Page 25 - The Church of Ireland Apologetic for Mission?
P. 25

These highlight the place of mission within Anglicanism and articulate the themes that mission encompasses.
a. Five Marks of Mission34
This report by the Mission Commission of the Anglican Communion states “The church (ekklesia) is the community called out of the world to be the instrument of God’s mission”.36
It highlights three convictions:
1. We are united by our commitment to serving the transforming mission of God.
2. Mission is the bedrock of all we are, do and say as the people of God.
3. Our faithfulness in mission will be expressed in a great diversity of mission models, strategies and practices.
The report highlights the all- encompassing nature of mission for the church:
The transforming gospel addresses both personal and structural sin. We cannot reduce evangelism to the transmission of a set of articles of faith without any sense of urgency to incarnate that faith in a world beset by injustice and oppression. Salvation, the biblical idea of wholeness or health, is too often reduced to the saving of souls rather than the whole person; and sin is seen as exclusively moralistic and individualistic, needing absolution from personal guilt.37
The church will demonstrate the reality of this mission as it:38
1. Offers life, not death.
2. Includes rather than excludes.
3. Aims for wholeness and health.
4. Lives by values that are different from those of “the world”.
5.Emphasises service rather than domination.
b.
The Anglican Consultative Council suggest five marks of mission to remind Anglicans of what mission includes:
1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
Towards Dynamic Mission: Renewing the Church for Mission
In this document, the final Report of the ACC Mission Issues and Strategy Advisory Group, it noted:
God continues to work redemptively ... bringing order out of chaos, good out of evil, hope from despair and light in darkness. God has not left human beings in the misery of their sin but has revealed his will for them in mighty acts in history and through prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit. Such redemptive involvement in human history has come to a climax (though not to an end) in Jesus of Nazareth, where the divine is not only present, not only revealed, but where the divine becomes human (John 1:14).35
Anglicans In Mission: A Transforming Journey
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/identity/marks-of-mission.aspx http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/108031/MISAG-II-Towards-Dynamic-Mission-1992.pdf p 5
c.
34 35 36 37 38
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/108028/MISSIO-Anglicans-in-Mission-1999.pdf http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/108028/MISSIO-Anglicans-in-Mission-1999.pdf http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/108028/MISSIO-Anglicans-in-Mission-1999.pdf
p 5 p 5 p 6
25


































































































   23   24   25   26   27