To Understand

Back to the Future

by Corrado De Robertis

From the Editor's Desk

Vol. XVI

No. 5

JUNE 2004

World Mission Archives

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Here at WORLD MISSION we have always made an effort to report from all parts of the world on the various activities of missionaries and on Church situations and issues. In this effort, we can never disregard the fact that mission work is made up, yes, of successes and joys - but also of failures, doubts and uncertainties. Of course, this does not mean that missionary activity will become redundant, but only points to the fact that mission is done by human beings who at times may well feel the strains of fatigue and obstacles in their work.

Not rarely missionaries may meet rejection, misunderstanding, prejudice and at times also hate. More often, though, they encounter support, esteem and affection on the part of many for their untiring effort to proclaim the Good News and to work constantly to change the world from within. In this missionary endeavor there is both a human as well as a spiritual side, where human beings are the limited instruments and the Spirit is the main conductor and the producer of results.

The changes occurring in today’s world demand that the vision, purpose and need of mission work be re-visited and reassessed. In this month’s WM Special, Columban Fr Hugh MacMahon proposes such a rethink of mission, one which is very much needed today by the many different missionary societies in the world. New models of, and approaches to, mission need to be considered, but there must also be a return to one of the original attitudes which have always characterized missionaries - the humble service of proclamation and human contact. The Chinese mission, where in many ways missionary activity may be hardest to accomplish, may actually help missionary societies rediscover the original meaning of mission, the necessity to be servant leaders, sharers of true “Good News”, hidden leaven. These attitudes will provide the necessary conditions for the main actor of mission, the Spirit, to produce lasting fruit. There is a future for mission as long as we are ready to be in tune with the signs of the times, our limits and God’s presence. <WM

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Fr Corrado De Robertis

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Philippines.