Abstract

MANGAYI, Lukwikilu (Credo). Reimagining mission and missiology amid global ecological crisis: An oikomissiological theoretical and conceptual framework for building a sustainable world. Missionalia (Online) [online]. 2023, vol.51, n.1, pp.169-218. ISSN 2312-878X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7832/50-0-519.

In this article, the researcher presents a conceptual and theoretical framework for his oikomissiology - an ecological dimension of mission. He locates it in the triad: Theos - Anthropos - Cosmos as axis for mission and missiology which opens mission praxis towards multi and trans disciplinarity in the project of giving and sustaining life to the full for all the inhabitants of the earth. This oikomissiology is foregrounded in the moral motif of the Lingala proverb: "mabele ezali lokola ndako ya nzoi, banso tokotaka na nzela moko kasi tovandaka bisika bikeseni", meaning '"The earth is like a beehive, we all enter by the same door but live in different cells". The beehive is a powerful metaphor for the interconnectedness of all living things which implies solidarity, complementarity, interdependence, coexistence, and communal sustainability. This article is essentially a call to missiologists and mission practitioners to reimagine mission and missiology from the oikos perspective amid global ecological crisis. Hence, the researcher argues for the mainstreaming of the Oikos concept as this will reshape mission and missiology to work towards sustaining the whole web of life on earth emulating the cosmic Christ. To support this central argument, the researcher sufficiently demonstrated and articulated that missio Dei including theological themes such as shalom, covenant, incarnation and God's option for the poor could be expanded to include an ecological dimension so that mission and missiology participate towards the realization of a sustainable world.

Keywords : Oikos; oikomissiology; missiology; mission; ecological crisis.

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