MISSION TOWARDS RECONCILED AND INTER‐CONTEXTUAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

A brief historical note That the overarching theme of this consultation includes a concern for relationships in is not surprising. The very identities and purpose of the four sponsoring bodies are built around the search for and the promotion of wholesome relationships across churches in very different cultural, economic and socio-political contexts in various parts of the world. The very structures of CEVAA, CWM and UMI are intended to testify to the necessity and urgency of valuing difference and plurality, promoting the construction of each other's identities in interactive dialogue, and practising intercontextual sharing in the perspective of the reign of God. The 1970s, the years that nurtured and brought to birth CEVAA and CWM, are perhaps some of the most momentous years in ecumenical mission thinking and practice. The world mission conference in Bangkok brought out the reality of pluralism and difference in Christian communities around the world in far greater relief than ever before. Culture and was the theme of a major section. It stressed the need to affirm cultural and other differences, and to reject the easy homogenization of plurality. Some leaders saw challenging forms of Western cultural hegemony as a critical aspect of the church's mission from the South. It was their recognition of the continuing asymmetrical power relations between churches in the North and South that led some from Africa and Asia to call for a moratorium in mission. But it was a moratorium for the sake of mutuality so that authentic contextual and intercontextual relations in mission might emerge. Since Bangkok, every single CWME conference has dealt in some manner and d egree with the issue of identity and pluralism in mission, and the promotion of intercontextual dialogue across cultures. No wonder that, around this time, Philip Potter summed up his vision of the whole burden of the ecumenical movement as to cooperate with God in making the oikoumene an oikos, a home, a family of men and women, of young and old, of varied gifts, cultures, possibilities where openness, trust, love and justice reign. (1) Dialogue of was a persistent theme and a singular thread that runs through all of Potter's reflections on mission and ecumenism. Since the 1970s, the voices that call the churches to take seriously the heterogeneity and plurality that mark peoples around the world, and the continuing asymmetrical power relations among churches, have grown clearer and louder, particularly from those who have been marginalized. Most of the major conferences of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its assemblies have heard them. The world mission conferences in San Antonio, Texas, in 1989 and the one in Salvador, Bahia, in 1996 are no exception. In 1991, the Canberra assembly of the WCC defined the mission of the church, stating, The reconciliation brought about by the cross is the basis of the mission of the Church. A reconciled and renewed creation is the goal of the mission of the Church. The vision of God uniting all things in Christ is the driving force of its life and sharing. (2) The gospel and cultures study process of the WCC provided space for many to express the uniqueness of their identities, plurality and fluidity within a single cultural process, and the impossibility of any one cultural expression of the Christian story being the norm for everyone else. At the same time, sharing rich experiences of the gospel stories across diverse cultures led to the call for the active promotion of cross-contextual dialogue, challenge and mutual enrichment. Intercontextual relations are not simply a matter of effectively organizing mission across churches. It is not a strategy; rather, our ecumenical mission thinking over the past three decades and our world context today demand that we consider the promotion of intercontextual relations in itself as mission. …