The Centrality of the Church's Missionary Nature: Theological Reflections and Practical Implications

Abstract

The church is missionary by nature because it originates in the missio trinitatis Dei. This missionary nature (broadly understood) has two important theological and practical implications. First, the author clarifies the relation of the church's missionary nature to its various core functions so that the church is not reduced to its missionary function. Second, he examines the interrelation between missionary faithfulness and ecclesial Christian existence, drawing on the Johannine and Pauline corpora, explaining that the church (and the Christian) is vivified in missional obedience and, conversely, can lose its ecclesial identity by decisively abandoning its missionary vocation.