Abstract

Any meaningful discussion of the various understandings of mission and Missiology needs to take cognizance of the important policy document accepted by the World Council of Churches at its 10th Assembly in Busan, South-Korea, in October 2013: “Together towards life – mission and evangelism in changing landscapes”. This is the first new mission affirmation by the WCC in 30 years, and presents a compelling new vision of Christian mission, namely its rootedness in God and its present role in the strengthening/consolidation/reinforcement of the reign of God. This research explores the relevance of the aforementioned policy document for mission and Missiology in terms of three themes: “Where do we come from?”; “What is happening now?”, and “What could the future look like?”

Highlights

  • Any meaningful discussion on the various understandings of mission and Missiology needs to take cognizance of the important policy document accepted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at its 10th Assembly in Busan, South-Korea, in October 2013: “Together towards life – mission and evangelism in changing landscapes” (TTL) (Keum 2013)

  • Introduced to the WCC assembly on 4th November 2013, TTL proposes – in the words of Steve Bevans – “... a fresh, dynamic approach to engaging in the work of mission and evangelism in today’s changing landscapes” (WCC 2013a). This is the first new mission affirmation by the WCC in 30 years – the previous official WCC position on mission and evangelism being “Mission and evangelism: An ecumenical affirmation”, which was approved by the central committee in 1982

  • The document positions itself as a continuation of the many mission conferences of the International Missionary Council (IMC) and the Commission for World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of the WCC

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Any meaningful discussion on the various understandings of mission and Missiology needs to take cognizance of the important policy document accepted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at its 10th Assembly in Busan, South-Korea, in October 2013: “Together towards life – mission and evangelism in changing landscapes” (TTL) (Keum 2013). A fresh, dynamic approach to engaging in the work of mission and evangelism in today’s changing landscapes” (WCC 2013a) This is the first new mission affirmation by the WCC in 30 years – the previous official WCC position on mission and evangelism being “Mission and evangelism: An ecumenical affirmation”, which was approved by the central committee in 1982. “Together towards life - mission and evangelism in changing landscapes” was unanimously approved as an official statement of the WCC by its Central Committee at its meeting in Crete on 5 September 2012, presented at the 10th Assembly of the WCC in Busan (Republic of Korea) in 2013, and received an enthusiastic response (see Cruchley-Jones 2014:65)

WHERE DO WE COME FROM?
Trinitarian origin and missio Dei
Missio Dei
WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?
Trinitarian foundation
Discernment
The church and mission
WHAT COULD THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
Mission with creation at its heart
Missional ecclesiology and missional leadership
Mission supported by a “transformative spirituality”
Mission from the margins
CONCLUSION

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