The Mission Creates the Church – Jurgen Moltmann

“What we have to learn from them is not that the church ‘has’ a mission, but the very reverse: that the mission of Christ creates its own church. Mission does not come from the church; it is from mission and in the light of mission that the church has to be understood. The preaching of the gospel does not merely serve to instruct Christians and strengthen their faith; it always serves to call non-Christians at the same time. The whole congregation has ‘spiritual’ and charismatic gifts, not merely its ‘spiritual’ pastors. The whole congregation and every individual in it belong with all their powers and potentialities to the mission of God’s kingdom.”

Jurgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, p. 10.

Jurgen Moltmann, Experiences of God, p. 21.

Jurgen MoltmannOn the contrary, what we really feel is anxiety: that vague, oppressive feeling about what is going to happen which always expects the worst, and the gloom which does not believe oneself or other people capable of anything positive. Anxiety is the reason why so many people only see the future as a threat to the present; they no longer view it as a chance for something new. Anxiety is the reason why many young people are not just afraid of death, but are already afraid of life. Anxiety is the reason why many people no longer understand what is going on in the world and look round for scapegoats among its leaders. … The most that many people hope for from the future is that they will go on possessing what they have at present, and that the annual rate of growth will be secured. And it is just this, moreover, that they were promised in New Years speeches and addresses  Let us not complain about that here. But we have to ask, quite specifically: when did we destroy our future? Where did we bury our hopes?

Jurgen Moltmann, Experiences of God, p. 21.