MISSIO DEI: FIVE THEOLOGICAL CONTOURS OF THE CONCEPT OF MISSION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31392/cult.alm.2026.3.9Keywords:
hermeneutics, the missional nature of the Church, incarnational mission, holistic mission, contextualization, Missio DeiAbstract
This paper offers a comprehensive theological reflection on Missio Dei through five interrelated theological contours that together form a theocentric, trinitarian, and holistic paradigm of mission. The study’s relevance stems from the need to rethink the church’s nature and mission amid contemporary social crises – particularly the fullscale war in Ukraine – and from the fragmented and insufficiently systematized reception of Missio Dei theology in Ukrainian missiology. The study’s methodological foundation is a biblical-theological and hermeneutical analysis of Scripture, combined with critical reflection on the contemporary missiological tradition. It is argued that mission is not a function of the church, but an attribute of the Triune God, Who is its source, subject, and accomplisher, so that its nature is theocentric and trinitarian rather than anthropocentric or ecclesiastic. On this basis, the Bible is viewed as a missional phenomenon requiring missional hermeneutics, and the church is viewed as the fruit, sign, and instrument of God’s mission, called not to initiate its own mission but to participate in the Missio Dei. It is argued that the church’s mission must follow the mission of Jesus Christ as its normative model, combining the principles of incarnation, contextualization, and holistic ministry that unites proclamation and diaconal service. Special attention is given to the universal nature of God’s mission, directed toward all peoples, cultures, and linguistic communities, which reorients mission from a political-geographical to an ethnic-linguistic frame of reference. The proposed model integrates biblical hermeneutics, ecclesiology, and practical missiology into a single theological system, overcoming reductionist approaches that reduce mission merely to evangelism, church growth, or social ministry, and instead affirming their organic unity. It can serve as a theological foundation for the development of contemporary Ukrainian missiology and for rethinking the church’s calling in the context of war, social transformation, and postwar recovery
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