The Marks of Mission: Proclaiming the Good News

Thomas Baldwin considers the first of the five Marks of Mission in the second part of a six-part series.

COVER

LAST month, we introduced the Five Marks of Mission, a definition of mission which will be used to inform and prioritise the work of the central Church of Scotland.

The Five Marks can be loosely separated into two groups. The second group (which we will come to in future months), is about creating the kind of world Christians want to see, through service to others, speaking out and taking action on the issues important to us.

The first group, consisting of the first two Marks, is about creating new believers, echoing the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 (‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’).

And while the Marks of Mission are intended to be taken as a whole, with no hierarchy amongst the Marks, a church will struggle to achieve much in the second group if it neglects the first group. As the Very Rev Dr Martin Fair warned at last year’s General Assembly: “I’ve heard it so many times that, for the Church, it’s not about numbers. It absolutely will be about numbers if the numbers are so low that the Church can no longer run (social care provider) CrossReach or local caring services because the local church isn’t there anymore.

“So I long for the Church to be about that Kingdom work but, oh boy, how we need the Church to be refreshed, renewed, revitalised, remade and, yes, reformed that it might do it more effectively… we’d better see to (Marks) one and two if we’re going to be any good at three, four and five.”

The first Mark of Mission reads ‘to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom’. But what might a Church that is doing that well look like, in the context of Scotland in 2021?

The Rev Tommy MacNeil, minister of Stornoway: Martin’s Memorial, last year published Sleeping Giant: A Call to the Church to Awake and Arise! (www.sleepinggiantbook. com). He says: “This first mark of mission is a reminder to us that as a church our business is about sharing Good News.

We live in a world and are part of a church where we’re more familiar with and accustomed to bad news. Covid-19, climate change, child poverty, declining membership, less ministers, the closure of cathedrals and churches, etc, etc. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the negative things happening around us. We need to be reminded that we were called to believe the Good News, so that we then become Good News to our churches and community.

“We understand what Good News is, what about the Kingdom? The Kingdom of God speaks of the King’s Domain. It’s the place where God’s rule and reign are experienced. This is a vast subject, but to summarise, when Christ’s Kingdom comes ‘on earth as it is in heaven’, our world becomes more like His world. What does His world look like? And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4) Jesus came to establish His Kingdom on earth. He then gave the work of His Kingdom to you and I the church to continue what He had begun (Luke 9:1-2, Mark 16:15-18, Acts 1:3&8).

The priority of Jesus for us is to be about the work of His Kingdom.

“I’ve given focus to the Good News and the Kingdom, what about our call to ‘proclaim’? It’s in the very nature of Good News to want to share it. This is something we in the church need to rediscover. The challenge with this is that our confidence in the gospel has been eroded. We live in a post-modern world where to have faith is considered naive and outdated. Our world desperately needs the Good News of the Kingdom, but we can be reluctant, and dare I say, even embarrassed to share it. People used to ‘gossip the Gospel!’. In recent times there’s been a more healthy and holistic approach to this, so we’re encouraged to live the Gospel. When we realise afresh the wonder of knowing Christ and having Him in our hearts, it will become natural and desirable for us to share Him and His love with others. Knowing Christ and making Christ known is what we’re to be about.

“One of the barriers we can face when it comes to sharing the good news of the Kingdom is the fact that for us presently as a church, we have so little time, focus, resource, and energy to focus on growth and development. We’re somewhat fixated with decline. Declining members, declining ministers, declining churches, and declining income. How can we have any positive hope or outlook when faced with such challenges? The simple answer is that we’re part of an ‘upside down Kingdom’.

God’s thoughts and God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).

“What is currently happening in the world and in the life of the Church of Scotland is no surprise to God. He knows and sees it all. He has also made sure that whilst we may be a remnant in an increasingly secular Scotland and UK, that numbers in terms of people and finances have never been a barrier to God’s Kingdom coming and advancing. Christ’s Kingdom can thrive in the midst of such challenges.

“I understand that in giving us the Five Marks of Mission, that the order they come in is not indicative of their importance.

They are all seen as of equal value. I hear that, but for me the other four marks of mission will flow out of us giving our hearts and lives to walking out this first mark of mission. This isn’t an expression of my wisdom or that of the Theological Forum, it’s actually what Jesus told us to give priority to: ‘But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’ (Matthew 6:33).”

“What is currently happening in the world and in the life of the Church of Scotland is no surprise to God... Christ’s Kingdom can thrive in the midst of such challenges.