Abstract:
The ecumenical conference in Edinburgh in 2010 identified the issue of ‘Mission and Power’
as one of the pressing mission themes for our generation. Christian mission has always been
associated with power. The promise of the risen Christ was that his followers would receive
power when the Holy Spirit came on them. History, unfortunately, recounts how Christian
mission became backed by force and violence, the very opposite of the kind of power and
energy associated with the Spirit of God. At the Edinburgh 2010 conference this violence in
mission was studied as expressed in churches’ relations with indigenous peoples. This article
engages violence theologically and ecumenically by inviting the Edinburgh 2010 discussion
into the reflection on violence in the democratic South Africa, as it was presented as a
contribution to a wider discussion on violence in South Africa. This is done with the following
objectives in mind: (1) to better understand the interplay between violence and power against
the background of a broader global and ecumenical discussion of this issue; and (2) to suggest
clues for the theological reflection on violence that may help to create a powerless, spacecreating
discourse that opens up thinking and contributes to healing and justice.The article
concludes by building on the Edinburg 2010 foundations of mission as dialogue and proposing
prophetic dialogue as a powerless discourse: ‘Transforming the meaning of mission means
that … God’s mission calls all people to work together for healing and justice in partnerships
of mutuality and respect.’
