Mission on the margins: A proposal for an alternative missional paradigm in the wake of COVID-19

Buhle Mpofu

doi:10.4102/hts.v76i1.6149

Abstract

This article proposes a critical paradigm to identify missional areas that have received scant attention from the church and to theorise ways in which alternative modes of doing mission in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) present a solution against tendencies which marginalise and exploit the poor. Examining ways in which local churches in South Africa responded to challenges posed by COVID-19, the article identifies socioeconomic challenges that have been neglected by the church to posit that COVID-19 has disrupted traditional practices and exposed missional blind spots. Building on Keum’s ideas of ‘reversal of roles’ and a shift of the mission concept from ‘mission to the margins’ to ‘mission from the margins’, the article notes that shifting of religion from public to private sphere as a result of COVID-19 will redefine the church and proposes that church mission should be located where the poor people are. The article concludes that COVID-19 disruptions allow for emergence of alternative ways of being church and new modes of socioeconomic organisation with new possibilities presented through an alternative theoretical hermeneutics of missiology that locates experiences of the poor at the centre.Contribution: This article represents a systematic and practical reflection within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generate an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse.

Highlights

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic paralysed all aspects of human lives and transformed systems, cultures, businesses and institutions as communities grappled to stay safe from the deadly COVID-19
On 11 March 2020, merely 6 days after the first reported case in South Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, reporting that the first case of coronavirus can be traced back to a diagnosis made on 17 November 2019 in Wuhan, China (WHO Briefing, 11 March 2020)
By disrupting traditional self-serving practices of the church, COVID-19 presents an opportunity for a paradigm shift for us to ‘go sharply into reverse ... [and] rehabilitate ourselves [and] restore our old natural selves’

Summary

Introduction

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic paralysed all aspects of human lives and transformed systems, cultures, businesses and institutions as communities grappled to stay safe from the deadly COVID-19. One of my studies found that some Christians and local congregations are not comfortable with the presence of African migrants in their communities and congregations (see Mpofu 2018) It is understood, like any organisation, churches have administrative costs and need to pay salaries, and during the lockdown, some were forced to pay a living wage. The virus has disrupted normal life by forcing global economies to shut down as billions of people are under lockdown, resulting in lesser ecological destruction This is a welcome ecological development, it came at a huge human cost – with at least a quarter of a million people dead, overstretched health systems, mass unemployment, poor communities disproportionately impacted and a crumbling global economic system. The message is that to make any progress in our human situation we had to solve the human condition. (p. 10)

Conclusion

Findings

Data availability statement