Mission and Bible

1. Joshva Raja SOCMS 1
Mission and Bible
SOCMS Presentation
October 2006
Session 2

2. Joshva Raja SOCMS 2
Role of the Bible in Mission
 Mission involves God, Gospel, God’s
people, Listeners, Missionaries, Message,
Medium/Methods, Contexts/History, Texts
 Bible – God’s Word, history of people of
God – Missionary in Nature?
 Consider only New Testament in other
contexts! Why the Whole Bible?
 inspired word of God, rich experience of
his people, unique source of churches
reflection – not fixed literary proof of God

3. Joshva Raja SOCMS 3
Missio Dei
God’s Mission
 Where are you Adam? Caring Mission - Gen 1
 Let my People Go! Liberative Mission - Exodus
 I am the Lord. You shall not murder! Normative
mission – Deuteronomy
 Redeem My people! Redemptive mission -Judges
 You are the man! Prophetic Mission – Kings
 Repent! Proclaiming Mission - Jonah
 Will the bones be alive? Restoring Mission -Isaiah

4. 4
Joshva Raja SOCMS
Mission of God
 Listening God –
opposite views
 God of silence
 Forgiving God
 Angry God
 Powerful God
 Speaking God
 Seeing God
 Dynamic God
Accepts audience
Breaks the barriers on his own
Use people’s language
Go to the margins
Corrects mistakes
Changes nature for audience
Space for other views
Struggles for relationship

5. Joshva Raja SOCMS 5
Old Testament and Mission
 Dialectic between Centripetal (Inward)
and Centrifugal (outward)
 God’s election – Deep Solidarity with non-
elect nations – chosen ones and
relationship with others
 Secular History – exodus from Egypt and
Non-Israelite celebrations – harvest
festivals became absorbed into rituals…
 Self identity and corruption exceeded and
prophetic voices came in…

6. Joshva Raja SOCMS 6
God and Mission in OT
 God as Saviour before as Creator?
 Concern for contact, relationship and
understanding with all beings
 Special concern for the poor and the
defenceless
 Covenant with the chosen people of God
 Care for alien and foreigner in the land of
Judea
 Demanded an attitude of humble sharing

7. Joshva Raja SOCMS 7
Mission in the Old Testament
 Creation story – Story of the fall
 Babel Tower – Not Uniformity rather unity
in diversity
 Selection of Kings – removal of theocracy
 Changing of contexts and values –critical
and appreciation
 Words used in relation to mission in OT =
Reform, redeem, restore, reconcile,
reformulate, rebuild, restructure, return,
reorient, resurrect…

8. Joshva Raja SOCMS 8
Key concepts of Mission in OT
 Reign of God and His will to save
Humanity
 Past Narratives (history) as faith sources
and revealing
 The creation and creature – arena of
revelation and salvation
 Religious experience as witnessing mission
 Relationship as God’s Initiative and
Motivation for Mission

9. Joshva Raja SOCMS 9
Mission and the New Testament
 Major resource personalities are Jesus,
Paul, John and others
 Four Gospels not one; historical reliability;
Jesus of History and Christ of Faith – early
Christians influence
 Listening to the past and speaking to the
present and future - Discovering variety
of Jesuses – revolutionary/right
wing/founder of modern business

10. Joshva Raja SOCMS 10
Mission in the New Testament
 Construction of Historical Jesus in the four
Gospels – Evangelists/Communities used
creative and responsible freedom in
retaining and adopting Jesus’ traditions
 Listen to the Past in order to speak to the
present and future
 Gaps and Connections – historical gaps –
marginal communities find similarities

11. Joshva Raja SOCMS 11
 Not Form, Redaction nor social rather
critical hermeneutics – Not looking for an
Objective statement of reality out there
rather interpreted reality
 Correspondence between the self
definition of early Christians and todays
 Self definition of Early Christians lead to
self definition of Jesus
 Jesus and Israel – Greek and Roman
influence – Jewish Proselytes and God
fearers – Qumran to evangelize Jews

12. Joshva Raja SOCMS 12
Q/Logia
 Mission statement only to Israel
 Gentiles Mt 3:9; Mt 12:41
 Warning to the privileges of Jews –Mt
8:10; Mt 15:28; Mt 8:11-13; Mt 21:31
 Gentile Mission is post-Easter discovery –
Jesus himself laid the foundation for
Gentile Mission

13. Joshva Raja SOCMS 13
For Jesus
 For Jesus God’s reign as the expression of
God caring authority over the whole of life
 Reign of God as past, present and future.
 Not the Law but God reign matters
 Not rules and rituals but people matters

14. Joshva Raja SOCMS 14
Missio Jesus
 Incarnation Model (Salt)
 Healing Model (Physician)
 Preaching Model (Stones)
 Demonstration Model (Water)
 Transfiguration Model (Light)
 Resurrection (Wheat)
 Crusification (Wine)

15. Joshva Raja SOCMS 15
…there is only one foundation.

16. Joshva Raja SOCMS 16
Early Church and Mission
 Early Christians part of Jewish or separate
community? Gentile Christians to be
circumcised?
 Hebrew or Greek speaking Jewish self-
understanding
 Between end time and not yet – eschatological
self-understanding
 Mission replaced by the expectation of the end
and mission itself an eschatological event
 Pharisees and Synagogue

17. Joshva Raja SOCMS 17
Post Jesus
 Apostolic model (sent)
 Martyrdom model (die)
 Social service model (share)
 Church model (relate)
 Letter model (command)
 Spiritual model (fill)
 Witness model (live)

18. Joshva Raja SOCMS 18
Jesus and Early Church practices
 Christian mission involves the person of Jesus
himself
 Early Christian Mission was political,
revolutionary and subversive
 Inter-alia new relationship between Jews,
Gentiles, men and women…
 Marana Tha (our Lord come) – Lived in hope
and not yet fulfilled – not utopians nor to
establish the reign
 Martyria witness with the blood of Jesus and
followers

19. Joshva Raja SOCMS 19
Paul and Mission
Context of Paul’s Mission
 Wandering preachers
 Greek Speaking Jewish Christians
 Judaizing Christian Missionaries
 Divisions and Communities
 Persecution of Christians

20. Joshva Raja SOCMS 20
Mission strategies
1. to preach Jesus where not yet preached
Rom 15:23
2. A Sense of Urgency - being in Christ
3. Cooperative and Community based
mission
4. Mission as function of the Church
5. Self-confidence and self-consciousness
6. A sense of concern to bring people to
Christ – a sense of responsibility to
Gentiles – a sense of gratitude and
privilege to proclaim

21. Joshva Raja SOCMS 21
Paul Missionary paradigm
 The church as a new Community (Eph
2:15)
 Mission to Jews (Rom 9-11)
 Mission in God’s imminent Triumph
 Mission and Transformation of Society
 Mission in Weakness
 Mission with aims and goals