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Mission from the Margins

Toward a Just World

Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone rejected by the builders
has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous to see.’”
Matt. 21:42 (New Living Translation)

Introductory Remarks

The following theological elaboration is a contribution from the networks and initiatives
associated with the World Council of Churches (WCC) Just and Inclusive Communities
programme. It is informed by those who experience discrimination and marginalization
within the church and society. These are:

• Those who are suffering on account of and struggling against the cultures
of racism and casteism, both of which-by holding them as inferior and unworthy-deny
them the right to live with dignity and deprive them of “life in all its fullness”;
• The Indigenous Peoples who struggle for identity, their homelands, their language and
for survival amidst displacement and dispossession;
• People living with disabilities who struggle for a life with dignity and participation; and
• The migrant communities, and people who are forced out of their countries and
communities on account of dispossession caused by human aggression and greed, and
who are treated as the unwanted “others.”

People as mentioned above, as well as in other categories, are victims of the ongoing processes
of “othering” and “objectification” that derive inspiration from certain unjust and narrow
views and values of life that continue to shape much of the cultures, structures and the ways
of our world. The small group of theologians representing these groups, who met in Geneva
in June 2011 to draft this statement, were indeed conscious of other marginalized groups and
other cultures and forces that marginalize and disempower many sections of people in the
church and society.

In order to understand the reasons for this attempt to re-imagine mission from the margins,
we must recognize a few common features of the experience of those on the margins. First,
these groups of people are a part of the church in many contexts around the world that
unfortunately experience discrimination and marginalization right within it. Secondly, they

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have also been victims of churches’ missionary expansion and theologies that took shape
amidst and legitimized historical processes of discrimination and oppression of the weak and
the vulnerable. And thirdly, these groups of people have been generally referred to or seen as
recipients or objects of churches’ mission. Therefore, it is unique that these marginalized
sections, the former victims, former objects of mission, now attempt a missiological reflection,
not as a reaction to what mission has been to them in the past but of what they imagine God
intends for the whole world and creation today.

Traditionally, mission has been viewed and pursued as an action done from a position of
privilege, power and possession. However, if mission is the inevitable vocation of every
Christian, what then would be the mission of those who are poor, impoverished, disempow-
ered and dehumanized? This elaboration of mission through the vantage point of those on
the margins unveils creative possibilities for new understandings of mission.

It does so, first of all, by claiming that the marginalized people are the most preferred
partners of God in mission. In the biblical account, we encounter a God who opts for the
poor. God does not opt for the poor out of paternalistic compassion but in order to make clear
that God stands in solidarity with those who are sinned against, the victims of all systemic
injustice, those who are taken advantage of, and those made vulnerable. Indeed, the mission
of God that Jesus understood and pursued was a mission of realizing the reign of God with
those considered the last and the least, the sinners and outcasts. To that extent, he rejects
power and privileges, identifies himself with the poor, takes upon himself their vulnerability
and allows himself to be broken and crushed. These were the people who formed his first
community, witnessing to the hope of the coming reign of God that Jesus thus inaugurated.
The mission of the church, therefore, begins with the mission of God that Jesus lived out
among the poor and the marginalized.

Second, it asserts that God’s mission is beyond the churches’ interests in safety, stability and
expansion, but expresses itself in contexts of struggles for dignity, justice and life for those
to whom these are denied. It is not only their suffering but their struggles to overcome the
unjust, and life-denying forces that hold their life-worlds as places of witness for the saving
and transforming grace of God. In other words, the mission of God is not to build the church
but to transform the world through affirmations and actions of courage and hope. Their
assertions point towards the possibility of discovering church as an event of liberation and
transformation, and in the happening of mission.

Third, it argues that mission is not acts of charity or of binding the wounds of the victims.
It is about exposing the sinfulness of the world. Mission is action that confronts the forces of
evil that deny and abuse life, and transforms situations and people so that the purposes of
God for God’s good creation may prevail. Through this affirmation, marginalized people not

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 Mission from the Margins

only assert their understanding of mission but also their privilege of participation and call
others in the church and elsewhere to join them so that God’s will may be fulfilled.

Fourth, by holding mission as proclamation of good news of salvation in word and deed, it
underlines that mission is not a mere narration of the story of salvation in Jesus Christ alone
but prophetic utterances, speaking truth to powers and holding them accountable. Jesus,
through his own life, message and hard choices proclaims that mission is a vocation in risky
obedience. He rejects the temptations of easy access to power and glory but opts for hard ways,
the way of the cross. This is mission in Christ’s way, the mission of the marginalized people,
and the mission of God for a new, just world!

The following theological reflection is the result of the collective work of Dr Beverly Mitchell,
Professor of Historical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC., USA;
Ms Carolyn Thompson, Consultant, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, Boston,
USA; Rt Rev. Dr V. Devasahayam, Bishop in Madras, Church of South India, Chennai,
India; Dr Luiza Tomita, General Secretary, Ecumenical Association of Third World
Theologians, São Paulo, Brazil; and Dr Deenabandhu Manchala, Programme Executive,
World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland. Following their first meeting, which was
facilitated 1 by the Just and Inclusive Communities Programme of the World Council of
Churches at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland from 15-18 June 2011, the draft
statement was further enriched with contributions from Dr Wati Longchar, Dean,
SCEPTRE, Kolkota, India; Ms Maria Chavez Quispe, Consultant, Indigenous Peoples,
World Council of Churches; and Ms Sydia Nduna, Programme Executive on Migration
Issues, of the Just and Inclusive Communities programme of the World Council of
Churches.

Deenabandhu MANCHALA

Our theological reflection arises out of our specific socio-historical contexts. Yet we
believe that what we say here can also serve other populations within the global
community who have experienced and continue to experience marginalization. This
discussion of mission from the margins is in contrast to what we call mission “from
the centre,” which represents groups, societies, and nations who exercise domination
over persons from other groups throughout the global community. This paper
attempts to re-imagine mission as a vocation that seeks to realize God’s desire for a
world in which life is possible and available for all and for which God is constantly at
work.

1
For more on the Just and Inclusive Communities Programme, please visit, http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3105.

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Mission “From the Centre”

Mission in the past has been directed at peoples on the margins of societies, rather than
viewing people from the margins as agents of missionary activity. Mission has too often
failed to challenge consistently those economic, social, cultural, and political systems
which have marginalized some while favouring others. The historical legacy of missions
“from the centre” has been mixed. Some positive outcomes can be noted. There were
missionaries who had an appreciation of the cultures in which mission was done, for
example, William Carey, who served in India, and translated Hindu epics into English.
Some missionaries made an effort to acquire knowledge of the Indigenous languages
and translated the scriptures into the language of those people. They opened mission
schools, providing education for populations that would not have received an education.
In India and China, missionaries led the way in education for girls. Missionaries opened
hospitals, clinics and medical schools, making use of modern medicine. On occasion
they challenged cultural practices such as widow-burning in India, foot-binding in
China, and the routine killing of twins in other parts of the world.

However, historically, mission from the centre (that is, Western Europe and North
America) has also engaged in ways of doing mission that have adversely affected various
marginalized populations. Nineteenth-century missionary activity was tainted by colo-
nialist ideology, whereby the gospel was inseparably connected with the propagation of
European values. Too often European and North American missionaries were vehicles
of Western imperialism at the expense of the powerless. In India, early missionaries
from the West targeted the dominant castes with the assumption that when these were
converted to Christianity, the lower castes, too, which were under their influence and
patronage, would follow suit. Moreover, the churches in India have failed to challenge
consistently the devastating system of caste, which continues to strangle the lives of the
Dalits.

There are additional concrete ways in which mission from the centre has adversely
affected the marginalized. Persons with disabilities2 were viewed as metaphors for
human faithlessness and sin, and they were seen as the embodiment of suffering, evil,
uncleanness, and depravity. The churches have continued to deny women both a voice
and agency, since their bodies, sexuality, and entire lives have been controlled by men.3

2
Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in
interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
(Fromthe United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.)
3
http://www.warc.ch/where/21gc/study/03.html.

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 Mission from the Margins

Initially during the colonial period in North America, there was great reluctance on the
part of slaveholders to evangelize the slaves. The principal reason for eventually offer-
ing them the gospel was not a concern for their well-being, but out of the hope that
their evangelization would render them more productive, docile slaves. Mission to the
slaves was also clouded by the persistent myth that blacks were forever destined to be
subservient to whites. The Indigenous people were given patriarchal, political and
military images of God as Ruler, Lord, Master, and Warrior. These images have made
Christianity a religion of and for the ruler, elite, and the upper-class. Christian missions,
regardless of denominational affiliation or missionary societies, considered themselves
“superior” in terms of religion, race, economy, and cultures. They consistently main-
tained an exclusive and negative attitude toward the religions and cultures of the
Indigenous peoples.

In this present day, mission from the centre fails to attend to the plight of migrants. The
massive movement of people across the globe, because of war and violence, dispos-
session and displacement, natural and human-made disasters, poverty and oppression,
poses a number of moral challenges. Unfortunately, these moral questions have always
been seen as ones that are social and secular in nature and hence outside the ambit of
mission as pursued by churches and their instruments.

Although subsequent missionary theology and practice have come to recognize some of
these mistakes, the mixed legacy of mission from the centre remains an issue from
which recipients of these past mistakes continue to suffer because of the earlier failure
to recognize that the essence of Christianity could be embodied in non-Western forms.
The former ways of understanding Christian mission have been inadequate insofar as
they have failed to recognize that mission derives from an understanding of God as the
One who is aligned with those who are consistently pushed out to the margins and who
is constantly at work to heal and restore the brokenness of our world.

Defining marginalization

To be in the centre means to have rights, freedom, respect, and individuality; whereas
to be at the margins has meant exclusion from the systems of welfare that benefit the
ones from the centre. The person or group on the margins has only a meagre share
of what is important to those in the centre and often clings to the bare edges of life
with nothing beyond. However, living on the margins of life, as some of us do, can
provide its own advantages. The person on the boundary of what is sanctioned as
the “norm” is in a unique position to see what is out of view for the people in the

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centre. Marginalization can provide an opportunity for critical thinking and creative
options.

Why speak of “mission from the margins”?

While we fully acknowledge the value and significance of all who participate in the
mission of God in the world, we believe that participants from the margins
bring a unique perspective. In contrast to the sins of mission from the centre, we
propose an alternative way of mission theology and practice. In Kim Chi Ha’s play,
The Gold Crowned Jesus, the leper, from the most despised outcast class in Korea,
encounters the imprisoned Jesus. Jesus says to the leper: “You are my rescuer.”4 In
reflecting on the message of this play, we perceive that Jesus with the crown of
thorns is alienated from the people, for he has become the captive saviour of the
captive church. Jesus must first regain his own freedom, if he is to bestow it on
others. This task cannot be accomplished either by the reactionary fundamentalist
theology or reformative liberal theology of the privileged. Only the theology and
practice of the despised, the marginalized, and the disinherited can liberate mission
and the captive church.

Why the marginalized are privileged partners

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah who embodied the Suffering Servant, opted for a
life that was in solidarity with the weak, the vulnerable and the disempowered, as an
expression of his resolve to resist powers that defied the will of God. Through his
message and his sacrifice, he laid the foundation for God’s kingdom. This foundation
is featured by the emancipation of the marginalized (Luke 6; Matt. 20). It is through
Christ’s identification with the marginalized (Matt. 25:31-46) that they have become the
privileged workers with God.

From our vantage point we have the epistemological privilege of knowing what affirms
life and denies it; what helps communities and what hurts them; what contributes to
well-being and what circumvents it. From the margins, we bring firsthand knowledge of
the suffering that accompanies exclusionary practices, as well as the capacity to unmask
the forces that work against God’s will in the world. We bring gifts that are underutilized
because of a lack of opportunities and disempowerment. Through our struggles for the
abundant life, we become the vehicles by which the true nature of the missio Dei

4
From Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, The Discipleship of Equals: A Critical Feminist Ekklesia-logy of Liberation (New York: Crossroad,
1993), pp. 237–256.

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 Mission from the Margins

(mission of God) is made manifest. Although we suffer unjustly from the forces
that subvert God’s justice, by divine grace we are given a reservoir of the hope,
resistance, and perseverance, which are needed to remain faithful to the promised reign
of God.

In the light of the considerations cited above, we propose to elaborate “mission from
the margins” by highlighting the following points.

1. God as the source of mission: Missio Dei

Recent ecumenical statements affirm the notion of the missio Dei; namely, that the
churches do not have a mission of their own but rather are called to be participants in
God’s mission. We concur with this understanding of mission, even as we articulate this
notion from the margins. This notion of the missio Dei raises the critical question of who
God is.

We affirm God as triune, who has sent forth both the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the
process of creation, redeeming, and sustaining all of creation. However, those of us
from the margins maintain that the image of this triune God is best understood, not in
the ancient Greek philosophical notions of divinity as a master of perfection, who is
aloof in divine omniscience, omnipotence, and impassibility. Rather, the God who is
known and loved in the margins reflects divinity most powerfully in the freedom of
vulnerability. We find the image of God as portrayed in the texts of the prophet Isaiah
most apt. This God is a Servant of servants who identifies with those who suffer
unjustly. This God was revealed in the crucified Christ, who bears the marks of systemic
oppression upon his own flesh. Today this God identifies with those who are cast in the
fiery furnace of discrimination and social exclusion. Although the marginalized are too
often disempowered, and some have been tragically consumed, we affirm by faith that
this God, also manifested as Sophia (wisdom), accompanies those who struggle against
the enemies of life until they ultimately prevail. This implies that those on the margins
participate in the mission of God through their lives of suffering and hope and of
resistance and overcoming evil. Therefore, the mission of God arises out of the very
nature of God.

In following the way of Jesus Christ, as an expression of a theology of the cross, not
one of self-proclaimed glory, we perceive that we in turn become the messianic
community. The messianic community follows the way of Jesus the Christ – his
preaching, teaching, healing, and prophetic challenge to the ways of the powerful. The
uniqueness of Christianity at its inception was its inclusivity, whereby cultural barriers

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that promoted exclusion and division were dissolved (Gal 3:28). This overcoming of the
ideology of exclusion was based on the work of Christ on the cross (Eph 2:13-16). It
is with this understanding of the triune God’s nature and activity in the world that we
can speak of the mission of God.

2. Goal of mission

First and foremost, the mission of God is to affirm, safeguard, and celebrate life in all
its fullness. Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the way, became the way that we might have life
and have it more abundantly. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, is the giver of Life.
Through this Holy Trinity the value of life is affirmed. The Bible bears witness and our
own experiences confirm that God has intervened in human history when life is abused
or the life of the most vulnerable has been placed in jeopardy. For example, in the time
of Moses (Ex. 3), the “migrant” God came down to promote life for the Hebrew slaves
in Egypt. Likewise, in the time of Jesus, his parents were forced to flee to Egypt (Matt.
2), bearing the infant Messiah; and the Holy Family became “refugees” as a result of the
corrupt power of the Roman Empire. We recognize that if we wish to participate in
God’s mission, we must discern where God is affirming, safeguarding, and celebrating
life in the midst of death.

The churches participate in God’s missional activity by grace through divine empow-
erment to the degree that their words and deeds support, sustain, renew, and facilitate
the divine activity of restoration of the entire world, that God might be glorified. The
participation of churches in the missio Dei can be discerned in several concrete ways:
through proclamation, prophetic witness, accompaniment, and embodiment. Through
the churches’ preaching, teaching, witness, and service we proclaim the message of
Jesus Christ; namely, that the reign of God has broken into history and is among us. The
churches embody their participation in the missio Dei by the ways we practise the
transformation we seek through the aid of the Holy Spirit. Through the prophetic task,
we bear witness against systems, structures, norms, customs, practices, rituals, and
conduct that deny the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of all people. The
churches engage in the ministry of accompaniment as we commit with our prayers,
words, and actions to enter into solidarity with all who suffer abuse, estrangement,
marginalization, and violence at the hands of others. Mission from the margins involves
a commitment to struggle and resist the powers that would impede the fullness of life
that God wills for all. This also implies working with others – in movements and
initiatives committed to the causes of justice, dignity and life, even if they do not belong
to the Christian fold.

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 Mission from the Margins

Although mission from the margins firmly recognizes the tension between the
“already, but not yet,” we are clearly cognizant that where God’s people are commit-
ted to the work of justice, liberation, healing, restoration (Luke 4:19), the in-breaking
of God’s reign has already begun. The vision of hope we carry is rooted in the
Hebrew concept of shalom, which Christians believe is promised in the fulfilment
of the basileia tou theou (reign of God). This reign includes the restoration of right
relationships between God and humanity and all of creation. Even though this vision
speaks to an eschatological reality, it deeply energizes and informs our current
participation in God’s salvific work in this penultimate period. Although we acknow-
ledge that it has become customary to eschew the language of “reign of God,”
because of the historical associations of “reign” with “rule,” “domination,” and
“hierarchy,” those of us from the margins have chosen to “redeem” the concept of
the reign of God, in which we recognize and affirm that the governance of God’s
world in no way mimics the manner of leadership found in earthly, socio-political
realms. Rather, it follows the way of Jesus the Christ, who came to serve, not to be
served; who tears down the mighty and powerful and exalts the lowly; and whose
ethic is one of a transformative, unsentimental love that seeks the welfare of all in
God’s world.

The reign of God promotes a state of blessedness for all, where there is never a want
for basic needs because the abundant life is manifested without impediments. Life
under the reign of God is characterized by mutuality, reciprocity, and interdependence.
It is framed with the recognition that we need each other for our gifts to be realized and
brought to fruition. Life in God’s community is a denial of the myth that we can live
self-sufficiently.

Another goal of mission is to bring healing and wholeness to all of life. In this case
an example from the lives of persons with disabilities can be illustrative. Societies
have tended to see disability as a manifestation of sin or a medical problem to be
solved. In the medical model, the emphasis has been on correcting a deficiency in
the individual; the person with a disability is always the “sick” patient in need of
corrective treatment or surgery. We have let a biblical focus on healing become a
fixation on “cure.” Some people spend a lifetime sitting on the sidelines waiting
for a cure. In kingdom living, we understand from the margins that healing is more
about restoring wholeness than about fixing or correcting something perceived as
defective. To become whole, the parts that have become estranged need to be
reclaimed. In the biblical accounts in which Jesus healed people with various infir-
mities, the individuals were restored to their rightful places within the fabric of the
community.

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Wholeness happens when all the parts of our individual and corporate lives that have
been left out, neglected, or excluded are brought together in love. It is an ongoing
process of recovery. The challenge is to reconcile the disparate parts, for people to
remember their stories and who they are, to welcome even the least significant or least
capable one, and know that it is all holy and acceptable before God. It is about being
restored to one’s rightful place in the community, about bringing together all the
different pieces of the puzzle in order to complete the picture. This task of integration
is a challenging work, both for the individual person and for the community, as we try
to create a place where everyone can participate and feel that they belong.

In our vision of the reign of God, inclusion rather than exclusion is the order of the
day. We understand that mission involves working openly for right relationships, as a
counter to perpetuating the multiple, insidious divisions that plague us mercilessly,
obscure our interdependence, and corrupt our relations not only with God, ourselves,
and other humans but also with Mother Earth. The goal of mission is to guarantee and
maximize the well-being of all, which includes prosperity, security, freedom, and dignity.
Mission fosters just relationships in the community, with mutual acknowledgment of
persons and mutual maintenance of each one’s sacred worth, and helps each person to
play his or her part in the life of the community. The concept of shalom implies peace,
but it is always a peace that derives principally from justice and that promotes the
flourishing of our potential to glorify God and serve each other.

To the extent that we care for the least, the lost, and the abandoned, we see glimpses of
the presence of the reign of God in our midst. To the extent that we practise radical
hospitality toward the estranged in our societies, we embody kingdom values. To the
extent that we denounce self-centeredness as a way of life, we make space for the reign
of God to permeate our existence. To the extent that we renounce violence in its
physical, psychological, and spiritual manifestations (not only in our personal interac-
tions, but in the economic, political, and social systems by which we structure our
societies), we see glimpses of the kingdom of God at work in the world.

Even as we articulate this vision of the goal to which we strive from the margins, we are
keenly and painfully aware that what we envision and what we strive for can only
approximate the expression of shalom on this side of the eschaton. However, without a
vision, God’s people will perish; and we understand that our participation in God’s
mission calls us to articulate as concretely as we can the nature of mission as we
understand it. Therefore, as we keep the vision before us, we critique that which
opposes the vision; and we measure the value of our thoughts, words, and deeds to the
extent that these conform to the principles of God’s reign.

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3. Redirection of mission: restoration of the image of God in

humanity and creation

A common concern of persons from the margin is the failure of our societies, cul-
tures, and nations to honour the dignity and worth of all persons. This dignity is
grounded in the biblical affirmation that humans were created in the imago Dei (image
of God, Gen 1:27). The image of God is given to us by God, and human dignity is
the glory that comes to us by virtue of our having been created in the divine image.
This glory is not predicated on our abilities, capabilities, or disabilities. It is not some-
thing that we have earned, and it is quite distinct from common notions of being
“dignified.” As followers of Christ, we maintain that the Incarnation – the Word made
flesh ( John 1:1) – reaffirms God’s intention to sustain and safeguard this dignity in
spite of the profound threat of sin in all its forms and expressions. In our affirmation
of human dignity as granted individually to everyone, we do not understand this
sacred worth only in individualistic terms. There is a social dimension to human
dignity that calls each one of us to affirm and safeguard the dignity of all other human
beings. This social dimension of dignity affirms that we indeed are the keepers of our
sisters and brothers. Our common gift of the image of God is the foundation for our
obedience to the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves (Lev. 19:18a; Matt.
19:19b).5

Moreover, the persistent affirmation of human dignity from the margins in no way
represents a reversion to anthropocentrism or a denial of the value and worth of
nonhuman creation; nor does it permit us to elevate the human species above and
beyond that which is nonhuman. These historical tendencies we steadfastly repu-
diate and disavow. However, we maintain the necessity of affirming the dignity or
sacred worth of human beings because each of us speaks from a context in which
the value of personhood is frequently diminished and too often denied. We stead-
fastly affirm that as stewards of creation, our wholesome existence is profoundly
interdependent. The well-being of sentient and non-sentient beings on Mother
Earth is tied to a conscious commitment to safeguard life in all its forms. This
means that in the assertion of full personhood to each and every human being,
we understand the expression of humanness as that which was fully embodied in
Jesus Christ. Therefore, to the extent that we model ourselves after this human
One, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, who works the transformation of the renewing
of our lives (paraphrasing Rom. 12:1); we thereby exercise the kind of stewardship

5
From Beverly Eileen Mitchell, Plantations and Death Camps, Religion Ideology, and Human Dignity. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
2009), p. 82.

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that attends the role of the human in God’s world andnot only recognize but cele-
brate the interdependence of all living things as a means of glorifying the triune
God.

Therefore, mission needs to be redefined in a manner that is informed by the ways in

which multiple exclusionary practices have systematically denied the full humanity of
others. We believe that the biblical affirmation that all humans have the imprint of the
image of God upon them is the basis upon which dignity, equality, the right to flourish,
and inclusion in our social systems is justified.

4. Mission as critical consciousness

Mission has its source in God, who acts in history to ensure fullness of life to all
people and creation. Since the creation of the world, God has called the people of
God to partner with God in this ongoing work of salvation/liberation. Mission is a
transformer of culture according to the standards of God’s word. God was the first
critic of culture. For example, during the days of Noah, God was grieved about having
created human beings, and God’s heart was filled with pain. God sent the flood in
judgment. Likewise, in the time of Abraham, God destroyed the wicked cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah because of their failure to show proper hospitality to the
stranger. Mission often involves our criticism of death-dealing cultural practices. This
implies confronting and transforming cultures that function as sources of oppression,
abuse, and destruction.

5. Mission in context

We contend that mission does not happen in isolation from specific contexts. The
context of the recipients and agents of missional activity influences its scope and
character. Therefore, by definition mission must be understood as contextual. By
“contextual” we mean the social location of the agents and recipients. We believe
missiological reflection must recognize this difference in perspectives and the conse-
quent value orientations that shape these perspectives. The church is called to inter-
pret constantly the gospel in every situation so that the message becomes good
news to all who hear it. Christianity as a missionary religion is justified in its existence
only if it is able to offer something new that is not already there, that is, the new
life available in Jesus Christ ( John 10:10). Given the contextual nature of mission,
we offer concrete examples of what mission would look like from our respective
contexts.

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 Mission from the Margins

For women, mission from the margins entails the exercise of the mission Jesus intended
for his women disciples as Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha of Bethany. For centuries
the churches have transformed women into mere recipients of the mission, and now
women are claiming their voice and agency as true disciples, apostles, and mission
agents.

For Dalits, true mission involves naming the demon of caste, challenging its social
embeddedness, and advocating for the liberation of its victims. Mission for Indig-
enous peoples involves a truthful rendering of the nature of colonialism and neo-
colonialism. It also demands that imperialistic ways of relating to the Indigenous must
come to an end. A life-affirming mission for the Indigenous involves the acknowl-
edgment of their right to self-determination, freedom of cultural expression, a
creation-centred spirituality, and restitution for the losses they have endured through
the sin of imperialism.

A liberating mission to migrants includes efforts to address the causes that dis-
place populations and consistent critical engagement with political and economic
powers and processes for the sake of justice and dignity to the poor and the vulner-
able. It also includes a recommitment of our churches to the ancient practice of
radical hospitality to ensure that the displaced are embraced within the bosom of our
churches and our societies. For the global South, mission requires the churches
in the global North and South to commit to the accompaniment of the victims
of globalization in their struggle to reassert their humanness against the dehumani-
zation of cultural genocide and the loss of natural resources through pollution and
theft.

Mission for the racially excluded is a call for metanoia, whereby reparations are seen as a
concrete expression of justice. A liberating mission for the racially excluded not only
denounces racism but is a prophetic approach that challenges all expressions of racial
exclusion first and foremost in the churches as well as in society.

Additionally, mission for the racially excluded involves positive steps toward the recov-
ery and celebration of the rich diversity that persons of all racial/ethnic groups bring to
both the Body of Christ and society. Moreover, for persons with disabilities, mission
fosters their full participation in the life of the church and society. Mission for persons
with disabilities makes space for people who use wheelchairs, holds worship services
and events in wheelchair-accessible places, and provides communications in formats
that are accessible to people who have visual or hearing impairments so that everyone
can participate.

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6. Process of mission: participating in struggles, encounters, prophetic

words and actions

In the process of moving toward God’s mission in solidarity with peoples who have
been disenfranchised, churches may sometimes have to challenge the status quo, name
the devil and unmask the demons that have exploited and enslaved them. The powers
that have long taken advantage of our situations for their own benefit must be exposed.
The colonizers, the landowners, the adherents of patriarchy, the imperial government
bodies, the religious hierarchy and legalism all refer to us euphemistically as “the poor.”
They have lumped us together in a homogenous group so that they do not have to look
at the particularities of our oppression.

Churches must, as part of their participation in God’s mission, speak truth to power
and identify the evil constructions of race, class, gender, the caste system, and ableism
that marginalize us. The God of the Bible is a liberator God, and faith in the liberator
God calls for struggle against all forces of evil. God is not neutral as regards truth and
justice. Collective resistance is an integral part of Christian mission. Resistance and
struggle against injustice can create hope for the future. Churches must join forces with
secular social movements to advocate for what is right and just.

We lift up the apostolic model found in Acts 2 as an expression of the type of

mission we propose. In this biblical passage, Peter addressed the men of Judea and
Jerusalem, the very ones who had condemned Jesus. He called them to repentance by
recognizing their victims as their hope, not the victim in the abstract but the one whom
they had oppressed. Another example is found in the dramatic story of Paul’s conver-
sion in Acts 9:1-19, where we discern the following steps toward an emancipative
mission:

• the crystallization of the polarization of the oppressor and the oppressed;

• the encounter of Christ in the oppressed, where Jesus says: “I am the Christ whom
you are persecuting”;
• the surrendering of one’s roots and submission to the oppressed;
• the loss of eyesight and the loss of the oppressor’s perspective;
• the scales fall; and
• forgiveness and acceptance of the oppressed by Ananias.

From this reflection we perceive that mission involves suffering, loss, hope, and resto-
ration. The cross symbolizes for us the pain and suffering of humanity as well as the
deepest agony of God and God’s participation in the suffering. Through the resurrec-

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tion of the crucified Lord, God promises and makes possible a future for the disinher-
ited, the oppressed and the marginalized. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the basis of
hope in the human struggle for fullness of life. This participation involves struggle
against the powers, principalities and structures that make marginalization possible.
Struggle is the path toward possible reconciliation and healing.

7. Living as mission

Even as the churches affirm their participation in God’s mission, they claim no supe-
riority over against other humans or the rest of the created order but understand that
it is despite their brokenness, repeated failures, and constant need for repentance. The
churches’ participation comes only by way of the power of the Holy Spirit, who not
only gives them the breath of life, but also breathes on them to anoint and empower
them to the task to which they have been called.

A theology of mission conceives the church as not only the sending body for mission
work but also as the locus for the missio Dei. The church is the place where the gospel
is incarnated as well as the agent of the gospel. Proclamation follows practice. The
churches should model God’s holy and life-affirming plan for the world modelled on
the life of Jesus Christ. The churches are called to reject those values and behaviours
that lead to the destruction of community. Christians who claim to be “born again”
must acknowledge the sinful nature of discriminatory practices. The churches should
refuse to harbour oppressive forces within their ranks, and should instead act as
counter-cultural communities. The biblical mandate to the covenant community in both
testaments is characterized by the dictum: “This shall not be among you” (Matt. 20:26).
The authentic living of the churches is therefore an important dimension of mission, a
living testimony for the marginalized.

Christian life starts with metanoia. Nurtured by the sacraments, the church is to be in the
world but not of the world. To be of the world is to accept the world’s values with its
opposition to God, and to live under the conditions of human sinfulness. The church
is a communion, a fellowship of all who are incorporated as children of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. The community is characterized by equality, concern and sharing,
and it is nurtured by the word and sacraments. Therefore, the churches should not
condone the sinful practice of any hierarchical construct that ranks individuals or
groups one above the other by some perceived worth. Rather, the churches must be
called to repentance for their silence and complicity with oppressive structures, and
challenged to move beyond recognition of past sins toward restitution and justice. This
work needs to bring transformation to the perpetrators as well as the victims of

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oppression. Christ is the redeemer, the one who saves us from the sins of racism,
casteism, sexism, ableism,6 and all structures of oppression. The churches must mirror
Christ’s hospitality to all.

In the setting of La Paz, where people from the margins of society began in 2007 to
reflect theologically on what just and inclusive communities would look like, the
meeting space was graced with a colourful tapestry woven with rich and vibrant pat-
terns. The empty spaces in the image reflected the incompleteness of our theological
reflection because of voices that were missing. There is a need to look for the lost sheep,
to search out the communities of disenfranchised people who were not represented in
these conversations over the past four years. Recognizing the value of the rich insights
that came out of these recent consultations, the churches can help facilitate future
partnerships among various marginalized groups. There is a continuing need for the
World Council of Churches and its member churches to address the problem of
violence, particularly the violence of structures, cultural elements, and institutions that
exclude and dehumanize people. For the missio Dei to be lived out in the WCC and the
member churches, it will be important to develop strategies for educating leaders, staff
and members on the issues of the disenfranchised peoples and the systemic/structural
nature of marginalization.

Conclusion

Discrimination, exclusion, dispossession and exploitation of some on account of

certain social, political and economic structures and cultures are visible and concrete
expressions of injustice that distort and counter the will of God in the world today.
God’s mission as revealed to us in the Bible and Jesus Christ is about restoring right
relationships in all that God created. It advocates for power to be exercised in ways in
which it enhances life primarily through, ensuring opportunities of life for all, so that
God’s grand plan of a universal reconciliation in Christ may be possible through our
participation toward the same (Eph. 1: 8-10).

Mission involves creating conditions that foster the breaking in of the reign of God in
each such situation and time. To that extent, the Christian vocations of unity and
mission cannot be sought apart from the larger pursuit of these aspirations for a just
and inclusive world and church. Therefore, unity and mission assume credibility and

6
Ableism names a subtle but pervasive bias that assumes that able-bodied people (people with no physical or mental impairments)
are the norm and that people with disabilities represent an undesirable deviation from this norm. The impairments and
limitations become the defining characteristic of the person.

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relevance only if they are rooted in justice. Without justice the notions of unity and
mission run the risk of mirroring the existing power imbalances and being co-opted by
the status quo. It is in the frontiers of mission for justice and life that Christian witness
becomes and is real and authentic. It implies naming the sins of casteism, racism,
xenophobia, discrimination against the Indigenous peoples and people living with
disabilities, and claiming restorative action; healing the malaise of the systems and
situations within which we share our lives; deconstructing oppressive ideologies and
nurturing life-affirming attitudes and values; and safeguarding the weak and the vulner-
able from abuse, exploitation and dehumanization. All this points toward an active
partnership with God in confronting and transforming unjust, inhuman, discriminatory
ideologies, cultures and realities, so that the world may be what God always wanted it to
be. To sum up, mission is not just doing works of charity, nor is it a mere narration of
the salvation story; it is being and becoming people who live according to the biblical
tradition of justice and life and the way of Jesus of Nazareth. “If Christian unity is for
mission, then that mission is about ‘doing justice’ in God’s world (Mic. 6:8), so that
God’s good creation is restored and the things in heaven and on earth are reconciled.”7

7
Report of the WCC Consultation on Unity and Mission: Voices and Visions from the Margins, Bucharest, October 2010, IRM
101:1 (394, April 2012), 211–231.

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