On Being Right - and Wrong - about Mission

Minister, Rev John Carr, community organiser Paul McMahon, and researcher Rev Dr Steve Taylor, recently wrote to UCANZ Facilitator, Rev Andrew Doubleday, challenging information included in an article he wrote. We reproduce content from that correspondence to encourage constructive conversations about mission in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The reflection “Maybe we got it wrong.” Click Here begins with a quote attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Online research reveals no evidence that Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated that “Mission is what the church does when it is dying.” 

ChatGPT suggests that the idea that "Mission is what the church does when it is dying" can be paraphrased from the broader themes in missional theology discussed by Darrel Guder and others. The phrase emerges from Guder’s concern that some churches only turn to mission when they face decline. When this happens, mission is reduced to an instrument that might fill empty pews. Instead, Guder calls for mission to be rightfully placed as their central focus from the beginning.

In Letters and Papers from Prison, Bonhoeffer wrote, “The church is the church only when it exists for others.” For Bonhoeffer, mission was never about self-preservation, nor was it a last-ditch effort to stave off decline. Rather, it was an outworking of the church’s very nature.

A church that focuses only inward, preoccupied with maintaining its own community and rituals, risks becoming isolated and stagnant. This insular approach, while comfortable, can lead to spiritual atrophy. Bonhoeffer’s theology challenges us to ask: is the church truly alive if it is only sustaining itself, or does life come from embracing the mission of embodying God’s love in the world?

This perspective aligns with women’s wisdom upon which Jesus draws in the Gospels.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” (Matthew 13:33)

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like yeast—a small, active agent that permeates and transforms its environment from within. This takes patience. So too with the kingdom. The mission of God is wrongly understood as something the church does out of desperation. Rather it’s the natural expression of a faith that is alive and responsive, like yeast, present and active amid the needs of the world. Mission is the yeast that works through the dough, quietly transforming it. Mission as yeast calls to church to be a transforming presence, not simply to grow in numbers but to be faithful to God’s call to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8).

The reflection written by Rev Andrew Doubleday places mission in opposition to pastoral care. We ask, ‘ Why can’t pastoral care be a form of mission?’

The example of the small parish that is growing through simply “being themselves.” is a beautiful story. It rightly  points to something deeper.; to growth coming not from an inward focus but from the authenticity of their shared life. The welcome they offer and the relationships they form are a reflection of God’s love spilling out beyond themselves. There is a witness to the power of genuine community and the attractiveness of people who love God and one another. In the sharing of lives, mission is happening.

Mission is not a programme or a burden imposed on the church from outside. Centred in God’s love for the world, mission is the fruit of a church that is alive. As the people of God, we are called to nurture and care for our  neighbour, those who enter our church buildings and those in the world around us.

To thrive, each of us needs to be able give to something greater than ourselves, to have a sense of purpose - to have mission and to participate in the mission of God.

That mission, like granules of yeast, is undertaken through small acts contributing to making our corners of the world, no matter how seemingly-insignificant, better places through giving ourselves for the good of our neighbours and in the love of God.

Our communities are teaming with life, colour, and the glorious work of the Spirit is underway drawing all of us towards light, love, and justice. We do not need to bring God to our communities but rather to name the beauty, truth, and love we see as the work of God - to contribute yeast that brings forth something delicious among us.

These understandings of mission affirm the example of the small parish that is growing, yet also note the limits. In a country with a retirement bulge, we need retiree welcoming churches. Equally, in a country with ever increasing-ethnic diversity and growing populations of younger Māori and Pacifika peoples, we need churches spilling God’s love spilling out beyond themselves.

Perhaps the key is to rethink rather than reject “mission.” The church doesn’t do mission because it’s dying; to get people in the doors. The church does mission because it’s living out the reality of God’s love. This love is always breaking in and reaching out. This love challenges understandings of mission that colonize, proselytize or generate growth that dehumanises those in the world that God loves.

This might involve welcome of those who have recently retired and it might also involve offering messy church for the grandchildren of Somerset residents. Or shifting finance away from inward care to outward love and pastoral care of RSE workers. Or taking time to learn from mana whenua about their experiences of settler colonisation and mission history. Or encouraging the knitting of climate scarves which are then shared with politicians to encourage care for the earth God loves.

Could we work together, each in our own small ways, like yeast, to rediscover God’s love for the world? As Bonhoeffer reminds us, in that love the church exists for others. This doesn’t mean neglecting those already within, but rather embracing a vision where inward and outward focus are held together. When we live into this balance, mission is no longer a burden—it becomes the yeast that leavens the whole loaf, bringing life both within and beyond our walls.