What Is Integral Mission?

by C. René Padilla

Over these last years, the integral mission movement has flourished admirably, in Latin America and around the world -- especially in the Majority World. Testimonies of its proliferation are the Micah Network and Red del Camino para la Misión Integral en América Latina (The Way Network for Integral Mission in Latin America), two organisations I have had the honour of directing. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done to get the majority of local churches around the world to commit to transforming the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, we can only praise God for the progress we have seen in the practice of integral mission. We will be satisfied if this publication contributes to extending and deepening that practice even more.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

René Padilla was born in Quito, Ecuador, and reared and Bogotá, Colombia. He has been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since 1967. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Wheaton College, an M.A. in Theology from Wheaton College Graduate School, and a PhD in New Testament from the University of Manchester, England. In 1992 he was granted an honorary D.D. by Wheaton College. He is a founding member of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (FTL, its acronym in Spanish) and of the Kairos Foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For twelve years, until recently, he was the International President of Tearfund - U.K. and Ireland. He is presently the President of the Micah Network and Executive Director of Ediciones Kairos, the publishing arm of the Kairos Foundation. He has lectured in many countries around the world and has written or edited several books in English and Spanish. His works have been published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, German and Korean.

Reviews

[Aleassa Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“…ecumenical and evangelical are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. They point to two inseparable realities from which the church is born and grows: the oikoumene of men and women for whom Jesus Christ died and rose, and the Gospel that offers the key to human history.

The ecumenical without the evangelical is secularism, it is the world of projects of social redemption centered on the human being, without relation to God. The evangelical without the ecumenical is logos asarkos, the doctrine of salvation without incarnation.”

The concept of integral mission is not something that was on my radar, even after majoring in missions at college and spending the next 15 years in mission/ministry work in Central America. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more after listening to a fascinating interview with Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst on the Think Global (previously Think Orphan) podcast.

What is Integral Mission? is a philosophical primer of sorts on integral mission, and is recommended as a starting point. It is really a short collection of essays by C. René Padilla on the subject, translated from Spanish, with discussion questions at the end of each essay.

This format does make it a little dry, and because these essays were written in the 80’s and 90’s, current events discussed in the essays are no longer relevant. It is eyeopening, however, to peek back at what was happening in the world in the context of missions and politics of that time.

The end of the book is a 12 page postscript detailing the biographical timeline of Padilla and his work. It’s very interesting and helps give context to the essays, especially in relation to Padilla’s views on Marxism. I really believe it would better serve the book as a preface or introduction, giving the reader a background to better understand the essays. Regardless, I suggest reading the Postscript first!

For those interested in more on this subject, Seminary Now has an online class on Integral Mission taught by Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst, which I am looking forward to taking.


“If the mission of the church is to be the mission of the Kingdom of God, then it has to be simultaneously evangelical and ecumenical.

It has to be evangelical because it announces the good news of a new reality, and it calls individuals and nations to turn from their idols to the true and living God. It has to be ecumenical because its goal is a universal Christian community through which God wants to manifest its love and justice to all nations. Evangelical and ecumenical in fidelity to Jesus Christ, and in the interest of a better world, for the glory of God.”