The word “mission” is found in the French, German, English, Danish, Swedish, Spanish (misión), Portuguese (missão) Dutch (missie), Irish (misean), Norwegian (misjon) and Italian (missione) languages. In Afrikaans it’s “Sending”. In Greek it’s αποστολη (apostole). No doubt use of the word in these languages has been strengthened by the Christian church in these places regularly referring to the concept. But does the concept of “mission” belong solely to the Christian community?
Mission as a word is derived from the Latin verb missio, the pa. ppl. stem of mittere, the Latin for letting go, sending away, a sending, despatching, a throwing, hurling. Particular uses of the word in Latin culture included setting at liberty or releasing from captivity, and discharging from service (soldiers, office holders and gladiators). Cicero used the concept in his Letter to Atticum in 68 B.C.
In the Greek language used in the New Testament, the concept of sending is covered by two words: πεμπω (pempo), meaning to dispatch someone, whether human or transcendent being, usually for purposes of communication, and αποστολη, (apostole) meaning to send a message or a messenger. In John 20:21 Jesus says, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” His words are recorded with the Greek word πεμπω.
In the Oxford Dictionary the word mission in the English language is given several historical meanings.
1. The action or an act of sending.
2. A sending or being sent to perform some function or service.
3. The action of sending forth people to preach the faith and administer the sacraments
4. A body of persons sent to a foreign country to conduct negotiations, each over interests, etc. (Diplomatic Mission now known as Embassy or High Commission)
5. A body of persons sent out by a religious community to convert the heathen (as in Africa Inland Mission)
6. A permanent establishment of missionaries in a country (as in mission compound)
7. A special course of religious services, sermons etc.
8. The commission of a messenger, envoy or agent, esp. the errand of a political mission. (from which we get military mission).
9. A person’s vocation or work in life. (from which we get mission statement).
10. Attributed to church, house, work etc.
Notice that a number of these are associated with institutions connected with the concept of sending: professional missionaries, organisations dedicated to sending professional missionaries, events at which professionals speak, and buildings associated with the institution. There’s a fair amount of “mission language” associated with the expansion of Europe in which the Christian church became implicated in colonialist roll out of “civilisation”.
Back in the 1980s I noticed some Christians getting peeved when organisations started using the language of “mission statements” as they refocused on their goals. It was as if the Christian church had a patent on the concept of mission. However the language of mission has long been associated with diplomacy (high commissions etc) and military (commissioned officers and secret missions).
So what do you think? Have we lost the sense of the meaning of the word “mission” today? Is it too tied up with institutional focus on religious staff, events, programs and buildings? Has the word been forever tainted with the colonialism that much of our “missionary work” of the past has been associated with? Do we think naturally of “sending” when we use the word? Perhaps the Greeks and the Afrikaans benefit from having avoided the Latin language.
In my work on “Mission Stories”, the sequel to “Faith Stories”, I was planning to use the titles of “Mission context”, “Missional people”, “Missional Discipleship”, “Missional Partnership”, “Missional Integrity”. I’ve moved instead to talk about “Gospel People”, “Relational Discipleship”, “Community Partnership”, and so on. Maybe I should rename the resource, “Sending Stories”.