Spirit And Mission
In many ways, the present time is a period of difficulty for mission and Christianity at large. The long standing and cherished dream for an ever more extended “Christendom” is being shattered under the pressure of historical events. The process of decolonization, along with post–colonial studies, has made untenable the traditional paradigm of mission for global Christianization, as its impracticality and inherent ambiguity are being uncovered. The new self–consciousness of peoples throughout the world has found expression in the reclamation of cultural identities, revitalization of traditional religions, and the affirmation of the human subject as self–master. As an effect of globalization and the related mobility of people, the world is increasingly turning into a global village of many cultures, religions, ideologies and ways of life; traditional geographical borders have lost most of their significance and replaced by boundaries of an anthropological character that defy borders and are growing ever more intertwined everywhere. If, on the one hand, this global village has great potential for mutual exchange and enrichment at all levels, and could be the melting pot of a new world, on the other, it is also the place of conflicts, marginalization and violence as daily experience tells us. In the fluidity of such a diverse world, the market has stepped in and taken over as the dominant and self–regulating force, by establishing an overarching business–oriented and business–driven culture in which profit redefines all values; the human being in himself, more than as a person, is treated as an economic resource and a consumer. The inner logic of self–interest and the greed of the market–driven world has become evident in the growing dominance of finance over real economy and politics (financial capitalism) and in the current global crisis, both economic and humanly–ethical, that it has caused. The pursuit of personal gain at all costs and rampant consumerism are having a destructive effect on the lives of billions of people and on the ecosystem. The best standpoint to feel the contours of our time and evaluate the extent of the crisis it is going through, is the standpoint of the victims, from where it becomes clear that we are in the midst of chronic global suffering and violence. Any approach to mission needs to take this hard fact as a normative point of reference. Anything less begs for credibility. In such a historical context, mission cannot limit itself to making new Christians, perhaps, in view of an afterlife. What is at stake is an in–depth reading of our time, to understand what the Spirit of God is saying to the Churches and where she is leading the world. What is at stake is a change of direction that gives new meaning to our lives, regenerates a collective hope and enables a new way of living together in our differences, in responsibility for each other and in mutual solidarity. What is at stake is the Gospel itself as a world–transforming instrument for the “kingdom of God.” Confronted by such a missionary challenge,
