existence
of many missionary societies. The evangelical Christians, addressing the
consequential problems of the industrial revolution, were deeply involved in
the struggle for social reform and engaged in charitable works in their home
countries. When they came to Asia, they continued the type of work they had
done in their home country and got involved in social reform and charitable
work. Thus, schools, hospitals and other charitable works became an important
means of evangelization.
1.1.Ecumenical Paradigm
One
of the greatest developments in the history of the Christian church in 20th
century
was the emergence of an ecumenical movement. Concern for unity arose from the
missionaries’ experience in the fields. The enormity of mission
work, particularly the difficulty they encountered in the task of world
evangelization helped missionaries realize the need for unity. Concern for
Christian unity gradually became stronger and it was treated as the core issue
in ongoing discussions of mission. This concern of unity was translated into
reality when the World Council of Churches (WCC) was formed in 1948 to strive
for greater unity. Unity has become one of the primary purposes of the WCC, as
laid down in its constitution: ‘to call the churches to the
goal of visible unity in one faith and in one Eucharistic fellowship expressed
in worship and in common life in Christ, and to advance towards that unity in
order that the world may believe’.[1]
The
confusion that has been prevailing within the ecumenical movement was the
purpose of calling the churches for the International Missionary Council whose
purpose was for evangelism whereas WCC perceived it for unity. That was
eventually rectified. Rejecting the dichotomy, the ecumenical movement
integrated unity and mission upholding the view that the ‘calling
of the churches to mission and unity’ were inseparable as
the two sides of the same coin. As the leaders of the WCC took
the context of Christian mission more seriously than ever before, certain
issues such as the relationship of the older and younger churches, the missionary
message in relation to non-Christian religion, the relation of evangelism and
social involvement, racism, sexism and ecological issues have appeared as
crucial questions in the discussion on mission. The concern for Christian
mission was no longer limited to evangelism and unity alone; it has now many
more concerns. The increasing concerns and the multiple dimensions of Christian
mission have brought about a new paradigm called a holistic paradigm.
1.2.Holistic
paradigm
The
holistic concept of mission, the idea that the mission of God (Missio Dei)
to the world in which the churches and every Christian are called to
participate through proclamation of the gospel of Christ and action for the
realization of the kingdom of God did not come overnight but took many years to
develop. It evolved from the past experience of mission work, debate on certain
issues, and reconstruction of the theology of mission and reformulation of
mission priorities and strategies.[2]The
change was not merely initiated by a few leaders and missionary scholars from
within; it was brought about by the external context in which the missionary
enterprise existed. The shift was basically from understanding mission as God’s
mission to the world through the church, to an understanding of God’s mission
to the world in which the church participates. It is a shift from church
oriented mission to the world oriented mission. Here mission is conceived in
the spirit of Ps. 24: 1, “The earth is
the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell there in”.
It is God who loved this world so much that He sent His son to it. Mission is
therefore, God’s loving act of sending His son to save, liberate and reconcile
the world to Himself. Mission is God’s turning to the world in respect of
creation, care, redemption and consummation. It affects all people in all
aspects of their existence. And the mission of the church is to participate in
this mission of God.
1.3.Critique
on theological paradigms
In the history of
Christianity, a shift of theological paradigm has taken place from time to time
as mentioned above. The colonial ecclesial paradigm of the church was
overlapped by pietistic evangelical paradigm, and then came the ecumenical
paradigm and the holistic paradigm and so on. A new paradigm of theology
usually emerges due to the change of situation. The shift of theological
paradigm today is mainly due to the breaking down of the old paradigm in Third
world countries. The old paradigm could not develop a relevant theology to
effectively address the situation where poverty, exploitation, oppression
dependency and pluralism were major issues. It is quite evident from history
that whenever an old paradigm become obsolete and inadequate to meet the
contemporary needs, a new paradigm emerged.[3]Whenever
such a shift of paradigm occurred, the old paradigm seldom disappeared
completely. David J. Bosch rightly asserts that in the field of religion, a
paradigm shift always means both continuity and change, both faithfulness to
the past and boldness to engage the future, both constancy and
[1] Thomas F. Best, Vancouver to
Canberra 1983-1990 (Geneva: WCC, 1990), vii.
[2] Phillip A. Potter, ‘Mission’ in
Nicholas Lossky, et. al. eds, Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (Geneva:
WCC, 2002), 695.
[3] Hans Kung and David Tracy, eds., The
Paradigm Change in Theology: A Symposium for the Future (Edinburgh: T&T
Clark Ltd., 1989), 20-23.
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