The lenses the researcher will use in

analyzing the missiological statements of

the UCCP General Assembly

Mission as
Proclamation,
Development
and Human
Rights
Submitted to Dr. Victor Aguilan
Submitted by Van Cliburn Tibus
 1

Introduction

“Whenever the Christian Gospel truly encounters a culture, it disturbs the status quo,

altering the normal state of things that gives human beings identity. It exposes the fact that no

culture is wholly submitted to the kingdom and rule of God.”1 This quote was made by a

Mennonite missiologist, Wilbert R. Shenk and is applicable to the context and ministry of the

United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

Situated in a country where it is dominated by Roman Catholic Christianity, the

traditionally Protestant UCCP has been vocal in the life of the Filipinos despite being 1.5 million

strong in a population of 100 million. The UCCP is known for its commitment to the Filipino

people. What then is the mission that the UCCP? This is the question the researcher is attempting

to answer and we are to need lenses for us to determine what kind of missionary work the UCCP

is known for to the Filipino people.

There are three lenses which is used in determining the missionary nature of the UCCP and

these are mission seen as Proclamation, Development and Human Rights. By using these lenses

let us see determine how UCCP does mission to Philippine society. The study will present a review

of literature of the three lenses to be used to analyze the statements of the UCCP through the

General Assembly. The researcher will present contrasting perspectives of a particular lens and

use them to come up with a view that is applicable to the context of the UCCP to its understanding

of mission. By presenting the prevailing views of the different understanding of mission through

these lenses, it is also the goal of this research if the UCCP falls under any of the understanding or

it has another way of doing mission which could be its contribution to the field of mission.

1
Wilbert R. Shenk, “Recasting Theology of Mission: Impulses from the Non-Western World,” in Landmark Essays in
Mission & World Christianity, ed. Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Hertig (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2009),
119.
 2

I. Mission as Proclamation

Webster’s Dictionary defined proclamation as “an official statement or announcement made

by a person in power or by a government.”2 This means that for Christians and churches there is

no higher authority than that of God. As God is the power and in authority in issuing proclamation,

we need to answer three crucial questions: What is the message? What is being proclaim? Who is

the messenger? We will be presenting four different viewpoints from four thinkers on how

proclamation is used in doing mission. These are Dutch missiologist Johannes Christiaan

Hoekendijk; Dutch Reformed lay theologian, linguist and missiologist Hendrick Kraemer; Filipino

writer and social anthropologist Melba Maggay; and Filipino theologian Lourdine Yuzon.

Born of missionary parents who was assigned in Java (Indonesia) before returning to their

native country, the Netherlands, Hoekendijk prepared himself for a missionary career in Indonesia

and studied theology at the State University of Utrecht. Served as missionary consul, became

secretary of the Netherlands Missionary Council and of the Department of Evangelism of the

World Council of Churches (WCC). He taught at the State University of Utrecht as church

professor in practical theology and as state professor in church history of the twentieth century.

“In 1965 he was appointed to the chair of World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in

New York, where he remained until his death. His contributions to the International Missionary

Council and the WCC include especially his work on the world mission conference of Willingen

(1952) and on the WCC study project “The Missionary Structures of the Congregation” (1961-

1966).”3 His classic article, “The Call to Evangelism” will be the basis of his views on

proclamation as mission.

2
“Proclamation | Definition of Proclamation by Merriam-Webster,” accessed August 22, 2016,
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proclamation.
3
“Hoekendijk, Johannes Christiaan (1912-1975) » History of Missiology | Boston University,” accessed September
14, 2016, http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/g-h/hoekendijk-johannes-christiaan-1912-1975/.
 3

“Kraemer studied Indonesian languages at Leiden University and was awarded a Ph.D. under

the supervision of the Islamic scholar Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje. As a linguist Kraemer served

the Netherlands Bible Society in Indonesia. Then he was appointed professor of the history and

phenomenology of religion at Leiden University. Finally, he served as the first director of the

World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey, Céligny near Geneva

(1948-1955).”4 Although he wrote topics on religions, he has a special interest in Islam and he

was invited by Islamic scholars to write prefaces to their publications. We will be basing his views

on proclamation as mission through his book “The Communication of the Christian Faith”.

“Dr. Maggay was research fellow at the University of Cambridge under the auspices of

Tyndale House, and also served as Northrup Visiting Professor at Hope College, Michigan and

Visiting Lecturer at All Nations Christian College in England. She was president of the Institute

for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, a research and training organization engaged in

development, missiology and cross-cultural studies aimed at social transformation.”5 A multi-

awarded writer in the Philippines she is currently president of Micah Global, an alliance of more

than 700 faith-based development organizations worldwide.

Dr. Lourdino Yuzon hails from Dumaguete City and earned his Doctorate degree in Christian

Social Ethics at Boston University Graduate School. He earned his Master’s in Theology at the

Boston University School of Theology. In from 1978 until September 1987 he was the Secretary

for Mission and Evangelism of the Christian Conference of Asia. He just recently passed away

January 2, 2015. His article “Towards a new understanding of evangelism” is reviewed here.

4
“Kraemer, Hendrik (1888-1965) » History of Missiology | Boston University,” accessed September 14, 2016,
http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/i-k/kraemer-hendrik-1888-1965/.
5
“Melba Padilla Maggay | Wheaton,” accessed September 14, 2016,
http://www.wheaton.edu/Academics/GEL/Human-Needs-and-Global-Resources/HNGR/HNGR-Symposium/2016-
Symposium/Melba-Padilla-Maggay.
 4

Review of Related Literature

The Call to Evangelism

Evangelism is very much concerned of proclaiming the Gospel. According to Hoekendijk,

the Reformers was not much concerned of creating faith communities like the Roman Catholic do,

but reforming the existing Christian community. Its purpose was more on getting closer to the

message and teachings of Jesus which focuses on the Kingdom of God. “This eschatological

perspective has been one of the constant elements in our missionary-thinking for a long time. Two

of the obvious consequences thereof have, however, only very seldom been drawn. The first is

that the Messiah (i.e. the Christ) is the subject of evangelism… The second consequence is that

the aim of evangelism can be nothing less than what Israel expected the Messiah to do, i. e. He

will establish shalom. And shalom is much more than personal salvation. It is at once peace,

integrity, community, harmony and justice.”6

For the Dutch missiologist the goal of shalom is the goal of evangelism. Despite the

seeming impossible task of shalom, hope for this goal is to be constant. “Evangelism can be

nothing but the realization of hope, a function of expectancy. Throughout the history of the

Church, wherever this hope become once more the dominant note of Christian life an outburst of

evangelistic zeal followed. That should make us think, surrounded as we are by clamant calls to

evangelism.”7

For one to do evangelism, hope is essential because it deals not with immediate results but

trusts in God’s fullness of time. He said we are to be careful of succumbing ourselves to what he

calls propaganda type of evangelism. “To evangelize is to sow and wait in respectful humility and

6
Johannes Christiaan Hoekendijk, “The Call To Evangelism,” International Review of Mission 39, no. 154 (April
1950): 168.
7
Ibid., 169.
 5

in expectant hope: in humility, because the seed which we sow has to die; in hope, because we

expect that God will quicken this seed and give it its proper body. In propaganda, however, we

imagine that we sow the body that will be. Propaganda’s essential character is a lack of expectant

hope and an absence of due humility. The propagandist has to impose himself. He has to resort

to himself, to his words (verbosity being a characteristic of every propagandist). He attempts to

make man in his image and after his likeness.8”

Hope is essential in doing evangelism for without it, it may result to focusing of planting

churches for its own sake. For Hoekendijk this is not evangelism. “Evangelism and

churchification are not identical, and very often they are each other’s bitterest enemies. When

Christian hope, the partaking of the coming Kingdom, has really to determine the character of our

evangelism, it is impossible to think of the plantation ecclesiae as the end of evangelism. It is too

poor a conception and betrays too clearly a lack of expectant hope. It is too static a view of the

Church as a closed and definitive entity.”9

Shalom that Jesus preached is to be the message and the essence of doing evangelism and

heart of the proclamation in doing mission. As he clearly states:

“This is the messianic shalom in its abundant multiplicity. A) This shalom

is proclaimed. That is one aspect of evangelism. In the kerygma that shalom is
represented in the literal sense, it is made present. B) This shalom is lived. That is
another aspect of evangelism. It is lived in koinonia. We must not speak too
quickly of community. Only in so far as men are partakers of the shalom,
represented in the kerygma, do they live in mutual communion and fellowship. C)
There is a third aspect of evangelism. This shalom is demonstrated in humble
service, diakonia. To partake of the shalom in koinonia means practically and
realistically to act as a humble servant. Whosoever will be great among you shall
be your servant. And whosoever will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all (Mark
x, 43 ff). These three aspects, kerygma, koinonia and diakonia, should be integrated
in our work of evangelism. Only so, are our methods of evangelism justified.”10

8
Ibid.
9
Ibid., 171.
10
Ibid.
 6

The message of the proclamation is the coming of shalom as shown by Jesus Christ. This

the main message and we Christians are to proclaim this message to the world. “The kerygma is

the proclamation that the shalom has come. Christ is there. We have not to look for another. We

have entered upon the days of total renewal. But, with the kerygma alone, in isolation, the

evangelist soon becomes a more or less interesting orator. He needs the manifestation of the

koinonia of which he is a part and he has to justify himself as a witness of the Messiah-Servant in

his diakonia.”11

As the one body of Christ the church is to be careful in internalizing the message that Jesus

proclaimed as an authentic witness to the world. “To regain liberty and flexibility in our witness

two things must happen: We must in the first place find ourselves fully at home in this strange new

world of the Bible, so that we can move familiarly about and concretize and articulate the shalom

in a different way in different situations.”12 The second is to be aware of the audience that we are

proclaiming to as we consider the culture and find ways that makes the Gospel relevant to their

own context. Still, there is another possibility offered by Hoekendijk:

“There is, however, a third possibility, through which we can avoid this
constant temptation to the Church to speak when it should act. We may call it the
level of the laboratory, the diakonia of a little group, living in a concrete situation,
and serving each other and their environment by reforming the structure of a segment
of society. Social problems are not solved at this level, but life is made more
tolerable. The opposition to the messianic shalom is not completely broken, but here
and there it is tempered. It is not the Kingdom of God that is constructed, but some
significant tokens are set-up. An object-lesson is given of what shalom should be.”13

From the article we can say that the message is the Messianic shalom, Jesus is the one

being proclaimed and the church is the messenger. Let us then look to what Hendrik Kramer has

to offer in terms of doing mission through proclamation.

11
Ibid.
12
Ibid., 173.
13
Ibid., 175.
 7

Communicating the Christian Faith

For Kraemer, communication is a fundamental human fact and the key to proclamation as

mission where Jesus is God’s message in reaching out to the world. “In Jesus Christ, the decisive

and only authentic Word of God comes to [persons]. In him the image of God in which [people]

was created becomes gloriously visible. In him all things are reconciled to God, i.e., he overcomes

broken relationship, reopening the way of communication. In him it is possible to be one in the

full sense of the word, in spite of all differences and divisions which separate [people] and hamper

or frustrate their communication. In principle, Jesus Christ is the sole ground on which full and

true communication between can become effective.”14

As there is breakdown in communication among humans, the message of the Gospel is the

attempt to bring humans closer not only to God but even to one another. “The communication of

the Christian message, which is fact the heralding of Jesus Christ as the reconciliator and the

reintegrator of the broken pattern of human life, is, in principle, the most direct way both to uncover

the hidden cause of disordered human communication and to discover the way back to its real

meaning.”15

The church having been the recipient of the message, is tasked to communicate the Gospel

and its messenger. “Communication of the message is the crowning category of which all activities

of the Church in evangelizing, preaching, teaching, and witnessing to all fields of life are part. It

is also a task that must constantly be restarted. There is no part of life, nor of the world, which is

ever definitely evangelized. This incessant communication of the Christian message is what we

presently call the missionary or apostolic obligation of the Church…The sending of his Church

14
Hendrik Kraemer, The Communication of the Christian Faith (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1956), 21.
15
Ibid., 21–22.
 8

into the world is the continuance and reflection of the worldward divine urge which became

manifest in Jesus Christ even until the death on the cross.”16

There must be no mistake that the church is continuing Jesus message which is the

Kingdom of God. The church is not even the Kingdom of God but is tasked to proclaim it. “It is

the proclamation of the ‘basileia tou theou,’ of the Kingdom of God, of the new world, embodied

in Jesus Christ. Through the proclamation the Kingdom comes, at the same time the proclamation

is an appeal to prepare ourselves for it and accordingly change our hearts (metanoia)…In the New

Testament the proclamation, the communication, always has the character of the announcement of

God’s acts, happened for us, and of the invitation to enter into the stream of this divine history.”17

However, what hinders the communicating of the gospel is the limitation of it in the spoken

word only. “The extravagant and nearly excusive stress on verbal communication, on preaching

and sermonizing, in the world of the Churches, which issued from the Reformation, is a

degeneration or distortion of the Reformer’s rediscovery of the prophetic character and quality of

the Word of God. This stress has closed the eyes of the Church to the manifold means of

communication which we find in the Bible, which in contradiction to our Western world is not

confined to, or imprisoned in, a ‘verbal culture.’”18

God not only issues the proclamation but even empowers the church in its tasked.

“[C]ommunication of the gospel, which is necessarily incumbent upon the Church and its

members, is neither primarily nor ultimately dependent on our human ability to communicate. We

are perennially called to (if we really understand our place in God’s design) urged toward the

desire of communication, and implicitly we are called to a constant sharpening and modifying of

16
Ibid., 23.
17
Ibid., 24.
18
Ibid., 27.
 9

our abilities in communication…The peculiar character and place of communication of the

Christian message appears in the fact that its inherent aim is not persuasion, however persuasive

the act of communication may be, as has to be the case with all communication between [people],

but conversion. ‘Repent ye, and believe the gospel’ (Mark 1:15).”19

Proclamation is to be understood as a dialogue between humanity and God and even

restoring the dialogue among humans as well. “In the Bible, language means dialogue, in the first

place dialogue between God and [persons]…if this divine-human dialogue is broken and disturbed,

the dialogue between [persons] is in disorder.”20

The challenge of the church nowadays is to bring the story of the Bible and its message to

be relevant to the modern world. “The decisive point in connection with the breakdown of

communication is the dominant trend in the modern apperception of the totality of life, which

seems to be world apart from the Biblical apperception”21

The church not only is to proclaim the message but to lived it and hereby becomes a witness

to it by practicing the values of God’s Kingdom. “This implies that in the problem of

communication and evangelism not only the right kerygma, but diakonia and koinonia require new

manifestations.”22

As the church is to be obedient to its call, it has to take its cue from God through the Holy

Spirit and no one else. “This is the Church’s commission. It cannot say what it likes, but what is

entrusted to it by God’s revelation in Christ, and has to witness to the new order of life in Christ

as the crises of all actual and possible orders of life.”23

19
Ibid., 28–29.
20
Ibid., 65.
21
Ibid., 94.
22
Ibid., 116.
23
Ibid., 121.
 10

Evangelism and Social Action

Maggay’s book entitled “Transforming Society” has a very interesting section where it is

relevant to the topic of proclamation as mission. It is the opening chapter entitled “Evangelism

and Social Action.” In Philippine context according to her there seems to be a confusion of what

is evangelism and what is social action. Sometimes there is a tendency to mix the two. “The first

error is to confuse evangelism for social action…This mistake is made by those who argue that the

surest way to change society is to change the people in it through the transforming power of the

gospel. Sinful structures are made by sinful [persons]; therefore, our task is to strike at the root of

social problems, which is sin.”24

She said being converted to Christ may not automatically lead to social action as it is more

complicated than that. “One’s Christianity may be so undeveloped that it has little influence in the

places where it should matter and where it should bear witness sociologically…Another reason is

that society is complex and does not lend itself easily to facile generalizations on how to change

it. Would that the doing of justice were merely a matter of personal obedience.”25 Maggay added

that evangelism does not encompass what the mission of the church in order to change society.

“Evangelism is not a cure-all and cannot substitute for concrete redemptive action in our political

and social life.”26 As evangelism is not social action, it is also the same the other way around.

“Social action is evangelism. This mistake is made by those who say that the struggle for justice

and human dignity is evangelism in itself…It tends, however, to lose sight of the proclamation

aspect of the Gospel, the fact that it is News, a thing you shout from the housetops or send a

24
Melba P. Maggay, Transforming Society (Quezon City, Philippines: Institute for Studies in Asian Church & Culture,
1996), 9.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid., 10.
 11

towncrier for. It also tends to gloss over the equally important demand for personal repentance

and righteousness.”27

Although social action and evangelism does not mean the same thing, a bigger problem is

to separate the two as if they are competently different. “The second error is to dichotomize, that

is, to make unbiblical distinctions between what is ‘secular’ and what is ‘holy’ or between what

belongs to the realm of ‘nature’ and what belongs to the realm of ‘grace’.”28 The two does a close

relationship with one another. “Social action is not just an implication, an addendum to the Gospel;

it is more than a verbal exercise; it is an engagement, a living among men and women that serves

notice of the Kingdom that has come.”29

In fact, the proclamation of the message is so important that it not only be verbalized but

concretized as well. “The news is that the long awaited Kingdom, its reign of peace, justice and

righteousness, has finally come. The Messiah, He who is to come, dwells among us. Kingdom

is a political term, and Jesus’ messiahship was understood by himself and by his hearers as having

to do with more than just the soul.”30 One cannot preach without practicing it and that is to have

a right relationship among people. “As it has been pointed out, justification is not just a legal

abstraction; it is a social reality. To be ‘justified’ is to be ‘set right’ in one’s relationships; it is

‘making peace’, a breaking down of the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile: ‘…the

relationship between divine justification and the reconciliation of [persons] to one another is not a

sequential relationship”31

27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid., 11.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid., 12.
 12

Proclamation not only address individuals but it is also a call to community that reflects

the love of God as envisioned by Jesus in the Kingdom of God. “To speak of Jesus as Lord is to

demand subjection of personal and social life under his kingly rule. To call for repentance is to

ask people to turn away, not simply from their individual vices, but from participation in the

collective guilt of organized injustice. To invite people to come in faith is to challenge them to

walk in trusting obedience, to now God in the agony of commitment and concrete engagement in

the life of the world.”32

Evangelism is not only speaking but also doing. “It seems clear from this that evangelism

is more than something we say; it is also something we do. To speak of Jesus is not only to say

things about him. We also need to show what his character and his power must be like.” 33

However, evangelism may not be the term enough to encompass the proclamation understanding

of mission. “It may be claimed that the term evangelism has a specifically ‘heralding’ aspect which

becomes obscured if we say that everything that the Church does is evangelism. For this reason

we prefer to use the term witness to denote all that the Church does to make itself shine like a city

upon a hill. The word carries with it the need to have ‘presence’ as well as ‘proclamation’ in our

preaching of the Kingdom.”34

Hence proclamation is not only oral but also visual. “The proclamation of the Kingdom

has a verbal as well as a visual aspect. For this reason, the Church must be both a herald as well

as a sign. It must serve as a context in which the saving power of God is made visibly present in

all areas of human life. In doing so, the Gospel is wholly preached, and men and women are

enabled to adequately respond to the prophetic demands of the Gospel.”35

32
Ibid., 13.
33
Ibid., 14.
34
Ibid., 15.
35
Ibid., 16.
 13

Towards a New Understanding of Evangelism

For Yuzon, there seems to be several definitions of evangelism. However, there seems to

be a conflict between evangelism in proclamation or by social action. “There seems to be no

problem for one to say that evangelism takes place by word and deed, that both ae distinct but

inseparable aspect of evangelism. Misunderstanding arises when emphasis is given to one to the

exclusion of the other.”36 For him, there should be no conflict between the two but goes hand in

hand together.

There seems also to be a misconception that evangelism is the same as mission. “Mission

is more comprehensive than evangelism, and has a general meaning. Evangelism is more specific,

and has a more limited meaning. It is an aspect of mission. Not all in mission may be evangelistic

in nature, but all have evangelistic, but one cannot evangelize without being involved in mission.

Any attempt to emphasize evangelism must not reduce mission to it. Otherwise, the total mission

of God in the world will be impoverished.”37

Yuzon stressed that doing evangelism Jesus has to be our standard. “For Jesus, the greatest

commandment has two aspects: love of God and love of neighbor. They must be distinct and

separate, but should not be separated. An emphasis on one should not exclude the other. In

practice, and emphasis on either of these may be shaped by the situation in the church and in the

world.”38

The proclamation of Jesus the Christ is not merely the exclusive claim of the church. God

can even reach out to those even without someone proclaiming Christ to them. “Salvation of non-

Christians does not depend upon whether they are reached by evangelists, because Christ has

36
Lourdino Yuzon, “Towards a New Understanding of Evangelism,” The Asia Journal of Theology 1, no. 1 (April
1987): 116.
37
Ibid., 117.
38
Ibid., 118.
 14

already reached them. Hence, it is possible for non-Christians to be saved, but that salvation is not

outside Christ for God saves them through Christ even they do not know that.”39

A personal encounter with Jesus is very important although our knowledge of Jesus is

subjective. “Who Jesus is, what He did, and what is doing by the power of the Spirit, is unchanging,

complete and definitive; the way we look at Jesus is tentative, not final and subject to change…It

is therefore not quite correct to say that when we evangelize, all that we need to do is arm ourselves

with accepted doctrines about Christ and communicate these only through words that may prevent

people from coming to a personal encounter with Christ.”40

Proclamation is really telling the story of Jesus and making it relevant to the experience of

people. “This touches on the issue of communicating the Gospel incarnationally. That is, Good

News we proclaim should be no less than an incarnated Gospel. By this is meant that as Christ

Himself became a human being, so the Good News must be immersed in concrete realities. The

Gospel must interact with life situations. The truth of the Gospel must not only be analyzed and

reflected upon, but fulfilled and actualized in concrete human situations. Proclaiming the Good

News is not simply a sharing of information, but the communication of the Gospel that bisects and

relates dynamically to persons in the totality of the human situation in which he/she is located.”41

Proclamation is not focused of church growth numerically. It is a by-product of our

faithfulness although it is not a guarantee. “[A]s the sole motivation for evangelism, the growth

of institutional churches may turn out to be inadequate and self-deceiving. The reason for this is

that the church is not the end, but the means of the Kingdom of God. To be sure, the church is a

sign of the Kingdom, but of itself, the church is not the Kingdom of God in its fullness.”42

39
Ibid., 119.
40
Ibid., 120.
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid., 121.
 15

Proclaiming the truth in Jesus is a duty of every Christian and people must be confronted

with a choice to believe or not. “To evangelize is to confront people with the claims of the Gospel

and to elicit a response of faith or unfaith. As mentioned above, the Good News is not something

optional to be regarded on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. A response of faith involves a conversion

experience.”43

Proclamation is not only individualistic but also impacts the community as well. “The

Gospel of Christ proclaimed was that in and through Him the Kingdom of God had come. An

important aspect of the Kingdom is God’s sovereignty in creation. Nothing is beyond the bounds

of God’s supreme authority and will.”44 Hence, evangelism also includes to be prophetic. “The

prophetic message of the Good News is an announcement of God’s judgement upon evil structures

and upon those who create and sustain them, and that conversely the Gospel is Good News to the

poor, the exploited, the weak and the oppressed. Christ himself was engaged in prophetic

evangelism.”45

Evangelism is proclamation and has to be relevant to the times. “To evangelize is ‘to

incarnate the Gospel in time’, that is, in concrete situations, or to address the Gospel to the whole

person in his / her context.”46 Yet it needs more than human effort but primarily involves God’s

Spirit as well. “It is not the evangelist but the Holy Spirit who converts people to Christ. Without

the Spirit it is tempting for an evangelist to act like a demagogue and depend solely upon his /her

human power. Techniques are good, but of themselves, they will not be effective without the

action of the Holy Spirit.”47

43
Ibid., 123.
44
Ibid., 125.
45
Ibid., 126.
46
Ibid., 127.
47
Ibid., 128.
 16

Summary

If we are to understand proclamation as an understanding of mission, we cannot do away

with the idea of evangelism. It is because evangelism is focused on the spreading the Good News

of Jesus Christ. However, our thinkers are united to the idea that evangelism is more than the

verbal and oral presentation of the Gospel.

Hoekendjik argues that the Reformers emphasis on the preaching aspect of the spoken

Word has narrowed the creativity of doing proclamation and which evangelism has focused upon.

While Kraemer emphasized the communication aspect of proclamation which is not limited to the

verbalization of the Gospel. Both Dutch missiologists emphasis that aside from the kerygma aspect

of proclamation of the Good News, the service aspect, diakonia, together with koinonia, the

community, is to go together for the proclamation to be authentic and concrete.

Maggay and Yuzon both rooted to the Philippine context, pinpoints the tendency to

dichotomize evangelism and social action. Maggay is more comfortable to the idea of witness

rather than evangelism because witness translates to not only the verbal aspect of proclamation but

the action required that accompanies it. Yuzon merges proclamation of the Gospel by incarnating

the proclamation to the context for it to be relevant. Both Filipino thinkers agree that the

proclamation requires an individual response to the Gospel and the responsibility required to be

prophetic. From this literature we are aware that even though evangelism is more recognized as

emphasizing the preaching of the Good News, it is limited in its definition and cannot be defined

as mission. Which is why proclamation being a broader definition that can be considered mission

as it highlights the oral presentation of the Gospel and encompass the witnessing aspect as it lives

in diakonia and koinonia. We will now deal with development as another understanding of

mission.
 17

II. Mission as Development

Webster’s Dictionary defined development as “the act or process of growing or causing

something to grow or become larger or more advanced.”48 When we apply this definition to society

it means the process of a society to a primitive state into a more advanced state. The church as

part of society and understood itself as sent by God to do mission, development of society is its

focus here. How a particular society progress to an advance state that benefits its citizen and how

the church theologically understand this development that is taking place.

For the source materials being used here in the understanding of mission as development,

we will discuss the thoughts of two Filipino theologians and two international thinkers. The

Introductory Paper 2 of Emercito P. Nacpil during in the book “Mission and Development” of the

Cardinal Bea Studies book series. This paper was delivered during a symposium at the Cardinal

Bea Institute on February 21, 1970 where twenty-one experts from Roman Catholic Church and

various Christian churches discussed the issue of mission and development. Another source is Dr.

Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro’s article “Capitalism as Religion: When does the cycle end?” in the

book “Religion: Help or Hindrance to Development?” This is also symposium this time organized

by the Lutheran World Federation on the issue of religion’s role on development.

For our two international thinkers, Akinyemi Alawode’s article “Mission, Migration and

Human Development: A New Approach” is helpful to the understanding of mission as

development. It is a contemporary approach of how the development especially on third world

countries have affected and influenced in doing mission. Finally, we have Scoot Bessenecker’s

book “Overturning Tables: Freeing Missions from the Christian Industrial Complex.” This book

shows how mission has been influenced by economic models on development.

48
“Definition of DEVELOPMENT,” accessed October 17, 2016, http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/development.
 18

Dr. Emerito P. Nacpil is a member of the United Methodist Church was a former professor

of Theology at Union Theological Seminary, Dasmarinas, Cavite. He went to the United States to

attend Drew University from which he received his Ph.D. He is given the title of Bishop and

retired in 2001. “Bishop Nacpil has also been very active in ecumenical affairs, serving on both

the Faith and Order Commission and the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.”49

Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro is a faculty of the Divinity School, Silliman University,

Dumaguete City. She received her Ph. D. from Union Theological Seminary in Ney York and

blessed to be under James Cone, the eminent authority in black theology. She was the former and

the first woman Dean of Silliman University Divinity School and serves as interim Director of the

Justice and Peace Center of Silliman University.”50

African Akinyemi O. Alawode is part of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences,

Department of Theology, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, South Africa. Her profile in

Facebook says she lives in Nigeria and is married.

Scott A. Bessenecker is Associate Director of Mission for InterVarsity Christian

Fellowship. “Scott has traveled and ministered with students in a number of urban poor locations

around the world. He frequently speaks and writes about issues of poverty, justice and global

missions. Scott helps to send more than 3,000 students each year on short term mission experiences

through InterVarsity. He also claims to possess the largest international cigarette collection owned

by an Evangelical non-cigarette smoker. Scott is married with three kids and lives in Madison,

Wisconsin.”51

49
United Methodist Communications, “Bishop Emerito Nacpil,” The United Methodist Church, accessed October
17, 2016, http://www.umc.org/bishops/emerito-nacpil.
50
“Prof. Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro,” accessed October 17, 2016,
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation/about-iepc/drafting-group/prof-dr-muriel-orevillo-
montenegro.html.
51
“Scott Bessenecker,” Urbana, accessed October 17, 2016, https://urbana.org/bio/scott-bessenecker.
 19

Review of Related Literature

Development and the Churches

Bishop Nacpil stressed that justice is a crucial requirement in other for development to be

understood in doing mission. The goal of development justice and peace are to be the realized.

“Development is of course a complex phenomenon. Essentially it is a process of socio-economic

change which aims at the fuller realization of freedom for men enabling them to affirm and realize

their destiny and to renew society so that community, justice and peace may be achieved in fuller

measure.”52

Development is to be discussed in the faith community as it aims for a desired goal which

is also envisioned by Jesus and the New Testament witness of a better society for everyone. “By

the fact that it is a process of deliberate change, development presupposes a dynamic and historical

view of reality. By the fact that it arouses hope and promises a better life, it is future-oriented and

therefore has an implicit eschatology.”53 Eschatology which is deals with the things to come is like

development, the advancement of the society.

Nacpil’s view of development can be said in the language of the reign of God which is

central in Jesus’ ministry on earth. This is where mission can be understood in terms of

development the realization or the move towards the Kingdom of God. “My first thesis is that the

message of the Church is that the reign of God has now arrived in the event of Jesus Christ.”54

In the Christ event the Kingdom of God is beginning to unfold this is what was and is the

mission of Jesus coming to earth, ushering the Reign of God. “What is to be received from God,

namely creation, redemption and fulfillment, is to be received in and through Jesus Christ. The

52
Pedro S. de Achutegui, ed., Mission and Development, Cardinal Bea Studies (Quezon City, Philippines: JMC Inc.,
1970), 107.
53
Ibid., 108.
54
Ibid., 109.
 20

mission of Jesus Christ is to mediate the reign of God in creation, redemption and

consummation.”55

Because of the Christ event, the church is to continue what Jesus started and the

continuation of God’s purpose in His creation. “My second thesis is that mission in the wider sense

of mission Dei is the activity of God whereby his reign in Christ may occur and be acknowledged

and realized in the world…Mission is therefore the realization and expansion of the divine

presence over the earth. It is a mighty movement from the one to the many, from the middle to the

end of time, and from the center to the ends of the earth.”56 With this understanding of mission,

the church is urged to join and participate in this development towards the establishment of the

Reign of God.

For Nacpil what makes the churches movement towards the mission to the establishment

of God’s reign is the powerful belief of Jesus’ resurrection which shows nothing can prevent God’s

purpose from making this a reality. “My third thesis is that as Resurrection leads directly to

mission, so mission leads directly and immediately into the world.”57 For the Methodist bishop the

resurrection makes it possible is God’s powerful sign that His Kingdom is starting to unfold and

enables to counter the forces of death that the world that prevents it from happening. “Forgiveness,

reconciliation, koinonia, peace – all requiring love, joy, peace, long suffering, self-control – are

these not the aim of development?”58 It must be taken into account that these values may not be

profound in economic development where competitive advantage is seen as the goals instead of

these Christian values.

55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid., 110.
 21

For Nacpil mission as development is the pursuance of these values that characterizes the

Reign of God which is may be radically different from the understanding of development in the

secular sense. “My last and final thesis is that the Church is that portion of reality – people and

institution and all – that celebrates the coming of the reign of God, lives in the powers of the new

age, and is caught up as a participant in and witness of the mighty movement of God’s love in

Christ which has been unleashed in our midst!”59

Nacpil’s understanding of development is theological in nature and this may cause a sharp

dichotomy of what development is understood especially in the Frist World countries view of

development. Gerald Anderson asked to react and participate in the same symposium attended by

Nacpil commented: “In a situation where persons from the developed countries of the North

Atlantic basin are doing much of the talking and making many of the decisions with regard to

development policies for the developing nations of the Southern Hemisphere, there could be an

insidious tendency to project a view of the developed man that bears a striking resemblance to

themselves, or of a developed society that amazingly like their own.”60

While mission can be understood as the process for achieving the Kingdom of God that

Jesus preached, Anderson’s assertion that who makes the decisions especially the progress that

Third World countries are going to embark. Especially when the First World which are developed

nations historically has been achieved at the expense of the Third World countries. They could be

making policies based on their experience which may not be true to the experience of the

undeveloped nations. Especially in this postmodern and postcolonial times, development

according to the First World have been criticized nowadays. This is how our next theologian is

alluding to in our next source for understanding mission as development.

59
Ibid.
60
Ibid., 111.
 22

Capitalism as Religion: When does the cycle end?

Dr. Muriel Oreveillo-Montenegro relate the Philippine experience of being under so-called

“development” which is capitalism alongside the movement of Christianization. “In the

Philippines, one cannot talk about capitalism without connecting it to the experience of

colonization and Christianization. Until today, the Philippines continue to bear the heavy burden

of neocolonial governance and neoliberal capitalism. Historically, the Philippine experience of

capitalism has been closely associated with religion.”61

For Montenegro development under capitalism has brought disastrous consequences and

had even become an ideology and religion replacing God in the process. “By taking the new pill

called “development,” governments in the global South, such as that of the Philippines, tried to

follow the ways of the West. They borrowed significant amounts of money from the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) for development projects, not only to create

infrastructure (such as highways, cultural centers, tourist destinations, golf courses and irrigation

dams for vast tracts of lands owned by multinational corporations), but also to buy military

hardware. Consequently, the citizens had to carry the burden of an enormous foreign debt.”62 This

is what Anderson feared of in the preceding article on Nacpil, that mission may be in the guise of

development in the image of the Western colonizers.

Capitalism works in such a way that instead of exhibiting the values characteristic of the

Kingdom of God, instead injustices happens that burdened the people especially the workers. “At

the core of capitalism is the understanding that the workers are separate from the means of

production and their labor power is reduced to a commodity that is sold to the owners of the capital

61
Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, “Capitalism as Religion: When Does the Cycle End?,” in Religion: Help or Hindrance
to Development?, ed. Kenneth Mtata (Liepzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2013), 121.
62
Ibid., 124.
 23

at the prevailing market price. The system ensures that the owner of the capital keeps the “surplus

value” or profit, as wages are much below the value of the products the workers have created.”63

What makes capitalism as development catastrophic because it becomes a new religion replacing

God with Mammon in its place. “In the Philippines, it used to be said that the dollar sign signifies

the cunning snake that climbs up the tree, tempting individuals and nations to take the capitalist

bait. The “almighty” Dollar” and the powerful Euro have replaced God as the universal power.

This makes capitalism a material religion indeed, but not without creeds and

doctrines…Capitalism has no conscience and instills the attractive doctrine of consumption,

salvation and life abundant with money. It imparts the doctrine of unquenchable desire to acquire

and accumulate.”64

Not only does development under capitalism creates injustices for the people, it also breaks

human relationships and even the environment. “In the Philippines and other so-called developing

countries, the commodification of everything is seen in the conversion of prime land into theme

parks, golf courses and resorts and the scouring of the earth’s bowels by big foreign mining

companies. It is evident in the commodification of the bodies and labor of overseas contract

workers, especially domestic helpers and entertainers sacrificed at the altar of capitalism. Such

sacrifice involves collateral damage in the form of the loss of an individual’s self-worth, broken

families and the degradation of the earth.”65

This is what makes development in the name of capitalism dangerous and if mission is

understood as this kind of development, it is far from the values of the Kingdom of God as

preached by Jesus. It is imperative for us to critically the role of Christianity in the understanding

63
Ibid.
64
Ibid., 126.
65
Ibid., 127.
 24

of development which produced capitalism. “Moreover, Protestants also highlight the missionary

task of doing God’s will, an orientation toward work. A better life, measured by material evidence,

was understood as God’s reward and blessing for hard work. This becomes the basis for modern

corporation ethics. The Anabaptist tradition of consensus became the foundation for the concept

of democratic governance and the practice of adult baptism elicited a mature perspective and

accountability, truthfulness and integrity.” This itself is good and beneficial however, this was not

enough as capitalism is geared towards profit, which can fuel the cardinal sin of greed.

So does this mean mission as development is to be abandoned? Dr. Montengro says no and

offers principles in doing developmental work as mission.

First, identify the life-giving, life-affirming and life-sustaining elements of the existing
capitalist system, if any. This norm must apply to human and non-human life on this planet.
Second, harness the resources of one’s religion to support any lifegiving, life-affirming,
and life-sustaining efforts for the well-being of the community, especially for those who are poor
and marginalized, women, homosexuals, the disabled, elderly and those afflicted with illnesses,
among others.
Third, cultivate a spirituality of firm commitment to the values of justice and righteousness
for all humanity and nature. Resistance to Mammon demands a spirituality that values
relationships of loving and caring, mutuality and reciprocity and solidarity in community.
Fourth, lift up the liberating elements of religions and engage in interreligious collaboration
towards a just and peaceful world. The churches cannot remain complacent and stay within their
respective denominational worlds, or in religious bigotry. Let the church create a space for
community peace building and a nurturing environment where people learn to be truly human
Fifth, if the globalization of capitalism is possible, let the church vigorously and concretely
pursue the vision of agape and the envisioned Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and
Earth (AGAPE) that pleads for an agape economy of life, just trade, just finance, transformative
action and alternative lifestyles.
Sixth, one must take into account and practice the ethics of truth telling. Capitalism is
sustained by making its lies appear like the truth, of making people believe that it is the answer to
all their dreams and the fulfillment of their very being. As someone told me, capitalism will not
survive with too much honesty. Yet, this is the challenge we need to face.66

With that note let us look to our another source of mission as development from an African

experience. Their understanding of mission as development is crucial to our study.

66
Ibid., 130–131.
 25

Mission, migration and human development: A new approach

Akinyemi Alawode citing the experience of massive migration of the African people to

various nations within the continent noticed an increase of church growth. She attributes it to the

migrants joining churches and finding fellowship with these faith communities. The plight of the

migrants is her focus on doing mission as development. “One can argue that there has always been

a developmental dimension to mission. This is so, amongst others, for three reasons. Firstly,

mission aims at ensuring that the human being is fit for every good work (2 Tm 3:16–17) – an aim

which is developmental in essence. In the second place, from its earliest beginnings in history

mission included healing and educational dimensions, without which no development can take

place. And finally, mission harbors an unquenchable eschatological dimension, waiting for and

working towards a new heaven and a new earth.”67

For Alawode, the Kingdom of God being preached by Jesus points to the historical reality

that we are going towards an advancement of society. Jesus showed to us this goa, and as

participants of the divine mission, we are to do our duty towards this end. ““If one accepts this

unbreakable link between eschatology and mission, therefore, Christian mission can in our

understanding not evade its developmental responsibility.”68

However, it must be noted that people have unfortunate experience when it comes to

development especially when development comes from the West. “The tragedy of many western

development programs in which even the western churches have participated, is their treatment of

people as ‘objects for compassionate hand-outs’ rather than subjects with whom they can work

together in synergy to achieve their own destiny. Moreover, [it is] observed that human beings are

67
Akinyemi O. Alawode, “Mission, Migration and Human Development: A New Approach,” In Die Skriflig/In Luce
Verbi 49, no. 1 (March 4, 2015): 2.
68
Ibid.
 26

multidimensional with the psychological need for dignity, self-esteem, freedom, and participation.

To reduce them to mere producers and consumers is to assume that some basic materialism is the

goal of life.69

Why are western development programs have been detrimental to the Third World

countries so far. Alawode says it could be because of an flawed and insuffiecient concept of

development. “In our understanding, development is not only an ambiguous concept but also one

that has become discredited and unpopular amongst communities on the receiving end of the so-

called development work. This happened because the history of the concept is closely associated

with western ideas of modernization, technological advancement and liberal and free-market

economic ideologies. This proved that such an understanding of development is not good enough.

It propagated colonization and the disempowerment of the Third World countries by those of the

First World. It failed to improve the economic, social and political lives of the poor in Third World

countries. To some people in the West development aid became a tool for extending the dominance

of western culture; to some people in Africa, it became an easy source of corrupt self-

enrichment.”70

For mission to be truly developmental, it must cater holistically to the people taking into

account all areas of what makes a person truly human. “To solve this problem, we need to

understand development as a comprehensive social process that includes the interdependence of

economic, social, political and cultural factors, both nationally and internationally. This

understanding of development implies a challenge to the status quo and breaking down of

oppressive structures, thus changing the perspective of development to that of liberation. The

breaking down of negative structures is not enough for development. Once oppressive structures

69
Ibid., 7.
70
Ibid., 4.
 27

have been broken down by the liberating process of development, there is a need to build up a new

society, and this process is called ‘social transformation’.”71

According to Alawode, this transformation can only be achieved when people understand

they need one another in order to be fully human. “We would like to expand this understanding by

pointing out that we find the deepest ground for this corporate humanity with the inbuilt obligation

to care for others in the reality that human beings recognize in other human beings the image of

God, in whose image we have all been created.”72

What Alawode proposes is the understanding of development that is not imposed but

requires the voice of everyone for a genuine social transformation to happen. “Modernization has

provided a radical improvement for one-fourth of the world’s population, but is complex.

However, we will not fail to point out that though development necessarily involves structural

transformation, which implies political, social and economic transformation, primarily,

development should start from where the people are. Rather than just handing out food to people,

our task then is to engage in a process with them to discover the hidden talents and resources that

can help them truly realize their full humanity in a sustainable way. This is what the church is

supposed to do in line with her calling as agent of the missio Dei.”

From here what we hear from the voice of Alawode is mission as development is to be

holistic and the goal is to be social transformation, not only economic or the Western understanding

of development alone. For the church which according to her experience saw a surge of church

membership because of migration, seeing the connection as human being and love for one another

enables us to work for the empowerment of these people. Let us then look at a Westerners critique

of their own understanding of mission as development.

71
Ibid.
72
Ibid., 2.
 28

Overturning Tables: Freeing Mission from the Christian Industrial Complex

In this book, Scott Bessenecker addresses the issue of capitalism which have been the cause

of the un-development of countries receiving missionary with the aim of development. He deals

decisively on the issue that the church should be involved in worldly concerns such as economics.

“But the practice of economics is profoundly theological. What is ‘thou shalt not steal’ if not an

implication of economic policy that embraces some form of private ownership? Therefore, the

first economist was God. Large sections of the Hebrew Scriptures are devoted to addressing

economic malpractice and serve to protect those at the bottom of the economic food chain.”73

Even in the New Testament, Jesus’ ministry was geared towards all forms of power since

there was no such term as secular and sacred during his time. “The fact that we separate faith from

politics or economics is a new way to look at the world and is foreign to human history. Jesus

never addressed religious power without also addressing the social, political and economic power

bound together with it.”74

When Jesus overturned the moneychangers in the table, it was this Biblical scene that he

used to highlight the profit-oriented values of capitalism which is prevalent in Christian mission.

“Today, I see similar grave implications regarding the ways that the church has uncritically

adopted a corporate-style capitalist paradigm to inform and drive our mission. It is an invitation

for principalities that bend toward exclusion to occupy the temple courts of the church – the

creation of a Christian-Industrial Complex.”75 By recognizing the core structure of capitalism in

missionary development ventures can we effectively go back to the original intention of Missio

Dei which is holistic development of people as the Reign of God.

73
Scott A. Bessenecker, Overturning Tables: Freeing Missions from the Christian-Industrial Complex (USA:
InterVarsity Press, 2014), 10.
74
Ibid., 13.
75
Ibid., 19.
 29

Bessenecker said by exposing the capitalist roots in mission will allow us to the goal of

moving towards the kingdom of God. “Overturning tables indicates what his kingdom is like, or

more to the point, what his kingdom is not like. In Christ’s kingdom the poor are not bilked for

the rich to carpet their palaces. It is not a kingdom where eighty-five individuals possess more

wealth than three billion people. It is not a kingdom where devotion to God is leveraged for ruling-

class profit or where commercial enterprise gets in the way of those seeking to draw near to God.

And it is not a kingdom where the world of profit making overrules the world of prophet making.”76

He notes that when Protestantism happened in Europe and in America, capitalism was

emerging that created a new class of elites dismantling the powers of the monarchy and the state.

“Most early Protestant missionaries, both American and European were immersed in the spirit of

capitalism taking root in the West. The leaders that gave shape to American societies in the 19th

century were business-minded men. Families like the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Vanderbilts and

the Morgans invested heavily in their Protestant churches and in domestic and foreign missions.

These wealthy philanthropists were builders of the great educational institutions out of which most

Protestant missionaries came, and promoted a positive attitude toward corporate worldview within

American Protestantism.”77

In Britain, capitalism and missionary efforts started in the era of Queen Elizabeth when

faced with increasing national debt relied on daring captains gave them ships to find new lands for

resources and colonies. Deeply religious in their Protestant faith, this paved the new way for

international trading. “Here we find some of the earliest touch points between the capitalist

corporation and the Protestant faith, for it was through Protestant believers like Queen Elizabeth

and her merchant captains that the trading company came into being…And so it was through a

76
Ibid.
77
Ibid., 30.
 30

Protestant Queen, Protestant captains and Protestant investors that international commercial trade

took flight.”78

Why is important to link the development of capitalism to the formation of Protestant

Mission Societies? Because the success of the economic system was copied and implemented in

these societies. “As Protestantism grew up under the tutelage of the capitalistic ethic, the critical

role played by money in commercial enterprises was impressed upon it, and by extension was

passed along to the nonprofit institutions that emerged from the church… money has become king

in the Christian-Industrial Complex. It is seen as the fuel to animate the social and religious aspects

of Christian expansion. Since wealth was perceived as a necessary ingredient to expand ministry,

industrial church complexes began to crop up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America’s

cities. These well-endowed religious conglomerates were labeled ‘institutional churches’.”79

With this attitude no wonder mission as development taken from the values of capitalism

has failed to bring development as it focuses more on money as the engine that makes it all work.

It also promotes dependency among the recipients of this development projects. Bessenecker

proposes an interdependency of both parties for mission as development to be closer to the Reign

of God. “When we empower the margins, we want to create strict barriers so that those from the

margins do not mess with the finances and leadership of organizations created by the center. The

dichotomy that we must either absorb locals into our structures or allow completely local structures

to emerge is a false one…We need one another, and we need each other’s gifts, talents and

differences in order to adequately reflect the image of God and to accomplish God’s purposes.

Even if that means accepting others’ liabilities and limitations”80

78
Ibid., 45–46.
79
Ibid., 68.
80
Ibid., 152.
 31

Summary

From our sources, mission as development is basically understood as the ushering of God’s

Reign. Bishop Nacpil stressed that the resurrection event of Jesus Christ is the beginning of the

consummation of God’s kingdom and we are in the stage of history in going to achieve in that

goal. However, missionary efforts by Western Christianity has been disastrous as pointed out by

the Philippine experience by Dr. Montenegro. While Nacpil has been seeing development in

theological terms, the experience of those countries receiving mission as development has

produced a reality of injustices. With capitalism becoming a new ideology and even religion,

Montenegro argues that the values of the God’s Reign such as truth-telling and justice is to be

practiced instead of going after Mammon which capitalism is geared towards to because of profit.

For the African experience where migration among the people have enabled churches to

achieve increasing growth it is because the sense of community and belongingness is embedded

in their culture. According to Alawode, the church then has to join God’s mission in bringing

development to them not only development as defined in the West but a comprehensive and

holistic understanding to bring about social transformation.

Thus Bessenecker acknowledging the influence of capitalism to Protestantism made it

possible to have an understanding of mission focused on numbers and profit has produced a reality

of development that is fragmented and disjointed. The result is a far cry of the Kingdom of God

as initiated by Jesus Christ. The need to overturn the tables of the moneychangers which is the

Christian Industrial Complex has to be done and it makes the missionary endeavor more

interdependent. When working with the development of those in the margins, it is important to be

involved in the process and allowing a real interaction between the First World and the Third

World where one affects the other. Allowing for real mission as development to happen.
 32

III. Mission and Human Rights

Webster’s Dictionary defined human rights as “rights (as freedom from unlawful

imprisonment, torture, and execution) regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons.”81

Human rights is just a later concept in history and was fully developed after the devastation of

World War II. Although it traced itself to the 18th Century when it was called “natural rights”, the

idea that all human beings have inherent rights is generally accepted as a secular concept. The

church in the modern era has contributed much to the development of this idea but is more

comfortable of using “human dignity” instead of human rights. However, in this paper we will be

using both terms interchangeably.

For the promotion of human rights, we will look at how the church has incorporated this idea

in doing mission. As our related literature on the topic we will look at George Newlands’ book

“Christ and Human Rights: The Transformative Engagement” on how Christology can contribute

to the understanding of human rights. Another source is Charles Taber’s article entitled “In the

Image of God: Gospel and Human Rights”. From the theological discussion, we will zero in to

how human rights and mission praxis is done in the Philippines. Kathy Nadeau’s study on

“Christians against Globalization in the Philippines” focused on the Basic Christianity Movement

is enlightening. Another study is Anne Harris’ “Theology of Struggle: Recognizing its Place in

Recent Filipino History” dwells on the experience of church people’s involvement in the national

liberation movement.

George M. Newlands is a Scottish theologian who have wrote extensively about systematic

theology, Christology and Christian thought. He has been Professor of Divinity at the University

of Glasgow, UK, since 1986. According to the website of his publisher, Routledge, he was

81
“Definition of HUMAN RIGHTS,” accessed October 20, 2016, http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/human+rights.
 33

University Lecturer in Divinity, Cambridge, 1973-86, and Fellow and Dean at Trinity Hall

Cambridge, 1982-86. He has written ten books including The Transformative Imagination,

Ashgate, 2004. In writing the book “Christ and Human Rights” the series editor were Douglas

Davis and Richard Fenn.

Charles R. Taber is Professor of World Mission, Emeritus, at Emmanuel School of

Religion, Johnston City, Tennessee. He was a missionary (1952-60) in what became the Central

African Republic and a translations consultant of the United Bible Society (1969-73) in West

Africa. He published The World Is Too Much with Us: "Culture" in Modern Protestant Missions

(1991) and To Understand the World, to Save the World: The Interface Between Missiology and

the Social Sciences (2000).82

Kathleen “Kathy” Nadeau is a Professor in Anthropology at the California State University.

“As a social and cultural anthropologist with a specialization in Asian studies, she is interested in

learning, and teaching, about the different cultures and societies of Asia. Also, she has a passion

for Philippine studies and have conducted fieldwork there on local social and ecological justice

movements.”83

Dr. Anne Harris is a senior lecturer at the School of International, Cultural and Community

Studies, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia. She earned her Ph.D at Murdoch

University and is a teacher at heart. She has a Graduate Diploma in Religious studies and has

published several articles in Journal of Academic Language.84 Her analysis on the emergence of

the theology of struggle in the Philippines provide insights on mission and human rights.

82
“Charles R. Taber. - Free Online Library,” accessed October 20, 2016,
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Charles+R.+Taber.-a0173923115.
83
“Kathleen Nadeau - CSUSB Faculty Profile,” accessed October 20, 2016,
http://phonebook.csusb.edu/FacultyProfile.aspx?ID=769.
84
Perth Edith Cowan University, “Dr Anne Harris,” ECU, September 13, 2016,
http://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/education/staff/profiles/honorary-senior-lecturers/dr-anne-harris.
 34

Review of Related Literature (12)

Christ and Human Rights: The Transformative Engagement

Professor George Newlands said that the church talking about human rights was never an

easy undertaking. It is because the church which is part of society has to deal with the

contemporary issue of human rights. “Christianity is embedded in community. Churches, like

other bodies, have, and have had, c complex relationship with human rights. Christian churches

and Christian thinkers have made contributions to human rights issues and human rights actions.

There was, for example, a decisive Christian input to the United Nations Declaration on Human

Rights in 1945, and especially between 1975 and 1985, churches were active in promoting human

rights, abandoning their earlier stance of suspicion and joining in a widespread, and to a large

extent American-led, drive for universal human rights.”85

While the church deals with the issue of human rights there is a tendency to be reluctant in

being too involved in the advocacy to it. “Churches were inevitably concerned to distance

themselves from a politicization of rights which served some interests but not others. The linking

of humanitarian, political and global strategic aims by nation-states could be positively damaging

to human rights work on the ground by NGO’s, including churches. Equally, churches might be

deeply reluctant to expose their own internal structures, social arrangements and lines of authority

to human rights scrutiny.”86

But despite the hesitancy to be deeply involve in human rights, the ideas of human rights

are too connected to the ideals of the church to be totally ignored. “From a Christian standpoint,

human rights issues are related intimately to central concepts of the gospel, to the understanding

85
Professor George Newlands, Christ and Human Rights: The Transformative Engagement (USA: Ashgate
Publishing, Ltd., 2013), 2.
86
Ibid., 2–3.
 35

of humanity before God, to righteousness and justice. They embrace considerations of mercy,

reconciliation and hospitality, and they focus on the treatment of the marginalized and of strangers.

For Christians, they stem from the understanding of Christ as the center of forgiveness,

reconciliation and generosity.”87

Because of this the church has to deal with this issue but must be humble enough to realize

that their contribution to the issue is just one of the many contributions needed for the advancement

of human rights. “If human rights are so very important to human well-being, then it is clearly

incumbent on all traditions of thought and action, religious or non-religious, which believe they

have a contribution to make to the human future, to engage seriously with rights issues. For

Christianity this involves theology and practice. Since Christology is at the center of Christianity,

it should be engaged in this process.”88

Christians’ contribution to the concept of human rights stems from their understanding of

God’s love as revealed in Jesus Christ. “Through Jesus Christ, Christians believe, God’s love as a

transformative force of grace is effective throughout the cosmos. Yet when human rights are

abused, rather like when a vital organ of the human body fails, the results have a pervasive

detrimental effect on the whole society. That is why theology may welcome, without qualification,

the recent prominence of human rights issues in global affairs and will seek to make its own

contribution to human rights advocacy through critical appraisal of its own traditions and

resources.”89

Newlands believe that Christians understanding of Jesus as the revelation of God’s love

will change the human relationships have with one another as a self-sacrificing love which benefits

87
Ibid., 4.
88
Ibid., 7.
89
Ibid., 14.
 36

both as the other reciprocates the love they received. “A Christology of human rights can be

articulated in a number of ways. If it is to enrich our understanding of the goals of human rights,

then it should encapsulate the nature of the Christian understanding of the love of God…It should

illuminate the self-giving, self-dispossessing nature of divine reality as a pattern for human

relationships.”90

This is the contribution of Christianity to the discourse of human rights. The faith in the

love of God as shown in Jesus. Because of this faith it enables Christians to action. “Faith remains

decisively opposed to evil in all forms, to contempt for human rights and human life…the clearing

away of injustice is an integral element of the Christian vision, not least where the vision has been

clouded by human rights violations in the name of religion or by abusive ideological zeal.” 91

If Christians are to be advocate for human rights, it has to do so not only in the church but

engage to society as well, which is basically mission. “Christian community is always an outward

facing community, concerned for the marginalized in society as much as for the marginalized in

the church. For a Christian, Jesus is the man in whom it has indeed become manifest that revolution

and conversion cannot be separated in man’s search for transcendental experience. His appearance

in our midst has made it undeniably clear that changing the human heart and changing human

society are not separate tasks, but are as interconnected as the two beams of his cross.”92

Doing mission and human rights, one has to be involve outside the church. “The option

will remain to respond to the Christological vision by working with organizations outside church

structures in areas where these are more likely to be effective. In this way, human rights action

may be seen as part of the consequences of the form of Christ in the world.” 93

90
Ibid., 146.
91
Ibid., 155.
92
Ibid., 160.
93
Ibid., 172.
 37

In the Image of God: Gospel and Human Rights

For Professor Charles Taber there is an debate of how human rights are to be understood.

“As part of the ongoing discussion, many Christians have argued that the concept of human rights

derives chiefly or exclusively from, or at least intrinsic to, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But devotees

of other religions or of none, as well as some Christians, have strenuously denied this argument,

maintaining that human rights are universal and that all of the major religions advocate them.”94

In Taber’s article his premise is human rights is a Western concept coming from the Gospel

but is a distortion. “It is my primary thesis that the currently promoted concept of human rights is

(1) a modern Western development (2) derived from a narrowing and distortion of (3) a more

fundamental concept of human dignity that is in turn (4) a unique contribution of Jesus of Nazareth

to the human scene. The specifically unique contribution of Jesus was his categorical rejection of

any and all of the limits human societies have placed on the dignity of the person, and of any and

all bases for discrimination between human beings in dignity and therefore in rights.”95

He notes that throughout the centuries and even in the comparison of cultures around the

world, human rights are basically a modern Western concept. “The historical record is clear: it

fairly rose recently in the West. There is not a whisper of any such notion anywhere else in the

world outside the West before the late colonial era, at which time the subject peoples in the

colonies, tutored in the traditions of their exploiters, began to lay claim to the rights those traditions

espoused.”96 The rise of human rights became apparent when the Third World began asserting

their rights in the postcolonial world. Ironically it was the Western imperial powers was imparting

their education that empowered them to push for their rights.

94
Charles R. Taber, “In the Image of God: The Gospel and Human Rights,” International Bulletin of Missionary
Research 26, no. 3 (July 2002): 98.
95
Ibid.
96
Ibid.
 38

However, it was not totally a contribution by the West alone as the Jewish Scriptures is

believed to be the starting point of human rights. “The Hebrew Scriptures provided the first and

most fundamental truth to undergird the concept of human rights: that human beings, made male

and female, are created in the image and likeness of God and therefore have an inalienable dignity

and uniqueness.”97

Tracing the history of the development of the idea of human rights, Taber has this to say:

“In summary, the Hebrew heritage provides some of the needed components but is itself

incomplete as regards truly universal human rights. The Athenians developed a beautiful concept

of democracy and rights, though restricted to a small minority of inhabitants. The religions of the

world provide little support for the idea, and the history of nations is at best a mixed story. But

somehow the idea of universal human rights, however, imperfect and attenuated, continues to be

raised, especially and specifically in the West. Can it be that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has had a

unique impact on the West that will not be stilled despite all efforts to the contrary? I argue that

this is indeed the case.”98 Taber believes it was the Gospel that enabled the concept of human

rights to be developed.

However, there was distortion of the concept of human rights along the way that made it a

secular output and lost its essence. The distortion happened in three ways. “First, the concept,

arising as it did in a climate of extreme individualism, came to apply largely to single persons apart

from, and even in opposition to, all other persons…Second, the present notion of rights is insisted

on without any concurrent insistence on responsibilities and communal duties and

obligations…But the third distortion is far more serious in the end than the other two, in that it

undermines the only authentic legitimation of human rights. For the concept of human rights,

97
Ibid.
98
Ibid., 100.
 39

rooted through it is in the Gospel, came to modern form at exactly the time when the sense of

human accountability to God went into radical eclipse. The agnosticism and even atheism that

characterize the modern Western ethos, along with the assertion of human autonomy, simply

undercut the only foundation on which any serious concept of human rights could rest; the much

more fundamental concept of human dignity, itself arising from the conviction that human beings

were created in the image and likeness of God.”99

For Taber, only when we reclaim the transcendence needed in human rights can it acquire

universality which the secular thinkers are looking for. “Alternatively, one can make a claim for

universal human rights on the transcendent ground that human beings – every human being, all

human beings – are created in the image and likeness of God and therefore possess an inalienable

and innate dignity that no one can rightly take away on any pretext whatever.”100

Hence the church has to be involve to the discussion of advocating for human rights “The

only resource available to Christians to bring non-Christians to see human dignity as Jesus did is

the intrinsic credibility and persuasiveness of the Gospel, since the truth of human dignity is a

component of the Gospel and has no secure existence apart from the Gospel.”101

In doing mission, the church has to actualize God’s love to everyone. “They love one

another and do good to and for one another. Failing that, there is no compelling reason for the

world to pay attention. Which is to say that the only means by which Christians can commend a

truly godly vision of human rights is to incarnate them in their individual and collective lives, to

announce God’s actions and intentions that constitute the Gospel, and to act justly in the name of

God.”102 We will see how this was attempted in Philippine context.

99
Ibid., 101.
100
Ibid., 102.
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
 40

Christians Against Globalization in the Philippines

Professor Kathleen “Kathy” Nadeau focused on the emergence of the Basic Christian

Community (BCC) movement. This movement was born out of the Philippine experience of being

colonized and was influenced heavily by liberation theology. “Under these divergent conditions in

the relations of production, liberation theology as an integral part of the struggle for national

independence emerged.”103 However, the BCC was more of empowering people and not on

overthrowing the state through armed resistance. “Progressive liberation theology in the

Philippines stands in a complex and unclear relationship to Marxism, one more political in practice

than in the literature. Practitioners employ Marxist analysis to solve social problems. They are not

blindly calling for the overthrow of society through bloodshed and revolution. Rather, they engage

in actively non-violent means of protest.”104

The BCC came into being because of the social activism and teachings in the Vatican II.

This allowed them to be more liberal in doing mission and began organizing in the Philippines.

“The Basic Christian Community movement was formalized at the Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral

Conference, in Davao City, Mindanao, in 1971 after the Conference of Latin American Bishops in

Medellin, Colombia in 1968. The Catholic Bishops Conference, the National Secretariat for Social

Action, and the United Church of Christ (a coalition of Protestant churches) endorsed the

movement in 1977. The annual Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference provided a forum for bishops

to discuss their ideas with other clergy and lay participants organizing the Basic Christian

Communities. These communities encouraged people to solve their own problems by using local

resources, whenever possible, to meet their own needs.”105

103
Kathy Nadeau, “Christians Against Globalization In The Philippines,” Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural
Systems and World Economic Development 34, no. 4 (2005): 318.
104
Ibid., 320.
105
Ibid., 322.
 41

These communities encountered problems from the local governments as developmental

programs initiated by the US was geared towards capitalism instead of meeting local needs. What

was problematic that the hierarchical church frowned on these communities as it operated outside

from the church structure and, from the conservative’s point of view, aversion to liberation

theology. Nadeau insisted, “However, the liberation theology movement represented the people’s

church, not necessarily the hierarchical church. It is integrated into the progressive wing of all the

churches. Even though it was forced underground in the Philippines, as it was in Germany during

World War II, it continued unabated. Liberation theology is not stagnant but a process that changes

and adapts with the changing times.”106

Nadeau observes that the religiosity and spirituality of these rural BCC is different from

the faith communities found in towns or in cities. “The farmers used to think that being religious

meant to attend Mass regularly, and keep the sacraments. Those who were perceived to be devout

Catholics practiced outward forms of religious behavior. However, the Basic Christian Community

organizers introduced the farmers to a new way of practicing their religion by actually reading and

applying lessons learned from the bible. They used local metaphors and real life examples to

explain what Jesus taught. Whereas the farmers used to rely exclusively on priests and religious

teachers to read and interpret the bible for them, the organizers now empowered them to discern

the meaning of the scriptures for themselves and in conjunction with the clergy. This new way of

practicing their religious faith was derived, largely, from liberation theology and post-Vatican II

social teachings.”107

Accused of being front of communists, the BCC’s were harassed by the authorities.

“Physically destructive forms of development aggression can be characterized as a political

106
Ibid., 323.
107
Ibid., 329.
 42

process wherein police and military forces work in cooperation with local governments to dislodge

poor farmers from their land, while depriving the urban poor of homes and jobs, all in the name of

development.”108 This was undoubtedly a violation of the rights of the individuals involved in

BCC. “…[A]ggressive development is in violation of international human rights conventions such

as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which states that ‘all

peoples have a right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,

social, and cultural development’.”109 Because of this, the BCC also has to be aware and vigilant

of their human rights and is more than ready to report violations. “Countering development

aggression are grassroots peoples’ organizations, like the Basic Christian Communities, supported

by non-government organizations and grassroots intellectuals who are researching and reporting

on rights violations that occur as a result of inappropriate development schemes.”110 (Nadeau, 336)

From here we could see how the BCC as coming from the church but more involved in the

community for the advocacy in human rights can be part of the missionary efforts. With the

understanding of Missio Dei, the church encounters how advocating human rights helps them be

involved in God’s mission. It must be pointed out the BCC is not necessarily composed of church

people but is a collaboration of NGO’s and members of the church who are passionate in human

rights advocacy. This type of mission endeavor goes out from the confines of the church but still

doing the ministry this time with the cooperation and interdependent participation of all

stakeholders. This is what Nadeau observes what is happening in the BCC. “The type of liberation

theology discussed here seeks to establish a necessary connection between religious truths and

social and economic justice.”111

108
Ibid., 335.
109
Ibid.
110
Ibid., 336.
111
Ibid., 337.
 43

The Theology of Struggle: Recognizing Its Place in Recent Philippine History

Dr. Anne Harris article highlighted the unusual alliance of church people and the

communists in Philippine setting. This was in view of a committed liberation of people despite

obvious contradictions in their thought foundations. “Over the next fifteen years, this often uneasy

alliance involved organization on several levels, empowerment of self and others, engagement

with people at the grassroots, and transformation of both society and the Christian churches. These

years also helped church people find their own voice in the movement, a situation that resulted in

the emergence of the ‘theology of struggle.’”112

How it came to be was because of the Second Vatican Council and the progressive

emphasis of the World Council of Churches. Church people were now willing to do ministry out

of the confines of the hierarchical church. “Out in the field, church people were introduced to

academic literature outlining liberation theology and literacy programs, and were employed at the

grassroots level where they conducted diverse programs. They trained leaders and participated in

areas of health, education, and community engagement. Much of their work incorporated the all-

important activities of “conscientization” (roughly equivalent to consciousness raising) and

empowerment of the poor and oppressed.”113

Church people seeing the obvious poverty and the Filipino people and realizing the

church’s role in maintenance of the status quo began to explore the possibility of national liberation

which the communists were advocating. “Religious activists began to question why Marxist

ideology was considered subversive, and why Communists were ‘dangerous.’ Indeed, by the early

1970s, many had adopted Marxist tools to analyze ongoing poverty and oppression. Networks

112
Anne Harris, “The Theology of Struggle: Recognizing Its Place in Recent Philippine History,” Kasarinlan:
Philippine Journal of Third World Studies 21, no. 2 (November 14, 2007): 84.
113
Ibid., 85.
 44

between the ‘opposing’ programs were in place. However, the official merging (when Christian

for National Liberation was inaugurated) carried with it hazardous connotations because shortly

after, President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. In doing so, he closed all avenues of

possible dissent and arrested anyone regarded as ‘opposition.’ Those involved in the fledgling

Christian organization were instantly labeled as opposition, a dangerous identity to hold at that

time. In fact, before long, anyone engaged in work at the grassroots was characterized as ‘Leftist.’

Perhaps naively, Christians perceived themselves as simply offering a Christian presence and

perspective in the struggle.”114

As crackdown on these “subversives” and “leftists” continue to escalate in the Martial Law

period and human rights violations mounting, church people were tempted even to use the armed

option of achieving liberation. “As a result of the escalating violence, religious activists asked the

Church hierarchy: ‘Why does Christian moral theology tend to justify violence that emanates from

the established power, even if it is unjust, oppressive and tyrannical, while tending to be so

condemnatory of the revolutionary efforts to replace it with a more just society and

government?’”115 It came to a point that these church people could no longer in good conscience

condemn those who are taking up arms in the struggle. “As Christians moved from advocating

nonviolent techniques to accepting armed struggle, they stressed that the decision did not

necessarily mean that they, personally, would take up arms. They knew what they stood for but

the heavily censored media and Church hierarchies ensured that others judged them harshly for

their stance.”116

114
Ibid., 87.
115
Ibid., 89.
116
Ibid., 90.
 45

However, after the 1986 EDSA people power event, there was an eventual split among the

alliance as the church people were too religious for the communists. They always point out that

the church was an oppressive institution but did not realize the one thing that enabled the church

people to be active in the struggle: their faith. “Producing a theological response to the struggle,

always perceived as essential, was now viewed as indispensable. A small group of theologians

began to take the task more seriously. They studied the theology of liberation from Latin America

and analyzed Church documents of previous decades but conceded that if any real progress was to

be made, they needed to verbalize something of their witness and experience summed up the

prevailing situation this way: ‘It corresponds more to struggle toward liberation than

liberation.’”117

In doing so, these church people wanted to have a community that upholds the human rights

that they could not do in the hierarchical church. “Clearly, what began as individuals seeking

alternative experiences of ‘being church’ eventually developed into a collective identity. A gradual

transition for most, individuals underwent personal transformation, forged new connections, and

sought increased engagement in the struggle.”118 Eventually what moved these people was out of

sense of mission in response to the struggle of the times. “Throughout all this, Christians did much

to legitimize the struggle for people at the grassroots even though, in retrospect, some lament a

failure to exert greater religious influence. Over time, sensing a loss of identity, Christians

regrouped as a community of people involved in the struggle as a result of their faith commitment.

In 1982, the theology of struggle was born, giving a name to a movement of progressive church

people that had, in reality, prevailed in the Philippines for some time.”119

117
Ibid., 95–96.
118
Ibid., 100.
119
Ibid., 100–101.
 46

Summary

The church does have a difficulty of reconciling its theology with the contemporary issue

of human rights. Not only it is because it was a secular idea but they too are subject to the

judgement as Christianity has been guilty of many human rights violations in history. The belief

of human rights which is inherent and inalienable in every human being, it cannot do away with

such thought as it resembles closely to the vision of Jesus as everyone being equal in the eyes of

God. Hence Newlands, propose that Christianity is to contribute to the ongoing discussion of

human rights by emphasizing Jesus’s revelation of God’s love. For Taber, he stressed that the

Gospel of Jesus Christ is the seeds of the human rights movement which was eventually distorted

by taking away the transcendence of God. This took away the universality of human rights as it

was only in the Gospel that the concept of human rights was adequately uplift the human dignity

of every person as created in the image of God and Jesus’ emphasis of loving your neighbor as

yourself. Both Newlands and Taber came into the conclusion that for mission and human rights

to be realized one has to go out of the confines of the church structure and work within the

community. It is because human rights cannot be owned by Christians itself as it is a secular

movement although closely aligned with the theological understanding of humanity.

As mission and human rights have to work hand in hand, the experience of the Philippines

missionary endeavor with human rights allowed them to cooperate with the communists despite

its contradicting philosophical outlook. Working in Basic Christian Communities, church people

engaged with other groups which aimed for alternatives methods of liberation especially for the

poor and the oppressed. Criticized and harassed not only by the state but even in ecclesiastical

authorities, they came up with the theology of struggle, which attempted to articulate doing

mission by upholding human rights.