Spirit of community: Church on the move
Lecture by presiding bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien
The core activity of the Church is indeed missionary work. But, mission is more than that. It is
not only an activity - something that the Church conducts. Mission is also the very essence of
what it means to be church. Or differently put: Mission is what we are, not only what we do.
Without mission the church would not be church.
The German theologian Eberhard Jüngel has expressed this truth very beautifully. He says:
”If the church had a heart, a living, beating heart, its pulse would be largely regulated by
mission and evangelism, and any deficiencies in the church´s missionary activity would
immediately lead to serious cardio-vascular disturbances … If mission and evangelism
are not, or do not again become, the affair of the whole church, then there is something
wrong with the church´s heartbeat.”
With great pleasure I realized, as I was reading the document given to us by WCC, that it
expresses the same truth as Jüngel does in the article just cited: “The Church exists by mission”,
it is said in the document, and “if it does not engage in mission, it ceases to church” (p. 9).
Why does mission define the church? What is it that makes mission so essential, so essential that
it even can be called the heartbeat of the church? By reading this new document on mission from
the WCC I think I got some answers to this question. It is therefore a great pleasure to
participate on this conference, responding to what I would say is a very promising statement on
mission.
Mission is the heartbeat of the Church because mission arises from the love of the Triune God.
And God’s love is always is overflowing love. This means that God is not a lone being. God does
not exist for God’s sake alone. No, God is a God who always reaches beyond himself and is on the
move toward the world and humanity. The Spirit of God is the best sign of this truth. In the
Spirit, God goes forth, enters the world and wishes to be with humanity. In the Spirit, God is
deeply involved with our human affairs and welcomes all to participate in God’s love.
To be church is to respond to this overflowing love of God. And because God’s love always
reaches beyond itself, the Church also reaches beyond itself. Because God is on the move, the
church is also on the move. Mission is therefore the heartbeat of the Church. To be church is to
always stretch beyond itself in love for all human kind and the entire creation. The church is
therefore an open community. It is not a community internally centered on itself, but a
community expanding it’s borders welcoming all people to be a part of that community. And that
is to be a missional church.
To define the church in this way, as an open community reaching beyond itself, basically means
that mission must be ecumenical. I therefore find it very promising that the new statement on
mission from WCC makes such a strong connection between mission and ecumenical theology.
In what follows I will say something more about this, since I am asked to respond particularly on
the chapter highlighting this aspect.
Why is Mission and Ecumenical theology intertwined?
The short answer to this question is that to be ecumenical is already to be missional. This is one
of the essential truths that the mission document expresses: “Mission and unity belong
together,” it is said, and “living out our faith in community is an important way of participating
in mission.” (p. 10). There are several reasons for such a connection.
Firstly, ecumenism and mission are intertwined because mission is the task of the entire Church.
Mission does not belong only to churches in the West. Often mission has been understood this
way, as a movement from the privileged to the marginalized, from West to South. However, if
mission is the essence of the entire Church, then this understanding needs to be reversed. If
mission belongs to the whole Church, not only to the Churches of the Western societies, mission
is ecumenical and something that we need to do together. Churches in the West must be
influenced by the missional activity of Churches from the South. The reason for this is that
context always influences missional activity. The social location of all engaged in mission must
therefore be taken into account. In order to communicate the Christian message in a pluralistic
society we need to understand the local culture and the local context that the Church is a part of.
Churches in one part of the world can therefore learn from the experiences done in the
ecumenical communities in other parts of the world. As an ecumenical community the Church
can work together, listen to each other, and find new ways of communicating the Christian
message in a pluralistic and changing landscape.
Secondly, ecumenism and mission belong together because both mission and ecumenism is
about crossing borders. Whereas mission is about the gospel of Jesus Christ crossing all cultures
and all nations, and welcoming all people to be God’s people, ecumenical theology is about God’s
call to unity in a Church living in all parts of the world. In this way the unity of the Church
reflects the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ: As the unity of the Church stretches beyond all
cultures, so is the gospel of Christ a gospel that does not belong only to one part of the world, but
to the entire world, crossing all cultures and nations.
Thirdly, ecumenism and mission belong together, because both ecumenism and mission is about
people meeting each other with respect and tolerance. We often say that ecumenical unity is
unity in diversity. This means that ecumenical unity is not about different churches becoming
identical with each other. Ecumenical unity is rather about churches belonging together in the
midst of diversity, respecting and tolerating these differences. In this way unity always entails
inclusivity and respect for others. Ecumenical theology is therefore a reflection of what mission
also is. As ecumenical theology is about the meeting of different churches in different parts of the
world, mission is about the Church encountering people of different faiths, different ideologies
and different convictions. Of course, mission is also about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ,
inviting people of a different faith to discipleship and to God’s love. But by sharing the gospel of
Christ with other people, we need to learn from our ecumenical experiences based on dialogue
and tolerance. Both ecumenism and mission needs to be done with respect and tolerance. Both
ecumenism and mission is about listening to others, and being challenged and enriched by
others.
Mission and ecumenism therefore belong together. To be ecumenical is already to be missional.
With these words, I wish you all the best during the forthcoming conference.