An Orthodox Assessment of the New Mission Statement

Orthodoxy and mission are two terms that at first glance seem quite incompatible, at least to the Western historians of mission. (1) When in 1910 the historic gathering of missionaries across denominational boundaries took place in Edinburgh to launch an inter-denominational missionary cooperation, Orthodoxy was completely marginal. In their deliberations, there were only references to the Oriental (sic) or Greek churches, always within the framework of the Western (mainly Protestant) mission. Even in the generation that followed, no article on the importance of mission was written by Orthodox theologians. (2) The initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the dawn of the 20th century, which invited all Christians to address together the great challenges of the 20th century, only later were brought into the Christian attention. Even the encounter of the Orthodox with world Christian mission has not always been a happy event. The missional dimension of the Orthodox Church was rediscovered just more than a generation ago thanks to efforts and the theological arguments of the former moderator of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), and now president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos). (3) The theological discussion originally with Protestantism in the field mission within the framework of the activities of WCC, and after Vatican II also with Catholicism, has awakened the importance of mission for the Orthodox Church universal. However, a significant contribution to the overall deliberations for an ecumenical mission theology in the form of a mission statement had to wait until a missionary awareness of the various autocephali Orthodox churches was accomplished. Gradually, in addition to Archbishop Anastasios, other Orthodox theologians who were actively involved in one way or another with the ecumenical movement, and particularly with the CWME of WCC, most notably in the case of the late Professor Ion Bria, made significant contributions to the development of the contemporary mission theology. The martyria dimension of mission in the place of an offensive and sometimes arrogant mission; the trinitarian importance of the missio Dei theology; the liturgical aspect of Christian witness in the form of the Liturgy after the liturgy--these are only a few cases of the "Orthodox" contribution to the new ecumenical understanding of mission in the 20th century. Gleaning from the richness of the Christian tradition of the undivided church, as well as from the wealth of their missionary heritage (especially Sts Cyril and Methodius' evangelization of the Slavs, and of Europe in general), the Orthodox not only explained their different--and to a certain extent difficult to understand by Western missiologists and missionaries--approach to mission; they also became invaluable players in the field of contemporary Christian missiology. During the last 50 years--that is, from the time of full integration into the WCC (and the overall ecumenical movement) of all the Orthodox churches, as well as of the International Missionary Council (IMC), in the 3rd General Assembly of WCC in New Delhi)--there have been three statements on mission and evangelism: the 1982 Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation, which was officially approved by the Central Committee of WCC; the 2000 "Mission and Evangelism in Unity", adopted by CWME as a study document; and the new mission affirmation, entitled Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, unanimously approved by the WCC Central Committee held in Crete, Greece, on 5 September 2012. The 1982 mission statement is a traditional mission statement, reflecting the mostly Protestant understanding of mission; and despite its translation among other languages into Greek, (4) it was never embraced and wholeheartedly followed by Orthodox missionaries and missiologists, obviously because the Orthodox did not feel at home with its theological arguments or the overall aura. …