Calling and Mission V - Integrated Mission and Human Rights.

Friday, Sept 18, 2009. Is mission necessary? I think that even for a non-christian it is quite clear that the invitation to faith needs to be passed on to everyone. If there is the living God and if he offers foregiveness, love and truth to us, we should be told and there should be the possibility to learn about faith and to get to know Jesus. It is on the level of a human right to be told the gospel!

How should a mission which is strongly needed be integrated into our society? We need to understand that mission is something given to those who believe. They are sent. So the integration should be an integration of possibilities: allowing people to speak about faith and allowing people to invite to faith. Mission needs to be organized and carried out by Christians and by the Church. The general mission command is universal for Christianity - that means that no one can say it is not his thing. Everyone who came to faith is part of God's mission to bring people back into his presence.

Currently there are many countries in the world which do not allow the free choice of personal faith. The distribution of the Christian ideas is oppressed, training of Christian leaders is not possible, conversion to Christian faith is punished. Clearly, we need to reach freedom of faith for all people in all countries. This, of course, includes the freedom to reject Christianity or any other faith. For Christians it should and will be a primary task to exercise love and fairness and appreciation towards everyone whatever faith people have. Christians need to strongly support human rights, since God loves humans and values them strongly. God wants everyone to live and to develop.

Christians are told to be integrated into the normal societies where they live. They have the clear command to live in good neighborhood with everyone, to help and serve, to work together with people. On the other hand Christians will always be dedicated to God in the first place. Human wealth will always be secondary. There are goals beyond money, fun, fame or power. There is a life to gain which surpasses our natural limits. Christians will be in society, they will work towards society, but they will not be owned by society. They are owned by Jesus. He is the Lord.

Mission is a great thing. It is the reason why Jesus lived - he was sent and he carried out his mission. He came to us (into the world) as the son of the eternal God. The bible says he was there when creation took place. But he became a human, he lived for 30 years as the son of a carpenter in a little town in the near east. Then he began to preach and speak about his father, about life as it could be, about the presence of the living God. His mission was to buy freedom of guilt for us by his death - to open a new door for every human. The price is paid, and now mission is free to invite to him. We will only be able to make our personal decisions when we get to know him and can judge things ourselves. Integrated mission is necessary. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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