Photo Credit: "Lior Mizrahi/Pope Francis Visit to the Holy Land - Day 1/Getty Images"

In my last post, I described the Church as communion. The same Spirit who knits the Church into a communion of persons and through whom we are able to encounter Jesus Christ also works through this ecclesial communion for the sake of mission.[1] In this two part series, I’ll spend some time discussing the Church’s mission. In this first part, I’ll define the Church’s mission and explore some of its essential aspects. In the second part, I’ll address the application of mission to our lives.

What is this mission entrusted to the Church by Christ and continued in the Church by his Spirit?  In Sacred Scripture, this mission is clearly identified as evangelization. For example, in the Gospel of Mark, Christ commissioned the disciples:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”[2]

Here, the gospel writer, often called an evangelist, grounds the mission of evangelization in a mandate from Christ that concludes his gospel account. Mark’s whole gospel is concerned with Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel – or good news - and by ending the gospel with this divine command, Mark establishes a continuity between Christ’s proclamation and the proclamation of the Church.  Other New Testament books, also include similar accounts which emphasize a continuity between Christ’s work and the Church’s evangelical mission guided by Christ’s Spirit (e.g. Matthew 28:19, Luke 24:47, and Acts 1:8). As we learn in Scripture, through the Church’s singular mission of evangelization, GOD continues the work of Jesus Christ.

EVANGELIZATION VS. PROSELYTIZATION

Before proceeding, it is important to make a strong distinction between proselytization and evangelization. Whether we are mass-going Catholics, campus ministers, or even theology teachers, many of us feel squeamish when we hear the word evangelization.  We are reminded of bible thumpers or street preachers speaking bible verses over a megaphone.  When I lived in Tennessee – the buckle of the bible belt, I definitely had my share of these experiences. However, I would characterize these examples as “proselytization” rather than authentic evangelization. Proselytization is an attempt to convert someone to one’s faith out of a self-oriented and self-serving intent. The proselytizer selfishly seeks to bring – or even force – others into her own mode of thinking as an affirmation of herself. In this sense, the proselytizer is not concerned with the other person as much as she is concerned with herself. Pope Francis reiterates this distinction in his own apostolic exhortation on mission Evangelii Gaudium, also known as the Joy of the Gospel: “it is not by proselytization that the Church grows, but ‘by attraction.’”[3] While Christian mission has sometimes devolved into proselytization, the mission we are all called to is evangelization.

In contrast to the selfishness of proselytization, we are motivated to evangelize out of the joy we experience in our encounter with Christ. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote, evangelization, is the sharing of joy discovered through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”[4] Our joy is more than a set of doctrinal positions, but rather an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ who is Truth itself. This encounter with the event of the incarnation and the person of Jesus Christ is the very core of the Gospel.  It transforms the life of everyone who truly encounters it and is the source of joy within every member of the Church.[5]

Unlike the self-serving and self-interestedness of proselytization, evangelizers share the joy they have found in Christ out of a love for the neighbor and the whole human community. This sharing should never be forceful, but invitational. When the apostles first encountered Christ, they proclaimed: “We have found the Messiah. Come and see.”[6] Similarly, those Christians who experience the love of GOD revealed in Christ cannot help but share that joy of discovery with those around them. As Pope Francis writes: “For if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?”[7] In other words, it is the Christian’s concern for her neighbor that prompts her to share her experience of GOD’s merciful love.  Because of her love for her neighbor, she invites her neighbor into her own life story and her own life experience with the hope that her neighbor can also share in the joy that has so profoundly transformed her own life. In this way, evangelization is markedly different from the selfishness and self-orientation of proselytization. Because the Christian loves her neighbor, she does not keep the joy she has discovered to herself, but rather she invites her neighbor to share in this joy. As Pope Francis writes: “Loving others is a spiritual force drawing us to union with God… Only the person who feels happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness, can be a missionary.”[8] By sharing this joy, she hope that all people can experience the joy inherent in a personal encounter with Christ.

SOCIAL JUSTICE AS A DEMAND OF MISSION

An essential aspect of the Church’s singular mission of evangelization is our call to work for justice. GOD does not want to simply save us as individuals, but GOD wants to save the whole human community.[9] As such, we are called to work for a re-ordering of human relationships to reflect GOD’s intent for creation. This intent appears throughout the history of salvation presented in Sacred Scripture.  In the Exodus narrative, the merciful GOD hears the cry of Israel and delivers them from the injustice of slavery.  Psalm 34:7 also describes our merciful GOD who hears the cry of the poor and saves the poor from their suffering. In our encounter with GOD, we encounter a GOD for humanity. The inhuman condition of suffering and poverty places a demand on every Christian.  As missionaries who herald the Kingdom of GOD inaugurated by Jesus Christ, we are called to combat injustice everywhere and in every form. This call requires a commitment not simply to charity but combatting structural sin – both economic and social – that perpetuate and contribute to the sinful actions of individuals. Such a commitment demonstrates our love for the human community in a way people can experience in their daily lives. With this in mind, the bishops during the 1971 Synod declared that commitment to justice was a “constitutive dimension” of evangelization.[10] More recently, Pope Francis describes this as the “Social Dimension of Evangelization” and dedicates about one-third of his document on mission to this dimension.[11]  As such, evangelization is not only a sharing of the personal joy of the Christ encounter through dialogue and conversation but also through Christian work for justice.  In this work, we re-order all our human relationships as a witnesses to the inner communion of the Trinitarian GOD.

THE 1ST STEP OF EVANGELIZATION IS LISTENING

As we respond to the universal call to mission, our first step as missionaries is always listening. Using biblical imagery, Pope Francis calls us to “remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other.”[12] Here, Pope Francis recalls how Moses removed his sandals at the sacred ground of the burning bush because he was in GOD’s presence. Similarly, all people are created in the image and likeness of GOD, and in our evangelizing work we must respect others by first listening to them. As Christians, we are called to listen to our brothers’ and sisters’ stories of suffering, struggles, poverty, and sorrows. By first listening, Christians can share the burdens of our sisters and brothers and learn how to best present the gospel. Additionally, listening as the first step of evangelization prevents evangelization from becoming proselytization by guarding against the mentality of ‘we know better.’ For example, when missionary work involves the meeting of two cultures, we often cannot foresee how the seeds of the gospel will grow in the fertile ground of another culture. In this situation, we always begin by listening and guard ourselves against imposing our own culture upon someone else.  Relatedly, as we work for justice as a part of our evangelizing work – whether on mission trips or in our local community – we also begin by listening to those with less material wealth. We do not speak from positions of authority, but we learn from those who live in suffering so we can most effectively address the causes of inhuman suffering.  By first listening to those with whom we wish to share the gospel, we respect the human dignity of every person and allow the Spirit to teach us the best way to preach and live the gospel in new social and cultural contexts.

As Christians, all of us are called to participate in mission. In fact, Pope Francis coins the term missionary disciples to describe all baptized Christians.[13] As a missionary communion, we evangelize not for the sake of our own community but out of our love for the human community. Missionary work always begins with listening and always includes a social dimension. As such, we also work for the just re-ordering of human relationships by committing ourselves to the alleviation of suffering and working to address the root causes of injustice. This mission is the Church’s reason for being and the Holy Spirit calls every Christian to evangelize. 

In Part Two of this post, I’ll discuss how we all participate in mission. Stay tuned!

[1] Pope Francis, “Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World ‘Evangelii Gaudium’” (Holy See, 2013), §23, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html.

[2] Matthew 28: 18-29 (New American Bible)

[3] Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium," §15.

[4] Pope Benedict XVI, “Encyclical Letter on Christian Love ‘Deus Caritas Est,’” 2005, §217, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html.

[5] Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium,” §7.

[6] John 1:41,45

[7] Ibid., §8.

[8] Ibid., §272.

[9] Ibid., §113.

[10] World Synod of Catholic Bishops, “Justice in the World,” 1971, §6, https://www1.villanova.edu/content/dam/villanova/mission/JusticeIntheWorld1971.pdf.

[11] Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium,” §176-§258.

[12] Ibid., §169.

[13] Ibid., §§119-121.