- HISTORY
- The vision for Missio Dei came about as a result of various influences that occurred over a period of time. One
- Cell church movement 2000
- Outreach 2002
- Bible college 2001-2004
- Wandsworth 2003
- Conference
The forerunner of the vision has always had a passion for evangelism, and had observed a lukewarm attitude to evangelism in general as well as within his local church. Having seen all this, an opportunity arose for him to be apart of the youth leadership team at his church. This then opened an avenue for him to take some of the youth group on a weekend mission trip. During this weekend, it was observed that the pastor was doing most of the work. There was a general fear amongst the local church and the youth team that went along to get involved in street evangelism. The weekend proved successful as a few people committed their lives to Jesus. It also had an impact on those that participated in this event as they became inspired and were empowered to get more involved in evangelism and other areas of church life. Subsequent evangelistic events, locally and with other churches has seen individuals becoming more confident in sharing Jesus with their friends which has led to more people giving their lives to Jesus.
A greater exposure to the cell church movement and other small groups inspired him to get more people involved in personal witnessing which then inspired a rapid growth amongst the youth group. This helped him to understand and act upon the concept that mission is to be carried out to the world by the whole body of Christ.
A few years later, the forerunner went to Bible College. As part of the curriculum, the concept of Missio Dei was taught as found in a book called "Transforming Mission" by David Bosch. He explains that the concept of Missio Dei sees mission as a movement of God to the world and the church is an instrument for that mission, "...it is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfil in the world; it is the mission of the son and the spirit to the father that includes the church..." (Moltmann 1977:64).1 This stayed with him. Further into the course, he was invited by a fellow student to support her church in the area of evangelism. He accepted the invitation and invited a colleague to work alongside him who was also interested in developing her evangelistic skills.
On arriving, the same attitude towards evangelism and church life, as previously experienced was observed whereby the leader was doing pretty much everything with little support. In order to help support them we invited a worship leader from another church to support in the area of worship. In addition other team members provided help in the area of admin and discipieship.
The final piece in the jigsaw puzzle was put in a year after working with this local church. As a result of a time of personal devotion, the pioneer shared with the team his understanding of a part of Abraham's life regarding the birth of his two sons. One child was born with his own wisdom, whilst God promised the other son. Three things became evident to him as a result of this study, which is defined in the concept of Missio Dei. These are:
- The church message needs to be redefined
- The church strategy needs to be re-evaluated
- And Leadership needs to be re-structured
This led the team to plan a conference, which didn't materialise. In order to promote this conference it was agreed that a name needed to be given to the team. Having explained the concept of Missio Dei to the team it was unanimously accepted that this would be an appropriate name as it encompasses everything that we believe in. This then became the beginning of all that we do under the umbrella of Missio Dei. Our core values as explained in the vision a) mission b) church planting c) training and development all have an underlying factor, and that is to 'Bring mission to the forefront of the church's agenda' as we believe that we are a part of God's mission, as should the whole body of Christ.
Bosch, Transforming Mission, (New York: Orbis Books, 1991) page 390