| Abstract: | Among the “changed landscapes” identified by the new World Council of Churches mission affirmation Together towards Life is the rapidly advancing secularization evident in the Western world. Growing numbers of people live for goals that are entirely immanent, with apparently no transcendent reference to their lives at all. This presents a new missionary frontier for Christian faith, as Lesslie Newbigin prophetically suggested in the 1980s. Since then, the frontier has strengthened, as disillusionment with Christianity has grown and modernity has taken an ever more liquid form. It has also widened as globalization has taken the free market and its values to almost every part of the world. Together towards Life poses this question: How can we proclaim God's love and justice to a generation living in an individualized, secularized and materialized world? It answers this question first by taking a pneumatological approach to understanding mission and thus talking the language of people immersed in the culture of “liquid modernity” who struggle to connect with heavily institutional religion but yearn for a viable spirituality. It goes on to stress the transformative character of mission, particularly in regard to economic justice and ecological responsibility. It takes a radical direction with its emphasis on the marginalized as agents of mission and the communal nature of Christian witness. In a context of plurality, it fosters an open and adventurous approach, making the “other” a partner in, not an “object” of, mission. At the same time, it calls for bold proclamation of the good news of Christ to meet the personal existential crisis that is a common feature of the late modern world. In these ways, Together towards Life strikes notes that resonate in the context of liquid modernity while also making a call to conversion and transformation. It offers, in short, “challenging relevance.” |
