1

Local Churches Transforming Local Communities:

Advocating for the Doing of Integral Mission

by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

INTRODUCTION

“It is high time that Evangelicals move beyond an over-focus on the personal and
begin to think much more seriously about structural issues, societal evil, the nature
of powers and strategies of personal as well as social transformation.” 1

Those are the concluding words of Dr. Charles Ringma during the fourth annual forum on
theology convened by Asian Theological Seminary in 2008. Two years later, in 2010, the
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) adopted the theme “Churches
Transforming Communities” during its 29th national assembly.2

As intimated by Dr. Ringma, this theme of working for transformation at the community
level is a noteworthy development given the usual emphasis among evangelicals to work for
change at the level of the individual.3 Or as commonly put, “to transform the world one
person at a time.” Steve Murrell noted how such an individualistic approach has led Filipino
Christians to miss the broader task of engaging culture, discipling nations, and applying
God’s Word in all aspect of life. It created the narrow expectation to “pursue moral change
but not social change” brought about by “short term mentality, the separation of church
and state, and our Western evangelical obsession with the individual.” 4 But as observed by
social anthropologist, Melba Maggay,

“Change in individuals does not necessarily mean change in society. There are far
more complex forces at work that require engagement at ground level… evangelism
may transform individuals and foster righteousness, but it can not substitute
for actual confrontation with the forces that create poverty and injustice.”5

This need for a deeper engagement in society among evangelicals is supposedly addressed
by a framework of engagement previously introduced to PCEC member churches in the year
2000s by Dr. Jun Vencer and operationalized for fifteen years by Bishop Efraim Tendero

1 Charles Ringma, “Liberation Theologians Speaks to Evangelicals: A Theology and Praxis of Serving the Poor” in
The Church and Poverty and Asia, Lee Wanak, ed. (Mandaluyong City: OMF Literature Inc., 2008) p. 52.
2 Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, 29th National Assembly “Churches Transforming Communities:

Working Together towards National Transformation” (Clark, Pampanga: July 12-15, 2011)
3
“The only way to change the world is to change individuals. Changed people, in sufficient numbers, will
produce changed campuses, changed communities, changed cities, states and nations - yes, in a very real
sense, a changed world.” See Bill Bright, “You Can Change Your World,” cru.org. https://www.cru.org/train-
and-grow/transferable-concepts/introduce-others-to-christ.html (accessed February 24, 2017)
4 Steve Murrell, WikiChurch: Making Discipleship Engaging, Empowering, and Viral (Lake Mary, Florida:

Charisma House, 2011) p. 198.

5
Melba Maggay, Integral Mission: What’s It All About? (Quezon City: Institute for Studies in Asian Church and
Culture, 2007) p. 10.
 2

during his term as national director of the council.6 In the said framework, a functional
church encompasses not only the works of evangelism (‘kerygma’) and fellowship
(‘koinonia’), but also truth-telling (‘marturia’) in the public square and works of service
(‘diakonia’) for the helpless and the needy in the community.7 It is hoped that by the
adoption of this framework, more and more evangelical churches would get themselves
involved in the broad task not only of meeting the needs of people in their respective
communities but also of addressing the ‘structural evils’ that lie at the heart of most
poverty-related problems in the country.8

In 2011, PCEC adopted what is now known as the Clark Field Declaration I. It includes the
following commitment as a response to the perceive mandate of churches for
transformative service:

“We declare our commitment to partner with all stakeholders to attain equitable
and sustainable peace; to promote spiritual values formation; to advocate good
governance; and to seek the alleviation of poverty in our land.

We will work to equip and empower our churches to be sensitive to the needs of our
immediate communities and to efficiently and effectively utilize God’s resources to
creatively respond to those needs.”9

And yet an even bolder statement from the council was released in 2013, called as Clark
Declaration II, wherein it affirmed that “the Church is the primary agent that God will use in
transforming society.”10 Whereas the previous declaration merely recognized the need for
churches to work together with various stakeholders at the community level, the succeeding
statement specified the ‘lead’ role the church is supposed to play in “priority issues” which
came to include “caring for creation,” “peace and reconciliation,” and “community
development,” among others.

At once, the need for encouraging and mobilizing local churches to start working at the
ground level presented itself. The council provided avenues by which this could happen.
Aside from PhilRADS (PCEC’s official relief services arm), I-Help was created whose major
task includes working with the DSWD to recruit local churches as partners in carrying out
the conditional cash transfer program of the government.11 But engaging in the work as

6 Vicente Punzalan III, PCEC @ 50: 1965-2015, (Paranaque: CSM Publishing, 2016) p. 54.
7
Ibid., p. 19-21.
8
Ibid., p. 90.
9
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, Clark Declaration I, (Clark, Pampanga: July 12-15, 2011).
10
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, Clark Declaration II (Clark, Pampanga: July 2-5, 2013). The term
‘transformation’ has a long history in missional discourse. The Wheaton Consultation in 1983 preferred it over
‘development’ and ‘liberation,’ and has defined it as "the change from a condition of human existence
contrary to God's purposes to one in which people are able to enjoy fullness of life in harmony with God."
11
Dubbed as 4 Ps or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Project, it served as the centerpiece program for poverty
alleviation by both the GMA and Pinoy administration.
 3

complex as poverty-reduction needed a significant adjustment in the way evangelical

churches in the Philippines conceived as parameters of its ministry.12
PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS AN ‘INTEGRAL’ MISSION

Fortunately, closely connected to the clarion call of PCEC for its constituents to participate in
the work of community transformation is the global shift in perspective towards a broader
understanding of the Christian mission.13 C. Rene Padilla calls this transition as the ‘era of
holistic mission’ in which evangelical Christians have entered since tackling the tension
between spiritual and social ministry during the first Congress on World Evangelization in
1974.14 Since then, Lausanne has championed the evangelical understanding that
“evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of the Christian duty.” 15

In 2010, the Lausanne Movement met for the third time, gathering 4,000 delegates from
198 countries at Cape Town Africa, and once again reiterated the need for the “whole
church” to take the “whole gospel” for the “whole person” to the “whole world.”16 The
resulting document, the Cape Town Commitment, adopted what the Micah Network
defined as ‘integral mission’:

“Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration

of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done
alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social
consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our
social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the
transforming grace of Jesus Christ.”17

This articulation of ‘holistic’ ministry affirms the intertwined character of ministering by both
‘word and deed.’18 But left on its own, such international statements and documents would

12
There have been objections to bringing the church’s ministry of benevolence outside its doors. But as
Wayne Grudem argues, “while there seems to be a primacy placed on caring or the physical needs of fellow
believers (Acts 11:29; II Corinthians 8:4; I John 3:17) all members of the church, as they have opportunity, are
to ‘do good to everyone’ (Galatians 6:10). See Wayne Grudem, Christian Beliefs (Nottingham: IVP, 2005) pp.
124.
13
Al Tizon chronicled this development in missiological thinking. See Al Tizon, Transformation after Lausanne
Radical Evangelical Mission in Global-Local Perspective (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Pub, 2008). Stan
Guthrie traces this shift to John Stott’s defining book ‘Christian Mission in the Modern World.’ See Stan
Guthrie, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster
Press, 2000) p. 125.
14 C. Rene Padilla as quoted in Dewi Hughes, God of the Poor (Great Britain: OM Publishing, 2000).
15 JD Payne identifies the Lausanne Movement as one of the major trends that in the advancement of the

Gospel. See JD Payne, Kingdom Expressions: Trends Influencing the Advancement of the Gospel (Nashville,
Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2012) pp. 61-71.
16
Lausanne Movement, Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and A Call to Action (North America:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2013) p. 28.
17
“Micah Declaration on Integral Mission,” Micah Network, accessed February 24, 2017,
http://www.micahnetwork.org/integral-mission.
18
Often used interchangeably, Charles Ringma argued for the term ‘integral’ over against ‘holistic’ to avoid the
unnecessary connotations associated with the word ‘holism.’ See “Holistic Ministry and Mission: A Call for
Reconceptualization,” Phronesis (9/1, 2002) pp. 60-61.
 4

take ten to twenty years before it get cascaded and hit the ground running in the
Philippines. This is taking into account as well the persistent notion that a ‘broader’
conceptualization of Christian ministry brings with it certain ‘missional hazards’ and could
actually be harmful to the cause of the Gospel.19 In light of these, some sort of ‘advocacy
work’ has to be done to extend the parameters of the usual conceptions of Christian mission
as limited to the works of soul-winning, spiritual discipleship, and church planting.20

One commission tasked by PCEC to undertake the said assignment of advocating for
‘integral mission’ is Micah Challenge Philippines –a coalition (tertiary) comprising of church
denominations and networks of Christian development agencies.21 Micah did a run of a
modular seminar called ‘Churches Transforming Communities’ which incorporates ‘integral
mission’ as missional framework and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a gauge
for local situation analysis.22 By building clusters of organization per MDGs, it also sought to
supplement the seminars through fostering partnerships between local churches and
Christian NGOs for possible collaborative work in communities.

19 The noted missiologist David Hesselgrave actually issued a call that this new understanding of mission “has
to be successfully challenged” or else “retaining the biblical priority of world evangelization will become
increasingly difficult.” As quoted in Stan Guthrie, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st
Century (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2000) p. 129. Similar sentiments are shared by certain
conservative sectors of the Christian community in the Philippines.
20
For a more recent popular defense of the rather traditional configuration of the church’s mission, see Kevin
De Young and Greg Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the
Great Commission (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011). This however is lamentable as Robert Reymond wrote, “It is
striking how large the New Testament draws the circle of of activities of Christian ministry. Jesus comprises
under the term 'to serve' many different activities including giving food and drink, extending shelter, providing
clothes, and visiting the sick and those in prison (Matt. 25:37-40). Clearly, the church has the diaconal duty to
help the poor and needy, first those among itself and then the poor at large.” See Robert Reymond, A New
Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998) p. 886-887,
892-893.
21 It includes in its Steering Committee church denominations such as the Wesleyan Church in the north, the

Conservative Baptist Association of the Philippines and Christ Jesus Our Life church in central Luzon, Baptist
Conference of the Philippines in the Visayas region, and CAMACOP in Mindanao. It also includes networks of
Christian development agencies such as the Alliance of Christian Development Agencies (ACDA), the Christian
Convergence for Good Governance (CCGG), APPEND Network, Food for the Hungry, World Vision, etc. See
www.facebook.com/micahphilippines/
22 The MDGs are eight measurable and time-bound targets set by the United Nations to halve absolute global

poverty by 2015. It was signed by 191 countries during the Millennium Summit in 2000, which included the
Philippines. The move to have a faith-based response to the MDGs gave birth to the campaign launched in
2003 as Micah Challenge. See Joel Edwards, “Micah Challenge: The Story So Far” in Micah’s Challenge:The
Church’s Responsibility to the Global Poor, Marijke Hoek and Justin Thacker, eds (Milton Keynes: Paternoster,
2008) p. 1-12.
 5

Image 1. Coverage of Churches

Transforming Communities seminar
by conducted by Micah Philippines

This paper seeks to reflect on the fortunes of the missiological ‘shift’ noted above and how it
found local expression in the Philippines. It distills learnings and reflections gleaned from
Micah’s close to a decade experience of interfacing and interacting with pastors, church
workers, and denominational leaders, from key regions of the country, for the advocacy of
broadening the scope of ministry engagements and contributing to the work of responding
to the pressing needs of local communities.

BROADENING MINISTRY ENGAGEMENTS

Figures and Snapshots
In 2012, Micah commissioned a nationwide mapping research to gain a quantitative picture
of the reach and scope of initiatives and services offered by churches in their respective
communities.23 Close to a thousand churches from all over the country served as
respondents for the survey.

The study found out that more than half are engaged in educational assistance (65%), and in
disaster response (62%).24 Almost half of the churches have health programs (45%), are
engaged in community development (43%) and providing various help programs (41%).25 A
smaller number (26%) are engaged in the area of providing capital and financial assistance

23 Micah Challenge Philippines, Churches Serving Communities: Initial Mapping Research (2012)
24 Educational assistance includes a broad range of intervention like sponsorships, Alternative Learning System
(ALS), tutorials, adult literacy, VOICE, school materials distribution and community libraries. Disaster response
includes relief assistance and calamity rehabilitation.
25 Health programs include medical and dental mission, hospital and medical assistance, drug stores and

maternity clinics. Community development includes community organizing, street cleaning, and engagement
in infrastructure projects. Help programs focuses on providing care and shelter which includes rehabilitation,
orphanages, and aid for the disabled. It is noteworthy in the report of the Micah research that care for the
disabled and rehabilitation are among the top five (5) services that churches offer.
 6

such as micro-finance, savings program and loans.26 Only 5% of churches are involved in
income-generating projects involving livelihood, employment, cooperative development
and farming/agriculture development.

Graph 1. Ways churches serve their

community

The study noted the expansive presence of churches all over the country and its capacity to
reach a significant number of people in the community not only with Bible teaching but also
with various forms of services.27 The variety of services that churches offer reveal its
sensitivity to the needs of its community. This is highlighted by the broad range of
educational assistance that churches offer. It accommodates both formal and non-formal
education, the young and the old, as well as the astonishing priority given to helping victims
of disaster and calamities, substance abuse, and marginalized groups such as orphans,
indigenous people and persons with disability (PWDs).

The data also show that churches seem more ready to provide direct community services
dealing with education, disaster, and health compared to being involved in political and
governance issues (16%), including the provision of legal assistance (14%). This reveals a
rather stark “neglect of engaging the larger structural problems that brings about poverty
like unemployment, scarcity of livelihood opportunities, and corruption in politics and the
lack of good leaders.”28 The research reported the following conclusions and
recommendations,

“The study showed the capacity and potential of churches to be channels of wide-
range of services. This highlights the crucial role of the church in helping make
significant changes and development in their respective communities.

Umbrella organizations like the council of churches should maximize and harness this
opportunity to steer faith-based organizations towards a consolidated effort in

26 The involvement of 8 out of 10 of these churches in micro-finance has to do mostly with conducting the
values formation component of the program through Bible studies. This is usually done as part of their
partnership with Christian micro-finance organizations. Only a few churches are engaged in the direct
implementation of micro-finance service.
27 The 941 churches included in the survey has a total reach of almost half a million beneficiaries (400,447

people) which include marginalized groups such as IPs and PWDs.

28 Micah Challenge Philippines, p. 30.
 7

eradicating poverty in the country. Much work has to be done, however, in the area
To read the paper in full, particularly pages 7
of strengthening the capacities of churches. There is a need to deepen not only the
theological framework but also the technical expertise in development work that
and 8, kindly email the author at
could broaden and enhance their initiatives… This could be made from the level of
theological institutions to the more grassroots level of local churches.” 29
xgenesis.rei@gmail.com.
As a qualitative counterpart to the survey, Micah also embarked on documenting stories of
local churches responding to the Millennium Development Goals.30 What this research work
Thank you so much and God bless!
added to the quantitative data is a closer look of how a local church can carry out effective
work not only in usual areas of community engagement such as disaster response and
Alternative Learning System but also in lesser known works of rescuing young girls from
human trafficking and responding to HIV and AIDS epidemic. It also added texture as to
analyzing the self-understanding of churches on why they do what they do. To which we
now turn in a bit more detail.

Motivations and Expectations

As the training team of Micah made its round in key areas of the country and invited
reflections on the missional paradigm of ‘integral mission,’ they discovered the many ways
local churches understand their mission and the expanse of their ministry in the
community.31 In the process of expressing this role, the implications of ministries that seek
transformation in their communities were also revealed.

Missional articulations of churches range from the usual down-to-earth objective of ‘soul-
winning’ to the more lofty aspiration for a transformed Philippine society. Several points of
agreement, nonetheless, were usually affirmed:

Because people are going to hell, there is a great spiritual

need to share the Good News component
Because people are poor and in need, there is an physical
equally great need to help them component
We disciple not only the soul but also the body integral
component
We want to see transformation happen in the world structural
component
Table 1. Points of Agreement

But also, there were points of disagreement particularly not only on how the mission of the
church is popularly understood but also on how it is best carried out. A spectrum of
perspectives came to be noticeable:

29 Ibid., p. 37-38.
30 Micah Challenge Philippines, Stories of Transformation: Local Churches Responding to the MDGs in their
Communities (2012).
31
Interestingly, it touches upon and expands as well the old categories coined by the Consultation on the
Relationship between Evangelism and Social Responsibility or CRESR held in Grand Rapids of 1982 wherein it
defined the range on how social action relates to evangelism: as consequence, as a bridge, or as a partner.
 8

First, some churches are convinced that the best way they can help people in the
To read the paper in full, particularly pages 7
community is through their evangelistic efforts. Considering that the spiritual condition and
eternal destiny of a person’s soul is more important, let other institutions in society worry
and 8, kindly email the author at
about non-spiritual concerns. For this group, the church should focus on that which it can do
best or it alone can provide, and that is to prepare people for the after-life (Mark 8:36).
xgenesis.rei@gmail.com.
Second, other churches are prepared to go beyond the laser-focused attention to people’s
spiritual needs. They can see how the variety of ways people in the community could be
Thank you so much and God bless!
helped actually provides them an entry point for their evangelistic task. But while they are
prepared to utilize all possible means and opportunity to be able to share the Good News, it
is also clear to them that responding to people’s need is not yet in itself evangelism (Rom.
10:9-10). It is but a tool, a platform, a bridge, or as a pastor described it, a ‘bait’ to get
people to hear the Gospel.

Third, there are also churches who look at helping people as their way of spreading the
Good News in the community. For them, sharing the love of God to people in tangible ways
is a more concrete way of doing evangelism. As it is often said, “actions do speak louder
than words” perhaps most especially in a high-context culture such as the Philippines (Matt.
5:16). They are also confident that genuine expressions of radical love eventually moves
people to ask for themselves the driving force of their compassion and generosity.

Lastly, some churches simply resolved to hold-on to what Jesus regarded as the greatest
commandment of loving one’s neighbor and to the so-called Great Commission of making
disciples. They see both tasks as important expressions of their Christian witness with one
reinforcing the other (Matthew 14:13-21). This latter group captures how John Stott
described the relationship of evangelism and social concern as “two wings of a bird”
wherein there is no point of asking which one is more important. 32

Graph 1. Spectrum of Engagement in Responding to Community Needs

Help people in Help people as Helping people Helping people

the community an entry point and evangelism as their way of
through for evangelism are both needed evangelizing
evangelism in the by the the community
community community

Ways and Means

Broadening the scope of ministry entails a great deal of logistical considerations. Many
churches already have their hands full, not to mention budget being tied in, trying to
manage the usual affairs of their respective congregations: Sunday worship services, prayer
meetings, Bible studies, Sunday school classes, etc. Fortunately, necessity proved to really

32 As quoted in Samuel Escobar, A Time for Mission: The Challenge for Global Christianity (Leicester, England:
Inter-Varsity Press, 2003) p. 153.
 9

be the mother of creativity and invention. Churches were able to expand their undertakings
by engaging in partnership and collaboration.

For one, PCEC’s two humanitarian arms (PhilRADS and I-Help) provided a ready opportunity
for local churches to be of help to communities in need. Other churches partnered with
Christian development agencies in the likes of Food for the Hungry, World Vision, and
Compassion. As is often the case, what the churches are lacking (funds and technical
expertise), the NGOs have. What the NGOs are in need of (presence on the ground and
personnel), churches have. Still some other churches did not look far. They discovered ways
to collaborate with their respective local government unit and execute projects that aim to
benefit the entire community.

It has to be mentioned as well that some churches do have the capacity to be self-
supporting and channel the collective resources of their congregation to run their own in-
house programs for the community. Large churches in the cities are actually able to spin-off
their own respective humanitarian foundations (e.g., KBCF’s Operation Paglingap, Victory’s
Real Life Foundation and Christ Commission Fellowship’s Uplift).

CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Despite concrete gains in enjoining more churches to embrace the broad task of
transforming communities, several challenges continue to serve as roadblocks. These
concerns, both theological and practical, have to be addressed by those wishing to take part
in the advocacy of expanding the borders of ministry to include concrete ways of engaging
the community.

Theological concerns
The tendency to operate by way of a dualistic and other-wordly theology remains. At the
core of the resistance to holistic ministry, or a rather instrumentalist approach to it, is an
insistent emphasis on the divide between body and soul with usual weight given to things
spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. Efforts to re-assert the equal significance of human beings’
physical, earthly, and temporal concerns are often unfortunately lumped with the perceived
dangers of the old Social Gospel in North America and Liberation Theology in Latin
America.33

Associated with it is the negative outlook of a rather ‘other-worldy’ eschatology. Katsuomi

Shimasaki traced the unhappy effects of this doctrine by saying, “If we believe that Christian
salvation means the soul would fly away from the world to heaven, our attitude towards life
on earth would naturally be indifference.”34 But this is no Christian hope. Redemption in the
Bible is all-encompassing –heaven and earth, body and soul, this life and the hereafter
(Colossians 1:19-20).

33 This lumping is inaccurate considering that that what actually occasioned the gathering of the Lausanne
Movement is to provide an evangelical response posed by the World Council of Churches and Liberation
Theology in Latin America.
34
Katsuomi Shimasaki, “The New Heavens and the New Earth” in The Earth is the Lord’s, Timoteo Gener and
Adonis Gorospe, eds. (Mandaluyong City: OMF Literature Inc., 2011) p. 18.
 10

Much is the need to deepen discussion on what it means to really engage in mission as
transformation. Despite its perceived limitations, there is still a potential in mainstreaming
evangelical documents on missiology that have established a reputation of commanding a
broad consensus such as Lausanne’s Cape Town Commitment and the Micah Declaration on
Integral Mission.35 But more than this, reflexive questions on underlying motivation, manner
of implementation, and bottom-lines have to be raised and processed accordingly. C. Rene
Padilla put the issue well:

"When the church is committed to Integral Mission and to communicating the gospel
through everything it is, does, and says, it understands that its goal is not to become
large numerically, nor to be rich materially, nor powerful politically. Its purpose is to
incarnate the values of the Kingdom of God and to witness to the love and the
justice revealed in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit, for the transformation of
human life in all its dimensions, both on the individual level and on the community
level… so that all people and human communities may experience the abundant life
that Christ offers them."36

Somehow, churches pursuing an ‘integral’ mission have to seriously reflect on the usual
impulse to count ‘return of investments,’ whether in terms of increase of church
membership or tithes and offering, and consider how a show of love for the needy needs no
further legitimation.

Practical concerns
Around 80% of Philippine churches are themselves poor and are in need of transformation
both economically and institutionally. The experiences of local churches who fumbled on
handling project funds and personnel management revealed the glaring need for both moral
formation and technical capacity-building. In light of the fast-changing landscape of societal
concerns faced by the country, the need for institutions that can effectively help-out in
addressing the rapid spread of the HIV epidemic, instances of human trafficking, and
rehabilitating drug addicts is greater than ever. These issues are complex and call for a
coordinated response by stakeholders down at the community level –including churches.

Surely, exchanging notes and developing a strong network of Christians that will facilitate
‘best practices’ in forging partnership and collaboration, as well developing pathways for
sustainability, would prove to be a critical step. But still, it can only go so far unless the
whole church is able to harness the ‘giftings’ and expertise of each individual member and
channel it towards the broader vision of what NT Wright calls as “building for the
kingdom.”37

Surely, a broader mission, one that takes seriously the call to love one’s neighbor, help the
needy, and confront injustices in society, calls for new forms of mission workers as well.
How may social workers, medical professionals, lawyers, artists, and a lot more other people

35 For a critique of Lausanne, see Ringma, p. 37-39.

36 C Rene Padilla, What is Integral Mission? (available online at
http://www.dmr.org/images/pdf%20dokumenter/C._Ren%C3%A9_Padilla_-_What_is_integral_mission.pdf)
37
NT Wright, Surprised by Hope (New York: Harper One, 2008) p. 207-208.
 11

with special skills finally be provided with fully-recognized ministries within the church?38 It
may really sound like as if this is stretching the church beyond its comfort zones, but as Ross
Langmead observed,

“Christian witness desperately needs to begin with practical concern and a sense of
being alongside in the human condition. Among the implications of this approach
are: integrating word and deed, costly discipleship, identification with the poor and
engaging the powers. It also means that our engagement is primarily outside the
walls of the church buildings and occurs mostly at times other than during church
functions.”39

Having said this, it may also be high time to pay attention to the church’s ‘scattered’
character.40 The church is not the church only when it is gathered for corporate worship or
when it functions within the mechanisms of an institution. The church does not cease to be
a church when it began to scatter after the weekend. In fact, it is the ‘scattered’ Body of
Christ that the world sees with regularity. It is the particular face of the church that people
see, hear, and feel.

It maybe, perhaps, that in moving out of its usual comfort zones, the local churches of
tomorrow shall fathom with even greater clarity the wisdom behind the words penned by
Howard Snyder, “The church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it is in church business
rather than the Kingdom business.”41 Or as how William Dyrness puts it, in reflecting on the
new faces of Christianity moving to demonstrate God’s redemptive reign in the broader
community, the church will have to “always point beyond itself.”42

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rei Lemuel Crizaldo has been doing advocacy work for almost a decade, promoting the doing of Integral
Mission. He currently serves as advocacy coordinator for Integral Mission at Micah [Challenge] Philippines
and faculty of the Master in Social Work (MSW) department at Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries in
Makati. He holds a master's degree from the College of Mass Communication, University of the
Philippines -Diliman.

He is the author of several local books, published by OMF Literature, integrating theology, culture, digital
media, and public issues (which includes the 2015 Filipino Reader's Choice awardee "Boring Ba ang Bible
Mo?"). He co-wrote a chapter in the book "Signs of Hope in the City: Renewing Urban Mission, Embracing
Radical Hope" released in the UK by the International Society for Urban Mission (2015).

38
George Hunsberger asks, “Is there a missional perspective that supplies the necessary frame for a renewed
ecclesiology?” In this article, we have demonstrated that there is. An integral mission actually call for an
‘integral’ church. See George Hunsberger, “Evangelical Conversion toward A Missional Ecclesiology” in
Evangelical Ecclesiology: Reality or Illusion? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003) p. 111.
39 Ross Langmead, Reimagining God and Mission (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2007) pp. xx.
40 The Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper proposed a distinction between the church as institution (gathered)

and the church as organism (scattered). In James Bart, ed., Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, (Carlisle:
The Paternoster Press, 1998) p. 187.
41 Howard Snyder, Liberating the Church: The Ecology of Church and Kingdom (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-

Varsity Press, 1983) p. 11.

42 William Dyrness, Insider Jesus: Theological Reflections on New Christian Movements (Downers Grove,

Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 2016) p. 147.