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B: The Five Marks of Mission
The Five Marks of Mission, first widely used by the Anglican
Consultative Council in the early 1990s, are believed to be Methodist in origin.
1. To proclaim the good
news of the kingdom
 | ‘Proclaim’, even in the New
Testament, is not the sum total of the evangelistic task |
 | Saint Francis’s comment seems
relevant: "Use words if you have to" |
 | Effective gospel communication requires
from us |
Ø Renewed
spirituality, sensitivity and humility
Ø Renewed ways of expressing what it is to be
‘church’ in the context of a post-Christian society
 | What we are and what we do has to be so
attractive as ‘good news’ as people apply it to their own hopes and
fears for the whole of their life (nothing directly to do with getting
people into church) that they want to know more. |
2. To teach, baptise and
nurture new believers
 | This ‘mark’ highlights the clear
calling of the Christian fellowship to ‘enable disciples’ |
 | The early Church’s direct response to
the Matthean version of the Great Commission was to set up the Catechumenate. |
 | In what kind of context(s) will
effective Christian formation, the ‘enabling of disciples’, take place? |
3. To respond to human need
by loving service
 | Often this is only recognised as ‘of
the Church’ when engaged in by professional ministers |
 | Yet this ought not to be an excuse for
clericalising our congregations |
 | The self-sacrificial quality of the
loving service offered by Christ’s disciples is what alone will prove
credible and attractive. |
 | Communicating gospel is costly. |
 | Those who use our congregations as
comfort zones may be among the least ready ‘to give and not to count the
cost’. |
4. To seek to transform the
unjust structures of society
Our calling is to challenge, but also
sometimes to affirm, the ‘principalities and powers’ of human society on the
basis of kingdom values. These include
 | justice, |
 | mercy, |
 | peace (God’s shalom), |
 | the pricelessness of every human being
as in the image of God |
 | and the integrity of creation (the fifth
mark below) |
5. To strive to safeguard
the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth
 | The fragility of humankind and the whole
life-system of planet earth are becoming plain to see. |
 | More work needs to be done, however, to
articulate this theologically. |
 | Beware lest we overlook this fifth ‘mark’
because it looks too much like a fashion accessory! |
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