"Furthermore, the superior of a mission should make it one of his primary concerns to expand and fully develop his mission... He must become a guide and a protector for these children he has brought forth in Jesus Christ; he must see to their spiritual nourishment and he must not let a single one of them slip away and perish. But he must do more than this. He must not consider that he is properly discharging the duties of his office unless he is working constantly and with all the vigour he can muster to bring the other, far more numerous, inhabitants of the area to partake of the Christian truth and the Christian life." Maximum Illud, 11
What does a mission mean? The mission is derived from the root mittere, missa (Latin: missio), which means "to send.". In the Second Vatican Council's decree Ad Gentes, the mission is described as "Special initiatives, undertaken by missionaries of the Church by going throughout the world to fulfill the task of proclaiming the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ." (Ad Gentes, 6) Pope Paul VI emphasized two things: going into the world to proclaim the Gospel and planting the church in the mission field. Of course, what is reflected in this decree draws inspiration from God's work of salvation for human history.
God's self-disclosure in the unity of the Most Holy Trinity became an image of God the Father's original love for His people, in which He sent His Son into the world to reveal the loving face of God, and then the mission of the Holy Spirit, who guides the church in facing the challenges of this world (Ad Gentes, 2). "It pleased him to gather them into a people, that his sons, who were at first scattered, might be gathered into one" (cf. Jn 11:52). Seeing that the source of the mission is fulfilled in God for man, it is clear that Jesus' mission to His disciples was to go to all nations (cf. Mark 16:15) and was clarified to the apostles on the occasion of His ascension to heaven: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
This infinite mission transcends time and space, for it is to man that God gives Himself infinitely: in all the human weakness of the Israelites, the mission of the prophets up to the fulfillment of His promise in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who built the church under the leadership of Peter, died to save humanity from the slavery of sin and renewed all evangelical plans under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The apostles of Christ, including Paul, who experienced a meaningful conversion, gave themselves as radical missionaries to the Gentiles (cf. Gal 1:16). This long Christian tradition provides us with an understanding that a mission is to be sent to those who do not know Christ yet and His Gospel.
Mission Models Throughout Christian History
When it comes to models of mission[1], the church has inherited a long history of evangelization, such as the age of the Maritime Church (100–301 CE). In the Maritime Church period, missions were spearheaded by baptized people who inherited the tradition of the apostles. The gospel messages of the apostles were proclaimed to them to be disseminated to all people. In the next period, the Monastic Church (315–907 CE), where the mission was spearheaded by monks who tried to do martyrdom by staying away from the 'world.' They wanted to revive the spirit of faith in Christ in a community and came out of the monastery walls and preached the gospel. This period can be recognized through the presence of the Benedictine monks. Of course, this period differs from the previous period, where baptism came first and then evangelization.
Then, the mission continued during the Second Millennium (1000–1453), where the church's mission became bleak with the competition of Islamic preaching that expanded its sails from the Arabian Peninsula to several European countries. The mission became stagnant, and there were problems within the church. The church tried to maintain its existence by conquering nations in the Crusades. However, it must be realized that this period is dark for the church, which wants to restore its identity as Christ's representative. New monastic movements, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans, also emerged during this period. These two orders were the pioneers of the mission at that time, which was to fight not with weapons but with the way of life and knowledge of the priests who were prepared for the proclamation of the gospel.
Moving on from this mission, Colombus's discovery of the Americas (1492-1773) energized the Spanish and Portuguese countries to spread their sails to other regions. The church participated in evangelization by inserting missionaries into the areas where the two countries sailed. The establishment of Propaganda Fide was a breath of fresh air for the church, spreading the gospel in various countries. The pioneers of missions became more numerous and began to update their styles according to the regions where they were located. The Western missionary concepts preached in the mission areas were complex because they were limited in cultural and linguistic inculturation.
The proclamation of the gospel in the nuances of mission entered the period of Progress (1792–1914), where the mission of the Catholic Church was still grappling with itself regarding mission and proclamation by the existing context. Mission in this era was emphasized by the mission of Protestantism, which was relatively swift with a variety of denominations. In the period 1800–1900, religious orders emerged that tried to answer the challenges of the church's mission in their proclamations. Pope Benedictus XV reaffirmed this by issuing the apostolic letter Maximum Illud (1919), namely the proclamation to those who do not believe. The church remains the center of faith that needs to be proclaimed to all nations based on Christ's message to His disciples. Over time, the documents Nostra Aetate, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Ad Gentes, Apostolicam Actuositatem, and Redemptoris Missio tried to answer various forms of mission according to the context of the times.
To sum it up, the church's mission is to spread the gospel and establish the church in areas where it does not yet exist. This mission is inspired by the work of God in the history of humanity. It is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, who sends his disciples to all nations (Mark 16:15) and empowers them with the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to Him (Acts 1:8). The mission is not limited by space and time, as God gives His Spirit without measure to humanity, from the weaknesses of the people of Israel to the fulfillment of the promises in the Word of God, which became flesh in Jesus Christ, who built the church under the leadership of Peter, died to save humanity from the slavery of sin and to renew all the plans of the Gospel in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The church's mission is to go to those who do not yet know Christ and the Gospel, and it has evolved with different models of mission, such as the early church, the monastic period, the Middle Ages, the missionary period, and the modern period.
[1] An adaptation of some Misiology papers and online lecture summaries of the Misiology course by Dr. Fransiskus Sule, CICM. (September, 2021)