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2017-04-18
使命（missions）的觀念有很強的聖經依據。一節教導使命——以「大使命」著稱——的關鍵經文——記錄了耶穌對門徒說的話：The idea of missions has strong biblical support. One key passage that teaches missions—famously called the Great Commission—records Jesus’ words to his disciples:
耶穌進前來，對他們說：「天上地下所有的權柄都賜給我了。 所以，你們要去，使萬民作我的門徒，奉父、子、聖靈的名給他們施洗（或作：給他們施洗，歸於父、子、聖靈的名）。 凡我所吩咐你們的，都教訓他們遵守，我就常與你們同在，直到世界的末了。」（太廿八18～20）And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18–20).
當基督徒想到使命時，他們的心思往往會飄移到海外，跨越國境，包括短宣或長期的差派宣教士的工作。教會透過提供人力或物力對這些宣教努力作出貢獻。When Christians think about missions, their minds often drift oversees and across borders to short-term mission efforts or long-term missionaries. The church contributes to these missionary efforts by providing people or resources.
今天，人們開始認識到，在本地的層面其實有更多的工作要做。這裏，本地教會是以不同的方式對使命作出貢獻。當基督徒談到「本地」（local）的使命，作為教會存在世上的一種方式，他們會用「使命導向」（missional）這個詞來形容。Today, people are beginning to recognize that there is more work to be done at the local level. Here, the local church contributes to missions in a different way. When Christians want to talk about local missions as a way for the church to exist in the world, they use the word missional.
然而，「使命導向」這個詞經常會給人帶來一些焦慮。有些教會以為，本地的使命需要另一種經營教會的方式。我記得我在神學院的日子，會和一些學生碰面，他們盼望有一天能成為教會的植堂者。他們想要成為在美國開拓一間新教會的牧師。在午餐的討論裏，對如何成為「使命導向的」教會，往往會出現許多不同的觀點。在午餐時間，這些學生會丟出許多很有前景、有趣、瘋狂，有時候是很糟糕的觀點，真不知道從何說起。Yet, the word missional often creates some anxiety. Some churches imagine that a local mission requires a new way to do church. I remember my days at seminary meeting students who hoped to one day become church planters. They wanted to be pastors who started new churches within the United States. In lunch discussions, different viewpoints often came up on how to be missional. I can’t begin to tell you some of the hopeful, interesting, crazy, innovative, and sometimes awful ideas students would throw around during lunch hour.
那些強調「使命導向」的人問了一個好問題：教會如何在它自己的社區執行大使命？斯特澤（Ed Stetzer），在「什麼是使命導向的教會」（What is a Missional Church?）這篇文章裏說明了這個概念，讓這個概念不再那麼神秘，並解釋了《使命導向宣言》（Missional Manifesto）這份文件所構想的一些關鍵觀念。幾年前，有一群想法類似的神學家——凱勒（Tim Keller），Alan Hirsh，Linda Bergquist，J. D. Greear，Dan Kimball，Eric Mason，Craig Ott，Philip Nation，和Brad Andrews——合作草擬了這份聲明：The question missional folks are asking is a good one: How can the church carry out the Great Commission within its own neighborhood? Ed Stetzer, in “What is a Missional Church?” demystifies the concept, explaining some of the key ideas framed in a document called the “Missional Manifesto.” A few years ago, a group of like-minded thinkers—Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, Linda Bergquist, J.D. Greear, Dan Kimball, Eric Mason, Craig Ott, Philip Nation, and Brad Andrews—collaborated to draft this statement. The document frames a way of thinking about missions that helps to orient the church’s role in God’s mission. The preamble captures the intent of the document:
上帝是一位差派人的上帝，一位有使命的上帝，祂呼召祂的子民，教會，成為祂慈愛和榮耀的宣教媒介。「使命導向」這個概念體現出這個觀念。這份宣言的目的是要服事教會，澄清其呼召，並且在神學上幫助它明白，並實際在今日的世界裏活出上帝的使命。儘管根據使命導向神學，這經常被說成是「上帝的教會有一個使命」，但是更準確的表述是「上帝的使命有一間教會（God’s mission has a church）」（弗三7～13）。God is a sending God, a missionary God, who has called His people, the church, to be missionary agents of His love and glory. The concept missional epitomizes this idea. This manifesto seeks to serve the church by clarifying its calling and helping it theologically understand and practically live out God’s mission in the world today. Although it is frequently stated “God’s church has a mission,” according to missional theology, a more accurate expression is “God’s mission has a church” (Ephesians 3:7-13).
斯特澤在他的部落格裏解釋到，成為「使命導向」教會是一種把上帝的子民和上帝的使命關聯在一起的方法。這種說法很有洞見，是因為他描述教會與使命之間的關係的方式。不是教會有一個使命，而是上帝的使命有一間教會：In his blog Ed Stetzer explains that to be missional is a way of relating God’s people to God’s mission. What is insightful is how he describes the church’s relationship to missions. It’s not that the church has a mission, but that God’s mission has a church:
「使命導向」這個詞足以描述上帝呼召百姓和上帝的使命之間的關係。雖然經常有人說，「教會有一個使命」，但是更準確的表述是「上帝的使命有一間教會」（弗三7～13）。上帝的使命是了解教會及其使命的起點。上帝已經把使命放在教會的DNA裏。The term “missional” is effective in describing the relationship between the calling of God’s people and God’s mission. While it’s common for people to say, “The church has a mission,” a better way to talk about mission is “God’s mission has a church” (Ephesians 3:7–13). God’s mission is the starting place for understanding the church and its mission. God has placed mission in the DNA of the church.
在《什麼是使命導向的教會》這篇文章和《使命導向宣言》（MM）裏，斯特澤教導成為「使命導向」教會是什麼意思（MM，第九段），並且在論到使人作基督門徒的段落裏（MM，第七段）簡短地提到了馬太福音廿八章18～20節。我要補充兩點，是我認為單從泛泛地閱讀馬太福音廿八章18～28節就可以得出的。這兩個要點可以強化《使命導向宣言》所教導的：Stetzer, in “What is the Missional Church?” and the “Missional Manifesto (MM),” teaches what it means to be missional (MM, sec. 9) and briefly refers to Matthew 28:18–20 in the section on disciple-making (MM, sec.7). I want to add two points that I think follow from an ordinary reading of Matthew 28:18–20 that amplify what the “Missional Manifesto” teaches.
首先，上帝的使命是藉著一般性的教會職事來推展的。在馬太福音廿八章18～20節，耶穌委派門徒，給他們的任務是要使人作基督的門徒。他們的工作很簡單：施洗和教導。這是教會一般性的工作，是藉著尋常的牧師和長老的工作來繼續的。請暫時考慮一下：當教會一週復一週忠心地執行相同的例行公事——講道、教導、公眾崇拜、禱告、施洗、施行聖餐——大使命就得到了推展。教會只要在這些簡單的工作上忠心，就是在使命的核心中佔有一席之地。當教會宣講福音，他們就是在推展上帝使人作門徒的使命。這不能作為一般上教會的人不參加使命的藉口，而是提供了其背景。First, God’s mission advances through ordinary church ministry. In Matthew 28:18–20, Jesus commissioned the apostles and tasked them with making disciples. Their job was simple: baptize and teach. This is the church’s ordinary work that continues through the work of ordinary pastors and elders. Consider this for a moment: as the church faithfully performs the same routines week in and week out—preaching, teaching, public worship, prayer, baptizing, administering the Lord’s Supper—the Great Commission is advanced. The church, just by being faithful to the simple tasks, takes a place at the center of missions. When churches preach the gospel, they advance God’s mission to make disciples. This doesn’t excuse ordinary church goers from participation in missions, but it provides the context.
其次，一般的基督徒都參與在教會的本地使命裏。除了到教會之外，信徒可以藉著講述福音，分享他們在講道中聽到的，和人一起讀聖經，或邀請人到教會，而成為「使命導向」的信徒。用《使命導向宣言》的話說，這是當基督徒「在商業、藝術、政治、學術、家庭，和生活的各個層面活出他們信仰的內涵」時就會產生的。所有這些其實都是很「尋常的」（ordinary）。許多人隨時都在作，卻沒有意識到。當尋常的基督徒——在他們日常的生活中——談到耶穌和福音，他們就是在參與上帝的使命。Second, ordinary Christians participate in the church’s local mission. Beyond attending church, believers can be missional by speaking the gospel, sharing what they heard in a sermon, reading the Bible with people, or inviting someone to church. This happens as Christians, in the words of the “Missional Manifesto,” “live out the implications of their faith in business, the arts, in politics, the academy, the home, and in all of life.” All this is really ordinary. A lot of people do it all the time without realizing it. As ordinary Christians—in their ordinary lives—talk about Jesus and the gospel, they participate in God’s mission.
其實這不是什麼新的觀念，「使命導向」其實是在恢復一個非常古老的、更正教的、福音派的觀念。成為「使命導向」，是尊敬本地教會才是使命的主要貢獻者，也尊榮基督徒，讓他們知道，他們的日常生活在上帝的使命裏是有一席之地的。Instead of being some new idea, being missional might actually recover a very old, very protestant, and very evangelical idea. Being missional honors the local church as a major contributor to missions, and honors Christians as well by showing that their ordinary lives have a place in God’s mission.