Re-membering Mission

Abstract

This article grapples with the Anglican Communion's Five Marks of Mission, raising questions such as: Does the Communion need a mission? Does mission need the Communion? And do the Five Marks of Mission speak to the mission of God or mission of and in the Communion? Central to the article is the anxiety about the potential consequences of mission based on historic experiences of people from colonized territories, hence the use of a decolonial approach in this article. The article is also cognizant of the coloniality that continues to influence intra-Communion and ecumenical relations. It asks whether the Five Marks of Mission carry in them some decoloniality impulses that could fundamentally heal the wounds of the past, celebrate the diversity in the Communion presently, and re-envision a future in which the Communion sees itself as having a role to play in the missio Dei.