Witness To The World

A great deal of uncertainty exists in the church as to what mission really is.

The shifts in political power, away from the traditionally Christian West; the call for a moratorium and the other critical voices from the Third World churches; and the increasing self-assurance and missionary consciousness among adherents of non-Christian religions--all these have given rise to the question whether Christian mission work still makes sense, and if it does, what form it should take.

Is mission identical to evangelism in the sense of proclaiming eternal salvation? Does it include social and political involvement, and if so, how? Where does salvation take place: only in the Church, or in the individual, or in society, or in the 'world', or in the non-Christian religions?

The picture is one of change and complexity, tension and urgency. The answers we give to these questions must be consonant with the will of God and relevant to the situation in which we find ourselves.

David Jacobus Bosch was a South African missiologist born near Kuruman, South Africa, 1929. He died in a car accident, April 15, 1992. He studied at the Universities of Pretoria and Basel (ThD, 1957) and served as a Dutch Reformed missionary in the Transkei. He founded the Southern African Missiological Society (SAMS) in 1968 and was first editor of its journal, Missionalia. Bosch became professor of missiology at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 1971. He was known for his gracious pastoral and spiritual sensitivities, enjoyed the trust of diverse groups of Christians, and in his magisterial Transforming Mission (1991) produced the summative work of classic 20th century missiology.