ISSUES IN PROTESTANT. ROMAN CATHOLIC DISCUSSIONS 123 view of the world that recognizes and responds to God's reconciling action in the world"(19%2a, 60). In a time when so much of missionary experience is lived out in contexts of violence, in a time when there are so many Christian martyrs, the moment when we can together remember and celebrate how Jesus called us to celebrate his memory by giving ourselves completely for the people God loves is urgently needed as a sign in the world (cf. Schreiter 19924, 75; World Council of Churches 1982b, 20). AAs incomprehensible as itis at times that certain traditions, because of their understandings of Eucharist, cannot allow all to sit atthe same Bucha- ristic table, this restriction challenges us to move toward @ more powerful understanding of Eucharist as bread for the missionary journey. As one speaker remarked recently, “the table is God's table.” Tt does not belong, to any particular tradition, denomination, race or class. The consensus achieved in the Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Document reminds us we are in process of becoming one people, “sharing the meal of the one Lord” (World Council of Churches 1982, 26). In this state of our missionary pilgrimage, we are becoming the eucharistic assembly and “must be con- ‘comed for gathering also those who are at present beyond its visible limits, because Christ invited to his feast all for whom he died” (World Council ‘of Churches 1982b, 20). To the extent that any one of us refuses to enter into this process and ‘cannot unite in full fellowship around the same table to eat the same loaf and drink the same cup.” our “missionary witness is weakened at both the individual and the corporate levels” (World Council ‘of Churches 1982b, 26). Directions for the Future While there are still many challenges underlying convergence in the missiological issues, a new focus appears to be emerging which provides possibilities for a breakthrough to a more pervasive insight about ecumen- ical mission. In 1987 a number of Protestants and Catholics met in a con- sultation to probe issues in the United States concerning divided churches and common witness in relation to mission (USCMA/DOM-NCCC 198°). Central to their perception of the issues was the view that this constituted aan unfinished task for United States Christians in mission. Actual topics dealt with were those indicated above as reflecting issues of common con cem to Protestant and Catholic missiologists: the poor, interfaith dialogue, Charch-Mission-Kingdom, and Gospel in Western Culture, This was the first time that such « group tad convened officially in the United States to explore their common oF joint witness in mission, Equally important, but ‘not so readily recognized, was the fact that this consultation constituted a significant step toward connecting mission with local reality. It was not someone else's local reality; it was United States Jocal reality, and up until124 any. worne this time missionaries had not seen themselves as particularly related to this local reality ced by Newbigin’s (1986) anclysis of the critical lock of Gospel challenge in western society, ¢ sector of the consultation worked on the theme “The Gospel and Western Culture.” Newbigin’s presence at the consultation possibly reinforced the development of this theme and its con clusion at the end of the consultation: “Crucial for the mission of the thurch of Christin this age is the call (0 challenge certain assumptions of western society” (USCMA/DOM-NCCC 1987, 2). Tt goes on to call for theological dialogue among different Christian groups —Protestant, Ortho dox, Catholic in a discussion focusing on mission in western culture. Here wwe can perceive an underlying agreement about the essentially missionary nature of the Church snd the concomitant recognition that we are engaged int mission from within a local move out from the experience of a local Christian community directed toward local reality and then beyond. At the conclusion of its report, the sector signals the intimate relation between local and universal: “We also need to learn from and include other than Christian believers as well as Christians from other cultures in our analysis and critique” (USCMA/ DOM-NCCC 1987, 3) Recognizing the relation between Gospel and western culture as a mis. siological issue is more than saying mission is present on six continents, or ‘ven that mission is everywhere. Challenging certain assumptions of west. ern society from the perspective of the Gospel identifies a critical inter- pretation of mission, especially as this is seen in the religious historical context of the United States, Such an encounter between Gospel and cul- ture in a given situation is much more than inculturation. As Amaledoss (1990, 121-30) notes, she Gospel is intended 10 be counter-cuttural. Tneut- ‘uration arising as response to colonial importations of Christianity in many parts of the world can lead to the opposite relation between Gospel and society, if the Gospel becomes so absorbed by the culture and its values that it can no longer question its cultural setting (cf. Hunsberger 1991, 407- 8) i ay pS tai 8 Ui Sh ie pa haps in a situation where the Gospel has been so adapted to the cultaral- societal demands that it no longer raises any questions. As one tries to understand mission in a postmodern world, this recognition of how critical the relation between Gospel and culture is for mission is an important indicator of how the missionary conversations between Protestants and Catholics are likely to evolve in the immediate future Mach critical debate in recent years has dealt with sending missionaries overseas and seeing everything as mission. As Scherer notes, “the bewil- dering reality of change” makes “missionary terminology of the older mis- sionary era obsolete” (1987, 245), We are still in a transition from 2 colonial understanding of the missionary mandate. These ambiguities are present uch. It points to the aced that missionISSUES IN PROTESTANT-ROMAN EATIIOLIC DISCUSSIONS 125 in all discussions about mission, ecumenical and within specific traditions Scherer states that “mission theology should assist with the task of creating a fresh vocabulary for missioner funetion in the new missionary exa, taking into account that mission isthe task of the Church in all six continents” (1987, 245). Doth Protestants and Catholics are moving o a more vital understanding of the missionary nature of the Church, Historical experience of those who hhave traditionally carried the mission mandate both among Protestants and Catholics makes it difficult to perceive what mission looks like as it ema: nates from the local Christian community. Approaching the question of encounter between Gospel and western culture opens ep insights into this "way of being in mission, Increasing commitment among Protestant and Catholic missiologists to take this starting point in their discussions about mission is encouraging. Elements present in this discussion are! + questions posed by the context of a given society + analysis of co-optation of the Gospel message by particular values in a given society + recognition of the need for missiologieal proclamation in a given place + the reception of missionaries whe profess faith in Jesus Christ, but from a different perspective, e.g, the cole of the “foreigner” as one who awakens and helps to call for teansformation, conversion by their faith stance + willingness to enter into a situation and walk with those there + concern for opening the local Christian community to relations toward other Christian communities throughout the world. Central to this perception is the missiological recognition of the need for missionaries to come to western peoples, and consequently a need to know how one prepares for mission in postmodern postentightenment society. Conclusion ‘There has been a significant growth toward consensus in Protestant- Roman spments in ecclesiology, and especially in the area of mission-church relationship, have enabled participants in these discussions to move toward greater agreement, and appear to be fostering an ecumenical mission paradigm (ef, Bosch 1991, 368-89) While historical difficulties continue (o accompany these discussions (cf, USCMA/DOM-NCCC 1987, 7, 19-20), common recognition of the need to take up the question of Gospel and western culture from a missiological perspective indicates an important path for future developments of an cou tholie missiological discussions. Dev