Church as Mission: Towards an Ecclesiology of Mission

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.