Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today is a wonderfully written book providing a concise look at the vast subject

of Christian mission. The book covers a multitude of topics providing valuable insight for missiologists and theologians. Of interest to me, however, is the idea of trinitarian theology as a model for mission in the twenty-first century. The Council of Nicae (325 A.D.) sought to combat Arius assertion that Christ was of a different natureneither eternal or omnipotent.1 If Arius was correct and Christ was not fully God, then, how could He fully save? In the end, the 318 Fathers2 at Nicae constructed the Nicene Creed laying the foundation for the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity affirms how God has revealed Himself in the world. Furthermore, this doctrine presents us with a missiological model emphasizing not only Gods sending nature, but also, unity in diversity. God sent His Son, God and Christ sent the Spirit and of importance to our conversation the Spirit sends forth believers to participate in missio Dei. Trinitarian theology, for the most part, has seen little innovation until the late twentieth century. In a strict sense, improvement of the doctrine was probably not necessary. However, in the last few decades there has been a rise in applying Trinitarian theology to the churchs mission function.3 Trinitarian missiology stresses the sending nature of God and bids the church to join Gods already active mission of redemption. The church, like God, reveals its personality as it engages the world in real time and space. Bevans and Schroeder underscore the proposition that trinitarian theology need not be relegated to academia.4 Instead, the authors insist that trinitarian theology has concrete

Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2008), 100. Arguments exist over the exact number of 318. 3 Stephen B. Bevans and Roger Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (Mary Knoll: Orbis Books, 2004), 291. 4 Ibid, 295, 297.
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ramifications for Christian life.5 I believe Bevans and Schroeder are correct in calling the church to view the practicality of trinitarian theologys influence on mission. The Trinity examples the goal of Christian mission, that is, missionary cooperation holding as its purpose the redemption of humankind. The Trinity reveals an unbroken relationship. This perfect relationship is foreign to humanity because of its residence within a fallen world. Therefore, within the Trinity we glimpse the true nature of relationship in an unfallen world a world repaired. The Trinitarian God provides the definitive model of participation in community. A model of importance to those who would, because of missio Dei, enter the cross-cultural ministry. The trinitarian community demonstrates an environment of mutual submission founded on shared mission. Though each member of the Trinity has different a function, none is greater or lesser than the other. Downplaying the diverse functions of persons within the Trinity leads to a skewed vision of Christian community. Trinitarian faith, states Bevans and Schroeder, will lead us toward peacemaking, inclusion, and new forms of authority.6 Without the model of communion-in-mission exampled within the life of the Trinity, mission slides into an unaccountable play for power. That is to say, the sending agency feels no compulsion to submit itself to the community of believers; but holds high expectations of submission from the community it purportedly serves. Consequently, the believing community learns to vilify diversity in both person and spiritual giftedness. The result is churches that are better examples of the fallen nature of humankind than the dynamic life of cooperation and love found in the Trinity.

5 6

Ibid, 297. Ibid 292.

Trinitarian faith does not merely provide a model for love and community but also of missions praxis. The mission of the church, like the God who gave it its mission, is multidimensional.7 Bevans and Schroeder see trinitarian faith as the foundation for a synthesis of liberation and witness and proclamation that results in prophetic dialogue. The churchs responsibility to engage the world with the message of Christ cannot be accomplished with singularity of method. God is a liberator of the oppressed and advocate for the poor. God does expect the church to proclaim salvation found only in Jesus Christ. God anticipates a body of Spirit-empowered believers who act as witnesses8 to the world.9 The synthesis of expectations requires dialoguewith the poor, with culture and with other religions.10 Prophetic dialogue finds its root in the trinitarian God but also in the kenotic or self-emptying love exampled in Christs incarnation. If the church is to dialogue with the poor and culture and other religions, then it must act with selfless love. Christ made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant11 an act that ultimately lead to His crucifixion. Incarnational mission seeks to empty itself of personal agendas choosing rather submission to a dialogical process that reveals ways to announce the Kingdom. The more engagement in dialogue, the more appropriately one can discover the values of a culture, a people or a community. The more understanding a missionary has of his or her host culture, the better he or she can provide a rich witness of the six principal activities of the

Ibid, 348-395. See Acts 1:8. All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publisher, 1978). 9 Bevans and Schroeder offer various ideas about what it means to be a witness. In the main, all the ideas center on the notion that individual believers and church communities by their presence live out the Christ life with integrity within their context as a means of subtle proclamation. 10 Ibid, 349. 11 See Philippians 2:7.
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church.12 The ability to gain understanding through dialogue requires of the missionary an act of submission in light of a fundamental goal: expansion of Gods reign in the earth. In other words, like the Trinity, the missionary does not impose him/herself into the community but seeks what is best for the other; and like the incarnate Christ, empties him/herself of attitudes of superiority.13

Bevans and Schroeder propose the churches principal activity in Gods mission is: (1) witness and proclamation, (2) liturgy, prayer, and contemplation, (3) commitment to justice, peace, and the integrity of creation, (4) the practice of interreligious dialogue, (5) efforts of inculturation, and (6) the ministry of reconciliation. 13 Ibid, 348.

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Works Cited Bevans, Stephen B. and Roger Schroeder. Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today. Mary Knoll: Orbis Books, 2004 Shelley, B. Church History in Plain Language. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2008.