By Mark C. Engle
When I hear the word mission, I hear the word work, or job. I work all week long. I get spiritually depleted. I go to church to be fed so I can resume that work. If instead of food, what I get is another set of assignments, I get tired. I suspect that I am not alone in this.
It is one of the great ironies of our time that we are finding the restorative work of mission sapping our energy and creativity. Jim Naughton has done a service to bring this to our attention. When I hear mission, I hear, periphery. I hear hierarchy. I hear separation. I hear paternalism. All of that makes me tired indeed. I wonder what might happen if mission was recognized as the organizing principle of the baptismal life and of the beloved community?
In its place, the missionary impulse is full of strength, possibility and creativity. If I can imagine that “we have all that we need to do the mission to which we are called,” then congregational life is not about “getting the job done.” Congregational life can be about living into a reality in which we are marinated in mission.
The restorative principle of mission is at the heart of all that we do. Some of us live out mission as outreach: feeding, housing, encouraging downtrodden, organizing. But in everything we do the restorative function of our mission is at work. How does our worship “restore unity with God and one another?” What about the restoring procedures we use in the office? Are there blockages to restoration embedded in the way power is distributed within the congregation? Is our church life restoring the solemn significance of every person?
I want to be a part of a congregation, diocese, province that asks such questions; where one shares a quest with every person it touches. What wastes spiritual energy are all those checklists to which our conformity is expected. What energizes is making common cause is energized mission.
I am helped by a story that Jim Lemler (The Rev. Dr. James B. Lemler was formerly Director of Mission for the Episcopal Church) has told. He speaks about a cocktail reception at which a member of a Scandinavian royal family was in attendance. One of the guests did not recognize “his royal highness.” Tactfully seeking clues, he approached to ask, “So, are you still doing the same thing?” To this the stranger replied, “Yes, I am still the King,” Our mission is not entirely wrapped up in what we do. It is built into our identity, the royal priesthood. I believe we come to a frustrating cul de sac when we ask, “Is there too much mission in the Christian Church?” The pressing question is, rather, are we building the kind of communities in which mission can be a place of energy, nourishment and nurture?
The Rev. Dr. Mark C. Engle most recently served as rector of St. Paul’s Church, Marquette, Michigan. He is now retired and living in Battle Creek, Michigan.