There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of “the missionary mandate.” This way of putting the matter is certainly not without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the law rather than part of the gospel. If one looks at the New Testament evidence one gets another impression. Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.

— Lesslie Newbigin (1909–1998), Missionsbischof

Topics: Witness & Mission, Joy & Gratitude

Lesslie Newbigin

Lesslie Newbigin (1909–1998) war ein britischer reformierter Theologe, Missionar und Bischof der Church of South India, der fast vier Jahrzehnte in Indien sowie später als Dozent und Pastor in England wirkte. Bekannt ist er für seine Analysen zur Säkularisierung westlicher Gesellschaften und sein Eintreten dafür, das Evangelium in einer pluralistischen Kultur als rationale öffentliche Wahrheit zu bezeugen. Für Bibelleser bietet sein Werk Impulse, die biblische Botschaft im Dialog mit der Gegenwartskultur zu reflektieren, ohne den exklusiven Heilsanspruch Jesu Christi zu relativieren.

All quotes by Lesslie Newbigin (8)

Lesslie Newbigin

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