A Reflection Paper in Missiology

The Church, the Urban: A Mission in an

Age of Global Cities
By: Dale T. Irvin

December 19, 2009

Submitted By

Erlito V. Ebia
ATEP - Student

Submitted to:

Fr. Andre De Bleeker, CICM

Professor
Summary:

Globalization and Urbanization bring a lot of changes in the world today; the most

affected one is the way we comprehend a city, this alters the way we understand basic human

existence and realities in this world which includes our way of perceiving the functions of

society, economics, politics and culture. Before, the city was the center of trade and industry; it is

the center of everything. But now the city is becoming de-centered and trans-centered; it seeks

connections with other cities. This rapid and amazing change of a city to global and mega cities

give the missionary Church a huge challenge to fulfil her mission.

If, before, the mission of the Church is a “Salt-water” type of mission, where one is

needed to cross the sea to reach another country set as a mission territory. Today the mission of

the church is beyond geographical location. The Church is called to be a missionary to

everybody and everywhere in the globe - a place where human person was being formed and

deformed; a place for sinners and saints; a place where one can find signs and counter signs of

God’s Reign.

What are the implications of this change?

First, Christian mission before is territorial. But due to globalization and urbanization, the

previous notion, which is the construction of Christian-mission territories, has been superseded.

Everything now is de-territorialized and re-territorialized, hence the Church is challenged to read

the sign of the times and tries to adapt into this existing phenomenon.

Second, since the old concept of Christian-mission territories has been superseded, the

idea of culture as static and unchanging has been superseded too. Before Christian-mission

territories were considered untouched by present development, hence culture was considered

pure and authentic. However, today the issue is different; everywhere becomes the melting pot of
different cultures. Immigrants are proliferating everywhere. Thus, it provides everybody inter or

cross-cultural experiences. The challenge for the Church is to provide a multi-cultural nature of

formation for future missionaries.

The third implication concerns on the authority of biblical texts. In an urbanized and

globalized world the Word of God should be made appropriate and meaningful to a multi-

cultural situation without undermining its original intention or meaning. The Bible can be a one

book for everybody in any situation. Hence, hermeneutics of social location is significant in the

production and re-production of biblical knowledge to any context and experience.

The last implication concerns on the level of engagement within other religions.

Religious pluralism is not new; it is an obvious reality both in Asia and Africa even before the

dawn of globalization and urbanization. At any rate, a deeper understanding on multi-faith living

is not just important but a necessary component of a mission or ministry in this contemporary

world.

However, even though every city in the world becomes the melting pot of different

cultures; and the point of convergence of different races through the advancement of technology.

Poverty, in all kinds and in different features in different societies and situations, is still the locus

of theological reflection in this aeon of urbanization and globalization. Thus, continuous

theological reflection upon and untiring engagement on new challenges in various places are

imperative in doing a mission in a globalized and urbanized setting – the global or mega cities.
Reflection Paper:

Today many people exist without God. But, we need God, because we cannot live

without God. Thus, there are many territories today to which God must be taken, but today I

believe that the most essential place where God is a necessity is the human person.

The notions that priests in Religious Congregations are the only missionaries and that

Christian Mission is territorial have been expanded by globalization and urbanization. In a post-

modern world, everybody is called to be a missionary and everywhere can be a mission territory.

Since the pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature (Ad Gentes #2); and we are the

Church (Lumen Gentium #9), then we are missionaries and are called by God for a mission to

anybody anywhere in this world. However, missionaries today need not search far for lands to

evangelize, although we don’t set aside the need of it, since the principal mission now is the

human person. In other words, where there are human beings, then there must be missionaries.

But what is to be a missionary? For me to be a missionary is to be an “alter Christus” to others.

That is, to be a true witness of Jesus in the world today. Like Jesus, his life becomes the living

manifestation of his Father in heaven. But we need to begin within our community or with street-

children or with our co-workers or with our family or within the schools. However, we can’t give

Jesus to others if we don’t know him first. Hence, the Bible is still necessary for us to explore

and comprehend, intellectually and spiritually so we can apply it in our life, in any cultural

milieu. “Nemo dat quod non habet.” We can’t give what we don’t have.

This change is a challenge, not a deletion of a long-standing notion of mission in the

Church as salt-water evangelization. It is a challenge to be more Christ-like a sign of hope, of

unity or of contradiction if needed, to people in all walks of life who are fragmented, highly

commercialized and materialistic as product or by-product of globalization and urbanization.