Theology

Historically, the Episcopal Church has been a missionary church. Indeed, the spread of Anglicanism began with the missionary journeys of Augustine, at the request of Pope Gregory. The history speaks of sending missionaries out to plant churches, reach the “unreached,” build schools, teach the “unreached,” operate orphanages, etc. Missionaries in the early 1800’s, were most often clergy and clergy wives and a smaller number of other selected individuals.

In recent years there has been much activity within the Anglican/Episcopal committees that study, debate, and encourage new mission structures in an effort to assist the entire Anglican Communion in matters of mission. At Lambeth 1938, several resolutions reflected a need to make a change in the mission strategy, (i.e. recommended the Provinces and dioceses encourage, train, equip and send lay persona for evangelism and ministry, called for a dynamic missionary emphasis that goes beyond care and nurturing to proclamation and service). The Church has begun to embrace the contemporary view of mission as the “Ministry of All the People of God.” actually, since 1968, not only in Lambeth Conferences, but also in the Reports of the Consultative Council, there is new talk of mission in ministry - indicating that we cannot talk about mission isolated from ministry. IN the documents of the Church today, mission is not what “we” (Christians) do for “them” (the poor and non-Christians). Mission is God-in-action within every person, every community, every culture, every diocese and every nation, in a witness:

·        incarnated (immersed in the reality)

·        pastoral (revealing God’s love and care through action)

·        and sacramental (touching and being touched through sharing in the lives of others).

The new face of mission not only involves revealing of God’s presence, but sharing with and learning from those we seek to minister to, healing and reconciliation with the responsibility of trying to transform the social order. The new face of mission calls us all to:

· Proclaim the Good News

· Respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters with loving service

· Allow ourselves to see Christ in others

· Open our hearts to receive ministry from others

· Advocate to change the unjust structures of society

· Safeguard the integrity of creation.

The new face of mission stresses the inclusivity of ministry, and calls us to a ready response to work in God’s Great Commission.

The concept of Mission and Missionary Planners is a very old idea. Some will argues that it precedes the beginning of the existence of the Jewish religion. The concept, in its broad sense, could involve the whole issue of emissaries, ambassadors, liberators, etc., from Kings, Queens, government and other high officials. It could also include the aspect of prisoners of wars, refugees, and even slaves. Hence, it is not a surprise that the concept is also picked up and used within the Jewish and Christian faiths.

In the Judeo - Christian tradition the concept of a “Missionary Partner” is theologically based. That is, it has deep roots in the scriptures and even in church history. Needless to say, the Bible is full of numerous examples of Missionary Partners.

*Note: We have not mentioned the numerous scriptures where our Lord Jesus Christ is the example of the missionary partner.

What is Mission?

What Is a Missionary Partner?

What is mission? GEMN is offering an additional fundamental meaning of the concept of mission. This is a different look than we are used to but it should further our understanding. The most popular concept of mission is “sending out” i.e. sending someone away form their home or country to go and preach the good news, to go convert non-believers, etc. However, this definition is fraught with many negative implications and connotations.

This is not to say that it is devoid of its values and therefore usefulness, hence the achievements of early missionary efforts all over the world, including the Christianization of our country, the United States of America. Despite all of the positive achievements, this old definition of mission does an injustice to the full potential of what mission is, and could be.

The additional fundamental meaning GEMN is offering in terms of the concept of mission, is that mission has primarily three main interlocking components and/or attributes to it. For mission to reach its full potential and impact, these three components have to be meaningfully engaged. These three attributes are:

1. That mission is primarily the act of sharing our faith, belief, fears, hopes about Jesus Christ with one another, especially with the person closest to us. Therefore, successful and powerful mission starts at home, church communities, state, countries, before it can be effective outside of our immediate community and/or abroad.

2. That the point above makes all of us, i.e. anyone who professes to accept Our Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, a missionary. Yet, we are aware that there are those who are given the additional gifts and talents and, therefore, the call to go out of their immediate surrounding to share the good news with others. Such “sending” according to GEMN’s new interpretation, should never be limited to overseas. Rather, it should be seen as sending away to wherever such gifts and talents are much needed. That could range from sending to the next city, village, town, state, or to places abroad.

3. That theology of mission - of sharing and “sending” - must be theologically rooted for it to be effective. As the first two components of mission are essential to an effective and authentic mission, so also is the third component: that of the “receiving” of missionaries. The art of “receiving” has a great deal to do with our aspect of openness. Being open and accepting are crucial ingredients for meaningful growth in one’s faith. As “sending out” should never be limited to a particular area, nor should receiving be limited to an area we wish to include for personal reasons. The gift of openness will enable us to see and, therefore, receive many missionaries that attend our churches and communities each week, month and year. Yes, like “sending out,” “receiving from” should concentrate more on the gifts, talents, and blessings such people are bringing into our midst.

In essence, every missionary is a missionary partner. According to the new definition of mission, each of us is a missionary. Therefore, one can say that every Christian has the potential of being a missionary partner to someone. This partnership can be to someone in a church, a diocese, or a country. Based on that theology:

(a) A missionary partner can be the person next to you - someone who strengthens you or a person who journeys with you in your spiritual growth and discipleship. It might even be one who inspires you because of their exemplary lifestyle.

(b) Further, this person might be someone within your community, someone you are familiar with and know well. But, it could also be someone from your culture, someone you can easily accept and be open to his or her gifts, or someone with special talents and ministry that they are sharing with you.

(c) Missionary Partners could also be those who are different form you politically, culturally, ethnically, educationally, sexually, and nationally. Therefore, the importance of openness and acceptability becomes paramount for us as Christians, to learn and receive form others.

The primary purpose of the GEMN Network is to enable dioceses to increase: a)awareness and understanding of global mission activities among congregations through education and communication and; b) participation in the sending and receiving of missionaries to and from other dioceses.

· GEMN will work in close collaboration with the Anglican and Global Relations Cluster of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society to involve and extend participation in the mission sending and receiving activities to congregations throughout the Episcopal Church.

· GEMN will work collaboratively with the various voluntary mission sending agencies who are members of the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission (EPGM) to increase support of jointly appointed missionaries.

· GEMN will seek to support mutual responsibility and accountability within the Anglican Communion and will work in partnership in all of its activities.

· GEMN will endorse the covenant agreements of the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission (EPGM) and participate as a member of this Council.

Theology - Recognizing that God is truth and that we discern truth through dialogue in community, and desiring to avoid untested assumptions about one another, we seek to understand out various mission theologies by committing time and resources to listen and talk together with honesty and mutual respect, in order to live together within the tension and work together in the mission of Christ

Partnership in Mission - In a spirit of respect and cooperation within the Body of Christ, we covenant to accept as a norm the receiving of appropriate invitation/permission from the relevant local Anglican ecclesiastical authority, before engaging in a program or sending persons into an area where an Anglican body exists.

Information Sharing - We covenant to share mission information on projects and procedures relative to recruiting, screening, selecting, training and placing missionaries. We further covenant to explore ways of coordinating our activities in order to encourage cooperation and discourage unhealthy competitive attitudes in the world mission field.

Unreached Peoples - We want to promote a vision throughout the Anglican Communion to work for the extension of the Church among groups where the Gospel of Christ is not known, both within Anglican dioceses and beyond Anglican dioceses.

· GEMN will work collaboratively to clearly define and mutually negotiate the roles of all groups involved in Global mission to promote a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation within the Body of Christ.

· GEMN interprets the term “global” to include all areas of the world and mission work in the United States within its area of concern.

GEMN recognizes that the term mission is open to many different interpretations and definitions. We describe mission as always including an element of the sharing the “Good News” of Jesus Christ in our lives.

As Bishop Grein and I began to talk about the development of the network of dioceses that would help to focus the attention of the Episcopal Church on global mission issues, I had a picture in my head of a whole group of active people and parishes throughout the Episcopal Church partaking in a whole series of activities that made them conscious of their role as citizens of this planet and as missionaries of this church:

· Young people off to spend their summer vacations as missionaries partners in Latin America or other parts of our own country;

· Medical personnel spending vacation time to treat illness in villages and towns of India, Asia or Africa;

· College graduates willing to broaden their horizons serving in development work in Africa or the South Pacific;

· Seminarians exchanging experiences cross-culturally between Russia and the US;

· Missionary families going out with the support, encouragement and daily prayers of several congregations in their diocese;

· Other families planning vacations so that they come to know and share their faith journeys with Episcopalians on Indian reservations, in the West Indies, or in an inner-city;

· Every congregation in the Episcopal Church able to describe itself as an active mission partner with some group, congregation, or program beyond their immediate community and diocese;

· Young people growing up in our church knowing that they are a part of a much larger church that spans the globe - that embraces all colors, cultures and classes and are proud of the riches of that diversity;

· Congregations and individuals throughout this church praying regularly for those elsewhere in the communion using the Anglican Cycle of Prayer.

I guess my vision was for a church that is alive, vital, open to the great variety and diversity that I myself have been privileged to experience. My dream, my hope for this new network is that we will, by working together, so stir people’s hearts and minds and open them to the possibility of understanding that each and every one of us, created in God’s image and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is a missionary, both in our local communities but also to the ends of the earth. And, who knows, perhaps one of these days even beyond.

I know that this is happening to some people and in some parishes in the church. I know that there are some people who are saving and giving and doing and that they feel supported by their immediate parish family. I also know however, that there are missionaries of this church who feel they have no real contact with anyone here in the US or in their diocese. I know there are people in this church who would like to serve outside their local community and who have no idea how or where to learn about possible places that need mission workers. I know there are hundreds of Episcopalians serving through other churches and through secular organizations because they did not know that there were mission opportunities in their own church.

I was both thankful and saddened when I read a letter to the editor in Episcopal Life thanking the Editor for including the “Letter from a Missionary” column in each issue. I quote: “Before seeing that series, I was totally unaware or what our church is doing in this area of ministry.”

I fear that there are thousands of people like this across our great church and we must do much more than we have thus far to engage them in the great mission task before us. I look to each and every one of you to join us in transforming our church into a powerful mission task group willing and able to take the “Good News” of Jesus Christ to the millions right next door and around the globe who have not yet claimed him as their Saviour.

The Christian is sent to all others, at all times and in all places, to declare by word and action the life-giving Good News of the Risen Christ.

Our Lord’s Command to go into all the world overarches all of time, reaches from the days of the Roman Empire tot he Space Age, and to all the tomorrows to come.

Yesterday’s missionary barrel, today’s self-determination of people, tomorrow’s as yet unformed designs - all are Christian mission, expressions of God’s love for each of his children.

Many creeds offer a measure of understanding of the mysteries of life and death.

God. intends that each Christian shall offer his brother or sister more than an ecclesiastical pattern; he or she must offer a personal Savior.

If the Christian, the committed person, does not offer all of these, no one else will -- because no one else can.

--Adapted from a declaration of the Overseas Bishops of the Episcopal Church. 1971