More On Mission by Mary-Anne Rulfs

I love the word ‘mission’! it’s such a rich word for reflecting the meaning and purpose for which our lives hunger. And it’s a word that isn’t entirely religious. While it has a range of meanings in popular usage, it’s an accessible word for people generally. It provides a purpose for our busyness and a focus for our daily lives and work.  

Reading Amy’s blog last week was a great joy. Hearing how much she enjoyed visiting the community in North Qld and spending time with her Mum and others while sharing God’s love in relationship with people in that community was a great story.  

For Christians, our mission isn’t ours alone. It’s God’s mission! and what is God’s mission? The reconciling of all things. Christian mission is often described as looking up, finding out what God is already doing, and joining in this great reconciliation movement. This understanding is based on the Biblical premise that God is always present and active in our world. God’s Holy Spirit indwells people everywhere and therefore, God is moving in ways far beyond what we see in our limited view of the world. What an exciting venture to be part of!  

I recently travelled to Sydney for the 175th anniversary of the Anglican Board of Mission. ABM is the national mission agency of the Anglican Church of Australia. ABM’s Sustainable Communities program works with church partners to deliver grassroots, community-driven development, and disaster preparedness and response. ABM wants to see people everywhere experience the wholeness of life God offers in Jesus Christ, and to this end, support ABM partners as they participate in God’s mission.  ABM Anglican Board of Mission | Anglicans in Development 

ABM’s origin story is about 4 bishops – 3 ‘Australian’ and 1 from New Zealand – who joined forces to raise funds to build a boat to take the gospel message to Polynesia. This was the model of Christian mission in the 19th century, and we recognise today that while this approach brought many benefits, particularly the life-changing transformative message of life in Christ, it was also delivered by imposing the burden of colonialism. It was a model of doing to or for, rather than the mutuality of being with.  

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about ABM is that it has provided the language and scaffolding for engaging young people in mission, using the language of mutuality, partnership and learning from and alongside each other. This is very different from an approach that seeks to engage with a community with a view to changing them, without appreciating that they have gifts to share that might help change us for good.  

As followers of Jesus, we look to Jesus for our example of how to encounter ‘neighbour’, and engage respectively. Jesus listened. Jesus showed compassion. Jesus didn’t give trite answers – he asked good questions so that people could come to their own realisation of God’s love for them, of how Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love and presence, here and now, and how we might be reconciled to God and one another.  

There’s an idea that gets tossed around in schools from time to time. Something like this:  

We’re very good at valuing what we measure – test scores, literacy and numeracy levels, enrolment and waiting list numbers, budget outcomes, fundraising targets – rather than measuring what we value – perhaps student wellbeing, faith and spirituality indicators, the health of relationships, community cohesion, kindness and generosity amongst staff and students.  

That’s not to say those objective, measurable things aren’t important. They absolutely need to be taken into account for purposes of accountability and good stewardship. They help us identify trends which can help us make informed decisions about policies and budgets. Schools leaders and governors have a responsibility in that regard.  

However, the quality of life within a school and the outcomes for students are not dependent on these things alone. Full enrolments and a healthy budget don’t guarantee a positive schooling experience. Student outcomes are very much based on factors such as a sense of belonging and connection, feeling safe, being seen and heard, and shown dignity. This is the work of mission to which God calls us.  

And maybe church communities fall into the same trap of using numerical indicators as measures of ‘success’ in mission. We are a performance-based and success-driven culture. We’d be naïve to suggest that wasn’t reflected in the church.  

How might we return to a focus on mission – God’s mission to reconcile all things – seeing what God is dong, and joining in? This means being in relationship with and seeing the dignity in others with a willingness to listen and learn so that God might shape us to be more loving, kind, gentle, joy-filled, peace-full, good, gentle, faithful and self-controlled followers of Jesus, as God’s spirit moves in ways beyond our understanding.  

This also sounds like revival. More people expressing the fruit of God’s Spirit in more and more ways. This will create community that draws people to belong to our faith-based community, and to grow as followers of Jesus, participating in God’s mission in the world.