Swedish Missiological Themes, 90, 4 (2002)

New Ecclesiologies

Jan Grski

Missiology, founded a hundred years ago, has made its way towards an
autonomous theological discipline. Since its very beginning, it was closely
connected with the other theological subjects, including ecclesiology. Both
theological subjects were created in the context of the renewal of theology
within the Christian Churches since the mid-nineteenth century. The
connection between ecclesiology and missiology within the Catholic Church
was strongly emphasised in the papal encyclical, Redemptoris missio (1990):
The missions belong to the one Church mission, incorporation of the
missiology into the ecclesiology and the location of both of them within
the entire Trinitarian salvation plan, gave a new breath to mission activity,
located ever since in the heart of its life as the basic obligation of the God's
People, not as something put on its margin.1

From the very beginning the creation of communities - communio - received

special attention in missiological thought. Within Catholic missiology, the
discussion developed regarding the aims of the missions: praedicare (the
Munster School), to propagate the faith, and plantatio (Louvain School), to
plant the Church.2 It is safe to say that the question of how the mission task is
performed, ecclesiology can provide an answer. "Ecclesiology is perhaps the
area of systematic theology that would be most affected if the doctrine of the
missio Dei were made more central to the theological enterprise."3

This answer shows the model of the living Church. In order to bring about
the possibilities of practically realising theological experiences, it mainly
uses models that can show the rules applicable in various situations. The
doctrine of the Church, as developed in ecclesiology, approximates the
models that facilitate the means for the accomplishment of the Jesus Christ'
work. Bearing in mind the connections between the missiology and

1
Redemptoris missio, p. 32.
2
K. Muller, Missionstheologie. Eine Einfuhrung. Berlin, 1985, pp. 28-31.
3
S. Bevans, 'Wisdom from the Margins', Verbum SVDt fase. 1 vol. 43 (2002), p. 107.
468 Jan Grski

ecclesiology, and following L. J. Luzbetak, one could assume the applicability

of ecclesiological models to missiology.4 For Christians, the fulfilment of the
missionary imperative is motivated by the search for even more suitable
models for the Church community. When the mission imperative is a defining
criterion, models can also be found within ecclesiology.

The contextual dimension of ecclesiology

During the twentieth century, ecclesiology has development greatly within

the Christian Churches. That was caused by the growth of the mission and
ecumenical spirit. Christians started to search for a way ut unum sint. The
new understanding of inculturation put an emphasis on the contextual
dimension of theology. The conditions outside of the European context
have also given new strength to theological reflection. Contextualisation
was firstly developed in relation to mission vocations and it started from
outside of Europe. We can and should talk today about continental
ecclesiologies: African ecclesiology, Asian ecclesiology, and American
ecclesiology. As far as Europe is concerned, this means that accordingly
the place and experience of faith has to be considered. In this way, the
abundance of faith experience in particular Churches can be helpful in
explaining Christ's work.

The contextual dimension accounts for the differences in our views of the
Church, and it has replaced previous confessional differences. The closer
relation among Churches is due to ecumenical dialogue and it is beneficial
for all of theology. According to the exchange of theological experience, it is
mainly the place of reflection - the context - that is noticeable, not the
confessional differences. One can distinguish this when analysing cultic forms.

The model of the Church as the place of divine mercy

experience
The document My siici Corporis Christi (1943) by Pius XII had great
influence on the image of the Church in Catholic thought. The idea of the
Church as the Body of Christ comes from St Paul (Rom 12,5: ICor 12,27).
The community as the necessary prerequisite for taking part in the Church
4
L. J. Luzbetak, Ko[ciB a kultury. Nowe perspektywyw antropologa misyjnej, Warsaw,
1998, pp. 151-155.
 New Ecclesiologies 469

was strongly stressed by this image.5 The vision of the Church however
further evolved during the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The model
of a more dynamic image of the pilgrimage of God's People arose from a
more stagnant one. "This metaphor people of God sees the Church as a
pilgrim people, a people on the road toward its final goal, the fullness of
the kingdom to come." 6 It corresponded closely with the missional
description of the missionary task in the Church as God's People: "The
Church on earth is by its very nature missionary since, according to the
plan of the Father, it had its origin in the mission of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit."7 Missionary activities of the Church do not exclude dialogue or
proclamation to the world, as can be seen by historical and contemporary
events. Mission used the experience of the dialogue, and mission can be
seen as a form of dialogue. The role of the Church as the People of God's
demands a deepening of spirituality. Looking at the interest in Eastern
spirituality, we can observe the search by contemporary people for meaning.
Similarly, there is a developing regard for Christian Orthodox theology,
and it is very interesting to see how this is affecting the formulation of
orthodox missiology.

In those parts of Central and Eastern Europe afflicted by totalitarian regimes

during the twentieth century, there is a great and urgent need for explanations
and experience of faith. The Church was and should be the place for people
to find such responses. It is noteworthy that the title of one document by
the present Pope, who has his roots in this part of Europe, is Dives in
misericordia - 'God who is rich in mercy'. By discovering the Church as
the place of special meeting and experiencing the merciful God, great hope
is given to everyone. "The Church proclaims the truth about God's mercy
as revealed in Christ - crucified and risen from the dead, and confesses it
in different ways. The Church also is making an effort to show mercy to
the people, as it is the condition of maintaining the better, "more human"
world of today and tomorrow."8 God is rich in mercy - that is main point of
the missionary decree Ad Gentes. "Only love should decide whether
something should be done or not, changed or left unchanged. Love is the
rule of acting and the final destination of all. Whatever is done for or
5
M. Kehl, Die Kirche. Eine katholische Ekklesiologie. Wurzburg, 1993, p. 286;
J. Fuellenbach, Church Community for the Kingdom. New York 2002, p. 47.
6
J. Fuellenbach, Church Community for the Kingdom. New York 2002, p. 45.
7
Ad Gentes Divinitus, p. 2.
8
Dives in misericordia, p. 15.
470 Jan Grski

according to love will never be wrong."9 By bringing this truth to the people,
one also brings a new order to their everyday life.

A model of communicative space

Since its inception, the Church has become especially experienced in meeting
people of various races, nations, cultures, languages, religions and outlooks
on life. Pentecost shows perfectly the Churches possibilities for dialogue
and adaptation. Representatives of particular people, nations, countries and
continents have always presented the world to their own time epoch. The
Church is ever and always learning how to "go outside". The fruit of this
process is better cognition and application of the rules of inculturation, which
gives the possibility of accommodating its teaching to situational conditions,
as well as incorporating cultural and religious uniqueness. That is the way
Yves Congar understood the future of the Church: "I am positive the Church
will soon be called a 'Church of the nations', the Church of great religions, I
mean, not of non-Western cultures."10 The Church in dialogue will not
succumb to the temptations and dangers of colonisation and ghettoisation.
Professor Paul Zuhlener's comments are remarkable: "It is hard to forecast
the decline in the numbers of people in the Church in the future. We can
observe the symptoms of people's returning to the 'communicative space' of
the Church wherever dialogue takes place. This discourse can, if it is God's
will, bring new believers into the Church. We have gained increasing numbers
of people interested in the Church, whereas few became members of the
Church."11 Dialogue evidently becomes the way of missions: "Inter-religious
dialogue belongs to the evangelistic mission of the Church. Dialogue is not
opposed to the mission ad gentes if considered as a method of reciprocal
cognition; on the contrary, it is keenly connected to mission and functions as
its expression."12

Ecclesiology of community
Mission endeavour has allowed Europeans to discover a special but often
forgotten feature: hospitality. The lack of hospitality could be one of the
9
Izaak De Stella, Kazanie 31: PL. pp. 194, 1793; Redemptoris missio, p.60.
10
J. Puyo, {yeie dlaprawdy. Rozmowy ojeem Congarem, Warsaw 1982, p. 150.
11
P. Zuhlener, Europa otwartych drzwi, Tygodnik Powszechny 1 (2002) p. 10.
12
Redemptoris missio, p. 55.
 New Ecclesiologies All

reasons why people leave the traditional Churches, and sometimes join
smaller communities. Today, it is necessity to show the social dimension
of belief. The testimony from the early period of Church says remarkably:
"look how much they love each other" (Acts). According to the fulfilment
of the mission vocation as being a sign of the vitality of community, the
words of Redemptoris missio are worth mentioning here: the missional,
Christian family or church community way of life is the first testimony
showing a new way of acting."13

There is continuously present in the Church a concern about creating and

proper functioning of community, expressed in different forms of the
religious life. The family is the first ekklesia where one can experience a
meeting with God and in the context of proper human relations. "The family
is a place where hospitality is experienced, the Pascal mystery is fulfilled
and evangelisation occurs. The family is church by its mission and its special
aptitude for transmitting the gospel."14 There are four elements that constitute
a family as church: Christ's presence, evangelisation, prayer and experience
of love.15

Increasingly, we see the need of also relating models of community life to

the ecumenical dimension. Such groups can be intensively involved in
missions, providing good examples and testimonies of Christian life. We
can underline the fact that today it is not a problem to find new theoretical
models but the challenge is to demonstrate these possibilities in practice.

Conclusion

Ecclesiology, like every other branch of theology, tends to evolve swiftly.

That we can talk about different ecclesiologies today is due to the
inculturation and contextualisation processes. Differences are related to
continental contexts. Certainly historical events have also influenced the
image of the Church and ecclesiological models. The missional conscious,
dialogue with religions, and the ecumenical dialogue, are all very important
influences on the development of Church studies.
13
Redemptoris missio, p. 42.
14
Paul VI, Allocution aux Equipes Notre-Dame, in Documentation catholique (1970), .
1564, 504; Evangelii nuntiandi, pp. 70-71.
15
J. Fuellenbach, Church Community for the Kingdom. New York 2002, pp. 72-73.
 ^ s
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