Genesis 1:2, tells us that, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” The earth was in its primeval chaos, formless and empty, then looks what happens, God speaks saying, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Again and again, God speaks, and the earth takes shape, and God orders it. Thus, he brings order out of chaos. If you look at what mission is about, no matter of what kind of act

Regarding the opportunity for missional engagement, the church in a postmodern society has been pushed to the margins. This provides an opportunity, which can be illustrated by employing the language of anthropologist Victor Turner. The church in western culture is at a point of liminality. Liminality is a condition of transition from one position or role in culture to another. For example, the movement from adolescence to adulthood is a point of liminality. At such times one

The church participates in God’s mission of reconciling people to God, to themselves, to each other and the world. It is God’s mission not ours for God is the missionary God. It was he alone who sent his Son and sends his Spirit into the world to fulfil his missionary purposes. They are global in scale and concerned with the restoration of all things in this broken and fragmented world, the establishment of peace where war and turmoil reign, the renewal of creation where it i

To be a follower of Jesus is to be involved in the life of the world just as Jesus was involved in the life of the world. Jesus engaged with a broad section of Palestinian society during his earthly ministry. He interacted with the rich and the poor, the leaders and the marginalised, and many people in between these polarities. Admittedly, his message was contextually focus and it differed according to the challenges present in the lives of those he engaged and their relation

All Christians are to engage in not only mission but also ministry. Thus ministry is simply the outworking of their missional calling in all areas of life. Ministry is not the privilege of a small elite group of people, but for every disciple of Jesus Christ. Noticed that I did not say that all Christians are called to ‘the ministry’, but to ministry, diakonia, that is service. We do a great disservice to the biblical understanding of Christianity whenever we refer to the pas

Mark 2:21-23 reads: 21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.” Let me suggest that this new and changing world we now live in demands new wineskins. It will not be good enough simply to pour the n

In Jesus’ life, mission and ministry there is a clear emphasis on the pattern of servant and relational leadership. The servant and relational pattern produces fruitfulness, while the absence of the servant and relational pattern leads to the tragedy of fruitlessness and at times abuse. All pastoral responsibilities in mission and ministry should be based on and patterned after this servanthood model and be highly relational in character. Genuine pastoral leadership avoids th

In grappling with various issues related to mission I have discovered that keywords are important in helping me to understand the way God uses his people in the world he has called us to engage. Two such words that are used in the discipline of missiology are: ‘futurum’ and ‘adventus’. ‘Futurum’ is God working out his purposes in and through the everyday events of life, by that his work and reign is extended. It is mission that progresses through the means of the ordinary and

In the sixties and seventies, the Church in Australia became increasingly isolated and less relevant to mainstream Australian society. It began to move from the centre of society to the fringe so that by the beginning of the twenty-first century it had become an insignificant sub-culture of the periphery of a pluralistic and multi-cultural society. The world we now live in has been changing at an alarming rate over the past thirty to forty years. Australian society, like the