The Meaning of the missio Dei: Reflections on Lesslie Newbigin's Proposal That Mission Is of the Essence of the Church

The article is an exposition and critique of Lesslie Newbigin's view of the church and its mission, according to which the church's mission is compared with and taken up into the sending of the Spirit and the Son by the Father. The conclusion is that Newbigin's ecclesiology has great merit in that it challenges the Christian community to realize that it is not even truly a church unless it is active in missions. But, at the same time, the essay argues that there are aspects of God's missional work that Newbigin's view does not fully integrate.