In his article
“Mission as the Nature of the Church: Developments in Catholic Ecclesiology,” theologian Stephen Bevans
addresses the impact that Second Vatican Council is having in the understanding
of Church. Bevans argues that Vatican II redefined ecclesiology through
missiology. Vatican II defined the Church by what the Church is called to
do: mission. The claim comes from the Decree on the Church’s Missionary
Activity, Ad Gentes that reads, “The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very
nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy
Spirit that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the
Father” (AG 2).
Bevans argues that
Vatican II defines Church by mission because the entire Council places mission
as its unifying theme among all of its documents. Bevans claims that the Four
Constitutions drafted at Vatican II, mainly, The Constitution on the Church,
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,
The Constitution on Divine Revelation
and The Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, begin with mission
related statements. Lumen Gentium, The Constitution on the Church,
states the missionary commission in its opening paragraph. It reads: “Christ
the light of the nations and consequently this holy synod, gathered together in
the Holy Spirit, ardently desired to bring to all humanity that light of Christ
which is resplendent on the face of the church, by proclaiming his Gospel to
every creature” (LG 1). In Sacrosanctum
Concilum, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, we hear that the purpose
of the council is to propel the Church into mission by increasing vigor in
Christian life, encouraging change among institutions, promoting unity among
believers, and welcoming all into the Church:
The sacred council has
set out to impart an ever-increasing vigor to the Christian lives of the
faithful; to adapt more closely to the needs of our age those institutions
which are subject to change; to encourage whatever can promote the union of all
who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever serves to call all of humanity
into the church’s fold’ (SC 1).
In Dei Verbum,
the Constitution on Divine Revelation, the council, in its opening paragraph,
also announces a call to mission for all the faithful: “it (church) wants the
whole world to hear the summons of salvation, so that through hearing it may
believe, through belief it may hope, through hope it may come to love” (DV 1).
And finally, in Gaudium Spes, The Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World, the Council declares an encounter between the Church bearing
salvation through its mission to all of humanity: “...for theirs is a community
of people united in Christ and guided by the holy Spirit in their pilgrimage
towards the Father’s kingdom, bearers of a message of salvation for all
humanity”(GS 1).
Having proposed that
the Council be interpreted in a missiology-theology approach, the article then
mentions the advancements made by the Church in this regard. Bevans quotes, Evangelii
Nuntiandi (1975), Redemptoris Missio (1990) and Evangelii Gaudium
(2013) as post Council papal exhortations that shape the same understanding of
Church defined by mission. In Evangelii Nuntiandi, Bevans claims that
the message is reiterated: “evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation
proper to the Church, its deepest identity. It exists to evangelize” (EN 13).
In Redemtoris Missio, John Paul II claims that while the Church is not
separate from God’s Reign, it is distinct from it. The task of the Church is to announce and
inaugurate God’s Reign. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reiterates
once more the same understanding of Church by describing the Church as a
community of missionary disciples, an evangelizing community and a missionary
communion.
Bevan’s article
continues to speak of church-as-mission beyond a Post Vatican II period. It draws from Hans
Kung’s work The Church, wherein he claims that the Church is not to be
identified with the Reign of God—it is rather its servant. Richard P. McBrien
and Anglican John A.T. Robinson follow the same mission-theology approach to
ecclesiology. Bevans references Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez in his
work Liberation Theology, a work that describes a totally new
ecclesiology perspective that ‘un-centered’ the Church from preoccupation with
itself and centered it on God’s saving work. This theological perspective was
pushed further by US theologian Roger Haight, quoting British Theologian Adrian
Hastings, claims: “It is somewhat misleading to speak about the Church as
having a mission—as if the existence of the Church comes first; on the contrary
it is because of the mission that there is a church” (Bevans 194).
Bevan’s “Mission as the Nature of the Church: Developments in Catholic Ecclesiology”
is extremely influential to my own understanding of church not only
because it provides a thorough examination of Vatican II’s understanding of
church-as-mission,
but also because
it provides a continuation of this interpretation that we still see today.
In addition, Bevan’s church-as-mission provides a life-giving
definition that is rooted in Trinitarian theology. This means that the very
identity of God is not in Himself—but in the activity of going out to the
other. It is because God sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit, that the
Trinity is mission. God’s own self is defined by His ‘going out’ to
Himself and to the world. Hence, in my personal belief and reflection on this
concept, the understanding of church-as-mission is one that is rooted in the
Trinity itself and in the very identity of who God is.
Bevan’s article also
provides me with a broader understanding of church. To understand
church-as-mission, the question is not
where or who is the Church? Although this question is at the heart of
ecclesiology, it secludes and excludes. Instead, church-as-mission is more
concerned with asking: is the Church faithful to its mission? Or put simply,
are we really being the
Church? This model of church is less concerned with setting rigid parameters of
membership and truth and more concerned with propelling itself outwardly in
service and love. This model does not ignore the question: where is the
Church? It rather answers it by saying, the Church is any place where the
Gospel is proclaimed and the Kingdom of God is lived.
Church-as-mission also
reshapes the structure of the Church to better suit the mission which it has
been entrusted by Jesus Christ. Any structure of the church should aim at
contributing to its mission. Often, the structure of the Church has led many to
believe that the Church exists for its own self-preservation and
self-aggrandizement. This model has led to the problem of clericalism for
instance, where the religious are perceived as academics distant from the
everyday life of the faithful. Mission-as-church departs from this model and
challenges any structure to be a means and not an end in itself. This
includes the Church itself and any structure or system of governance it
declares.
By placing mission
over church, a church-as-mission understanding of church reshapes the nature of
ministries. Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium claims, “the Church herself
is a missionary disciple” (EG 40), and calls the Church and therefore all
ministries within it, to “be in a permanent state of mission” (EG 25). The
exhortation invites the Church not only to rethink its structure as it
facilitates its mission, but also every ministry it professes in virtue of
belonging to the Church. Evangelii Gaudium asks for an ecclesial renewal
of ecclesial ministries and encourages and inspires lay ministry to live out
their baptismal call—echoing Lumen Gentium. This renewal must be
marked by the Church’s fidelity to her very unique calling.
