Themes Of Mission Research Articles

LISAmax: improving the low-frequency gravitational-wave sensitivity by two orders of magnitude

Within its Voyage 2050 planning cycle, the European Space Agency is considering long-term large class science mission themes. Gravitational-wave astronomy is among the topics under study. Building on previous work by other authors (Folkner 2011 (NNH11ZDA019L); Ni 2010 Mod. Phys. Lett. A 25 922–35; Sesana et al 2021 Exp. Astron. 51 1333–83), this paper studies a gravitational-wave interferometer concept, dubbed ‘LISAmax’, consisting of three spacecraft, each located close to one of the Sun–Earth libration points L3, L4 and L5, forming a triangular constellation with an arm length of 259 million kilometers (to be compared to LISA’s 2.5 million kilometer arms). We argue that this is the largest triangular formation that can be reached from Earth without a major leap in mission complexity and cost (hence the name). The sensitivity curve of such a detector is at least two orders of magnitude lower in amplitude than that of LISA, at frequencies below 1 mHz. This makes the observatory sensitive to gravitational waves in the µHz range and opens a new window for gravitational-wave astronomy, not covered by any other planned detector concept. We analyze in detail the constellation stability for a 10 year mission in the full numerical model including insertion dispersion, and self-gravity-induced accelerations. We compute the orbit transfers using a European launcher and chemical propulsion. Different orbit options, such as precessing, inclined orbits, the use of flybys for the transfer, and the launch strategy, are discussed. The payload design parameters are assessed, and the expected sensitivity curve is compared with a number of potential gravitational-wave sources. No show stoppers are identified at this point of the analysis.

Hallucinations of the Spanish Imaginary and the Idealized Hotel California

Focusing on the Mission Inn and the Sherman Indian Boarding School in Riverside, this article analyzes an idealized “Hotel California” as a component of what I have called “the Spanish Imaginary.” Just as the Eagles’ song of the same name examines both the mythmaking of Southern California and the American dream, this article describes how that imaginary shapes our collective hallucinations of a time that rightfully should be mourned instead of celebrated. The Mission Inn, which opened in 1902, architecturally portrays the Spanish Imaginary and the mission themes of spirituality, hinting as well at the secular benevolence of the Mexicans and Americans who succeeded the Spanish. This article argues that the pervasive Mission Revival style of architecture that is synonymous with Southern California is a physical manifestation of the anti-Indian ideology that informed the greed and violence of European and American settlement. The newcomers eviscerated the future state’s environment, introducing a genocidal architecture that combines capitalistic culture with an historical imaginary, one that succeeded in drawing millions of settlers to California and became the embodiment of both the American dream and the American nightmare. Both continue to exert their influence: while the Sherman Indian Boarding School has moved away from its Spanish mission roots, today’s Mission Inn presents visitors with the idealized “Hotel California” version of the Golden State’s past, wrapping the reality of Indian slavery and genocide in a distinctive form of plantation nostalgia. Perhaps no other structure in California better illustrates the colonial desires of Spain (then of Mexico, then of the United States) to “civilize” Indigenous peoples than the Sherman Indian Boarding School, whose original design illustrates the collective delusion of the Spanish Imaginary. Opening its doors in 1903, Sherman intentionally drew its design from mission architecture. The choice makes sense, given that both missions and Sherman were designed to transform Native peoples. Both utilized Native bodies for their labor. Both drew sustenance from Native peoples’ difference, and from their availability as a threatening “Other” requiring physical as well as cultural control. The Sherman Indian Boarding School provides a potent site of analysis of the ways that twentieth-century Americans used architecture to harness a mythical past and then bend it to capitalist goals. Moreover, implicating Mission Revival–style architecture in American processes of mythmaking illustrates how colonizers’ notions of race undergirded their spatial colonial logics, in ways that devalued Native peoples in the past and continue to obscure their physical and cultural persistence today.

Sources, Controversies and Silences: Bede, Muirchú, Patrick and Acgilbert

This essay explores the role of intertextuality in the commemoration of Patrick, Cuthbert and Acgilbert in three texts that share an identical phrase. These texts are: Muirchú’s Vita sancti Patricii, and Bede’s Vita sancti Cuthberti and Historia ecclesiastica. The rhythmic phrase relates to themes of mission, grace, and conversion across the three texts.

The Church and Its Mission in the New Testament and Early Christianity: Essays in Memory of Hans Kvalbein

The Church and Its Mission in the New Testament and Early Christianity: Essays in Memory of Hans Kvalbein

Wątki misyjne w nowożytnej ikonografi i Świętego Franciszka Ksawerego (w wybranych dziełach sztuki)

The iconography of Saint Francis Xavier abounds in mission themes. It includes literal and allegorical motives. Symbols are present in this iconography, but the narration prevails. In the mission iconography of Saint Francis Xavier are emphasized: the prophetic dream of a mission in India, teaching, disputing, administering the sacrament of baptism, miracles, the death of Saint Francis Xavier on the island Sancian and his apotheosis which is most often in the “company” of the personifi cation of the continents or mission countries.

Vincent de Paul, The Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform by Alison Forrestal

Reviewed by: Vincent de Paul, The Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform by Alison Forrestal Brian Boosel O.S.B. Vincent de Paul, The Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform. By Alison Forrestal. (New York: Oxford University Press. 2017. Pp. x, 312. $135.00. ISBN 978-0-19-878576-7.) In her masterful study, Vincent de Paul, The Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform, Alison Forrestal reminds the reader of Vincent de Paul's missionary philosophy, namely, that a true missionary, "found everything good and indifferent, he accepts everything, he can do anything" (p. 101). Forrestal uses the [End Page 373] theme of mission and missionary activity to weave together carefully and with great clarity the life of Vincent de Paul (1581–1660). Her study begins with an analysis of de Paul's coming to know himself from his childhood experiences through his education and ordination as a priest. Forrestal illuminates the transformational moments in de Paul's life. Her study prepares the reader to experience the full dynamism of de Paul's missionary activity by setting up a background in which de Paul is schooled by such notable French clerics as Pierre Bérulle and Francis de Sales. One must note that Forrestal's research is well grounded in both secular and ecclesiastical archival sources. Forrestal presents the story of the Lazarist mission not only as a narrative, but also as an analysis of the statistics regarding the numbers of missionaries, the numbers of people being treated for various maladies, and the interaction between the de Paul's Congregation of the Mission and his fraternal collaboration with Louise de Marillac and the Daughters of Charity. Another strength of Forrestal's present study is the balance of the question of gender within her research. While the book is mainly a study of Vincent de Paul, Forrestal nonetheless explores de Paul's friendships and working relationships with women beginning with Madame de Gondi, his partnership with Louise de Marillac, and the mentoring relationships he fostered with Jane Frances de Chantal, and numerous other women religious. Forrestal's inclusion of a gendered narrative strengthens the study of Vincent de Paul while allowing the history of these pioneer missionary men and women to tell their own stories. Forrestal is careful to include in her study a discussion of Jansenism and the issues that it presented for early modern French Catholicism. Vincent de Paul was no stranger to the teaching of the Jansenists and even to some of the main players in the Jansenist movement. Forrestal details Vincent's theology of grace, which he offers as a counter to the Jansenistic teachings found in many parts of France in the seventeenth century. Overall, Alison Forrestal's exploration of the life of Vincent de Paul and the Lazarist Mission is fresh and presents a new facet within the larger study of Vincentiana. It should be noted that Forrestal has provided a wealth of information in a series of three appendices which chronicle the Lazarist houses established during de Paul's lifetime along with a list of significant benefactors and their donations toward the work of the Mission. Scholars of early modern French Catholicism will find in Forrestal's bibliography a treasure trove of sources in English, French, and other European languages. Any serious scholar of de Paul, de Marillac, the Catholic Reformation, or Early Modern France in general would benefit greatly from a thorough reading of Forrestal's research. [End Page 374] Brian Boosel O.S.B. Saint Vincent College Latrobe, Pennsylvania Copyright © 2019 The Catholic University of America Press

Mädchenerziehung und Mission, Die Töchterpension der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine in Montmirail im 18. Jahrhundert

Sara Aebi's book, Mädchenerziehung und Mission, Die Töchterpension der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine in Montmirail im 18. Jahrhundert (2016), is based on her doctoral dissertation in education. The four chapters of the study explore the girls’ boarding school in Montmirail in Switzerland by contextualizing the school and its educational practices from two perspectives: it traces the relationships of the school to the national and global Moravian church, and it compares the educational institution of Montmirail to a host of non-Moravian boarding schools for girls in Switzerland. Aebi asks, “What role did the Moravian boarding school for girls in Montmirail play to the Moravian church in Switzerland?” and “what was the importance of the school as an educational institution [Bildungsinstitution] in Switzerland?”Building on Reinhart Koselleck's argumentation and drawing on Charles Tilly's approach in historical comparison, Aebi's theoretical framework and methodology merge source analysis with a comparative approach (27). She does not provide any critical discussion of her chosen method. The sources, mainly from the Moravian Archives in Herrnhut, consist of printed and manuscript documents about the Moravian Church and its educational operations in relation to schools in Switzerland. Aebi's selection of documents shed light on the mission of the school, its implementation, and individual voices of the pupils, staff, and parents expressed in memoirs and letters. In addition, the study draws on a careful analysis of pupil and staff rosters. Aebi has also made use of published records and the minutes of several public schools.The result is a compelling contribution to the history of the Moravian girls’ education in Switzerland. The author gives a multifaceted description of the girls’ boarding school in Montmirail and shows that by establishing an informal network among girls the school strengthened the role of the Moravian Church in Switzerland. Pedagogically the school in Montmirail was hardly different from other schools of its kind in Switzerland. However, a considerable difference between non-Moravian schools and the boarding school in Montmirail was confessionalism, its missionary educational mission (254). This is also one of the main foci of Aebi's study. In more than 100 pages she investigates three themes of Montmirail's mission. First, Aebi explores the nurturing of the tradition (Bewahrung) by problematizing the continued efforts to nurture the distinction between sacred and secular. The second theme of the mission was religious education that focused on the cultivation of the Christian gospel and Moravian spirituality. In the third theme of her study, Aebi probes the daily lives and practices of the staff. She points out that all staff, not only teachers, were involved in the implementation of the pedagogic mission of the school to support the girls’ religious fostering and learning.Aebi's study draws on the ongoing historical research into the educational practices and schools of the Moravian Church. The study is important in both making possible comparisons between Moravian and non-Moravian school systems and mapping schooling within the Moravian Church. Specifically, to studies of Moravian schools in other countries where the Moravian Church existed under similar administrative conditions as in Switzerland—like in Sweden—the contribution of the present study is important. Finally, besides making comparison to other schools in historical context possible, Aebi's study can be regarded as a contribution to contemporary discussion about the relationship between confessions and schools.

Develop Global Safety Synergies for Long-Range Human Space Exploration, with Focus on Launch Systems

ABSTRACT The agencies participating in the International space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) demonstrate a natural synergy for defining and implementing meaningful steps towards advanced human spaceflight. Within the exploration mission themes of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) [1], crew transportation and operation capabilities are driven by key requirements based on human and robotic mission partnership. They require an acceptable level of safety associated with the risks inherent to live, travel and work in space. This paper pursues the goal to investigate the safety orientations to be targeted by the space agencies, and addresses the main decision factors for implementing global safety rules regarding the space transportation vehicles.

An Exploratory Comparative Case Study of Employee Engagement in Christian Higher Education

ABSTRACTNumerous studies have identified a positive correlation between employee engagement and overall organizational performance. However, research on employee engagement specifically within higher education is limited, and even less attention has been focused on engagement within the context of Christian higher education. An exploratory comparative case study research design was used to explore two faith-based universities that are atypical examples of excellence as measured by the Best Christian Workplace Institute (BCWI) “Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture” survey. Analysis of data gathered from 53 interviews with employees and document analysis led to the identification of institutional characteristics that fostered employee engagement at two universities that consistently exhibited high rankings of employee self-reported engagement based on the BCWI survey results. Despite substantial differences between the two institutions, commonalities were identified in many of the characteristics that fostered employee engagement on the two campuses. The findings revealed that the shared themes of mission, community, empowered human resource departments, and a sense of positive momentum all contributed to the atypically high employee engagement levels that resulted in a positive and empowering organizational culture.

Together towards Life and the Mission Studies Curriculum

Personal reflection It was a great privilege as vice-moderator of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (WCC-CWME) from 2007--2013 to be asked to chair the drafting group for the planned new policy statement on mission and evangelism, and I hope I may be allowed a few moments to reminisce about that experience. During the previous CWME, preparing the statement and getting it through the relevant processes became our main work. The first stage was to determine our priorities for the document. Since we could not cover all the many facets of mission, we had to select what we could agree were the priorities for mission in today's landscape. Looking back at the only previous statement from 1982, "Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation," it was clear that the global landscape had altered significantly. (2) The year 1982 came before the end of the Cold War and the onset of globalization, before 9/11 and the so-called "clash of civilisations," (3) and in many other respects it seemed a long time ago. In the light of this, our mission priorities needed rethinking. Once we had decided these at the commission meeting in Bangalore in 2008--marginalization, evangelism, ecclesiology, and mission spirituality--we divided into groups to work on them. Each group held consultations to inform its writing. I was privileged to contribute to a meeting in Manila in July 2011 to discuss mission and pneumatology, another on church and mission in Geneva in May 2011, and a third on mission spirituality in Jamaica that same month. Our joint conference with the Faith and Order Commission in Hungary in 2009 supported the work on ecclesiology, the Edinburgh 2010 project and conference helped to frame our ideas ecumenically, and several other WCC initiatives also fed into our work. It was daunting to receive the first reports from the groups and to try and work out how to put them together as a coherent whole. What is more, each part needed to be approved by the rest of the 25-member commission and the discussions threw up fascinating theological and missiological issues at every turn. Finally, one weekend in Geneva in 2011, the moderator Bishop George Varghese mor Coorilos, secretary Revd Dr Jooseop Keum, and I finalized the introduction and conclusion--initially drafted by Dr Keum--and then the complete draft document could be circulated for the commission's approval. The pre-assembly conference on mission and evangelism in Manila in March 2012 was the most exciting part of the process for me. The draft document was examined and tested by 250 mission practitioners and scholars over five days. In the wonderful atmosphere created by the Philippine Council of Churches, the new statement met with general affirmation and the scrutiny bore fruit in many constructive suggestions that were implemented by a further revision group led by Revd Dr Kenneth Ross. Then at the end of August that year it was my privilege to present the document to the WCC central committee meeting in Crete, and it was to my great relief that I heard it was accepted as official WCC policy. Finally, at the WCC general assembly in Busan in South Korea in 2013, I moderated the plenary on mission--the first for 21 years--at which the message of Together towards Life was introduced to the churches. I believe the success of this document owes a great deal to the forethought of Revd Jacques Matthey, the former commission secretary, to the careful steering and energetic leadership of Dr Jooseop Keum, and to the moderation of Bishop Mor Coorilos. It has been a great honour to contribute. Significance of Together towards Life for missiological education What is the significance of Together towards Life for missiological education? I believe we should see its significance in three main ways: in its novel pneumatological approach, in the ecumenical consensus it represents, and in its use of the world Christianity paradigm. …

“Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes”

October 2014 Samuel Escobar, a contributing editor, and his wife, Lilly, worked with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Latin America and Canada, 1959–85. Then he taught missions at Eastern Baptist (now Palmer) Theological Seminary, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, 1985–2005. He presently teaches at theFacultadProtestantedeTeologiaUEBEinMadrid. —jsescobar@yahoo.com A I sit down to prepare this response to a World Council of Churches (WCC) document on mission and evangelism, I cannot but reflect on the “landscape” from which I write. My most recent experience of missiological activity in Spainwas a fewweeks ago speaking in a gathering of LatinAmericanmissionaries in Europe. Over a hundred of them met at Torrox, near Malaga, representing fifteen countries. After that I crossed the peninsula to Seville in order to teach an intensive course about Christian mission organized by Irismenio Ribeiro, a Brazilian missionary who leads an extension theological center for the region. It was hosted by the Baptist church of Montequinto, where the pastor is Stella Maris Merlo, anArgentinian who has been serving as a missionary in Spain for thirty-three years. During the course we prayed for a team of Spanish missionaries that serve in Equatorial Guinea in western Africa under the European Baptist Mission. At the time for meals we were hosted by Gladys, a lady from El Salvador, a hard-working immigrant and one of the hundreds of Latin American volunteers who are active in Spanish churches these days. This is the reality of the global church in the twenty-first century, and as I experience it in Spain I cannot but praise the Lord as I trace back this reality to the two centuries of missionary work that have preceded us. Four years ago we were celebrating the centennial of Edinburgh 1910, and this year we are celebrating forty years of the Lausanne Covenant and the movement that followed it. In fact, the Busan document of the WCC has reminded me of what I consider providential convergences for Christian mission in the mid-1970s. First, in 1974 evangelicals gathered in Lausanne issued the Lausanne Covenant. This document reaffirmed commitment to mission and evangelism but also included critical reflection about the way in which mission efforts had taken place up to that moment, along with a surprising call to repentance and a commitment to explore realistically a more Christlike way of going about them. That same year a synod of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church asked Pope Paul VI to issue a renewed call to evangelism; in 1975 he promulgated the apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, concerning the evangelization of the modern world. In the same year, the WCC had its Fifth Assembly, in Nairobi, where themes of mission and evangelismwere the object of renewed attention. Missiologist James A. Scherer commented that, in Nairobi, “Assembly statements about ‘confessing Christ’ had a stronglyChristocentric, Trinitarian, and churchly ring, echoing Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic influence but also responding to evangelical criticisms.”1Thefinal documentwas “Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes”

선교적 교회론의 성경적 근거 ―크리스토퍼 라이트의 선교적 해석학을 중심으로

Korean church nowadays is facing same situation as Missional Church appeared in the West. Korean church is corrupted inside and brought the disability and loss of trust externally due to loss of the essence of faith and lack of the suitability to the society. The fact that Korean church is confronting the worst crisis in Korean history urges us to bring appropriate solutions to recover the fundamental worth and to communicate with altered Korean society effectively. As we are to recover the identity and the suitability and to solve internal and external problems in the church, neither the present church paradigm nor the program and the pastoral methodology is the key. Korean church reached at its prime with the programs and pastoral methodology and now these are bringing the dark age upon Korean church which is darker than ever. Therefore, it is the time for Korean church to be changed in every direction. The Missional Church was resulted in developing the main theme of mission that took the half of the century in western church. It does not mean to recover Christendom and to find better principle and method to pursuit church growth but it is the movement–which started with church movement and mission recovering movement–that examines the situation that church is in seriously and studies it academically. GOCN(Gospel and Our Culture Network) has been working on Missional Church movement in the area of Missional Hermeneutic recently. Since Mission comes from the nature of God, the whole Bible should be dealt with Mission but not some specific verses. Therefore, this essay will focus on introducing Missional Hermeneutic Christopher Wright provide. This research will give an opportunity to illuminate the characteristic of Missional Church–the ethical perspective of Mission.The relationship between Mission and ethics is very close. The author insists that ethicality is the sign to distinguish the church from the secular world and it forms Mission. Ethics itself forms Mission in Missional Church as church exists as the light and the salt to the local society. Without biblical ethics, there is no biblical mission. This essay will prospect the Bible in Missional Hermeneutic and show the relationship between ethics and the aspect of election, redemption and covenant in the Israelite and church respectively. Biblical Mission needs biblical ethics. Moreover, ethics itself forms mission. Missional Church provides biblical basis for Missional Hermeneutic. Since Bible gives the right answer to the nature and the method of missional obedience, Word is the basis for church mission. The steps toward Missional Church should show the effort to examine the systems of every church throughly and biblically to be rooted and worked in serious relationship with God’s word. Missional Church movement should provide biblical basis on the nature of gospel and the essence, ministry and structure of church, In such need of these facts, this essay will provide examples to illuminate the biblical basis about Missional Church with the eyes of Missional Hermeneutic.

Revisiting Mission at Vatican II: Theology and Practice for Today's Missionary Church

The author argues that a closer and fresh reading of the Vatican II documents with an eye to the theme of mission might suggest that it is closer to the heart of the council's original intention than a cursory and dated reading might indicate. Indeed the church's mission is more urgent today than ever, given the shift of Christianity's center of gravity to the Global South, massive migration to the Global North, and widespread secularism. Revisiting the council's documents can offer substantial help for developing a theology and practice for today's missionary church.

�Mission and Power� � The relevance of the Edinburgh 2010 discussion in the theological engagement with violence

The ecumenical conference in Edinburgh in 2010 identified the issue of �Mission and Power� as one of the pressing mission themes for our generation. Christian mission has always been associated with power. The promise of the risen Christ was that his followers would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them. History, unfortunately, recounts how Christian mission became backed by force and violence, the very opposite of the kind of power and energy associated with the Spirit of God. At the Edinburgh 2010 conference this violence in mission was studied as expressed in churches� relations with indigenous peoples. This article engages violence theologically and ecumenically by inviting the Edinburgh 2010 discussion into the reflection on violence in the democratic South Africa, as it was presented as a contribution to a wider discussion on violence in South Africa. This is done with the following objectives in mind: (1) to better understand the interplay between violence and power against the background of a broader global and ecumenical discussion of this issue; and (2) to suggest clues for the theological reflection on violence that may help to create a powerless, spacecreating discourse that opens up thinking and contributes to healing and justice.The article concludes by building on the Edinburg 2010 foundations of mission as dialogue and proposing prophetic dialogue as a powerless discourse: �Transforming the meaning of mission means that � God�s mission calls all people to work together for healing and justice in partnerships of mutuality and respect.�

Christianity Encountering World Religions: The Practice of Mission in the Twenty-First Century (review)

Reviewed by: Christianity Encountering World Religions: The Practice of Mission in the Twenty-First Century Gavin D'Costa Christianity Encountering World Religions: The Practice of Mission in the Twenty-First Century. By Terry Muck and Frances S. Adeney. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009. 448 pp. In an age when dialogue is emphasized in the meeting of religions, this book presents a refreshing and interesting alternative approach. Muck and Adeney, both professors of evangelism in the United States, argue that Christians have no alternative to the practice of mission in the twenty-first century. They argue that central to Christian revelation is the unmerited gift that Christians have received in Christ, and this theme of gift drives their argument, inelegantly named "giftive mission." The argument runs something like this. First, they develop their approach from the Bible, fully recognizing that there are a number of possible trajectories out of the Bible on this issue. One massively helpful feature of this book is an appendix of 239 biblical references dealing with Israel's and the Church's encounters with the "Other." Their theological presuppositions are that the biblical message about the redemptive triune God is "true" and that other religions teach many truths, but not about who God is; that the salvation of the non-Christian is ambiguous and should not be conflated with the question of truth; that Christians must fully cooperate with non-Christians; that both dialogue and evangelism are required from Christians; and that spiritual practices inculturated from other religions might be usefully employed, but only with great care. This amounts to a kind of open evangelical position: the world religions are finally human creations, with enormous wisdom and truth to be found, but, finally, Christianity is the only true disclosure of God's self revelation. So far, clear and predictable, given the stable out of which our writers come. But the originality of the book is yet to be unleashed. [End Page 235] The authors next lay out a strategy for mission, beyond competition and cooperation, emphasising the theme of mission as gift sharing. One might recall Aquinas, which they do not at this point of their argument, although they do later, who argued that the greatest gift we can give a friend is sharing that which we value most. For friendship requires that we desire the greatest good for the friend and this means that we would desire the truth of Jesus Christ for our friends. This does not displace an element of competition, if understood as the belief that we can partly argue for the truth and should always do so against rival claims. This does not displace cooperation either. Rather, it is to bring into focus an organizing principle, which is profoundly centered on the nature of revelation as gift. The best feature of this book now emerges as our authors carefully and sensitively tease out aspects of this gift through highlighting certain values as exemplified in the practice of great missionaries of the past. Each person takes up an entire chapter and each is finally contrasted with an antitype, which makes this an immensely helpful resource for students in terms of discussion and engaging stories. Furthermore, the authors provide discussion questions, summaries, and notes in sidebars, little gray boxes that break the text up. The heroes and heroines are Paul the Apostle (universal reaching out); Patrick, missionary to Ireland (fellowship, emphasising that belonging precedes believing); Cyril and Methodius (localization, through their serving the local needs of the Slavic church); Thomas Aquinas (commitment, holding ideas with conviction but not allowing ideas to be divisive); Bartolomé Las Casas (freedom, honoring the principle of religious choice); Matteo Ricci (effectiveness, allowing the context to determine the form of witness); William Carey (consistency, striving for consistency between methods and goals); Catherine Booth (founder of the Salvation Army—variety, communicating the gospel in many forms); Mother Teresa of Calcutta (charity, loving those to whom she witnessed); and Billy Graham (missional ecumenicity, practicing mission as a joint project of the church). Note the balance in denominational types and gender—which is a typical mark of the ecumenical orientation of our authors. Admittedly, they downplay in some of their characters the...

Missão e Estado Laico: Anotações para Uma Reflexão Preliminar

This paper seeks to reflect on the “laic” State in relation to the theme of Mission, from preliminary results of interdisciplinary theoretical and documental research, particularly discussing conversion, Mission, citizenship and State “laicite”.

The Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007

The Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007 is the longest and widest-ranging piece of legislation to come before the General Synod since the early 1980s. Like the recommendations of the Review Group under Professor Peter Toyne, to which it gives effect, the Measure focuses on the twin themes of mission and ministry. The Review Group's remit was ‘to ensure flexible and cost effective procedures which fully meet changing pastoral and mission needs’, and the Measure extends to areas of the life and legislation of the Church of England as diverse as the Church's provincial and diocesan structure, the delegation of episcopal functions, diocesan administration, and the processes for making changes to local church organisation and closing churches for regular public worship. The Measure also establishes a single central Church source of information and advice on church buildings. Finally, it provides a very practical example of the concept of a ‘mixed-economy church’ by laying down the legal framework for the new bishops' mission orders, which are intended to provide endorsement, supervision and support for a wide and growing variety of new mission initiatives, but without undermining the traditional parochial structures. The article sets out to provide an overview of the legislation, and to highlight the provisions that are likely to be of particular importance in practice or of particular interest for the study of ecclesiastical law.

The edinburgh 1910 Centenary: Planning and Doing

Introduction: imagining the centenary At the close of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference, its chairman John R. Mott pronounced that, end of the planning is the beginning of the doing. (1) Almost one hundred years later the memory of this inspirational event stimulates a fresh round of reflection and action. June 2005 saw a small but widely representative consultation meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland to reflect on the mission themes that call for attention at the beginning of the 21st Recalling the work that was completed by the eight commissions that reported to the 1910 conference, the consultation was able to identify themes that call for analysis by teams drawn from different parts of the world, and from different streams of Christian witness. (2) The consultation's work has been widely welcomed and its choice of themes strongly affirmed. Critical feedback has been considered, and the statement of the mission themes has been adjusted in light of further reflection (see Appendix A). This statement remains highly provisional; it is no more than a starting point. None of those involved in the drafting of the statement imagines that it will remain in the same form after sustained work has been done over a three-year period. It is anticipated that some of the themes will come to be understood in significantly different ways, while others may even be replaced. There is an openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the possibility that thinking might develop in directions not yet anticipated. Nonetheless, the statement of mission themes has been acclaimed as providing a coherent and promising starting point. The identification of the mission themes has provided a platform on which a range of Christian organizations, institutions and individuals have been gathering under the aegis of Towards 2010: mission in the 21st century. This platform is not a new organization but more of a network that brings together people and organizations with common aspirations. It aims to bring together representatives of many different strands of mission and church life for a well-focussed and well-organized process of preparation for the centenary. The memory of the 1910 conference brings people together in a creative way, and opens up new perspectives on mission today. The memory also challenges us to work on a bigger canvas, to engage in a wider conversation, to attempt a more comprehensive analysis, and to conceive new initiatives on a broader front. In this way, the memory of 1910 has stimulated imagination and created energy but, until now, has been very limited in terms of organizational capacity. The energy of the 2005 consultation was expended at a conceptual and missiological level. Comments received from many quarters have been very affirmative of the topics identified and the terms in which they are expressed. The document has undergone revision in response to helpful critical comments that have been offered but the substance of it has proved to be convincing. What the consultation did not do was to work out any practical plan for the organization and resourcing of the work envisaged. The idea, in broad terms, was to establish a new set of commissions, based on those which had reported to the 1910 conference but organized much more internationally, and with a much greater range of participation. The implementation of such a plan, however, would require significant financial and other resources. The 2005 consultation appointed a six-member sub-committee on organization and finance, and charged it with the challenging task of turning the dreams into reality. The sub-committee soon realised that, in terms of constructing a collaborative process, little could be achieved without bringing together the relevant stakeholders, viz. representatives of organizations with a vision for the centenary. Another consultation was needed but this time with the practical focus of constructing a viable collaborative process centred on the centenary. …

Bioinvasions, bioterrorism, and biosecurity

Despite their high profile and potentially devastating consequences, bioterrorist acts are relatively unpredictable, rare, and thus far small-scale events. In contrast, biological invasions are occurring daily in the US and have significant impacts on human health, agriculture, infrastructure, and the environment, yet they receive far less attention and fewer resources. Scientists and the US government must work together to implement a comprehensive approach to biosecurity that addresses not only bioterrorism, but also the more common incursions of invasive alien species. This approach should also address the potential for the deliberate use of invasive alien species as agents of bioterrorism. To achieve these goals, it will be necessary for the relevant government institutions to acknowledge and include prevention, early detection, and rapid response to species incursions as central mission themes. In addition, the scientific community, industry, and the public must work together to ensure that the necessary technology and information systems are readily available.

THE FUNCTION OF THE OTHER IN RECENT GERMAN MISSION CALLS

Introduction and outline My subject -- the discovery self makes of the other -- is so enormous that any general formulation soon ramifies into countless categories and directions. We can discover the other in ourselves, realize we are not a homogenous substance, radically alien to whatever is not us.... But others are also s: subjects just as I am, whom only my point of view--according to which all of them are out there and I alone am I n here -- separates and authentically distinguishes from myself. I can conceive of these others as an abstraction, as an instance of any individual's psychic configuration, as the Other -- other in relation to myself, to me; or else as a specific social group to which we do not belong. This group in turn can be interior to society: women for men, the rich for the poor, the mad for the normal; or it can be exterior to society, i.e. another society which will be near or far away, depending on the case: beings whom everything links to me on the cultural, moral historical plane; or else unknown quan tities, outsiders whose language and customs I do not understand, so foreign that in extreme instances I am reluctant to admit they belong to the same species as my own. It is this problematics of the exterior and remote that I have chosen -- somewhat arbitrarily and because one cannot speak of eveything all at once -- in order to open an investigation that can never be closed. (1) If the church is to fulfil its primary task of mission, it has to concern itself with the other. In the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), its Landeskirchen (regional churches), as well as in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, we have heard an increasing number of calls for mission and/or evangelism at our own front door. (2) These calls are intended, amongst other things, to reinforce the image of a confident church and are almost always made without any consultation whatsoever with anyone from missiological circles. In my view, they are prompted less by a sudden upsurge of solidarity and interest in our fellow citizens than by the undeniable crisis of institutional Christianity in Germany. The proliferation of calls using the rhetoric of mission is an indication that the theme of mission is being taken over at present by groups and institutional sectors who use it for their own purposes, but not for missionary purposes in the original sense. (3) Despite so many calls for mission, it seems that the other plays only a marginal role. Yet the semantic of mission demands that we take up the theme of others, those to whom, on the surface, at any rate, the mission called for is addressed. I want to ask about the perception of these others and about the function they serve for mission, or the intentions that lie behind the language of mission. I do not, therefore, intend to say anything about the others who are strangers to us themselves but to ask how the other is perceived in calls to mission and what function this perception then fulfils, My interest here will not be to develop my image of the others but to examine the image that is constructed of them in order to establish its function or functionalization. Our others In what follows the question of others is posed as the question of our others. Let me begin by explaining what I mean by the term our others. I see three interconnected aspects of this concept: 1) Our others are the others whom we as church-Christians see as other on account of their different, or to us no longer perceptible, religiosity. Our others are those who are other in terms of our own understanding of religion. 2) In the context of our secularized society, characterized by the institutionalization(4), individualization, pluralization and privatization of religion, our others are to a large extent people who were once numbered among ourselves. Today, many of our others are our others, even with the common history of our separation and the heritage that, in one way or another, we share in common. …