Missio Dei - Mission is God sending Himself! We have become a part of God's mission because He chooses to engage and involve us. He has found us faithful servants to be partakers in His mission. In Col. 1:20 God desires to reconcile ALL THINGS to Himself. This should inform how we approach mission, and how we do it.
We have the great commission (Matt. 28:20) in full view then; to reconcile not only mankind to “his” creator but also all created things (including the universe and the things in it). In light of the call to a holistic approach to mission, Emerito P. Nacpil acknowledges in his book Jesus’ Strategy for Social Transformation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999) that “Jesus sought to bring about social change that would radically affect both the people and the social structure of Jewish society.” Alongside hope in the future that God is bringing, therefore, comes an urgency to cooperate with God’s purposes. Where human beings have wilfully neglected their responsibilities before God, both Old and New Testament texts proclaim God’s judgement: Jeremiah prophesies that the rich will not get to enjoy their wealth and Jesus warns those who fail to care for him, embodied in those in need, are not fit for eternal life.
Social engagements are good mission strategies, but when they are directed towards helping change the heart (evangelising) of the people and not also the systems in place, society becomes a place unfit for them. This is because after these people are changed they are no more fit to leave in those societies. The people are transformed but their societies are not. In a sense what we do is only produce a people who call heaven their home, irrelevant on this earth. Evangelising both the society and its people through social engagement should be at the core of mission today. Having said that, social engagements aimed at sharing and meeting the needs of the people (in the community), should be activities which are geared toward offering “redemptive and regenerative features”, which will at the end transform the lives of the people and not just be seen as social charity or donations.