Core mission theology

Whoever thinks they have to choose between intellect and faith, will sooner or later lose their footing. It is actually a thought-provoking observation that, for many Christians, faith and intellect stands in an exclusive tension: Either I trust my mind or I trust God and his Word. But it becomes quickly clear that the Bible has quite a different view of the meaning of the intellect: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22,37).

Core mission theology as a servant

Theology is somehow the servant of our other three core missions. Here we think about how church can be built in a healthy way, which ministry and which responsibility we have to the world and how people can be accompanied in their calling. In this sense, theology and as well as core mission theology does not have a right to exist "in itself" alone, but only in the vital interaction with the questions and challenges of life - e.g. how we also approach the core missions "Church building", "mission and pioneer-work" and "personnel development".

Therefore core mission theology will always be connected with topics of the church life, the pastoral care, the encounter with people that do not share the same faith or with our general responsibility towards the world we live in.

To be a spokesman for God

Healthy teaching, however, serves exactly through the confrontation and the raising of its correcting voice in the service of the life. Let us take an example. In our western society, success actually prevails: whoever is successful must be right! In a certain manner, this influence has also begun to shape (free-)church work. Here, theology gets a special position: In God's name and, therefore, in the name of a reflected biblical interpretation, theology must dare to resist that which seems successful. Not everything, which works and results in church growth at the moment, serves long-term spiritual growth. Since the theology is subject to the God of life, it must continuously ask the uncomfortable question whether the church is only being built or lives are set free.

At the same time, we are convinced that whoever resists the temptation of fast and superficial success, will be successful in a much more integral and more lasting way in the long-term. In this sense, the members of the core mission theology team should eventually take hold of their prophetic responsibility. Not only does God's word want to be administered, but also to be spoken anew into current life circumstances. New ways should be discovered and apparent short cuts be exposed as dead ends – all in the service of life, for: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John10,10).

Concretely

Currently, the team of the core mission theology consists of seven men, who are interested in grappling with the biblical message and work as full or part-time pastors. In the next years, we hope to hear the female perspective as well as the voice of non-professionals in the work of this team. However, we are also aware that this can be quite a challenge, due to limited availability and time restraints.

The results of the core mission theology's work are published at the pastors' theological convention, in official statements of the church's leadership, at the different classes of the InstitutePlus as well as in articles of the movement's magazine ONLINE – and through an offer of relevant seminar and sermon topics, which will soon be expanded as a support for the local churches.