Chapter II.

Mission as a Christian Imperative

Introduction

An integral part of the definition of Christianity is its being missionary. This has to be seen
always as rooted in God's love for humanity and creation which, at one point in history, became
very clear and nuanced in the person and life of Jesus.

Lesson 1. The Church is missionary by nature

Inspired Word
TEXT: Church as People of God (1 Pt. 2:9-10)

One important scriptural description of the Church is People of God. As people, the Church
is one. Members are in solidarity with each other as a body is a unity of all its parts. As such,
members have to care for one another as a consequence of its self-understanding as a single
body. Yet it does not exist only for itself, but it is called to serve all needy people. In other words,
the Church is essentially missionary. It is other-directed rather than self-focused.

In order to help us understand better some of the mysterious reality that is the church we
use images, or models. The Church had to assess and re-asses itself to remain relevant. Pope
John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Council envisioned an aggiornamento within the
Church, and the opening of the Church’s windows for a fresh dialogue with other Churches and
the world. Moreover, Vatican II shifted its understanding of the Church from a hierarchical
institution to the salvation-historical perspective.

The People of God image of the Church was the most basic way for the Jewish people to
express their identity. In the Exodus experience, God made them into a people, into a nation
which God reigns into an assembly of God (Hb. Kahal Yahweh; Gk. Ekklesia). The early Christians
applied this Jewish idea to their own community and they called themselves the new people of
God. They gathered not only because of the Exodus experience but because they received
salvation from God through Jesus.

As people of God, the church is: (Lumen Gentium)

• A kind of a sacrament or a sign of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all
mankind (witness to unity and not of division)
• Not an exclusive community (Jesus went beyond the limits of the laws of his
community. “inculturation”)
• Max Alexander Cunningham Warren said that missionaries should
symbolically “take off their shoes” when they approach a certain culture and
people because God was already there even before they ever set foot on
that place.
• A pilgrim towards the kingdom (transforming society to conform to the values of
the kingdom)
• Sign of the kingdom (Christians = good news to the society)
• A participatory community (Church is a community of equals who have roles to
play in the growth of the Church)

Church Teaching
1. Mission is the fundamental reality of the Christian life (Castro)
 a. Life has purpose only to the extent that it has a missionary dimension (Kirk)
b. By virtue of baptism, mission is a Christian responsibility
c. In Christian anthropology, to be human is to be other-directed (missionary)
- Paul’s “nobody lives for him/herself” (Rom. 14)
- Schillebeeckx's anthropological constants: relating with others, with society, with
culture and history
RELATING WITH OTHERS
• We are Social Beings – Others have to help us fulfill our needs as human beings,
so that we can become more human.
• We are relational beings – relationships start in the family and move beyond,
as we meet others in school, in the church and in the wider community.
• The relationship develops depending on the response.
• As disciples of Jesus, we model our relationship with others on his relationship
with his disciples.
• Jesus’ ministry = relationship with the ostracized in the society.
• The Gospel of John said: Jesus says “there’s no greater love man has
than to lay down his life for his fiends.”
WITH SOCIETY

• In our process of becoming human, we relate not only with other persons, but with
the wider structures of society in which we grow up: a community, socio-economic
structures, political institutions.
o As Christians, we believe that things go wrong in society because of our
sinfulness, not only individually, but also collectively. We are called to build up
a society in which there is justice, equality, and participation. We have to
envision ourselves and our nation renewed by adopting, as a community of
disciples, the way of life that Jesus modeled in the Jewish society in which he
proclaimed the Good News.
WITH CULTURE AND HISTORY

• We are products of our culture; we are cultural and historical beings.

• Threatened by globalization. (market of consumer goods controlled by the
few powerful nations of the world)
• Moving towards global culture = lack of culture

- We are always kapwa to another (De Mesa, J.; Enriquez, V.)

• Pakikipagkapwa is recognizing the other as one with whom I am in solidarity.
• Loob = relational will; inner core
• Kapwa = together with the person
o Pillars for virtues (kagandahang-loob, utang-na-loob, pakikiramdam,
hiya, lakas-ng-loob)
2. The Church's link to Jesus obligates the Church to do mission
a. The vine and the branches (Jn. 15:1-17)
b. The Church as Body of Christ (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; eph. 1:23; 5:30; Col. 1:18)
 c. The great commission (Mt 28:19-20)
d. Jesus sends his disciples (Jn. 20:21)
d. Preaching Jesus from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Act 1:8)

Missionary Response
We cannot escape the fact that we are missionaries. As such, we have to cultivate the
following attitudes and their corresponding behaviors which are as follows:
1. Listening, openness, other-orientedness, sensitivity to the needs of others; and
2. Exert effort to act always in accordance with our identity as a missionary Church even in
seemingly insignificant matters.