Heres my idea for revisioning the Mission Initiatives. (1) Invite everyone into community. The problem with Invite People to Christ and the use of the cross is that the word Christ and the symbol of the cross, while traditional, are divisive. 98% of people who consider themselves Christian have an idea of Christ that is problematic; the rest of the people that we need to invite (quite a large proportion overall in a cosmopolitan place like Toronto) rightly view the vision of the 98% as the negative it is. We want to value tradition (D&C 165:5) without being enslaved to it. Everyone needs to be invited into community inclusively. (2) Continually learn & grow. We want to develop disciples to serve, but disciples is another exclusive in-term that we dont need. The value here is our tradition of continual, life-long learning. Continually learning and growing is a core component to living life meaningfully. (3) Transcend poverty & overcome suffering. While I totally understand the nth degree end goal of abolish and end, these infinite goals are not consonant with the language of the other mission initiatives. The reality is that poverty and suffering will always be with us and we need to deal with them realistically. (4) Pursue peace & justice everywhere. Its pretty easy to proclaim peace. Everyone loves peace. But we need to remember the underlying structural and societal issues of injustice so that we dont promote an unjust peace. (5) Live life meaningfully. Finally, experience congregations in mission is a wonderful idea, but its hard to express the enduring principle of blessing of community simply. All the initiatives are about mission and the whole idea is acting together as a congregation. I think its important to sum up with the mission to live life meaningfully in mission as individuals, together as a congregation, as a denomination, and together as humanity.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 05:00:31 +0000
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