Mission and transformational development

This section seeks to connect developmental aspirations to mission. It is aimed at justifying a church’s non-evangelization23 activities of development as a necessary mandate from God to humanity. The essence of this part of the thesis is therefore not the debate as to whether mission should be seen as transformation or transformation as mission. It is rather to point out that the outcome of mission is transformation of the individual (Romans 12: 1-3) and also of communities who come into contact with Christian mission (Matthew 5:13-16). As Bryan Stone (2007:10-11) notes, evangelism and mission are traditionally equated and limited to converting individuals to becoming part of a faith community or denomination. In contemporary times, evangelism is often associated with spiritual, political and intellectual arrogance. It is identified with forced conversion, religious conflict, and even colonization. This image and perception of a concept so beautiful might not be helpful in a world full of pain and suffering. Converting people from one faith (or no faith) to Christianity may not represent the intention of Jesus Christ to the world. He intended that Christianity will bring healing and guidance to our world as indicated in Matthew 5: 13-14 (King James Version of the Holy Bible 2004:735). He used the metaphors of light and salt to describe the mission of his followers to the world. Mission therefore is the opportunity for the body of Christ to interact with the world with the view of making it better.

Martin Adhikary (2004:2) points out that the challenges the world faces has to do with spiritual and moral issues. The displacement of God from God’s rightful place in the life of humans is at the heart of our predicament and responsible for the brokenness found in the world. The body of Christ is the agency that can instil holistic human development that will adequately address the crisis the world faces. This scenario depicting pain, brokenness and suffering is what Loren Mead (1994:26-28) refers to as the “bad news” situations of the world. Christian mission has to do with establishing the euangelion (gospel) in this world in order to restore it to God’s desired state. The bad news in the world is contextual; missional activities therefore need to reflect these contexts. This is in line with the response of Jesus Christ to the various contexts he found himself in and which he addressed through his teaching and miracles when he was on earth.

23 _{I use this term to mean objectives that are not geared towards conversion of people from one faith to the other} or from one denomination to the other. Evangelization is often seen as the sole task of a church.

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Louis Ndekha (2016:47-48) links euvangelion with the Old Testament shalom, which has to do with being able to access optimum level of welfare, well-being, prosperity, health and a holistic sense of satisfaction, not just for an individual but for the whole community. The Christian mission is to be the harbinger of shalom. This is the nature of transformational development. Martin Adhikary (2004:6) also links shalom to a state of being, such as experiencing security, wholeness, peace, abundance, prosperity and healing for the community. He contrasts this with the false prophets’ declaration of peace when indeed certain factors for peace, such as equity and justice, are being neglected. In the same vein, false political leadership in the world and other agencies only pay lip service to the cause of peace around the world when they do not pursue just and equitable policies. In many places in the Third World, for example, human rights are grossly violated and economic injustice is perpetuated. The Christian mission is the declaration of shalom, which is the kingdom of God.

4.6.1 Mission as transformation

Many Christian organizations see working towards social justice and development as an integral part of their witness to the world. As far as they are concerned, the Christ-centred mission is not complete without being involved in the task of establishing justice in communities. According to Kuhn (2005:104) social development and welfare are noted to be central to Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus’ ministry on earth was primarily about healing people. He met the needs of hurting, destitute, despondent and marginalized people. Similarly, the Apostle Paul followed in Jesus’ footsteps when he mobilized financial resources to cater for the needs of those ravaged by poverty (Acts 11: 29). Therefore mission today necessarily has to address these particular human needs for it to be faithful to the biblical traditions.

Vinay Samuel (2002:244) emphasizes the centrality of seeking justice, fighting corrupt structures and acting against sinful systems to the Christian mission. The activities that seek relief and the well-being of the less privileged are critical to Christian mission. Jacobsen (2001:3-7) notes that Christians have the mandate to live in ways that denounce the evil structures in societies that keep people poor, side-lined and broken. A central part of Christian witness is to side with the marginalized. There is the temptation for Christians to focus on personal piety and forget the mandate to help transform oppressive and marginalizing systems entrenched in the society. Personal success and friendship with political leaders have the

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tendency to rob Christians of their prophetic voice, a voice which could have helped the poor and marginalized out of their misery.

Christians must see mission on earth as transformational development. “If the church is seduced by the world as it is into abandoning its vision of the world as it should be, then it has abandoned its calling, its mission and its Lord” (Jacobsen 2001:11). The ultimate goal of the gospel is not limited to the transformation of personal lives. The gospel should also be necessarily aimed at transforming communities. The gospel is always community-centred as against the often-touted individualized relationship with God. Though transformation may begin with individuals, it is intended to build a transformed community. Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer (2010:1) introduce their first chapter by noting that transformation or change is at the very heart of Christian mission. The mission of the faith community is not to build places of worship, but building healthy people and communities. The transformed individuals constitute the church, and these individuals are meant to be agents of the kingdom of God in transforming the larger community.

The Wesleyan faith tradition affirms its commitment to the care of humanity. Field (2015:178) highlights the theology of Wesley, a theology of love that transforms the church and the society. It is a theology which delivers people from sin and transforms their lives. This theology transcends holiness of personal piety. Holiness in Wesleyan thought is love. It makes people care for the needy and the poor. It makes the community of faith engage with the society even through political and social structures to alleviate the suffering of the people. “This new space challenges Methodists to critically rethink the relationship between holiness and social justice, and hence to reconceptualise their understanding of the mission of the Church.” (Field 2015:178). The triad of justice, mercy and truth are also central to the Wesley faith. These virtues, according to Field (2015:180-181), spring from internal experience of the grace of God and necessarily lead to the transformation of the society.

The point being made is that most Christian faith traditions see social engagement and social development as part of their mission, even a critical part of Christian mission, but it is not necessarily the only aspect of mission. Traditionally, development is only one part of the obligation of the body of Christ to its milieu.

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4.6.2 Transformation as mission

Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden (in Willmer 2001:194) note that the dichotomy between evangelism and social action is inconsistent with Christian scriptures. The integration of social action and evangelism is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This position is also based on interpretation of scripture. Padilla (2008:65-83) describes the relationship between the kingdom of God and the Christian church’s mission. He establishes how the New Testament church continues to fulfil the messianic hope of ancient Israel. The messianic hope, according to Padilla, is built on the prophecy given by the prophet Nathan to King David, assuring him of the establishment of his dynasty throughout generations. This dynasty will be built on equitable and just leadership. The Jews always hoped for the fulfilment of this prophecy even in adversity. The assurance given to establish a lineage of kingship was not to be to the advantage of the powerful (as the political, economic and military leader), but to ensure the establishment of justice and equity in the society. When established power or authority failed in this duty, God ensured they suffered the consequence.

Padilla (2008:71-75) notes that Jesus Christ lived to fulfil the messianic prophecy; he was the one to propitiate God, according to the theological interpretations of the apostolic era of the New Testament. However, the killing of Jesus Christ also had political nuances. He was seen as undermining the political leadership of his time by claiming to be the Messiah. Jesus Christ proclaimed the advent of the kingdom of God, not as a limited futuristic eschatology and futuristic imagination, but as a current reality. Through him, the kingdom of God was present among the people at the time that coincided with the occupation of the Roman Empire. He had to contend with interest groups such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees and so on. Jesus Christ thus became a common enemy and threat to their political and economic influence.

It can therefore be inferred that Jesus Christ’s mission had to do with the alleviation of suffering, meeting the needs of the poor, exorcism of evil and the liberation of the oppressed. His mission on earth was revealed in what he spent his time doing. He was healing and liberating people from social limitations and exploitation, and establishing justice. It was a pragmatic task that was based on meeting the day-to-day needs of people, therefore the needs of society.

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Padilla (2008:82-83) believes that the Christian community is to be the incarnate Christ within the society. The Christian community is to follow the order of the Old Testament messianic prophecy expected to be fulfilled in the lineage of King David. It was expected to be a kingdom established on justice and righteousness. It was to be a kingdom where the poor found justice. The Christian mission is to be patterned after that of Jesus Christ. It should fulfil the messianic mandate of Christ. It should be contemporary, grounded, and present in healing the sick, freeing the oppressed, helping the poor, and establishing justice and equity in the society. Mission is not only found in proclamation but in demonstration. Mission changes the paradigm from love of power to the power of love. It is not only eschatological; it is also political.

The implication of this is that these social changes are the core of mission. Any activity of the church that does not transform society is not authentic. There is no differentiation of the gospel into social and spiritual. No separation of the religious and secular. Authentic mission is about establishing the kingdom of God in human society.

Loren Mead (1994:24-32) posits that Christian mission is in crisis, which will become even more obvious in the very near future. The crisis is as a result of loss of relevance of churches in evolving communities. When churches do not take their place in meeting the needs of the society, they lose relevance. Mission is about following the pattern of Jesus Christ in spreading the gospel. He emphasizes the fact that the word/term “gospel” is losing its original meaning in many churches’ activities of gathering people into their congregation. Rather, the essence of the gospel is to reach out to the world with good news. The phrase “good news”, the literal interpretation of what we now know as “the gospel” is from the Greek eu angelion, which means the good message. Christian mission is about giving good news to those suffering bad news in our societies. The good news and the bad news must be seen to be in context. In other words, Christian mission is to counteract specific negative or adverse conditions people are subjected to. Mission is about healing, breaking chains of poverty, undoing or preventing injustice, and so on.

Bad news can be seen as either social bad news or individual bad news. Christian mission must be ready to minister good news to both forms. The former has to do with the community/society, while the latter has to do with people’s personal adverse experiences. We must not be confused about different approaches of responding to bad news. Some individuals or faith communities are able to respond to bad news either in religious style or in secular

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manner. The religious approach is the terrain most faith communities are used to (through the proclamation of the personal gospel about what Jesus Christ is able to do in reconciling us to God). An equally appropriate response, but not usually recognized as such, is the ability to provide good news without reference to religious terms or to any faith community. Be the approach religious or secular, such actions bring justice, equity, healing and prosperity to either an individual or a community. Every faith community must be able to identify the bad news in their community and respond to it with the gospel, regardless of the style or approach (Mead 1994:32-45).

The implication of Mead’s position is that congregations have to be transformed first before they are able to transform the society. Otherwise, they will be irrelevant in the very near future. There needs to be a transformation in how mission is conceived. The position makes congregations see transformation as mission. When communities are not being transformed, when bad news is left unchecked and unaddressed, then there is no mission. It is irrelevant whether mission is done in a religious or secular style; the critical thing is that transformation takes place through an adequate and appropriate response by congregations, and such transformation is what mission is all about. It is imperative for the SDA Church in Nigeria to reflect on its mission from this perspective in order to remain relevant and even achieve its primary hope of redeeming the world in the eschaton.