Reimagining mission in the public square: Engaging hills and valleys in the African City of Tshwane

Thinandavha D Mashau

doi:10.4102/hts.v70i3.2774

Abstract

This article seeks to map out the future of Christian mission in the city context. African cities like Tshwane are not only expanding, but also present the church with a new frontier that needs to be crossed without crossing geographical boundaries. This article indicates that life in the City of Tshwane is paradoxically placed. Whilst life in the valleys of Tshwane is like walking in the valley of the shadow of death, those on the high hills (the places of power) continue with their dominance and pretence as solution providers, whilst hiding the presence of those who are marginalised. This article proposes that the future of the Christian mission lies not only in identifying those powers, but also in engaging them in a transformative way so as to usher the justice and shalom of God into this highly contested space.

Highlights

The quest to reimagine mission in the public square is conducted within the same spirit of attempting to map out my personal niche area in academia, and to spell out my vision and work as a mission practitioner on the streets and pavements of Tshwane
I move from a presupposition that says: ‘The future of mission and missiology is in the city’
I deal with this matter extensively in my article entitled ‘A reformed perspective on taking mission and missiology to the heart of theological training’ (Mashau 2012). In his ground-breaking work, Theological education in missionary perspective, David Bosch did lament the gradual disappearance of missions or missiology from the curriculum of one theological institution after another http://www.hts.org.za (Bosch 1982:13), and firmly entrenched the critical role that missiology plays within theology, as follows: Missiology acts as a gadfly in the house of theology, creating unrest and resisting complacency, opposing every ecclesiastical impulse to self-preservation, every desire to stay what we are, every inclination to provincialism and parochialism, every fragmentation of humanity into regional or ideological blocs, every exploitation of some sectors of humanity by the powerful, every religious, ideological, or cultural imperialism, and every exultation of self-sufficiency of the individual over other people or over other parts of creation. (Bosch 1991:496)

Summary

Introduction

The quest to reimagine mission in the public square is conducted within the same spirit of attempting to map out my personal niche area in academia, and to spell out my vision and work as a mission practitioner on the streets and pavements of Tshwane. My intention with this article is to demonstrate that the future of Christian mission in the public square, like the City of Tshwane, is in critical engagement with its hills and valleys with an eye to bringing God’s shalom and justice to the marginalised city dwellers.

Results

Conclusion