View article

In the sixties of the twentieth century the mission concept of the church changed. The ‘modern’concept of the Enlightenment ‘no salvation outside the church’was changed into the ‘post-modern’concept that the church has to be a sign of salvation, of the Kingdom of God. God wants all people to be saved, so the church has to search for signs of salvation in this world. The church as the people of God is wandering in this world on her search for the Kingdom of God. One universal church changed in a universal church which consists of local churches in their own contexts. The local churches are inter-related. Mission is the mission of God (‘missio Dei’), based on the Trinity: to save the world the Father has sent the Son, and the Son and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to guide the church in her task to become a sign of the present and coming Kingdom of God, to participate in the salvation history of God. To incarnate herself in the Asian context the mean task of the church is a threefold dialogue: the dialogue with the poverty, the dialogue with cultures and the dialogue with people of other religions and convictions. According to Amaladoss the church can inspire also non Christians to participate as fellows in the search for the Kingdom of God, because the Holy Spirit of God is also working in them. The urgent mission of the followers of Jesus in Asia is to bring the Good News as Jesus did by emptying Himself and becoming a Servant. The church has the difficult and often painful task to present the presence of God within the contexts where she lives: the different cultures, religions and often grinding poverty. Hopefully the church can become a sign of …