Church is Mission

                                                  Photo taken by Leanne Parrott

This next entry is something that came to mind as I read the last chapter in Father Alexander Schmemann's book "For the Life of the World". Think of it as a regression from the book as my weak thoughts are being written on something that was sparked after reading this first part in the chapter. 

The church in its entirety then must be understand and lived out as a mission. The church is the mission to the world. This then begs the question why are there churches within Orthodoxy that are termed “mission” while others are not? There can be many reasons for this but the one reason that stood out was based on the fact that the church still holds on to the ethnically minded approach that was brought with the church from which ever country one came from (Greece, Russia, Egypt etc). If we cannot drop our “ethnicity” (and I mean this by saying by not accepting others) then the church will cease to be a mission church. The church will cease to be a church at all. How can a church be a church when it caters to the ones who have received the message and know of the good news? The church by not accepting “others” has lead to this dynamic of “mission” churches being created and this destroys the dynamic of the church. This tension evolves between the “us” and “them” environment and things are done differently “over there” while “we do it right here” type of language beings to develop. The “mission” in the name of the church must be dropped and all must embrace the essence of our theology which lies in the heart of mission. We are being called to be a mission to all. This includes all our actions from pumping gas and talking to the gas attendant to deacon and congregation reciting and chanting hymns in unity. If we do not live for Him and IN Him then the church will cease to be a mission. A wise friend of mine told me that the day “ethnicity” is dropped within the Orthodox Church this will be the day when America (and I add the world) will be painted into Orthodoxy (the life in which we live in Christ).  

Mission is not classified then by going on the streets and looking nice in front of people and preaching a few verses (which can be fruitful but mission does not end here) rather mission begins with the church and ends with the church. During the early times of the young church people gathered in communities and spoke and preached the word of God living in the united body of Christ. When you read Acts you notice the writer of Acts stressing the fact that Paul and his companions went from community to community. The heart of the church and its mission lies within the community. Mission is not done on an individualistic, self-motivated level rather mission takes place within the heart of the community which transforms the life of the community. If mission is then understood as the bringing of the community together only then can we say "your own of your own we offer unto you on behalf of all and for all" (Taken from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom Anaphora prayer). The heart of mission is the community coming together being united in the one body of Christ. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3.28).