Mission and the Church in the Wider World

Three activities, one question

When Christians look beyond their own building, they do three things that look quite separate. They share the faith with people who do not hold it. They help people in need, near and far. And they seek unity with Christians of other traditions. ⭐ It is easy to learn these as three jobs on a list and stop there. The stronger move is to see the one question underneath all three: WHO COUNTS AS US? Where does the boundary of the community actually run? ⭐⭐ Sharing the faith says the boundary is open, and outsiders may be invited in. Helping strangers says our concern does not stop at our own people. Seeking unity says Christians of other traditions already count as us, differences and all. ⚠️ This is the last of the four Practices modules, so you carry the earlier question forward. The rites module asked who is a witness when a private fact is made public. Here the public is the whole world, and the question becomes who the community is willing to count as its own.

What it looks like, and what it asks

Take each of the three outward activities and separate two things: what it looks like from the outside, and the question about the community that it is really answering. Doing that separation is how you turn a list of activities into a single argument, which is what a strong answer on this topic does.

Order the widening circle

Put these four groups in order, from the one already counted as part of the community to the one whose inclusion stretches the idea of us the furthest.

• The Christians in a person own congregation
• Christians of a different denomination in the same town
• People living nearby who hold no faith at all
• People in need on the other side of the world

How Christians carry out mission

Christians disagree about how mission should be done. Which answer best reflects the range of views a good response would set out?

• Views differ: some hold that the faith should be openly preached, others that it is best shown through service and example, and many insist it must always respect the beliefs and freedom of others
• Mission always means preaching directly to strangers and asking them to convert
• Mission means only living a good life and never mentioning belief at all
• Mission is no longer part of Christianity and no Christians practise it

Words for the outward church

Five terms, each defined so you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.

Find the sentence that gives the motive

A student writes about why Christians help strangers far away. Select the ONE sentence that explains the reason behind the giving, rather than describing what is given.

• Many Christian communities collect money for people in need overseas.
• Some send volunteers, others fund longer projects such as wells and schools.
• They help people they will never meet because they hold that every person counts as a neighbour, so the boundary of concern is not drawn at their own group.
• Collections are often taken during services or at special events.
• I think helping people far away is a nice thing for a church to do.

Which actions widen the boundary

Three of these five show a church treating the boundary of us as open and reaching outward. Choose the three.

• Inviting people who hold no faith to learn about it and join
• Funding long-term help for people in a distant country
• Holding shared worship with a different denomination
• Restricting a service so that only long-standing members may attend
• Spending all of a collection on repairs to the community own building

The question under all four modules

This is the last of the four Practices modules, and the questions accumulate rather than replace one another. Carry the whole set into the exam. ⭐ Does the action do something, or show something? ⭐ If it happens on a fixed date, what does the repetition do to it? ⭐ Who is this moment for, and who is now a witness? ⭐ And now: who counts as us, and where does the boundary of the community run? ⚠️ Then attribute every view to those who hold it. Marks in this subject come from explaining reasoning, never from ruling one tradition right and another wrong.

Match the outward action to the reason behind it

The club that had to decide

Leave religion aside for a moment and think about a small sports club in a town. The club is doing well, and three questions come up at the same meeting. Should it open its doors to beginners who have never played? Should it raise money to help a struggling team in the next town? And should it join up with a rival club so the two become one? ⭐ On the surface these look like three unrelated decisions. Underneath, they are the same decision asked three ways: how wide is the idea of our club? Open the doors to beginners and the club is saying newcomers can become one of us. Help the struggling team and it is saying our care does not stop at our own players. Join the rival and it is saying the people we competed against were never really outsiders at all. ⚠️ And notice the argument that always follows. Some members will say the club should stay small and keep what makes it special, and others will say a club that does not grow and share has lost the point. Neither side is simply wrong. ⭐⭐ That is the shape to carry into this topic. Three outward actions, one question about how far the community reaches, and a genuine disagreement about the answer.

Complete the wider church facts

The work of sharing the Christian faith and putting it into action beyond the existing community is called _____. Telling others the message in the hope that they will come to believe it is called _____, and Christians disagree about whether it is best done by preaching or by example. The movement that seeks greater unity between different Christian traditions is called _____, and each separate tradition or group of churches is called a _____. When Christians speak up for believers suffering elsewhere, they treat all Christians as one _____ church. Helping to remove the causes of poverty, and not only its immediate effects, is often described as working for _____ rather than giving one-off aid.

Assemble the explanation

Complete an explanation of why mission, charity and ecumenism belong together in one topic.

Wider church quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Answer a critic of mission

Somebody says that mission is just Christians imposing their beliefs on other people and treating other cultures as if they need rescuing. Work through your answer.

• How do you begin?
• They ask how mission can avoid treating people as objects to be changed. What is the strongest answer?
• They point out that Christians themselves disagree about all this. How do you handle that?

Evaluate whether Christians should keep faith private

Some people argue that Christians should keep their faith to themselves and simply help others quietly, rather than sharing their beliefs or seeking to unite churches. Evaluate that view, using mission, charity and ecumenism and the idea of the worldwide church.

• Explain what mission and evangelism mean, and why some Christians see sharing the faith as a duty
• Explain how charity and the idea of the worldwide church extend the community beyond one place
• Give the view that faith is best kept private and shown only through quiet help, attributing it fairly
• Use the terms mission, ecumenism and denomination correctly
• Reach a judgement and support it, remembering that no position is being marked as the right one