobus — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:42:25 +0000

Makeesha I've been trying to find the voice of Bosch in this. If this pragmatized understanding of the Missio Dei is to be found in his work please let me know. As I understand his work, this is a theological concept, I can't go around saying that 'this' is the Missio Dei and that is it not. In our context this seem to be used to motivate rather linking up with already existing (many time especially non-church) projects, since God is at work outside the church, and this is suposed to be the Missio Dei we are supposed to be part of. In Bosch I find a lot less of this, and rather find the theological motivation for missions i the church. Obviously God call us to different projects, but the specific project I'm called to cannot be traced to the Missio Dei, as if this is some list of things. I'm not against people choosing where they feel God call them, I'm just uncomfortable with a pragmatic interpretation of the Missio Dei. Help me where I'm not coming out clearly.

By: Makeesha

Makeesha — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:59:26 +0000

yes, I think we can. I can recognize that God is at work all over the place and then choose where he wants me to be. We can’t do it all. I can recognize that God is at work through the nuns at the homeless kitchen and choose to work with the volunteers at the HIV testing and education organization. I have never heard someone suggest that “God is at work here because i’m here but he’s not at work over there”

By: cobus

cobus — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:51:39 +0000

Makeesha, what bothers me is when people also find where God is NOT working. Can we really pass by one need onto another giving as reason that we found God working at the other?

Brett, I agree with the relationship thing. We seem to be in a constant balancing act between finding the one word onto which something boils down, and explaining things with complex words because some seem to misunderstand the way we use a word or concept (exactly what happened with Missio Dei).

Thanx for everyone who wrote about what I wrote. Sorry, haven’t commented on anyone else’s post yet, only got back onto the internet right now after some camps.

By: Missional Soundbites « Missio Dei

Missional Soundbites « Missio Dei — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:05:15 +0000

[...] neither church nor human is the author of mission. - Cobus van Wyngaard [...]

By: 50 Ways to Define “Missional” - III : Subversive Influence

50 Ways to Define “Missional” - III : Subversive Influence — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:27:03 +0000

[...] Cobus Van Wyngaard weighs in by invoking David Bosch’s Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission right in the post title. This is one of the keystone works for understanding missional, so it’s good that somebody brought it into the fray. Leaving the definition to others, he chose to explore the question, “Why the missional church?” Although often credited with the term missio Dei, he writes that “Bosch is simply giving an overview of how the concept has developed since 1932 onwards.” The classical view of the missio Dei says that God is a sending God. God the Father sends the Son, and God the Father and the Son sends the Holy Spirit. This become important for mission when to this is added another “movement”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sends the church into the world. The church then change form being on a mission, to being an instrument in God’s mission. And from this our title: The missio Dei institutes the missiones ecclesiae. The sending God is the motivation for the missionary activities of the church. To use the words of the synchroblog: The missional church is not the church that send other on a mission, but it is the church that was sent by God. [...]

By: Missional and Dualism » The Blind Beggar

Missional and Dualism » The Blind Beggar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:17:14 +0000

[...] Kinnon Brad Brisco Brad Grinnen Brad Sargent Brother Maynard Bryan Riley Chad Brooks Chris Wignall Cobus Van Wyngaard Dave DeVries David Best David Fitch David Wierzbicki DoSi Doug Jones Duncan McFadzean Erika Haub [...]

By: Makeesha

Makeesha — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:03:47 +0000

I guess I don’t see where it’s an either-or. *I’m* finding where God is at work in *my* sphere. That doesn’t mean he’s not at work anywhere else. God is at work all over the place all around me in my town, but I am not to find every single thing he’s doing and do that too. I guess I’m not understanding where the conflict is

By: Brett Marko

Brett Marko — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:44:56 +0000

I sometimes wonder if by our using the word “missional” if we are just attempting to categorize the role of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. I think to Rick Warren’s runaway classic, “The Purpose Driven Life”. He boiled down Christianity to five basic purposes. I do not discount this work as it was pivotal in my own spiritual growth in helping understand how God was working in my life at the time. But in the book he mentions that “ministry” is how we serve the corporate body of the church and that “mission” is how we serve the world around us.

Yet when I read your piece, other pieces on this and I look at the research I am doing on my book. Couldn’t we say that being missional boils down to one word: Relationship. That’s what grace really is. God extending his relationship to us. If our focus is on being in relationship then the natural focus must move from us to those we are in relationship with. You can serve yourself and others at the same time. If we ask who should we be in relationship to, Jesus gives us a significant examples of this in the Good Samaritan Parable and the Sheep and the Goats Parable. The thought of those asking “but when did we see you hungry?” and Jesus’ response shows us what people are trying to “define” by using the word missional.
They are attempting to define is where and how we enter into relationship.

If we are in true relationship to God, then we will naturally follow where his Spirit leads us regardless of where it leads. I like how Henri Nouwen says it in his book “Way of the Heart”. “we can see that in order to be of service to others we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others. To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgement because judgement creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.”

So in the end, everything centers around being in relationship with God and with others. It that from which everything else if based (at least in my opinion).

So living my life, I follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi who said, “Preach the Good News at all times, and if necessary use words.”