15.09.2017
BACI’s Autumn Lecture Examines How Churches Engage with the Five Marks of Mission
The Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission came under the BACI spotlight at their Autumn Lecture on Wednesday evening (September 13). The Biblical Association of the Church of Ireland engaged five different speakers to bring their perspectives on the Five Marks to the lecture which took place in Castleknock Parish Centre.
The Revd Jack Kinkead, Priest in Charge in Wicklow, spoke on the first mark: Tell – to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. The Revd Lesley Robinson, Rector of Clontarf, addressed the second: Teach – to teach, baptise and nurture new believers. The third mark: Tend – to respond to human need by loving service, was taken on by Philip McKinley, Church of Ireland Chaplain in DCU. Rector of Castleknock, Canon Paul Houston, spoke on the fourth mark: Transform – to transform unjust structures, challenge violence and pursue peace and reconciliation. Chief Officer of the RCB, David Ritchie, spoke on the fifth mark: Treasure – to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
Each speaker had nine minutes to expound on their mark of mission and associated passage of Scripture. Their contribution will provide the basis for BACI’s 2018 Lent Bible Study which is taken up not just by parishes and groups throughout the Church of Ireland but across the Anglican Communion.
Introducing the evening, the Revd Dr William Olhausen, chair of BACI said that the Five Marks of Mission were not only of significant importance to the Anglican Communion, but in Dublin & Glendalough there has been a focus on finding a deeper connection between parishes and individuals and the Five Marks.
In his presentation, the Revd Jack Kinkead described the first mark of mission as the linchpin on which all five hung and a summary of what mission is about. He said his faith had been shaped by his reading of the Scriptures but before that it was shaped by other people who proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom. Referring to the Sending out of the 70 [Luke 10] he said the passage dealt with the themes of self preservation, the importance of the integrity of mission, the upward struggle, why so cruel God?, the harvest is plentiful but the labourers few. He suggested that it was important to remember that the mission was God’s. “We proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. It is not our message it is the Lord’s… The mission is God’s and there is a sense of freedom in that. Telling can be the hardest thing but there are many good ways of telling. The more involved in the community the church is the more proclaiming happens,” he said.
The Revd Lesley Robinson noted that the Five Marks of Mission were an attempt to identify five ways of seeing the Church’s tasks in the world. Focussing on the Commissioning text [Matthew 28: 16–20] she said that baptism was the ‘entry level’ to the Church but that in the Book of Common Prayer there was a real sense of baptism being a journey. She said Jesus wants disciples and disciples are learners. “Any of us can have a role in nurturing and taking the initiative to share the basics of Christ’s life and leave the rest to God. It’s about modelling Christ rather than telling about Christ. The goal of education in the church is to form communities of believers,” she explained. She added that discipling others involved teaching others to read the Bible, how to pray for what really matters, teaching people to recognise and deal with temptation, teaching people to integrate with others and to recognise and develop their God given gifts.
Philip McKinley looked at the third mark – Tend – in global terms and took as his text Jeramiah 29: 4–7) which he said contained a big post apocalyptic vision. Jeramiah gives the Israelites the tools to rebuild their society, which had been destroyed, from the ground up. This could be compared to Aleppo, the Rohingya and other catastrophes we see today. He outlined Jeramiah’s four pillars as being: build houses and settle in them; plant gardens and eat the produce; increase in number and seek the prosperity of the city. “This is significant because this meets the fundamental qualities that all humans need. You can take each of these pillars and each is a door into a myriad of questions,” he said. Building houses was the start of civilisation as before that people were nomadic. This idea continues to dictate how we live today with the boom/bust, ghost estates, homelessness, displacement and nationalism. Planting gardens opens the discussion of global warming, climate change, food waste, consumption, sustainability and detachment from the natural world. Increasing numbers invites us to look at what we hand on to future generations. Seeking prosperity for the city brings us to think of not just bricks and mortar but human interaction.
Canon Paul Houston looked at the Church’s role in transforming unjust structures with the help of three texts [Isaiah 58: 1–10, Micah 6: 6–8 and Amos 5: 21–24]. He posed the question ‘What are people offering God and what does God value?’ While the people in the passages were fasting and presenting burnt offerings what God wanted was them to fight for justice, he suggested. He said that people needed a sense of solidarity, a sense that they were not just individuals but individuals in community. He looked at the role of the people coming together in solidarity to challenge unjust structures and effect change in Eastern Europe and South Africa and said the Churches played an enormous part in that change. “The basic question is whether Christians should be involved in politics and I believe they should. They should speed on the work of God, love their neighbour and give priority to the needs of the poor. Should we escape or engage? Escape means turning our backs on the world. Engagement means turning our faces towards the world in compassion,” he said.
In looking at the final mark, to treasure creation, David Ritchie, said that in creation we were considering God’s gift and asked why and how we should protect it. Pointing to Scripture he said that in Genesis it was stated: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and God saw that it was good”. He suggested that we often missed the idea that creation was good. Referring to Psalm 8 he said that to love creation means loving its creator. “If we have been given such a splendid creation, why do we end up with scenes like [flooding and disaster]?” he asked. “Because we have not taken seriously the responsibility we have been given. We need ideas and we need to consider our own spheres of influence.” He added that it was not just about global action but about what we could do ourselves and how we personally could influence others. He outlined the Representative Church Body’s carbon engagement project with the Church of England and other RCB initiatives including the stipulation that any trees cut down must be replaced by two and new bee projects. But he said individuals and parishes must all look at their impact on the environment and encouraged all parishes to support Eco Congregation. “As Christians we miss the real point of why we should treasure creation – it’s an expression of thankfulness to the Creator,” he said.