We use language to communicate. Part of the grammar of that language are individual words. Often these words are 'key' to the meaning we wish to convey. The meaning of individual words of course is not simply located in the word and the thing that it signifies. Rather the meaning of the word is found in relation to a variety of contexts...the grammatical use, the context of the utterance...and what it means in the mind of the speaker and hearer. If we do not recognise this we may all be speaking and hearing using the same words but meaning completely different things.
Take the word 'mission' for a start. The concept of mission is an important one. It is important because of our biblical and theological convictions and it is important because we in the 'West' find ourselves in a missionary situation whereby our lands are now among the most demanding 'mission fields' in the world rather than being the Christian nations from which missionaries are sent around the world. Newbiggin got this some time ago but it is taking some time to sink in...
One of the issues here, however, is that while we may be talking more about mission and indeed missional and even agreeing on the need for it we may all be using this language in quite different ways.
An experiment I sometimes conduct with classes and conferences is to ask individuals to identify and name what for them is their key 'missionary' Scriptures. As most of the circles I mix in are evangelical Matthew 28:19ff. comes out top a lot...but there are others OT and NT ranging as recently from Wisdom literature to Prophetic literature, to the gospels, Paul and the other Epistles.
If I have time I then ask folks to unpack what these verses, their key verses communicate about mission...the variety is considerable Matthew 28 and Luke 4 have somewhat different notions of mission going on.
My point in this exercise is simply to highlight that as we use the word mission we all may be referring to Scriptures but these Scriptures highlight different and perhaps even competing claims on what mission is. Indeed even when people are using the same Scriptures we may have different translations and interpretations of the them: e.g. Matthew 28:19 ff read as 'Therefore go' creates as different feel and perhaps imperative from the equally valid from 'As you go' translation.
Of course in such a topic as mission the richness of the various Scriptures is not a bad thing but together can inform us - but bringing these ideas together and wrestling through what 'we mean' involves both tiime and probably a somewhat stable community to work out and interpret not simply how we read these Scriptures but what we hears the living Christ say to us. This takes place as there is shift from an individual to a communal understanding of the words in context.
Establishing meaning takes time and a community committed to the discernment process. The time this takes may be frustrating for us missional activists. Yet, I suggest that greater participation will result from greater ownership created in the time given and taken to learning and agreeing. The alternative may be many words about mission, and enthusisim for mission but in practice confusion, misunderstanding, and inaction from the majority.
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