World-Shaped Mission. Janice Price

      The Mothers’ Union – Reg Bailey

      Church Pastoral Aid Society – Revd Canon John Dunnett

      Mission to Seafarers – Revd Canon Huw Mosford

      Associate Mission Agencies – David Friswell

      Other Members appointed by the General Synod

      Dr Jackie Butcher, World Development Advisers Network

      Revd Canon Roger Matthews, Companion Dioceses

      Revd John Kafwanka, Director for Mission, Anglican Communion

      Revd Canon Cynthia Dowdle, Companion Dioceses

      In attendance

      Revd Canon Joanna Udal, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs

      Revd Dr Daphne Green, Chaplain to the Archbishop of York

      Revd Dr Malcolm Brown, Director of the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops’ Council

      Janice Price, World Mission Policy Adviser

      Summary

      Narrative – The Church of England’s world mission relationships are expressed in many forms. The long history of the work of the Mission Agencies represents stories of sacrificial service to God and neighbour and a deep commitment to the gospel in England and in the wider world. This sacrificial service has contributed to the growth of the Anglican Communion and still bears fruit today. However, against the background of British colonial influence, of which the Anglican Mission Agencies were a part, though a not uncritical part, various unintended consequences of such missionary involvement emerged. These unintended consequences were an over-dependency on the ways and culture of the Western churches and the disruption brought to indigenous spirituality and culture as the result of foreign presence. With the demise of British colonial influence, there has been some awareness of the need to move beyond patterns of dependency and the Church of England continues to work through that process. The question is being increasingly asked: What would it mean to shape world mission relationships based on mutuality and equality? This is the essential question considered throughout this report. As English society continues to undergo rapid change, the Church of England ministers within cross-cultural contexts here in England. This has brought an urgency to the need to learn from partners in the global church.

      Theology – The immediate post-colonial language for world mission relationships is partnership as an expression of God’s mission in the world. While this has opened up many aspects of working together there is a need to find a language that will help all partners move towards greater mutuality. With Jesus Christ at the heart of God’s mission, participation in the life and mission of Christ through the Holy Spirit, together with exercising gracious hospitality, are concepts that require further exploration in mission theology and practice. Hospitality carries the strong connotation of welcoming the other (Christ as both guest and host) and participation focuses on our common calling in God’s mission in the world. The emergence of the prophetic strand of God’s mission in the world is opening up new realities of the Church’s calling.

Practice – The process of moving towards mutuality is already being actively considered in the Mission Agencies and the Companion Links at diocesan level but attitudes of donor/receiver and dependency are proving to be resilient. There is a need to intensify this process through attitudinal and structural change. Long-term attitudinal change involves recognition of the need for Anglican Christians to see themselves as ‘cross-cultural Christians’1 in their own context. Structural change involves an examination of our current world mission structures concerned with co-ordination (Partnership for World Mission). The arguments for having a co-ordinating function for world mission include:

      (a) the necessity for co-ordination in a field of increasing diversity

      (b) the importance of a sense of common Anglican identity

      (c) the need for continuing relationships with the National Church Institutions

      (d) the need to be seen to be working out principles of mutuality among Church of England Links and Agencies as well as with our partners in the global church.

      Currently Partnership for World Mission provides a light structure focused on the development of strategic relationships. However, in the current financial climate funding the co-ordinating structure remains problematic.

      The Church of England is not alone in seeking to move towards greater mutuality in world mission relationships. In the West the majority of British denominations are considering similar questions though with particular denominational expressions and approaches. Likewise many in the European and North American churches are making similar journeys. In the Majority World churches continue to be established and grow. They ask that their voice be heard in the Western churches.

      Note

1 There are already many resources to help in this process not least those produced by the Mission Agencies. A set of benchmarks could be developed through which cross-cultural awareness could be assessed. Many in our parishes encounter those from different countries and contexts. However, the key process is turning the experience of encounter into the transitions that transform discipleship.

      Part 1 – Theology and Practice for Mission

      Chapter 1: The Mission Imagination

      Summary

      This chapter locates the heart of mission in the person of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as the primary revelation of the mission of God the Holy Trinity. It goes on to outline how understandings of mission have changed over time and outlines some of the different understandings of mission today. It explores what factors are shaping how the church currently imagines mission. The conclusion is an encouragement to the Church of England to stretch its theological imagination to see new ways of engaging in world mission.

‘Mission is jazz, the exploration of the new and the creative out of the strength of what is laid down by participants who know expertly how to play their instruments.’2

      1.1 Prophetic mission, integral mission, holistic mission, frontier mission, reconciliation, liberation and justice, the Five Marks of Mission, to name only a few, are all helpful descriptions of mission and all attempt to gather what often seems like a varied and disparate set of activities. There are many different ways to think about God’s mission in the world. God’s mission is practical, earthed in the local and about real needs and lives. Throughout Christian history as the church has reflected upon God’s mission and been creatively led by the Holy Spirit in imagining new ways of expressing God’s mission it has come to understand mission differently according to local context. Whatever these different descriptions give us they, like jazz, explore the new. So mission today uncovers new questions about God’s work in the world. However,

‘this jazz is not just an experiment or whim, but emerges from a thoroughgoing knowledge of the tradition’.3

      One definition of mission which acts as an umbrella for many others understands God’s mission as the overflow of the love and life of the Trinity into the world.

1.2 Today, as the Church of England considers the different patterns and shapes of world mission over history so now is a time for stretching the mission imagination and seeing the emergence of new patterns and creative shapes. It is about being in tune with God’s imagination as the Spirit moves in the world. This involves taking the past seriously and learning for the future. With the vast changes in world relationships the church worldwide faces a particular opportunity for new shapes of relationships to emerge. Such a moment is called a kairos