From the Desk of the Archdeacon

The Ven. Michael Doty

As I began to explore and live into this new position of Archdeacon for Mission I realized that it was necessary for me to spend some time reflecting on just what I understood to be my new duties. The title of archdeacon is, after all, somewhat arbitrary. It could just as well be canon or something else. As a title it simply means that I work full time on the staff of the Bishop as a priest with a particular emphasis—in my case mission. What an intimidating task! The "mission of the Church" is a vast arena with countless facets. As both lay person and priest I have always been engaged in the mission of the Church, but now the scope of that engagement has been expanded beyond anything I have known before. Needless to say, it is a job far beyond the wisdom and abilities of any single human being, and I look for each of you to share in it fully.

Mission is the work of the Church—the whole Church. It belongs to each one of us. It is fundamental to our identity as Christian people, no matter what our denomination or tradition. It should be a cogent and central piece of our individual daily lives. It should cause us deep concern, both locally and worldwide. And it should bind us together as we minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Holy Scripture provides the framework for our pursuit of mission. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 is the consummate call to mission. There Jesus sends his disciples (us!) into the world saying "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Later, Acts chapter 10 records how God showed Peter in a vision that all people, no matter what their circumstances, are to be presented the Good News. St. Peter even remarks to the Gentile centurion whom he was called to teach, "You know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection...I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Therefore, based solely on scriptural warrant, we all called to share the Gospel with everyone—no exceptions.

But that sharing involves far more than just talking about Jesus Christ and the Gospel. At its most basic, ministering the Gospel often means entering into relationship with someone wholly unlike our selves. It involves being in community, if you will, with others who may not share many of the same ideas and values as we, but still seeking to be as one with them in the love of Christ. It means sacrificing our own subjectivity for the sake of drawing someone else into a salvific relationship with Jesus Christ. It means opening our hearts and minds to different faces, hopes, fears, feelings and beliefs than we might otherwise know in order to witness, listen, share and pray.

The essential mission of the Church is to draw all people into a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. The establishment of that relationship assumes an ongoing relationship of the same type with the whole body of believers—i.e. the Church. Not the Church as institution, but the Church as the Body of Christ; real people standing in love and support of one another through good times and bad times, thick and thin, ups and downs. It means being for one another as Jesus Christ has been for us—a self-sacrificial presence of love.

As I said earlier, the mission of the Church has many facets. As a matter of fact, there is one facet for each person. And as the facets on the face of a diamond reflect and amplify the brilliance of the light around it, we, as facets of the Church, must reflect and amplify the internal brilliance of the love of God in our lives through our missionary relationships. In the end, all mission comes down to one person sharing their love of Jesus Christ and the Good News of the Kingdom of God with another. That sharing means establishing a relationship of trust and the mutual communication of care, sometimes with someone very unlike our self. In the end it is at this most basic level that the real ministry of the Church begins; not because we are all alike, but because we are all so very, very different and are all still of value in the eyes of God.

May God bless and keep us all as we seek to share with one another, and especially with those who do not yet know it, the love of God given for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.