Challenging Western Christians and Their Neighbours

Book excerpt: This concise study searches for what is needed to awaken or strengthen the faltering missionary consciousness of Western Christians with regard to their own environment. In Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit, the whole missionary enterprise of God, the missio Dei, started and continues; by him and his Holy Spirit it will also be accomplished and finished. All Christians are meant by Jesus to be participants in his mission. The apostles had to start at home, in Jerusalem, Judea, and Galilee. Consequently, for today’s Christians participation in the mission of Jesus expresses itself in their relationship with people next door, those who are not religious, and those who are of other religions and cultures. The mission field is in our direct vicinity, where we daily meet the people we may know.