Tackling colonisation
From a Christian perspective, tackling colonisation starts with the awareness that for a long time our understanding of mission was shaped by the context of colonisation and the complicity of European missions in that process. The consequence was that mission was colonised. Decolonising mission is therefore stripping back the layers of colonial baggage associated with mission to root out our understanding of mission in biblical witnessing that is shaped by vulnerability. Part of this process is decentring dominant voices and centring muted voices and experiences, so that mission can be reconceptualised from the margins.
Gospel
The word ​‘gospel’ is Greek. It was used in ancient Greece to denote a religious concept of a sacrifice in the form of a thanksgiving offering to the gods upon receiving good news. This idea was taken over by the Roman imperial cult of Octavius Caesar who was given the divine title of Augustus (Majesty) because he was seen as both a man and a saviour-god. Octavius Caesar ushered in Pax-Romana, that is, Roman peace to end wars therefore announcers, messengers and writers of the day proclaimed the good news that Caesar Augustus had ushered in a new era of peace. It is this notion of good news about the peace achievements of Caesar Augustus that the gospel writers took with new counter-cultural meaning through the life and ministry of Jesus. The gospel therefore takes on a new meaning in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as the only means of saving humanity from sin. All four gospel writers declare that this is indeed the good news! If the gospel has this rich counter-cultural meaning against the colonial power of Rome, what is the implication of the gospel in the light of colonial kingdoms?
Jesus’ ethic of God’s kingdom
Anyone who studies the Gospels carefully will realise that Jesus lived His life in a way that challenged the colonial power around Him. He did this carefully and in a very clever way that was not confrontational to the gospel of Rome. Whilst Jesus did not go about actively campaigning against the Roman empire, what He did instead, was to empower people around Him through the character of God and in the process reveal the depravity of power, control, nationalism/​imperialism, exploitation and division which characterises earthly colonial kingdoms.
"Decolonising mission is therefore stripping back the layers of colonial baggage associated with mission to root out our understanding of mission in biblical witnessing that is shaped by vulnerability."
The kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed appears to develop an antithesis to these chief characteristics of earthly colonial kingdoms. Instead of power, control and exploitation exhibited for example in the reigns of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great or Octavius Caesar, Jesus was born into poverty (Luke 2:21 – 24). He and His family were vulnerable as refugees needing protection (Matthew 2:13 – 15), He advocated for humility in service rather than power and control (Mark 10:35 – 44), He was humble riding on a donkey (Matthew 21:1 – 9), and finally He emptied Himself giving everything He had (Philippians 2:5 – 8).
Instead of embracing a toxic nationalism, He challenged Pharisees and Sadducees who were very nationalistic in their religious thought. Jesus challenged Jewish religious leaders’ corruption of power (Matthew 23). He also disappointed his followers who wanted him to be a Messiah that would set the nation of Israel free (see Luke 24: 21; Acts 1: 6 – 8). He declined becoming enthroned as a national prophet and king (John 6: 14 – 15). Instead of embracing these various forms of national politics, he demonstrated interculturality by engaging Samaritans (John 4), telling stories that made Samaritans the heroes (Luke 10: 25 – 37) and commanding His followers to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18 – 20). In essence, Jesus was not imperialistic or nationalistic in that sense but was intercultural in His thinking and engagement. All the kingdoms in the biblical narrative were seeking to build an empire with their image imprinted on everyone like Nebuchadnezzar wanted everyone to worship His image (Daniel 3), but Jesus embraced an interculturality that sought to engage beyond his Jewishness.
Visions of Justice and Hope resource
From this closer look at Jesus’ ministry, we can see that the chief characteristics of His decolonial ethic are vulnerability, humility and interculturality. These are values in antithesis to the earthly colonial kingdom characterised by power, control, nationalism/​imperialism, exploitation and division.
How can Jesus’ decolonial ethic help us to decolonise mission in today’s context? This will mean we develop an understanding of mission that is shaped by vulnerability, humility and interculturality. On the last point of interculturality, one of the exciting things we have been working on is a small group resource called Visions of Justice and Hope. This is an intercultural resource on intercultural justice that can enable our churches to have meaningful and hopeful conversations on racial justice. The resource can be used In a leadership setting or small groups in churches.
