Missio Dei and the Holy Spirit

The Mission of God

An important idea of the church’s missiology is God’s mission (missio dei). God’s mission emphasizes God’s call in the world and the role of the church in fulfilling this call: The church is called to go into the world to preach the good news (Mk 16:15), and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). The church is the disciple community called by Jesus Christ and gestated from His mission to the world.

The missio dei points profoundly and clearly to the truth that God is the God of mission. God’s mission of proclamation does not originate from the church but comes directly from God and expresses His nature. Mission is God’s own act as He calls the church to participate in His mission and activities in the world. This is accomplished as God the Father sends God the Son and as God the Father and God the Son together send God the Spirit, and as God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit with one accord send the church into the world. By church, we refer to the actual, experiential and visible church and not some idealistic, non-experiential and invisible church.

Understood from the theological perspective of missio dei, the visible church is the result of God’s mission to this world. The fact is that only when the gospel reached Europe did churches exist there. The history of the Christian church is bound up in God’s mission activities. Thus the Christian church and mission are inseparable. The Christian church cannot do without mission and mission cannot be accomplished without the participation of the church. The very nature of the church is mission.

The Fundamental Origin of Christian Mission is the Holy Spirit

However, the Christian church must remember that “God’s mission” is the act of God’s love in the world. Because God loves the world, mission exists. God sends the church to participate in His activities in this world and this is the church’s special privilege. When the church testifies to the work of God in the history of the world, she is participating in God’s mission. Therefore, God’s mission goes beyond the boundaries of the church for God’s mission encompasses the whole world. The triune God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, manifests His kingdom in the history of the world. In the activities of Christian mission, the world with which the church connects is the world in which God carries out His salvation work through the work of the Holy Spirit. The fundamental origin of Christian mission is the Holy Spirit.

The theological conviction that highlights the church’s participation in God’s mission is simply this:the church came into being at Pentecost when God bestowed on the church the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the mission that Jesus Christ calls her to do. Since that day, the church has sought to fulfill Jesus Christ’s mission, which is also the church’s mission in the world. Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between the church’s mission and the Holy Spirit.

The Church’s Mission Is the Result of the Holy Spirit’s Presence

Of the triune God, the Holy Spirit is God’s breath of life. From the Old Testament narratives, we can see that the Israelites had been waiting for that person upon whom the Holy Spirit “rests” (Isa 11:2-9). According to the New Testament narratives, Jesus is the very person upon whom the Holy Spirit rests. As the one who has received the Holy Spirit, Jesus can bestow the Spirit on the world.

In the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is seen as God guiding and empowering the church. After Jesus Christ’s ascension, it has been the Holy Spirit who continues to walk with the church as she performs God’s mission on earth. The early church followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the early church exempted gentiles from observing the Israelites’ practice of circumcision. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaimed the truth of salvation to the gentile army officer Cornelius, and Paul also proclaimed the gospel to the gentiles. The Holy Spirit has led the church to separate herself from the world by defining her identity and role. Then too, the Holy Spirit continues to give members of the church all kinds of spiritual gifts (1 Co 12:7–11) allowing them to bear the fruit of life (Gal 5:22-23) and live their lives according to Christ’s example. On the one hand, the church leads people to Christ and invites them to receive the Holy Spirit (Ac 2:17-18). On the other hand, the Holy Spirit, reflecting Christ’s love, reproaches the church, revealing her hypocrisy (Acts 5:1-11) and directing her to pursue righteousness and challenges the structural manipulation of social hierarchy through the love of Christ.

As such, the church’s mission is the result of the presence of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the reason for the church’s existence. The church is the place where the power of the Holy Spirit is manifested. It is through immersing herself into the work of the Holy Spirit that the church is immersed into her mission.

Putting Mission into Practice is the Sign of the Church’s Liveliness

Theologian Berhard Jüngel uses a lively analogy to explain how the missional church breathes in the Holy Spirit. By breathing in the Holy Spirit, the church is filled with the Spirit so that she is brought alive spiritually. As the church breathes in the Holy Spirit and is filled with the Holy Spirit, she can exercise self-renewal. On the other hand, the church must then breathe out the Holy Spirit by putting into practice God’s mission for people to make peace with God. If the church fails to put God’s mission into practice by “breathing out,” she can no longer show forth her breath of life and can no longer exist.

Therefore, the church must open herself up through the power of the Holy Spirit toward strangers by doing the ministry of reconciliation and healing among the broken people of this world, thus bringing God’s peace to men. In such a way, putting God’s mission into practice is the sign of the church’s liveliness. This sign of the church’s liveliness is also the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I earnestly pray that the graduates of HKBTS, the churches and all men and women under God’s leading will show forth such a sign. In the power of the Holy Spirit, let us together put into practice God’s mission to our world.

May 2012