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24-463: It is a concept which has become increasingly important in missiology and in understanding the mission of the church since the second half of the 20th century. Some of its key proponents include David Bosch , Lesslie Newbigin , and Darrell Guder . In 1934, the German missiologist Karl Hartenstein first coined the term missio Dei to distinguish it from the missio ecclesiae , that is, the mission of

48-518: A Jewish family in Johannesburg , South Africa in 1959. He moved to Cape Town, in 1963 where he spent most of his childhood and adolescence. Then, he went to university in Cape Town where he studied business and marketing and moved to Australia in 1983 with his family. Although his family was not particularly religious, he was very much influenced by his Jewish heritage. He emphasizes Jesus as

72-658: A discipline. He founded the first scientific missionary periodical in 1874, Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift , and was appointed the chair of missionary science at the University of Halle in Germany in 1897. His three-volume work on Protestant mission theory Evangelische Missionlehre and his survey of the history of Protestant missionary work were extremely important for the young discipline. Influenced by Warneck's work, Catholic church historian Joseph Schmidlin  [ de ] began lecturing in missiology in 1910 at

96-402: A new paradigm that does not employ such imperialistic approaches which lead to language and cultural imposition. Alan Hirsch Alan Hirsch (born 24 October 1959) is an Australian author, serial entrepreneur , thought leader in the missional church movement , key missions strategist for churches around the world, and founder of numerous global organizations. Hirsch was born into

120-545: Is "an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Christian mission or missions that utilizes theological, historical, and various social scientific methods." It has historically focused on the missionary and evangelistic work of Protestant and Catholic denominations from Europe and North America into other continents. But the decline in Christian numbers in the West has been met by the rise of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians in

144-507: Is mission, not vice versa. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God's love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love. Speaking on behalf of The Gospel and Our Culture Network , Darrell Guder writes, "We have come to see that mission is not merely an activity of the church. Rather, mission is the result of God's initiative, rooted in God's purposes to restore and heal creation. 'Mission' means 'sending,' and it

168-572: Is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church." According to one opinion: During the past half a century or so there has been a subtle but nevertheless decisive shift toward understanding mission as God's mission. During preceding centuries mission was understood in a variety of ways. Sometimes it

192-414: Is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God's action in human history.... We have begun to learn that the biblical message is more radical, more inclusive, more transforming than we have allowed it to be. In particular, we have begun to see that the church of Jesus Christ is not the purpose or goal of the gospel, but rather its instrument and witness.... God's mission is calling and sending us,

216-512: Is to block God's purposes in and through God's people." Peters states that the Bible claims "the end result of such missio Dei is the glorification of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. Broadly speaking, missiology

240-706: The International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS). In European academia, especially in German-speaking contexts, there is the growing dominance of the term "intercultural theology." The close interaction between missiology, social sciences and culture made scholars to shape the discipline within the framework of history and sociology and remind about the "colonial past of missions" when Christians often attempted to use their political and economic power in evangelism. Many missiologists are now disavowing these methods and attempt to construct

264-879: The Majority World "for which mission and evangelism are their raison d'être." Through missionary work in new contexts and the gradual shift in the World Christian population from the West to the non-Western world, Christians have had to grapple with new questions. While biblical and theologically rooted, missiology has therefore sought a deep engagement in the social sciences, in disciplines such as anthropology, history, geography, communication theory, comparative religious studies, social studies, education, psychology, and inter-religious relations. Missiology has thus included topics like inculturation , contextualization , interfaith relations , and reverse mission . Missiology as an academic discipline appeared only in

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288-481: The University of Munster and was appointed to the first chair of Catholic missiology at the same university in 1914. Since the 1950s, missiology has generally been discussed within the theological framework of the missio Dei , the "Mission of God." This has shifted the discussion away from "missions" in the plural, an exclusive focus on the evangelizing of the non-Christian in overseas contexts, to "mission" in

312-516: The 19th century. It was the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff who first developed a systematic theory of mission and was appointed in 1867 to the first chair in missiology in the world, the new chair of Evangelistic Theology in New College, Edinburgh . The chair was short-lived and closed after Duff's departure. Gustav Warneck is often recognized as the founder of Protestant missiology as

336-435: The church of Jesus Christ, to be a missionary church in our own societies, in the cultures in which we find ourselves." Alan Hirsch believes the word missional "goes to the heart of the very nature and purpose of the church itself." He continues, "So a working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to

360-542: The church. Some scholars hold that this coinage, which can be traced as far back as Augustine , had a strong trinitarian basis. This language, it is argued, was picked up at the 1952 Willingen conference of the International Missionary Council (IMC) and developed theologically by Lutheran theologian, Georg Vicedom. However, John Flett maintains that while Hartenstein did introduce the actual term missio Dei , he did not locate that mission in

384-463: The doctrine of the Trinity. Such reference to the Trinity appeared in the "American report", a study document prepared for the 1952 Willingen conference, under the leadership of Paul Lehmann and H. Richard Niebuhr. The "American report" suggested a link between revolutionary movements in history and "God's mission". Many of the later contentions with missio Dei stem from these origins, and especially

408-400: The failure to ground the concept in a robust account of the Trinity. The acknowledged concerns with missio Dei also meant that reference to the concept went through a hiatus until it was given concise description by David Bosch. According to David J. Bosch , "mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God . God is a missionary God." Jürgen Moltmann says, "It

432-550: The other theological and social sciences differ to a great extent. While it continues to be considered a Christian theological discipline, some have contested whether missiology is a strictly church discipline or academic one. There are several academic societies for missiology, such as the North American organizations the American Society of Missiology (ASM) and Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS), and

456-415: The process by which the world—evolutionary or by means of a cataclysmic event—would be transformed into the kingdom of God. In all these instances, and in various, frequently conflicting ways, the intrinsic interrelationship between christology, soteriology, and the doctrine of the Trinity, so important for the early church, was gradually displaced by one of several versions of the doctrine of grace … Mission

480-402: The singular, a broader topic including a multiplicity of God's activities in the world. Hence, " Mission is the participation of the people of God in God's action in the world. The theological and critical reflection about mission is called missiology ." [emphasis in original] Today missiology is taught at many Christian theological schools and its scope of study and relations with

504-403: The world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this

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528-421: Was concerned, this linking with the doctrine of the Trinity constituted an important innovation … Our mission has not life of its own: only in the hands of the sending God can it truly be called mission. Not least since the missionary initiative comes from God alone … Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is church because there

552-522: Was interpreted primarily in soteriological terms: as saving individuals from eternal damnation. Or it was understood in cultural terms: as introducing people from East and the South to the blessings and privileges of the Christian West. Often it was perceived in ecclesiastical categories: as the expansion of the church (or of a specific denomination). Sometimes it was defined salvation-historically: as

576-494: Was understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It was thus put in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine on the missio Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit was expanded to include yet another "movement": The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit sending the church into the world. As far as missionary thinking

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