Being Missional, Becoming Missional: A Biblical-theological Study of the Missional Conversion of the Church
[Thesis]
Cho, Banseok
Pachuau, Lalsangkima
Asbury Theological Seminary
2019
323 p.
Ph.D.I.S.
Asbury Theological Seminary
2019
This study explores the theme of the "missional conversion of the church," or how the church is transformed toward its missionary vocation, from a biblical-theological perspective. The purpose of this study is to find biblically grounded, theologically sound, and practically applicable principles that would help the church to continuously, authentically, and fully participate in God's mission today. This study approaches this theme with five chapters. Chapter 1 (Introduction) describes the background, research problem, and research methodology of this study. In order to explore the nature of how the church is missionally transformed, this study takes the term missional conversion of the church as an integrative, conceptual term for this study, is framed by the concept of missio Dei as the guiding theological perspective of this study, and employs missional hermeneutics as an interpretive method to explore the biblical narrative. Chapter 2 focuses on Yahweh's work of shaping the people of Israel toward their missionary vocation in the Old Testament narrative from the Exodus and through the periods of wilderness, consequence, and monarchy. This chapter shows that, since Yahweh revealed the missional purpose he had for the people of Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant, he continuously shaped them toward being a contrast people, whose life reflects the holiness of God and, by extension, presents it to the nations. Chapter 3 is dedicated to Jesus's work of shaping his disciples toward their missionary vocation through his earthly ministry. This chapter shows that Jesus in his earthly ministry continued Yahweh's work of shaping the people of Israel toward their missionary vocation and that the characteristics of Israel's missional conversion are also found in Jesus's work in the disciples' missional conversion. Furthermore, the analysis of the whole ministry of Jesus-his birth, life, death and resurrection-demonstrates that Israel's missionary vocation did not merely continue with the disciples, but became intensified and expanded as the missionary vocation of the disciples became centered on Jesus. Chapter 4 looks into the Holy Spirit's work of shaping the earliest church toward its missionary vocation, particularly in the Book of Acts. This chapter shows that the triune God's work of shaping his people toward being a missionary people continued in and through the Holy Spirit. The earliest church was transformed into a people who witnessed to Jesus in both their inward life and outward ministry through the empowerment and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 5 (Conclusion) presents the main thesis and summarizes research findings in an integrative way. This study argues that the church's missional conversion is primarily a consequence of its continuous encounter with the triune God. This main thesis is grounded in four foundational components which led the church's transformation toward its missionary vocation-(1) the missional potentiality of the church, (2) the missional vulnerability of the church, (3) the missional faithfulness of God, and (4) the church's encounter with the triune God. Furthermore, this study suggests that the missional conversion of the church is profoundly and fundamentally trinitarian-theo-derived, Christocentric, and pneuma-driven-and that the missional conversion of the church is essentially a continuous process, holistic, and ecclesio-responsive. In addition, this study identifies three contributive factors that stimulate the missional conversion of the church: the church's communal life, its participation in crosscultural mission, and its intercultural engagement with culturally different Christian communities. Lastly, this study suggests four resources that the church should engage for its missional conversion: Scripture, culture, the church, and theology.