Holistic Mission

Scott Moreau

Theological Foundations

Three Important Documents:Lausanne Covenant

Manila ManifestoMicah Declaration on Integral Mission

Terms to Know

• Mission, missions and missio dei

• Holistic mission

• Transformation

• Transformational development

• Integral mission

Missions, Mission and Missio Dei

Missions:Evangelism, discipleship, and

church planting

Mission:What church does for God in the world

Missio Dei:All that God does to build the Kingdom

Micah Declaration on Integral Mission

Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world. Justice and justification by faith, worship and political action, the spiritual and the material, personal change and structural change belong together. As in the life of Jesus, being, doing and saying are at the heart of our integral task.

Biblical Foundations: The Divine Drama

Act 1Act 1: Creation: CreationAct 2:Act 2: Bondage through the fall Bondage through the fall

Act 3:Act 3: God's people called to freedom God's people called to freedom Act 4:Act 4: Freedom established on the Freedom established on the

crosscrossAct 5:Act 5: Freedom inaugurated in the Freedom inaugurated in the

churchchurchAct 6:Act 6: Final freedom: Christ’s return Final freedom: Christ’s return

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1A Holistic View of the Universe

Humanity

Spiritual Beings

Physical

Universe

God

Genesis 1:1Responsibilities of the Created Order

Glorify God

All Creation:

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.“

Genesis 1:26-28Our Role in God’s Created Order

Spiritual Beings

Physical

Universe

God

Humanity

Exercise responsible stewardship over

Genesis 1:26-28Responsibilities of the Created Order

Glorify God

All People:

All Creation:

Responsible Stewardship

Genesis 3:5-9

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?“ He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

Genesis 3:5-9 Our Division

God

Spiritual Beings

Physical

Universe

Humanity

Exercise responsible stewardship over

Unredeemed

Redeemed

Isaiah 1:16b-18 and Micah 6:8

Isaiah 1:16b-18: Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."Come now, let us reason together,“ says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.Micah 6:8: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 1:16-18 and Micah 6:8 Holistic Mission in Relation to People

Unredeemed Humanity

Redeemed Humanity

GodW

alk

hum

bly

Do justly

Love mercy

Human Institutions

Matthew 9:32-38

While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.“ But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 9:32-38Holistic Missions Activities

Proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom of God

Engaging in the social, political and economic realities of the

lives of the “harassed and

helpless”

God breaking into our world through the miraculous.

Word

Sign

Deed

Matthew 23:36

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36Loving God and Neighbor

Body

Soul

Mind

God

NeighborLove as you love yourself

Self

Lov

e w

ith

all

you

are

Luke 4:16-19

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Luke 4:16-19Word, Sign, and Deed

Preach good news to the

poor; proclaim the year of the

Lord's favor

Release the oppressed

Proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight

for the blind

Word

Sign

Deed

Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20

Teaching (to Obey)BaptizingGoing

Make disciples of all the nations

Matthew 28:18-20Responsibilities of the Created Order

All Believers:Disciple

Glorify God

Responsible Stewardship

All People:

All Creation:

Matthew 28:18-20The Great Commission Unpacked

The Great Commission, . . . , is about the discipling of the nations, the conversion of the things that make people into nations—the shared and common processes of thinking; attitudes; world views; perspectives; languages; and the cultural, social and economic habits of thought, behavior and practice. These things and the lives of the people in whom such things find expression—all of this is meant to be within the call of discipleship (Bediako 1996b, 184).

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2Interaction between Person and Society

Body

Soul

Mind

SocietyPerson

Holy Spirit interventions

Evil spirit interventions

PervasivenessPervasivenessof sinof sin

Edu

cati

onE

duca

tion

Eco

nom

ics

Eco

nom

ics

Law/PoliticsLaw/Politics

Ass

ocia

tion

sA

ssoc

iati

ons

Colossians 1:15-20

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Humanity

God

Physical Universe

Colossians 1:15-20Reconciling ALL Things

Spirit Beings

Domin

ion

Ownership

Rel

atio

nshi

p

UnredeemedRedeemed

StewardshipDominion?

Rel

atio

nshi

pStewardship

Domin

ion

Dominion?

Historical Foundations

Historical Antecedents (1600s to 1800s)

• Reformation/pietism continue

• Great Awakening• Carey: first mission

boards/agencies• Beginnings of liberal

Christianity• American revivals and

revivalists (Wesleys)• Second Great Awakening• Great century of mission

• Scientific revolution

• Industrial revolution

• Enlightenment

• Romanticism

• Modernism

Church Culture

Pente

cost

als

Charismatics

Third WaversCharismatics

Historical Path towards Holism

Evangelicals

Fundamentalists

Re

form

atio

nP

ietis

mG

rea

t A

wa

ken

ing

s “Radical” Evangelicals

Neo-Evangelicals

WW2WW1P

ost-m

illen

nia

list d

isillusio

n

Enlightenment Romanticism Modernism Post-Modernism

Social Gospel

Attacks on Christian faithEcumenical Movement

Resulting Mission Emphasis

OutwardUpwar

d

Inward

(Vertical Focus)

(Horizontal Focus)

(Empowerment Focus)

Evangelical Movement

Ecumenical Movement

Charismatic/Pentecostal/Third Wave Movement

Word

Sign

Work

Holistic Mission:Manila Manifesto Excerpt

Evangelism is primary because our chief concern is with the gospel, that all people may have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet Jesus not only proclaimed the Kingdom of God, he also demonstrated its arrival by works of mercy and power. We are called today to a similar integration of words and deeds. In a spirit of humility we are to preach and teach, minister to the sick, feed the hungry, care for prisoners, help the disadvantaged and handicapped, and deliver the oppressed. While we acknowledge the diversity of spiritual gifts, callings and contexts, we also affirm that good news and good works are inseparable.