"The Mission of God is to repair the breach. The people of God are participants in that work.
All breach-repair is relational.
A young child watches a group of children playing, too scared of rejection to join in. One of the children leaves the group and approaches the scared child, taking their hand and asking if they’d like to play. The breach is repaired.
A shamed and scared humanity looks at an immutable God, terrified to approach for fear of rejection and judgement. God, taking the ultimate risk, becomes human, builds relationships, steps into our shoes, loves us and is loved by us. God steps towards us. We step towards God. The Breach is repaired.
A poor community watches in despair as the wealthy nations chase further wealth. A visitor comes, not with answers, but with questions. Dialogue ensues. Every member of the community is consulted. Plans are made. Action is taken together. The breach is lessened. Love, hope and justice begin their work.
All breaches need to be recognised. They need to be understood. It is only in understanding and experiencing the breach that we can begin to see the way it can be repaired. It can be all to easy to see a problem and know how you would fix it. But all problems are complex, and your ‘fix’ or my ‘fix’ might exacerbate the issue, rather than repair. Meeting in the middle of the breach, sitting in the breach in order to understand the perspectives and fears and hopes of those who are most effected by the breach, and then acting together to repair what has been understood….that is the work of relational mission.
This can happen in our own relationships and in our churches. It can happen between the rich and the poor. The powerless and the powerful. The forgotten and the forgetters. It must happen if God’s vision of a reconciled and just world is to be realised."
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