“Mission” is one of the buzzwords we hear in The Salvation Army. “Integrated mission,” a variation upon the larger concept of mission, has grown in popularity as we have sought to overcome the long-standing tensions between the “evangelistic/spiritual mission” and the “social mission” of the Army. At least since William Booth established the Social Reform Wing as an administrative entity within The Salvation Army, we have been plagued by this bifurcation of our mission. Notwithstanding the emphasis on “One Army” in recent years, the divide still exists. Why Mission? is a book that could help us bridge this divide by providing us with a thoughtful reflection upon the mission of God as it is presented in a representative selection of New Testament writings.
Why Mission? (Abingdon Press) is an example of a growing body of literature which reads the Bible with a missional hermeneutic which is guided by two fundamental questions: How do the New Testament writings witness to God’s mission? How do the New Testament writings prepare and call Christian communities to participate in that mission? (xxi) Why Mission? explores the answers to these questions provided by six New Testament writings: Matthew, Luke-Acts, John, Philippians, 1 Peter, and Revelation. The result is a thought-provoking study of the New Testament’s witness to the mission of God (Latin: missio Dei) and the Church’s role in the accomplishment of that mission.
Before turning to the New Testament writings, Flemming describes the mission of God in this way: “Put simply, the God who created all things is on a mission to redeem and reclaim a rebellious and sinful world—to set right a world that has gone wrong and ultimately to restore all of creation.” (xix) This mission shapes the entire canon of the Scriptures: the vocation of Israel in the Old Testament, the sending of Jesus the Son of God into the world by God the Father, and the life of the Church under the direction of the Holy Spirit all are inspired by this missio Dei. To illustrate Flemming’s approach, we will summarize his discussion of Luke-Acts.
Flemming discusses Luke-Acts as a two-volume work which portrays the shape of the mission of Jesus and how that mission continued in the Church. The focus of Jesus’ mission is found in Luke 4:18-21. This programmatic statement shows that Jesus’ mission, with its focus on “good news to the poor,” is neither exclusively political and socioeconomic nor exclusively spiritual. What we see in Luke is an “integrated, all encompassing” mission. As Flemming characterizes it, “Jesus’s kingdom mission, then, is about restoration at every level—spiritual, physical, psychological, social, and economic.” (29) He provides evidence from throughout Luke to support this claim. Turning to Acts, the author argues that Luke’s second volume recounts how the mission of Jesus continues through the Church which is guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The life of the Church in Acts embodies the compassion, justice, healing, forgiveness, and restoration that began in the ministry of Jesus himself. As a result of his review of Luke-Acts, Flemming concludes that the mission of God in Luke-Acts is all-encompassing, touching every dimension of human existence; boundary-crossing in that the Holy Spirit pushes the Church to shatter barriers between people (for example, the barrier between Jews and Gentiles); and, most importantly, Spirit-inspired and Spirit-empowered. He goes on to say, “Continuing Jesus’s mission involves engaging in ministries that seek transformation at every level: offering forgiveness to sinners, caring for the sick and impoverished, embracing the excluded, and confronting both the power of the evil one and evil power structures that oppose God’s reign.” (50) Here Salvationists find an integrated biblical warrant for our mission!
Throughout his survey of these six New Testament writings, Flemming emphasizes how the mission of God is brought to life through the Christian community. Quite correctly, Flemming understands the mission of God as articulated in Scripture to be grounded in the formation of the Christian community (i.e. in the Old Testament, Israel, and in the New Testament, the Church) rather than primarily in the lives of individuals as isolated individuals. The integration Flemming finds in the New Testament writings between the mission of God, the formation of the Christian community as an agent of that mission, and the means through which that mission is to be achieved through the Church could be instructive for Salvationists.
Salvationist reflection on mission seems too often to be haphazard and informed by a small selection of biblical texts which are referenced only to support our particular viewpoint and which are read primarily in the light of an overpowering individualism. Or more often it is characterized by a rather mushy sense of mission. A careful study Flemming’s book would provide a reliable starting-point for future reflection upon The Salvation Army’s place in the larger mission of God. Using this book to guide a Bible study focused on the reading of these selected New Testament writings would benefit all. The individual chapters of the book would gain impact when coupled with a thorough reading of each New Testament book. The series of affirmations with which Flemming concludes his Epilogue would prompt vigorous conversations. Why Mission? is a book which repays careful reading.