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99-077

Global Mission Network looks ahead to challenges of next 
millennium

by Margaret Larom

(ENS) Describing God's mission as the salvation and 
liberation of humankind, Africa's senior Anglican archbishop has 
urged Episcopalians to move out from their altars and meet people 
where they are, as Jesus did. 

"We must enable God to transform us," declared the 
Most Rev. Khotso Makhulu, primate of the church in Central Africa 
and bishop of Botswana, in his keynote speech at the annual 
Global Episcopal Mission (GEM) Network educational institute 
April 29-May 1 in Denver.

Speaking on the theme of "Empowering Global Mission 
into the Next Millennium," the archbishop argued that the church 
must be engaged in the tasks of transformation and 
reconciliation, using not only the Great Commission but also 
Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) to undergird any involvement 
in mission and evangelism. 

Christians are called not only to make Jesus 
"attractive" to everyone, but also to convince his followers to 
"live courageously with the challenge of change.. Is this church 
so freed from prejudice that it can face the challenges of the 
ensuing years?" Makhulu asked. 

The church is not only for sanctuary or sanctimony, he 
said, adding that "Christians must be at the heart of 
reconciliation, the champions of the poor and the oppressed. He 
deplored the absence of heroes like Desmond Tutu and Martin 
Luther King, Jr. "In a broken world, surely one area of missional 
involvement is healing."
Salty soundbites, sage advice

Living up to his reputation, Makhulu's address was 
full of the sage advice that the Anglican Communion has come to 
expect from its senior African prelate, peppered with salty 
soundbites on the state of society as well as the church. He 
described the church as "the home of sinners, where saints are 
molded," but insisted that improvements are necessary in every 
area of congregational life, including attention to youth, 
empowerment of laity, enlivening worship and liturgy, deepening 
of prayer life and scripture study. 

The important question, he argued, is "Are your doors 
open? Are you a welcoming church?" 

In global terms Makhulu expressed concern over the 
absence of nourishing relationships among churches in the 
Anglican Communion--and what he characterized as the virtual 
dormancy of ecumenical relations, characterized by endless 
dialogues that never lead to improved relationships.

The missionary mindset

Bishop Munawar (Mano) Rumalshah of Pakistan, who was 
recently appointed general secretary of the United Society of the 
Propagation of the Gospel, observed that the mission mindset is 
still that of sender/receiver. He urged a new modality of 
relationship, using the language and symbolism of the body of 
Christ, rather than "partnership" or even "mutual responsibility 
and interdependence." If we are part of the body of Christ, that 
means sharing the same metabolism, he declared. "To me a 
missionary is like a transplant into another part of the body. 
Rejection can mean death for both, acceptance can mean life for 
both." 

He urged Episcopalians to look at giving and receiving 
as something natural within the economy of God. "It's so 
difficult for people in the West to believe they can receive, and 
so difficult for others to believe they have anything to offer. 
Some seem to feel they're trading material resources for 
spirituality, and vice versa." 

Using Pakistan as an example, he said that when 
Christianity was introduced 200 years ago, the missionaries 
reached out to the outcasts, the untouchables. "The scum of the 
earth received the Gospel in its whole incarnated truth. Yet 
today, two-thirds of my people still carry human excrement in 
their hands to make a living. . You'd have to be mad to be a 
Christian. It's not a community of hope or wholesomeness, but a 
people completely deprived. The eradication of poverty is the 
number one task if the mission is to be credible. Somehow we've 
perpetuated this evil," Mano said.

He also warned about the globalization of culture and 
the degradation of the environment, and urged Christians to seek 
ways of influencing situations where people are being exploited. 
"The mission challenge is to empower and enable so that poverty 
and pollution don't devour us all." 

Both Archbishop Makhulu and Bishop Rumalshah addressed 
the crushing burden of international debt and the "evil" of 
poverty. Mano noted that two common themes that emerged in all 
nine regional gatherings prior to the Lambeth Conference were 
international debt and the world of Islam.
The future of mission

In small groups, more than 90 participants 
representing 38 dioceses described mission initiatives in their 
regions, and dreamed about what the future of mission will be. 

These visions included:

*A revival of missionary sending in the church, with 
better information, training, financial support, communication 
and networking capability, all informed by intentional 
intercessory prayer;

*Forgiveness of the third world debt, eradication 
of religious persecution, reconciliation among racial and ethnic 
minorities and people of other faiths;

*Short-term mission experiences for all clergy 
and seminarians, led by their bishops;

*Cross-cultural experiences for all confirmands, 
and more mission opportunities for youth;

*Greater attention to non-traditional ways and 
places for spreading the Gospel, such as prison ministries;

*Listening and praying, listening and praying, 
and seeing mission as part of our baptismal covenant;

*More connections between justice and mission.

The GEM Network, launched by the dioceses of New York 
and Southern Ohio in 1994 in response to a recognized need for 
more diocesan engagement in mission at the congregational level, 
now includes 51 dioceses. It works in collaboration with the 
Anglican and Global Relations staff at the Episcopal Church 
Center, with voluntary mission societies and other member 
agencies of the Episcopal Council for Global Mission, and with 
ecumenical partners.  The Rt. Rev. David B. Reed, retired bishop 
of Kentucky, is the executive director. A governing board 
consists of 12 members representing member dioceses. 

In addition to the annual meeting and educational 
institute, the GEM Network is engaged in a number of projects. 
Reed presented the new GEM Handbook at the Denver meeting. 
Contents include chapters on Organizing a Diocese for Global 
Mission, Sending Mission Workers from a Diocese, Short Term 
Mission Visits, and Receiving Missionaries. Member dioceses have 
received two copies each (as well as one for the bishop's 
office), but additional copies are available from Bishop Reed 
(telephone 1-888-913-6858; fax 502-721-8754; e-mail 
david_reed@ecunet.org.

--Margaret Larom is mission interpreter for the church's 
Anglican and Global Relations cluster.