Mission still possible?

In order to find answers to the a.m. question several church leaders, mission theologians and heads of church organizations from Africa, Asia and Germany meet - 20 years after the internationalization of UEM - from June 26 to 30, ‎ 2016 in Dumaguete (Philippines).

On initiative of the UEM Council the participants of the symposium discuss the new challenges for churches and mission organizations based on the understanding of mission of the UEM church communion which was formulated in the UEM constitution in 1993 and 1996, respectively.

Jochen Motte, deputy General Secretary of UEM appreciated in his opening speech the role the United Christian Church in the Philippines (UCCP) played in terms of the transformation process of UEM in the 1990s. "The UCCP had especially contributed to combine mission and the advocacy for justice," explained Motte.

Bishop Erme Camba, professor at the Siliman University, former UCCP General Secretary and former member of the United in Mission committee, who had largely contributed to the internationalization of UEM, reminded that it was not always easy to enforce the requests of Asian and African churches towards the Germans. He is happy to see that the constitution as agreed in 1996 and the understanding of mission which had been formulated therein supported the Asian and African churches in their efforts and have proved to be right.

Professor Dr. Dieter Becker (Germany) favored in his speech to preach God's Kingdom which shall not be narrowed to an understanding of mission and evangelization which sees the believe in Jesus Christ and the confession to Him as the only way of salvation: "God's action in the past goes beyond the limits of the church."

According to Becker mission is still possible: "An authentic way to do misson takes place where human beings meet God and receive the abundance of life which He gives to us."

Professor Dr. Josef Hehanussa from Indonesia asked how to do Christian mission in a context of fundamentalism and radicalism which can presently be observed in Indonesia? He favored a new understanding of mission which shall help Muslims to become to more loyal to Islam and to live in compliance with their own doctrine and religion. "When that happens, all walls of hostility between the believers of the different religions will be torn down," explained Hehanussa.

In her input speech Dr Véronique Kavuo Kahindo (DR Congo) dealt with the growing pentecostal movement in Africa. She blamed the movement to make the followers apathetic and by doing so preventing social and political progress. At the same time she called on to the churches in Africa to respond to the needs of people, to foster their self-confidence and to help them to live a life in a self-determined and self-reliant way by means of educational programs. 

In the coming days the delegates will listen to and discuss various contributions from all regions. The outcome and inputs will be presented to the UEM General Assembly in October 2016. They will serve as a basis for the further discussion process on the understanding of mission and on the practice of mission taken up by UEM in the 21th century.

The final declaration of the symposium "Mission still possible?" can be downloaded here.

(Martina Pauly)