‘n Kerk wat getuig, is ‘n kerk wat leef. ‘n Ekklesiologiese perspektief op die missionêre karakter van die kerk - Deel II

Abstract

In the first of these two articles  we focused on  the Biblical perspective of the missionary church. The focus in the second article is on the ecclesiology. It is essential to remember that the church is rooted in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ himself and his ministry was the beginning of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15). The church exists not  for her own sake, but  for the world for whom Jesus was crucified. This is the vantage point  for a missionary church at the end of the Christendom paradigm. The missionary character of the church (the church as an apostolic church) and eschatology were not always in die focus of the theology of the reformed churches in the Western world. Of the four notes or marks of the church as one, holy, catholic and  apostolic, apostolic is  the norm for the other three. Apostolicity is a precondition and a result for the church as a missionary church. The message of a missionary church  is the only real answer in the search for meaning in this world.