Emil Brunner hat den missionalen Leitgedanken 1931 treffend wie folgt ausgedrückt – hier in meiner Übersetzung aus dem Englischen:
„Missionsarbeit erwächst nicht aus irgendeiner Arroganz der christlichen Kirche; Mission ist ihre Begründung und ihr Leben. Die Kirche besteht durch Mission, so wie Feuer durch das Brennen am Leben bleibt. Wo es keine Mission gibt, gibt es keine Kirche; und wo es weder Kirche noch Mission gibt, gibt es keinen Glauben. Es ist zweitrangig, ob wir darunter Mission in anderen Ländern meinen oder einfach die Verkündigung des Evangeliums in der Heimatgemeinde. Mission, die Verkündigung des Evangeliums, heißt das Feuer auszubreiten, das Christus auf die Erde geworfen hat. Wer sich nicht für dieses Feuer einsetzt, beweist, dass er selbst nicht brennt. Wer brennt, setzt sich für das Feuer ein. Dieses ‚Muss’ ist beides, etwas Drängendes und ein Gebot. Etwas Drängendes, weil lebendiger Glaube Gottes Absicht als die eigene empfindet. ‚Wehe mir, wenn ich das Evangelium nicht verkündige’, sagt Paulus.“
[Emil Brunner. The Word and the World. London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1931. S. 108]
Hier das englische Original mit etwas erweitertem Zusammenhang:
The Word and the World
The Word of God which was given in Jesus Christ is a unique historical fact, and everything Christian is dependent on it; hence every one who receives this Word, and by it salvation, receives along with it the duty of passing this Word on; just as a man who might have discovered a remedy for cancer which saved himself, would be in duty bound to make this remedy accessible to all. Mission work does not arise from any arrogance in the Christian Church; mission is its cause and its life. The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith. It is a secondary question whether by that we mean Foreign Missions, or simply the preaching of the Gospel in the home Church. Mission, Gospel preaching, is the spreading out of the fire which Christ has thrown upon the earth. He who does not propagate this fire shows that he is not burning. He who burns propagates the fire. This ‘must’ is both things – an urge and a command. An urge, because living faith feels God’s purpose as its own. ‘Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel,’ says Paul. Necessity is laid upon him. But also he ought to preach; with the gift he receives the obligation. ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel’. Whether Christ’s command was uttered just in these words, we do not know exactly. But there can be no doubt that He had sent out His disciples with the strict order to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to all the world. Even if Jesus had not done that, it would still be a divine command for every one who receives the message; for he knows that the divine remedy must be made accessible to all. The classical expression for this propagating activity is not doctrine but kerygma, i.e., the herald’s call. The herald, the keryx, is a man who in the market-place of a city promulgates the latest decree of the king. He is the living publicity organ of the sovereign’s will. The herald makes known what no one could know before: what the king has decreed. It is just this that the Apostles meant by kerygma. They brought not only good tidings, but new tidings as well.
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Very encouraging words thank you. I was wondering if worship was more important to mission but maybe the two are interdependent.