Missio dei

Missio Dei is a Latin Christian theological term that can be translated as the "mission of the God," or the "sending of God."

Missio Dei as a term and concept became increasingly popular in the church from the second half of the 20th century and is a key concept in missiology being used by theologians such as David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, Darrell Guder, Alan Roxburgh, David Dunbar, Steve Taylor, Alan Hirsch, Dwight Smith, Martin Robinson, William Storrar, Tim Keller, and Ed Stetzer, as well as missional networks such as the Gospel and Culture Network (Guder), Forge Mission Training Network Australia (Hirsch), Together in Mission UK, and the Allelon Foundation (Roxburgh).

The received history holds that, in 1934, Karl Hartenstein, a German missiologist, coined the phrase in response to Karl Barth. This language, it is argued, was picked up at the 1952 Willingen conference of the International Missionary Council (IMC) and developed theologically by Lutheran theologian, Georg Vicedom.

A more recent account from John Flett maintains that while Hartenstein did introduce the actual term "missio Dei," he did not locate that mission in the doctrine of the Trinity. Such reference to the Trinity appeared in the "American report," a study document prepared for the 1952 Willingen conference, under the leadership of Paul Lehmann and H. Richard Niebuhr. This document suggested a link between revolutionary movements in history and "God's mission." Many of the later problems with missio Dei stem from these origins, and especially the failure to ground the concept in a robust account of the Trinity.

The acknowledged concerns with missio Dei also meant that reference to the concept went through a hiatus until it was given concise description by David Bosch. According to David J. Bosch, "mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God."Jurgen Moltmann says, "It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church." According to one opinion:

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