The important thing is that we acknowledge the realities of our life and mission today, accept what we cannot change, and challenge ourselves in areas we can change. There are no easy answers. Together we must continue the conversation about being free for mission. We believe that each of us wants to be a responsible member of this congregation, to have a concern for the common good and to be women on mission. As we compose our life together, we will renew our energy for mission.
Mission really contains three elements.
What this points 'out uniquely is that ministry and mission are not identical. Diakonia or forms of Christian service which we can translate as ministry is one part of mission. In other words, to proclaim the gospel is not just standing at the pulpit or preaching on a platform someplace or even sitting on a hillside in a faraway land telling the natives about Jesus Christ, although those are important dimensions. One preaches the gospel as much by the way one lives as the way one serves as by what one says. So that, in a sense, Kerygma embraces these things.