Anthropological foundation of mission

The word “mission” in ordinary usage means “sent”.  A missionary in this context is a person who is sent by somebody or a community. The subject of mission thus becomes a human person(anthropos).The message that the missionary carries is a “statement of purpose”. To deliver the message, the one sent needs the gift of communication and dialogue to properly carry out the message of the sender. The content of the message requires a “mission statement”. In management,this is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization or person. The mission statement guides the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making. It provides the framework or context within which the company’s strategies are formulated. It is a goal for what the company wants to do for the world (Hill, Charles; Jones, Gareth, Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach (Mason, OH: South-Western Educational Publishing, 2008, page 11). 

 

According to Bart (1997), the commercial mission statement consists of three essential components. (1) Key market, that is “who is your target client or customer” (2) Contribution, that is “what product or service do you provide to that client?” (3) Distinction that is, “what makes your product or service unique, so that the client would choose you?” The primary target of religious mission is the human person (with body and soul) who is to receive the message of salvation. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is the custodian of this message that is meant for the whole world (Ad Gentes). This message is the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15) with this powerful mission statement of Jesus Christ:“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18-19). To carry out this mission, the word became flesh (incarnation) and this defined the anthropological nature of Jesus. 

 

Jesus came to give life so he did not need to kill to convert people of other religions. He did not use violence to reach his target client. His key market strategy was rather to pay a ransom for humanity with his life. The product he provided for his client was human dignity. He served in a way and manner that everyone who accepted him through a dialogue of encounter was saved. What made the product and service of Jesus unique was his witness of life. Jesus is a role model, the prince of peace and the embodiment of a perfect human person. Jesus is a model of humanity to his followers.

 

Missionaries are witnesses to the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christian missionis “an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith” (“Mission”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Retrieved 8 January 2013), that often involves sending individuals and groups to foreign countries and to places in their homeland for the purpose of conversion to Christianity, or from one Christian tradition to another. This technically, is called mission ad extra or mission ad gentes. This mission includes evangelization and humanitarian work especially among the poor and disadvantaged. 

 

The implication of the Christian mission is that a missionary must be an evangelized evangelizer who needs self-awareness, self-rediscovery, internal conviction about life and the faith he or she is sent to administer to others in words and deeds. The missionary must know his or her target and the message he or she is exporting to the recipients of the gospel message. Although the missionary is a human being like every other person, he or she must be different in the control of temperaments, emotions and relationships. This is why a missionary needs to study or have some knowledge of the anthropological foundation for mission using Jesus as a model. 

 

A missionary who knows himself or herself is in a better position to understand others. Without self-knowledge, he may end up like a medical doctor who treats the symptoms of an ailment instead of the real illness. Sometimes the human person does not even properly understand himself or herself. Thus Socrates calls for a study of self and examination of consciousness since an unexamined life is not worth living (http://www.newphilosopher.com). In the world today, mission cannot be separated from dialogue hence the need for intra-personal dialogue, inter-personal dialogue, inter-cultural dialogue, inter-ethnic dialogue and inter-religious dialogue. 

 

Religion is incarnated in the culture and world view of a people hence the human person and his cultural milieu cannot be ignored in the effort of promoting peaceful coexistence. God reveals himself to a people in their own context using what is meaningful to the people to reveal his divine essence. Jesus used the custom and traditions of the Jews to reveal the Triune God. When the Church moved to Rome, the Christian Religion was proclaimed to the Hellenistic world in their own categories using the Platonic and Aristotelian schema. The knowledge of God, the awareness of his presence and the ultimate union with God is the essence of life on earth. In Christian Anthropology, Jesus is the perfect revelation of God and humanity. He is the absolute testimony to authentic mission and dialogue.

In many parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world, life is defined within the context of ethnicity and religion. This has to a great extent polarized the politics of many nations such that if a person needs something or does something wrong the person is described within the context of his or her religion. Consequently within the context of dialogue, a lot of factors come into play in understanding a partner in dialogue. The events surrounding the birth of a person (heritage at birth); the environment and life pattern of the people (cultural heritage) and the religion of the parents (religious heritage) contribute immensely to the perception of a partner in dialogue. Here a partner in dialogue is a human being with whom you share different ideology, faith and culture.   

 

When religion is incarnated in the cultural values that promote life and human dignity, respect for life could be guaranteed. In this context we can introduce the concept of African Christianity. This form of Christianity is highly Christocentric because, the content of the values include, hospitality, respect for elders, respect for the human body in terms of sexuality, respect of community and many other values that Africa is known for. When religion cannot be separated from politics, the human life is in danger. This is because, freedom of religion would give way to either “you practice the religion I present to you or be a slave in your own kingdom.”In religious history, this is why it has been difficult in some places to differentiate between religion, colonialism and politics. 

 

Anthropological foundation of Mission also enquires into the temperaments and the psychological balance of the founders of religion. This enquiry could reveal the reasons for the actions of some adherents. For instance, are you promoting peace because every aspect of the founder of your religion is adorned with peace? Are you promoting violence because the founder of your religion has aspects of violence to spread his religion? Could there be some anthropological aspects of the religious founder that is inspiring the destruction of humanity in the modern world instead of contributing to the salvific mission and growth of humanity. Jesus said that even if you do not believe in him, believe in his works (John 10:38). Let us therefore imitate Jesus and make the world a better place. He is the way, the truth and the life. May the name of God not be profaned because of our evil ways! 

 

Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and a Consultor in the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims (CRRM), Vatican City ([email protected])