One Lord, One Faith, One Mission

The subtitle to John Franke’s "acceptance speech" is "The unity of the Church and Missional Theology."  He’s had become an official professor of missional theology, so we should expect no less.

The Mission of God is what matters.  The Gospel threatens the rich and powerful because it challenges wealth and power.  The unity of the disciples should be like the unity of the Father and the Son.  This unity is missional.

We are sent out as disciples in the pattern of God’s sending of his Son: by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The phrase "body of Christ" is inherently missional—we are Christ’s presence.  Our unity is not knowledge and agreement, but found in a plurality and diversity of love.  Scripture gives wisdom to all who ask for it.  We must learn to live with the Christian "other," and the world’s "other," this being fitting because of the Trinity’s distinction: living and loving the Other.  The Trinity is united in their interdependence.  The unity called for is not about assimiliation or homogonization, it is about a diverse body working together in mission. 

This participation is found in three groups: Evangelicals, Mainline, and Emergent.  All three, through missional theology, are committed to one mission, this is the bringing together of the church.  We need to walk together in the mission of God and defend one another against each other, because at the end of the day we are part of one mission, and we need each other.  We couldn’t do mission without one another.  Those who aren’t against us are for us.

In Christendom we had the luxury of dividing the Body.  If we are committed to the mission of God in a post-Christian world we must work together, the love of God permeates all our differences.  The Church is to be a denomination for all people.  The unity of the Church is the will of God, the one mission of God.  The mission does not belong to us, it belongs to God, he invites us to take it up as our calling (by his Spirit).  We must learn to depend on God and others.  We must learn thanksgiving for the others.