Reorientation of mission and its action plans for a reformed missional ecclesiology in Africa

Abstract

The quest to understand and practise the church’s missionary calling will remain a significant exercise in the church’s life of every age. This article aims to provide a reorientation of the mission and its action plans for a reformed missional ecclesiology in Africa today. This is prompted by existing concerns around the demise of Christendom and the decline in numbers among some of the reformed churches in Africa. This is coupled with challenges of dualism, syncretism and Sunday-cult Christianity, which are accompanied by no or less societal impact because of a missionless and inward-looking ecclesial praxis. These are some of the reasons, as well as the professionalisation of mission at the expense of the involvement of the laity in the missio Dei, that led to this sorry situation (among these churches) towards the missional ecclesiology and ecclesial praxis of the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA), which are used as an interlocutor from time to time. The main research question is: What kind of missional ecclesiology and praxis should the Reformed churches embrace to facilitate active participation in the missio Dei, resulting in numerical growth and having a societal impact in Africa today? Having investigated the missionary ecclesiology and missional ecclesial praxis of the Reformed churches through a literature review of readily available missiological publications, this article suggests that it should be a missional ecclesiology that is founded and grounded on the missio Dei, biblical, historical, contextual, practical, and eschatological impact.Contribution: This missionary ecclesiology not only rediscovers the giftedness of individual church members but also encourages them to participate in the missio Dei through their lifestyle mission or actions in Africa today.