Pope Urges Church to Return to Gospel Roots
In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its gospel roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just another charitable group if it forgot its true mission.
In a heartfelt, simple homily, the Argentinian pope laid out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church, which is beset by scandals, intrigue and strife.
Addressing cardinals in the frescoed Sistine Chapel the day after his election there, Jorge Bergoglio said the Church should be more focused on the Gospels of Jesus Christ.
"We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don't proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong. We would become a compassionate NGO and not a Church which is the bride of Christ," he said, speaking in Italian without notes.
Go Ahead. Make That Call!
Most of our focus on the "Missionary Call" is about hearing and obeying God's call. Of course those are extremely important. But what about the place of God's servants making the call? We can all think of examples of God speaking to people, calling them to a certain task or a different location. But both the Bible and history are full of examples of God using ordinary people to call somebody into Christian service.
Welcome - Kia Ora
Welcome to a wide range of information on people, organizations and resources focused on cross-cultural mission in, from and to New Zealand- Aotearoa. You will find details here and links to other websites both in NZ and internationally answering an amazing array of material about mission.
New Zealand's own mission history began in pre-colonial times when Maori leaders invited Christian missionaries here. Missionaries had a vision for partnership between indigenous peoples and settlers that would avoid the exploitative history seen in places such as USA and Australia. They were involved in brokering an agreement between Maori and the British Crown and in translating the treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840. Later Government and settler actions broke the trust established and the number of Christian Maori subsequently declined.
New Student Missions
The New Student Missions Revival and Indigenous Missions
By Bill Bray
ST LOUIS, MO (ANS) -- Not only at the Urbana 12 Student Missions Conference held in St. Louis (Dec 27-31, 2012), where over 10,000 of the 16,000 students pledged future involvement in global missions-but at sister conferences in Kansas City and Atlanta last week-there was no denying that the "Justice Generation" is on the move for Christian missions.
