We are challenged to let Jesus inspire us to prolong the logic of his own ministry in an imaginative and creative way amid changed historical conditions. Now, as then, it should make all the difference to society if there is within it a group of human beings who, focusing their minds on the reality of God’s reign and praying for its coming, advocate the cause of the poor, serve those on the periphery, raise up the oppressed and broken and, above all, “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Mission in the perspective of God’s reign includes putting poor, neglected, and despised people on their feet again as having recovered before God and people their full humanity.
It is unthinkable to divorce the Christian life of love and justice from being a disciple. Discipleship involves a commitment to God’s reign, to justice and love, and to obedience to the entire will of God. Mission is not narrowed down to an activity of making individuals new creatures, of providing them with “blessed assurance” so that, come what may, they will be “eternally saved.” Mission involves, from the beginning and as a matter of course, making new believers sensitive to the needs of others, opening their eyes and hearts to recognize injustice, suffering, oppression, and the plight of those who have fallen by the wayside. It is unjustifiable to regard the “Great Commission’ as being concerned primarily with ‘evangelism’ and the ‘Great Commandment” (Mt. 22:37-39) as referring to “social involvement.”
— David Bosch
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