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Die Sendingwetenskap, kerke en sendingorganisasies dink wêreldwyd opnuut na oor die bybelse fundering vir die integrasie van Woord en daad in die verkondiging van die evangelie. Die Lausanne-beweging het ’n kongres in Kaapstad gehou, waar 4200 kerkleiers van 198 lande vanaf 16 tot 25 Oktober 2010 vergader het. Die program het besinnings ingesluit oor hoe om kwessies soos armoede, ongeregtigheid en die voorspoed-teologie skrifgetrou te hanteer. Die Miga-netwerk is ’n groeiende wêreldwye koalisie van kerke en organisasies wat hulle in die lig van Miga 6:8 tot die uitbou van integrale sending verbind. Die Gospel Coalition is ’n netwerk van teoloë wat hulle daartoe verbind het om gelowiges te stimuleer sodat hulle geloof in die evangelie van Christus verdiep. Die doel is ook dat bedieningspraktyke ’n teosentriese en Christosentriese fokus vertoon. Hierdie koalisie het verskeie debatte oor aspekte van integrale sending in hulle mondstuk, Themelios, gepubliseer. Die World Reformed Fellowship het in hulle geloofsverklaring duidelik gestel dat gelowiges uit gehoorsaamheid aan die opdrag van God met twee hande na alle mense moet uitreik, naamlik die hand wat hulle roep om hulle sonde te bely, om te glo en só die ewige versoening met God deur Christus te ontvang, en tweedens die hand wat deur dade van dankbaarheid en deernis die goedheid van God se koninkryk in die naam van Christus na vore bring.Verskeie missiologiese publikasies het onlangs verskyn wat uitdruklik oor integrale en dus die behoefte aan holistiese sending handel. Missiological reflection indicates that mission organisations and churches worldwide, are reconsidering the biblical foundations of the integration of Word and deed when proclaiming the Gospel. The Lausanne Movement held its global congress in Cape Town, where 4200 church leaders of 198 countries gathered from 16 to 25 October in 2010. The program also included in-depth discussions on dealing in a valid biblical way with issues such as poverty, social justice and prosperity gospel theology. The Micah Network is a growing global coalition consisting of churches and organisations that committed themselves in the light of Micah 6:8 to promote integral mission. The Gospel Coalition is a network of theologians who are committed to stimulate Christian believers in order to deepen their faith in die gospel of Christ. Their aim is that ministry and missionary practice should reflect a Theocentricand Christ-centred vision. This coalition also published several debates in their mouthpiece,Themelios, on aspects of integral mission. The World Reformed Fellowship made it clear in its statement of faith that Christians, in obedience to the commission of our God, have to present two hands to all people, namely the hand calling them to repentance, faith and eternal reconciliation with God through Christ, and secondly, the hand manifesting deeds of mercy and compassion, extending the goodness of God’s kingdom on earth in the name of Christ. Several missiological publications have recently been published that explicitly deals with the integration of Word and deeds and the need for holistic missions. Forum discussions and blogs on the Internet are debating whether to embrace, or to reject the concept of integralmissions on biblical grounds. This article attempts to make a contribution to the debates by analysing a few key biblical terms in which God reveals himself through the integration of Word and deeds. Thus this calls for a holistic approach in missions, in which people’s words and deeds should not be separated when proclaiming the gospel.

This paper commences with an outline of the vision of the missio Dei that Paul offers to his readers in Rome, taking as a starting point the letter's thesis statement in 1:16-17. The remainder of the paper traces the key pneumatological themes of the letter and orients them in relation to this overarching vision. The picture that emerges is one that highlights the close connectedness between the Spirit's life-giving work and the saving righteousness manifested in Christ, proclaimed in the gospel, and at work within the church. Life without righteousness and righteousness without life are both, for Paul, equally unthinkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Missionale kerk, missio Dei en kerkverband: ’n Diskussie. Die ontluikende kerk en die missionale kerk is onderwerpe wat toenemende bespreek en nagevors word. Deelnemers aan hierdie gesprek verken steeds die omvang en onderskeie elemente van die onderwerpe met soms uiteenlopende standpunte. Noodsaaklike elemente van hierdie gesprek is deur die literêre verkenning van sekere onderwerpe nagevors gepaardgaande met aflidings, evaluering en kritiese opmerkings om groter duidelikheid oor die onderwerp te bied en sodoende ’n vrugbare gesprek te bevorder. Hierdie navorsing het ook op onlangse kritiek teen die missionale kerkbeweging in Suid-Afrika gefokus, die onderliggende rol van die missio Dei in die missionale kerkbeweging verken en die implikasies van die missio Dei vir die kerkverband aangeroer. Die blyk dat die missio Dei groot waarde inhou vir ’n vrugbare gesprek oor die ontluikende kerk asook die missionale kerk omdat dit as geskikte paradigma vir teologiese ondersoek hieroor funksioneer. Dit wil ook voorkom of dit kwessies kan hanteer wat in verskillende denominasies en die kerkverband ontstaan vanweë die ontluikende kerkfenomeen. Missional church, missio Dei and inter-church relations: A discussion. The emerging church and the missional church are topics increasingly discussed and researched. Participants in this discussion are still surveying the extent and various elements of the subject with sometimes divergent views. Critical elements in the conversation were researched through literary exploration of certain topics accompanied by inferences, evaluation and critical discussion to provide greater clarity on the subject and promote fruitful discussions. This research further focused on recent criticism of the missional church movement in South Africa, probed the underlying role of the missio Dei in the missional church movement and touched on the implications of the missio Dei for inter-church relations. The missio Dei proves to be of much value for fruitful discussion on the emerging and missional church, because it functions as a suitable paradigm of reference and theological enquiry and also seems able to address issues arising within denominations and inter-church relations caused by the emerging church phenomenon.

A narrative of church life today. We live in a time when survival seems to be the biggest concern of most mainline congregations and denominations. How can the church possibly survive? This is a question that is asked in almost every corner of the institution. Since the 1960s, numerous books and articles have been published, trying to get a handle on why the mainline churches are in decline. Whatever the cause may be, decline is causing great fear and anxiety in the mainline churches. In an effort to answer the underlying question: ‘What shall we do to turn the situation around?’, some churches are simply trying to ‘market’ themselves and their message. Others try to ’do’ church differently. Some try to rediscover the purpose of the church, et cetera. Cheryl Peterson argues that churches are, in fact, facing an ecclesial crisis, that is much more than a crisis of declining numbers and membership. There is a deeper and more basic issue that must be explored, one that has to do with the church’s theological identity, and that is: what it means to be church? This article is about the question: Who is the church? And it answers the question on the basis of Peterson’s thesis by means of a narrative of the church that commences with the Spirit.

Missio Dei is ’n belangrike tegniese term in die gesprek oor die missionale taak van die kerk. Die term word egter nie konsekwent met dieselfde betekenis in die gesprek gebruik nie. Daar word selfs teenstrydige betekenisinhoude aan hierdie term geheg. Sommige gespreksgenote gebruik hierdie term sonder om duidelik te maak wat hulle spesifiek daaronder verstaan. Hierdie situasie lei tot misverstande en kan aanleiding gee tot ’n onbybelse benadering tot sending. Hierdie artikel ondersoek twee belangrike aspekte van die missio Dei-gesprek, naamlik die standpunt dat sending (missio) tot die wese van God behoort en dat Hy daarom ’n sendende God is, asook die standpunt dat sending (missio) uit die Drie-eenheid se onderlinge verhouding voortvloei. Verskillende benaderings in die missionale debat rondom die begrip missio Dei word krities ondersoek en op grond van Paulus se brief aan die Efesiërs geëvalueer. Vanuit die Efesiërbrief word ’n voorstel gemaak ten opsigte van die betekenis wat die begrip missio Dei behoort te dra asook hoe sending op die selfopenbaring van die Drie-eenheid volgens die Efesiërbrief gegrond kan word. A critical view of missio Dei in the light of Ephesians. Missio Dei is an important technical term in the discussion of the missional task of the church. In this discussion, however, the term is not used in a consistent sense. Even contrary semantic contents are associated with it. Some participants in the discussion use the term without clarifying what they understand by it. This situation causes misunderstandings and may give rise to an unbiblical approach to mission. This article investigates two important aspects of the missio Dei discourse, namely the viewpoint that mission (missio) is inherent to the nature of God, which means he is a missional God, as well as the viewpoint that mission (missio) flows from the mutual relationship in the Trinity. Different approaches in the missional debate regarding the concept of mission Dei are critically investigated and evaluated on the grounds of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Based on the Ephesian letter a suggestion is made with regard to what the meaning of the concept of missio Dei ought to be, as well as how mission can be based on the self-revelation of the Trinity according to the Ephesian letter.

This article explores portions of the Thessalonian correspondence through a missional lens, focusing on its depiction of the church's election, the mode of the church's participation in the missio Dei as it lives out its election, and the particular sort of missional understanding of the Trinitarian God this reading suggests. This exploration is framed by a conversation with two recent proposals that revise (McDonald), or interact heavily with (Flett), Barth's Christological redefinition of the doctrine of election. The article assumes that Barth was right to redefine the doctrine of election Christologically and that doing so must factor into how one articulates an ontology of the Triune God. As a starting point, it also utilizes McDonald's basic twofold representational dynamic of election, namely, election as the representation of God to others and others to God. However, the article's reading of the Thessalonian correspondence suggests a different understanding of the elect's participation in the missio Dei than is articulated by either Flett or McDonald. Features of these letters suggest that the elect's participation in the missio Dei is best understood as ontic participation in the Triune God's actions/being, that is, as a Spirit-generated representing of God's very self to others and others to God. The article concludes with an attempt to ground this understanding of the elect's participation in the missio Dei in an ontology of election that gives the Spirit a more prominent place in the Triune God's unfolding life with God's elect people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a Reformed reflection on The Church: Towards a Common Vision (CTCV). It seeks to explore an aspect of the rich contribution of CTCV to the understanding of the depth of the unity that the church has received from the Trinitarian God as a gift, and to which it has been called to witness, namely, the communion that exists between God and creation. It shall argue that, whereas CTCV has worked upon several years of ecumenical labour, and whereas it is a most invaluable work in ecumenical understanding of church unity, it fails to develop a robust theology of creation and, as such, fails to do justice to the richness of communion that the church and creation has with the Trinitarian God. This reflection shall be informed by some of the historic Reformed confessions, some modern Reformed confessions and the rich history of Reformed participation in ecumenical conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1952 conference of the International Missionary Council in Willingen, Germany represents the starting point for the rediscovery of the concept of God's mission as the basis and model for Christian mission. In subsequent decades the work and publications of Lesslie Newbigin and David J. Bosch have been especially instrumental in the rise and development of a theology of mission centered on missio Dei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the church acknowledges and seeks to integrate those members with disabilities and their concerns more fully into congregational life, Christians have been supported by many different conversation partners from across the theological disciplines. Notably absent in this discussion have been contributions from the field of missiology. Missiology is an integrative and multidisciplinary field of study that is particularly attentive to how interaction with cultures, social traditions, and religious convictions transform the church through boundary crossing. One of the major opportunities and challenges for missiology in the twenty-first century will be to support churches in recognizing and amplifying the contributions of persons with disabilities to the ministry and witness of the church. Missiology could provide a perspective and practices for ensuring that the fullness of the gifts and challenges of the world's largest minority (15% world population or 1 billion people have disabilities) will be represented in and transformative of the church's participation in God's mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article raises relevant aspects of the dialogue missiology regarding Abya Yala religions and cultures. It is based on the concept of missio Dei as critical to the Christian missionary experience in Latin America, and discusses some historical examples, including Bartolomé de Las Casas, José de Acosta, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and Jorge Benci, in order to arrive at the proposals for inculturation and interculturality, as the present day challenges to innovative missionary action. It declares respect and love for the 'other' as the starting point for a journey responding to the passion of the God of Life for humanity and dignity of all peoples and cultures. It tries to rewrite mission theology as a 'decolonizing' task, at a time and in a world dominated by Western culture. This requires a difficult, but essential, 'intercultural decentering' (Josef Estermann), which is both a rupture and a personal, philosophical, theological and pastoral conversion in this direction. Examples derived from 'critical Pentecostal' theology can help us in this intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evangelical missiology and missionary practice must undergo constant evaluation and updating. In this process, seven basic areas of reflection should be taken into account: (1) salvation in Christ as the framework, (2) a Trinitarian and Christocentric theological foundation, (3) eight fundamental practices exemplified by Jesus and the apostles, (4) transformation as a representative image, (5) contextual and ecclesial realization; (6) eschatological and doxological orientation, and (7) the main challenges confronting current missionary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is legitimate to imagine that the Church would have been different had it not been for the courage and insight of Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Ecumenical Council, completed after him by Pope Paul VI. It initiated extensive reform in the Catholic Church, both in the way she understands herself and as she sees her presence and interaction with the (secular) world. This Ecumenical Council also invited Religious Congregations and Institutes of Consecrated Apostolic Life to engage in a process of renewal (aggiornamento) that would bring them also into line with the new theology of the Second Vatican Council. The Missionaries of Africa, under the leadership of Fr Léo Volker, undertook this thorough renewal before, during and after the 1967 General Chapter. This article explores howaggiornamentochanged our Missionary Family and how it impacted on the local churches in Africa which we served. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Complex questions have arisen about how Christian mission agencies function within a globalised context. The changing context has impacted on how the missio Dei has been worked out within these agencies and this has had implications of a theological and missiological nature in particular as to how the agencies have interacted with the church worldwide. This has lead to new paradigms of how mission is conceptualised. The growth of the church worldwide in newer soil has forced mission agencies such as the Wycliffe Global Alliance (WGA) to re-evaluate their place in the world. It has been assumed that as resources have decreased from parts of the world where the WGA has had its traditional roots, there are missiological factors in determining how this impacts on the WGA. There are many missiological implications for the WGA that come from influences in church history on the importance of the translatability of the gospel especially in the context of Bible translation. These have impacted the WGA’s understanding of itself and in particular of how it has interpreted and reinterpreted its Vision 2025. When the missio Dei converges with outcomes of globalisation there are numerous implications for an agency such as the WGA. Consequently, the article concludes that none of these matters can be ignored. Instead they must be explored and lessons learnt from them that can be passed along to others in similar situations.

This article examines the missionary spirit of the Edinburgh Conference 1910 and that of the Pentecostal movement. While the optimistic confidence of Edinburgh to evangelize the entire world by the best human resources of the Western church was waned away in a couple of decades after the Conference, the Spirit empowered missionaries of the Pentecostal movement were more effective in accomplishing the same task. Although Pentecostals did not complete the task of world evangelization yet, they became the fastest growing missionary movement in the world today. A definite missiological shift seems to be the key in Pentecostal mission – from an anthropological dimension to a theological dimension of mission – which leads this article to propose a pneumatological Pentecostal missiology. A pneumatological missiology has the potential to serve multiple purposes, as it takes into consideration several aspects of mission, including evangelism, social action, and engaging with people of other faiths. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers the ways through which the Marists in Australia are enhancing their charismic vitality and the structural viability as a movement of Christian educators within the Church. A theoretical context is described, focusing on the nature of the concepts of charism,communio, discipleship, the spiritual families of the Church andMissio Dei. The strategic initiatives that have been taken in formation and organisation over the past two decades are discussed and the priorities for the immediate future are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the triangle linking biblical creation, anthropology, and human language. It takes as its point of departure the notion that language is an important part of the image of God in which humanity was created (Gottebenbildlichkeit). Since most of creation is accomplished through God's spoken word (see Gen 1 and also John 1), the human ability to speak and communicate abstract concepts appears to be an echo of the divine and distinguishes humans from the rest of creation. The paper traces some of the highlights marking the important role of language within the context of human history, including the fall and the divine plan of redemption, thus linking the theological categories of anthropology and soteriology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]