Johannes Nissen, Department of Old and New Testament, Faculty
of Theology, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
E-mail:
Nissen@teologi.au.dk
Abstract
Witnessing to the Indiscriminate Love of God
The Holy Spirit and authentic witness
This paper offers some reflections on the theme of the IAMS
assembly. It has four parts. In the first part mission is defined as bearing
witness in word and deed. It is important to consider how the gospel can be
communicated with integrity. Authentic mission works in a way that is different
from manipulation. Christians are called to be authentic witnesses within each
culture. Hence, the integrity of mission implies a double faithfulness. On the
one hand the witnesses must be faithful to the Bible; on the other hand they
must listen to the challenges and questions from the context in which they are.
A balance has to be found between the universal aspect of the gospel and its
contextual expression. To counteract the absolutizing of our own context it is
necessary to stimulate a cross cultural hermeneutics of the gospel.
The second part aims at identifying the bearers of the witness. Two major forms
are considered. On the one hand are the individual bearers of the witness (e.g.
the disciples; the poor and marginalized; the women). On the other hand is the
concept of community witness. It is pointed out that reconciliation constitutes
an important focus and characteristic of mission. Mission as reconciliation is
an embracing of the “other”. Reconciled communities are witnesses to God´s
indiscriminate love. By contrast, brokenness is a counter-witness to Christ.
The focus of the third part is on witness and dialogue in a pluralistic society.
A major problem in any dialogue is how to maintain Christian integrity while at
the same time being open to people of other faith. Two books in the New
Testament are of special interest, the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of
John. A dynamic understanding of the Spirit is reflected in both writings.
According to the Acts of the Apostles witnessing in the Spirit is a pointer to
God who has “no favourites”. Crucial to the Fourth Gospel is the relation
between text, Spirit and community. The fourth part insists that Christian hope
is an indispensable part of the mission of the church. The words of 1 Pet
3:15-16 are of special interest. This passage in a particular way indicates that
the integrity of mission means witness to and dialogue with non-Christians.
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