Page 2 - Mission Journal

MISSION &

THEOLOGY

Rev. Dr. David C Wu

[ii]
The concept of mission has un- makes us whole? The new mis- theologian was reported to have

dergone a process of refinement in sion statement made it abundantly told his audience: We need to hold

recent years. The founder of Meth- clear that the purpose of the in one hand, the Bible. And in the
odism, John Wesley envisioned the church in making disciples is for other hand, the newspaper. This
highest state to be achieved in vividly expressed the important of
Christian maturity as someone theological thought that mission is
who attained “an intimate, an un- to be done in the context of the
interrupted union with God; a con- world as the Church seeks its re-
stant communion with the Father demption and transformation. For
and His Son Jesus Christ, through Christians to effectively serve as
the Spirit; a continual enjoyment agents of this transformation, we
of the Three-One God, and of all need to be empowered by the Ho-
[i]
the creatures in Him.” If that was ly Spirit to grow into the fulness of
to be the goal for individual Chris- the transformation of the world. A spiritual maturity.
tian striving to achieve as per Wes- second sentence was added: “local Toward Spiritual Maturity
ley, in the context of the church, churches provide the most signifi- God has shown us that the way
the mission then, must begin from cant arena through which disciple- for world redemption is the same
the beginning: making disciples of making occurs.” pathway taken by our Lord Jesus
Jesus Christ. This has been per- Christ himself: Divine Incarnation.
ceived as the clear mandate given The understanding of mission The Word became flesh and lived
by Jesus to his disciples to do: “Go for the church has now been en- among us (John 1:14). This is a
therefore and make disciples of all larged to include the social dimen- journey of complete trust and obe-
nations..” This mandate continues sion to that of personal, from fo- dience to the will of God. Chris-
to be accepted as valid and appli- cussing on achieving personal sal- tians are called to emulate Jesus in
cable to all present day disciples of our mission involvement. Jesus
Jesus Christ. told his disciples: “As the Father
has sent me, so I send you.” (John
In the 2008 General Conference
20:21)
of the United Methodist
Church, the delegates voted to The path for Christians in fol-
lowing Jesus is not a leisurely walk
adopt a clearer mission statement
or a quick sprint but a life-long
for the whole denomination. The
statement reads as follow: The marathon. It is a journey
of Pilgrim’s Progress as described
Mission of the church is to make
vation and holiness to a much wid- by John Bunyan in his book of the
disciples of Jesus Christ for the
transformation of the world.” An er goal of seeking “the transfor- same title. In the journey to follow
mation of the world.’ In this re- Jesus , it involves the struggle of
important question was discussed
gard, the Wesleyan theological overcoming hardship, self-doubt,
and debated: To what end do we
make disciples of Jesus Christ? Is perspective of linking personal and suffering, anger, failure and many
social in its missional approach is more. Jesus simply told his disci-
making disciples an end in itself, or
better expressed and articulated in ples these are crosses that they
does God have a purpose for which
He redeems us, recovers us and the decision of the General Confer- must bear if they are to follow him.
ence. Karl Barth, the noted Swiss And through this arduous jour-

2 Mission Journal