Mission Theology Of/With The Indigenous Peoples Of Asia

by Kim Young Dong
(Missionary in Indonesia)

1. Introduction

Once C. Rene Padilla said, If there is one aspect of contemporary life in which we cannot take it for granted that the Scriptures have something to say to us, it is the field of economics, even more have to be said, it is the exploitation of the powerlessness. Capital has become the determining factor not only in the field of economics, but also in practically every area of human life. Under the tyranny of Mammon, with the beautiful name of globalization, this economic imperialism let millions and millions of people live submerged in misery in every part of the world, especially in the third world, but most of all, the victims of this global economic system are the Indigenous Peoples. The abuse of power, the ambition for material gain, and the exploitation of the poor which hindered human relationships form the biblical times until today are still horrible existential devastation of the Indigenous Peoples which are often called the forth world by themselves. With this perception it is imperative that we Christians recognize that an essential dimension of our mission is to reaffirm the ethical values that are part of grace and task (Gabe and Aufgabe) of God. God’s purpose for humanity, God’s concern for the poor is urgently proclaimed and realized in the devastated world. The God of life, justice, peace, and love calls us to proclaim redemption and liberty to the sinners and captives because he is the God who has heard the cry of the poor and the powerlessness. Servanthood and Solidarity with the poor are the God’s preferential option for the human beings. Today, Who is our neighbourhood? Who is the poor to whom we christians proclaim the Gospel and with whom we reflect mission theology?

Let me say about a story or statement of the Indigenous People who are today among the struggle for the life. Really to be or not to be is the ultimate concern of them, i. g. Maluku people in Indonesia, with other terms the forth world people within the third world.

The Maluku riots, which erupted on January 19, 1999, right on the Idul Fitri day (the Islamic holy day), especially in the Ambon Island (and the islands around it), had entered its 20th month. It started as a personal argument between a market hit man named Nursalim with a driver named Jopie Louheri, at a Batu Merah terminal. This fight has been brought to trial at Ambon State Court. By this court, it was proven that it"s a pure crime case and this court found Nursalim guilty. But that"s not the same idea among Muslim Ambonese. This incident was not considered an ordinary crime case, but rather as a Christian Ambonese systematic plan to spoil/ruin the sacredness of Idul Fitri day. And because of that, an issue has been developed to provoke religious sentiment between both religions.

This was proven when the houses of Christians in Mardika and Silale were burnt by masses of Muslims. After sometime, a fake issue developed quickly among the Christians that Bethabara church in Batu Merah, Bethel church in Mardika, and Sumber Kasih church in Silale had been burnt also by the Muslims. This fake issue caused a spontaneous reaction from the Christians of Ambon City, who came to both location, and soon became a mass riot in Ambon City.

Meanwhile, at the Muslims community, a fake issue was also developed that the Christians had burned a mosque in Batu Merah and Al-Fatah mosque (the biggest mosque in Ambon). This rose their anger and became an excuse for Muslims everywhere, especially in villages in Leihitu peninsula, to assault, assassinated, looted, and burnt Christian houses in the south of Leihitu peninsula. The rioters passed two barracks of the army (733 Infantry Battalion) without any hassle at all. These rioters were then stopped in front of Police Mobile Brigade dorm in Air Besar, Passo (a Christian village), by telling them that Al-Fatah mosque was not burnt like issued earlier.

The incident, the first in the history of Maluku, was later published nationally in mass media that Muslims had been assassinated everywhere in Ambon and around. From this news, developed an issue that the Christians in Maluku, with the help of RMS (Republik Maluku Serani. Serani = Christian), systematically have planned the assassinations of Muslims in Maluku, and spoiled the sacracy of Idul Fitri day, which was latter called "the bloody Idul Fitri" (The RMS abbreviation token from the 1950s separatist movement: the South Maluku Republic, translator). This caused solidarity among Muslims in Maluku and nation-wide, and hatred against Ambonese Christians. Consequently, assaults, assassinations, and burning of houses and churches took place throughout Maluku islands. This has also provoked anger among the Christians in Maluku, who spontaneously to launch self-defense and retaliation attacks on Muslim communities around Christian living quarters. Thus mutual attacks between the Muslims and the Christians everywhere in the Maluku were inevitable. Meanwhile a feeling of hatred towards the Moluccan Christians in many cities in Indonesia became more and more evident.

The feeling was accumulated in a Islamic emotional rally called "Tabliq Akbar" in Senayan sports venue in Jakarta early this year, which was organized by a notorious group called "Laskar Jihad" (Jihad Legion). The rally speakers were national political leaders and two Muslim figures from Ambon (Ali Fauzy and General ret. Rustam Kastor) and the Kapita Tidore (Kapita = war commander). This rally then endorsed the sending of Laskar Jihad to the Maluku. Thousands registered and trained in warfare in a location near Bogor followed by a big show of force in Jakarta where they demonstrated all their weaponry as a preparation to be sent to the Maluku. Not long after that, in a continuous waves, thousands of the Laskar Jihad were sent to the Maluku through some East Java harbours, without any attempt to stop them by the security forces, despite the President"s order against Laskar Jihad going to the Maluku. Arriving in the Maluku, they were not sent back by the local security forces.

After that, containers full of sophisticated weapons and ammunition arrived in Ambon. Again no efforts were made by security forces to check on them and thus were safely smuggled into muslim living quarters of Waihaong in Ambon. Then attacks on christian living quarters in Ambon and its surrounding areas began where army and police standard weapons, grenades and mortars (produced by military factory Pindad) were used with military strategy and tactics.

Because of this increased riots, the Central Government enforced the Civil State of Emergency in the Maluku, changed the Military and Police Commanders in Chief. This policy did not help stop the riots, instead it even increased them more and more. Within this great chaos, the Military commander in chief (Brigadier General I Made Yasa) even pulled away troups from areas of conflict, despite oral and written requests from the governor on behalf of both conflicting factions to keep the security forces in the areas of conflict. As a result, attacks on christian communities escalated in Poka, Rumah Tiga, Waai, Urimesing, Air Mata Cina, Diponegoro Atas, and Mangga Dua, including the campus of the State University of Pattimura in Poka. The security forces made no attempt to prevent let alone to stop it, on the contrary many of them, especially from the army, supported the barbarian action.

In many conflicts, it is very obvious that many army personnel were involved, thus made the situation uncontrollable. Within this very fragile fearful security condition, the commander in chief appeared on local TV station to announce that the strength and weaponry of the rioters overpowered that of the army security forces. This statement increased the fear among the people and at the same time the people lost confidence on the security forces, and thus they left homes and fled to villages in the mountains or to other safe areas outside the city of Ambon.

Looking at all these failures by the government in handling the riots and riots which have caused thousands of the innocent to lose their lives, hundreds of thousands to lose their homes and properties, we come to the conclusion that in order to end this conflict, we are of the opinion that:

1. The riots in the Maluku are not merely religious conflicts (horizontal conflicts between religions), but also vertical conflicts, ideological conflicts using religious symbols and banners.
2. The conflict in the Maluku is a political conspiracy among certain groups in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia, i. e. the military (Army), the fundamentalists and jihad, national and local political figures (including new order cronies), with the ultimate goal of creating instability to gain bargaining power and to overthrow the present government.
3. The government has failed to carry its duties to enforce law and order in the Maluku, thus riots continues to violate human rights, the rights to live, to feel secure, to possess private properties, to live in an area, and to possess lands. Thus human life in all aspects has been ruined.
4. It seems that those who are behind this dirty "power play" possess the ability and influence beyond that of the President himself so that the legal government could not function effectively to protect and guarantee its people"s human rights in the Maluku.

It is no coincidence that we have consultation about the emerging asian theology in dialogue for indigenous peoples of Asia in the midst of suffering and martyrer of brothers and sisters in Maluku and in other places. With the launching of the new millennium the horizon of our missionary co-work is to encourage equality, justice and compassion in the whole life of the whole world, especially of the indigenous peoples. God is the only "absolute owner" of all things, we human beings are only "pilgrims" whose main task is realize servanthood and solidarity with the poor (Leviticus 25:23-55).

Soteriological basic situation

Many of the 6000 indigenous nations, about 300 million indigenous people in the world are an endangered species and may soon, like the rain forests, disappear.

Along with the assault on indigenous peoples, the governments are colonized, the lands occupied and stolen, the religious freedoms denied, and the treaties broken. The cultural diversity is shrinking. Indigenous people face social, economic, political and cultural disadvantage in the societies in which they live. Indigenous people are still suffering from the colonial heritage, which historically began and currently supports violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples. Until now, indigenous people are often among the poorest, worst housed, and least paid. Some of the world’s worst violations of human rights and cultural rights have been perpetrated against indigenous people.

For centuries indigenous people have lived on the margins of national and international life. Some have continued to live according to their traditional ways and have not adopted the predominant language or religion of their country. Many have been outcasts in their own lands. Rarely have they been incorporated by the larger societies in which they lived. Often they have been denied citizenship by the authorities of their states.

Often the ancestral lands of indigenous people were "discovered" by colonial powers and then allocated to foreign settlers. In many countries the indigenous people were relegated to reserved territories or confined to inaccessible or inhospitable regions. Some governments viewed as subversive those who did not share the sedentary lifestyle or the culture of the majority. Nations of farmers tended to view nomads or hunting peoples with fear or contempt. Many indigenous people seemed doomed to extinction.

Even though indigenous peoples have and struggled to preserve their existence and to protect their cultural identity, their collective and individual rights, and their present and future aspirations. Voices of indigenous peoples are expressed: "We were systematically stripped of our resources, religions, and dignity. Indeed, we became resources of labor for gold mines and in cane fields. Life for us was unspeakably cruel. ... Five hundred years ago, you came to our pristine lands of great forests, rolling plains, and crystal clear lakes, streams, and waters. Since then we have suffered in your quest for god, for glory, for gold. But we have survived." And the voice continued: "Even though you and I are in different boats - you in your boat and we in our canoe - we share the same river of life." (Oren Lyons, Chief, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee, North America). "We must not blindly follow the model of progress invented by Western civilization. We may envy the industrialized world for its wealth, but we must bought at a very high price. The rich world suffers from so much stress, pollution, violence, poverty, and spiritual emptiness. The riches of indigenous communities lie not in money or commodities but in community, in tradition, and the sense of belonging to a special place." (Anderson Muutang Urud, Sarawak Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance, Southeast Asia)

Definitions and conceptual Framework

There is a great deal of controversy over an appropriate definition of indigenous people in Asia. Many terms are used to refer to what we call "indigenous people" and/or "the fourth world" - aboriginal people, native groups, First Nations people, ethnic groups, ethnic minorities, indigenous nations, nationalities, minority groups, tribes, etc. Although the term "indigenous people" is not without shortcomings, e. g. the population may not always comprise the original inhabitants of the area, it is the term most representative of what these people themselves desire to represent, and with few, if any, negative connotations.

According to the classical definition, indigenous people are defined as non-state people not participating in an industrial mode of production and are thus vulnerable in relation to modernization and the state. But, in practice, governments and large development organizations perceive and act toward indigenous people like these: primitive, backward, less civilized people, who must be "modernized" and integrated into the national socio-economy and the state on the terms of the state and the majority population. They are strongly opponent or reluctant to use the term "indigenous people", probably because of the connotations of original rights - to land, mutual respect, etc. Indigenous people have a common heritage, language, and culture, are generally indigenous to the land (but not necessarily), or at least inhabit and identify with some territory, are only partly integrated into the dominant nation-state, are usually discriminated against or put at a distinct disadvantage with respect to the national majority population, and share a common desire to affirm their identity and self-determination.

The fourth world

The term "fourth world" is used by primarily indigenous people (in America, Canada, South Africa, Asia, and in academic circle), because they believe that they are not inclusive to the first, second, and third world. With this conceptual terminology we can focus on the structural problems of indigenous people and to provide help to know and understand their situation: oppression, exploitation, discrimination, and deprivation. The label Fourth World was consciously chosen, because it expresses the experience of those who feel that they are being treated as identity-loss people and exploited by the powers of the First, Second and Third Worlds. They believe that with this word, to a significant extent, they are able to grapple with the problems of their political, socio-economic problems. Moreover, with the term "fourth world" the missionary work of the church is to evaluated and transformed.

The identity of the fourth world/indigenous people is seeking by themselves. It is ture that, as Richard Griggs said: Fourth World Nations are historically deprived, claiming their land and territories, internationally unrecognized. They are often called nations without a state because no sovereignty is acknowledged.

Although they desire and hope the implementation of the rights of indigenous peoples including the right to self-determination as a people, but not every indigenous people want to seek to create new states with which to confront those already in existence..

Today, it is said that missions to "the unreached people" and cross-cultural missions in regions of the great religions are very difficult, even not far impossible. However, if we see the soteriological basic situation of the whole world, then we can’t deny that international conflicts and most missionary problems are linked with problems of indigenous peoples or of the Fourth World. In fast everywhere of the world, there are problems and conflicts of the Fourth World, for example, in the Third World (Rwanda, Maluku, Chakma and other tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Tamil’s independent movement in Sri Lanka, etc.), in the Second World (Kosobo and ex-Yugoslavia problems), and in the First World (Ainu, indigenous peoples in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.).

Gradually, the faces of the Fourth World forced themselves on to the attention of the states of the world in a way that could no longer be ignored or allegorized. It seems we have, in this respect, an increased theological challenge. It is suggested that new theological and missiological methodology are discussed and founded for missiological reflection on the destiny of indigenous people and mission to/with the Fourth World.

Theological themes of the Fourth World theologians

1. New category and method of theology - relation between christianity and religions. Cultures and religions are needed to study and understand for the theology and missions. Because, it is recognized that different cultures understand the Scriptures differently. How can we turn our attention again to the biblical texts which often misinterpreted but have to be rightly understand, but seek to understand them in the contexts in which they occur, as well as their meaning in the many human contexts in which the words are communicated, especially in the Fourth World? Which similarities and differences have christian faith and indigenous spirituality? How do we resolve tension between theological absolutes and theological pluralism? How do we reach a common understanding of the truth of Scripture? The theology of indigenous people is based on not only thinking and analysis, but also praxis and experience. The latter is more important and relevant to the cultures of indigenous people. Theolgizing and theological reflection itself are not naturally, and even dangerous, because with that, if not consciously, divorced from their cultural ground. From this perspective, the theology of indigenous people is characterized as a kind of contextual theology which constitute an epistemological break when compared with traditional theologies. It is theology "from below" (not from above), "from the underside of history", its main source, apart from Scripture and tradition, is the social sciences (not philosophy), and its main interlocutor the poor or the culturally marginalized (not the educated non-believer).
   
2. Whole gospel: personal salvation and social liberation - development of prophetic theology of spirituality
   
3. Ecclesiology - Church and Community, form of leadership, rituals, ecumenical co-work, theological education, etc.
   
4. Identity - native christian or christian native?

The following points of the emerging theology and missiology of the Fourth World emerge from the above themes: First, there must be ecumenical dialogue and co-operation between the Fourth World theologians/leaders, and theologians in the other world. Second, new theological method has to seek a creative way of theologizing. The best method of indigenous people’s theology succeed in holding together in creative tension rather than destructive, i. g. creative tension between personal salvation and social change, theoria and praxis. We also need one more dimension of poiesis which is defined as the "imaginative creation or representation of evocative images". We don’t only need truth (theoria) and justice (praxis), also need "beauty, the rich resources of symbol, piety, worship, love, awe, and mystery". Niebuhr has rightly said that "Love demands more than justice".

God’s preferential option for the Fourth World

As I told in previous chapter, indigenous people are often among the poorest, worst housed, and least paid. Some of the world’s worst violations of human (individual and collective) rights and cultural rights have been practiced by the states. Indigenous people still feel they will never stop being "colonized, assimilated, domesticated, indoctrinated, and manipulated". They are, like a Israelites in the Egypt, treated harshly and afflicted. Then they cried out and are crying out because of their suffering. In many places in the world the fundamental evils of racism and prejudice are used for the political gear. Unfortunately, it must be acknowledged that the destroying power hate and violence between two peoples within the same state-country is still working. A good example is conflict between Muslims and Christians in Maluku. A fight against such a fundamental evils is essential for the realization of "a new partnership" and of the justice, peace and integration of creation.

With development of modern capitalism, rich christians, as their material wealth accumulated and considered as God’s blessing, increasingly tended to interpret the biblical message on the poor metaphorically. The poor were the "poor in spirit", the ones who are totally depended upon God. "The rich could also be poor - they could arrogate all biblical promises to themselves." The image of becoming and being christian is identified with axiom of happiness or with a successful CEO. The Bible says: "Do not be conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2), but we are too much with this world. It is the reason why Gospel movement or missions is often identified with socio-political conservatism, and why many people unconsciously believe that the american lifestyle is same as christian. It is the typical expression of "Cultural Christianity" which equalized Christianity with culture or cultural manifestation. The problem of "Cultural Christianity" is the human-centered, the rich-centered Christianity which reduce Gospel into axiom of happiness and success, and identify the triumph in Jesus Christ with obtaining new converts as many as possible.

However, the cry and suffering of the poor could no longer be ignored or allegorized. Since the 1960s, the mood had been changed in the ecumenical movement. As late as 1968, the Uppsala WCC Assembly stated: "We heard the cry of those who long for peace, of the hungry and exploited who demand bread and justice; of the victims of discrimination who claim human justice; and of th increasing millions who seek for the meaning of life." The cry of the poor were no longer resorted with metaphorical story. At Melbourne (1980) the solidarity with the poor were a central and crucial priority of missiological reflection. The poor, as the dominant hermeneutical category, were affirmed as the "missiological principle par excellence" and the church’s relation to the poor "the missionary yardstick". However, we can easily fall into the trap of the paternalistic attitude, i. g. the use of the term "for" instead of the term "of" or "with". When the United Nations designated 1993 as the International Year "for" the World’s Indigenous People, it was objected by indigenous people and changed with "of". It wished to say "Church ‘with’ others" and "Church ‘of’ the poor".

The poor were beginning to discover themselves and refused to be defined by the rich, the West, the state, or the whites. They refused to be identified with objects of evangelism and mission, rather they wish to become subjects and bearers of mission. From the first time christian church is the "voice of the voiceless", and also it is true that the church is consist of the voiceless who making their own voices heard.

With the perspective or discovery of the poor Jesus’ messianic and missionary ministry was beginning. With the rediscovery of the poor was emerged one of the ecumenical missionary paradigm, i. g. mission as liberation, mission as "God’s preferential option for the poor". However, the phrase "preferential option for the poor" is not merely means exclusiveness. The very term "preference" denies all exclusiveness, while the term "option" does not mean "optional" of "arbitrarily". It means that the poor are the primary, though not the only ones, on which God give the focus of attention. Basically, God’s love is for all people, the poor and the non-poor. Therefore, solidarity with the poor and liberation of the poor are God’s first concern for His creation, it is also the frame of reference of mission. "The entire Bible, beginning with the story of Cain and Abel, mirrors God’s predilection for the weak and abused of human history."

The poor are "discovering dimensions of the Gospel which have long been forgotten by the church".

In the Bible we see Jesus’ predilection for the poor, the hunger, the oppressed, and the exploited. However, being poor is not merely material (Luke 6:20) but also mental (Matthew 5:3). The Bible seems to suggest that the poor were an overarching terminology for those who were suffered and the victims of society. From the perspective of liberation theology we can see a similar hermeneutics. "The poor are the marginalized, those who lack every active or even passive participation in society; it is a marginality that comprises all spheres of life and is often so extensive that people feel that they have no resources to do anything about it." The "preferential option for the poor" does not apply to liberation theology and black theology only, but also to the mission of/with indigenous people who are racially discriminated. Because racism is the greatest threat to "a new partnership", to an embracing ideas such as co-existence, democracy, freedom, and international cooperation. The practice of racism is a form of poverty inflicted on people. Lars Johansen, Premier of Greenland Home Rule Government (Arctic), rightly said: "the struggle for indigenous peoples’ rights is at the same time a fight engaged against the fundamental evils of racism and prejudice... indigenous peoples are all too well acquainted with the concept of ethnic cleansing." The missionary task of church, the solidarity with the poor and the discriminated must be recognized as a question of theology proper or of missionary theology, or in the words of Castro, a question of Gospel, or "a priority criterion by which to judge the validity of our missionary engagement today". Why God call for us to join to His preferential option for the poor? At first, we have here a valid criterion to apply to our lives as God’s missionary people. Second, We encounter Jesus in identification and sharing with the poor. Third, it is "a guideline for the priorities and behaviour of all Christians everywhere". Fourth, it calls us to discover dimensions of the God’s primarily concern which often have been forgotten by the christians.

Jesus taught in Nazareth in Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor..." The stand of some Western and non-Western theology which consider relationship with the poor as a question of ethics only, then as a result, they differentiate ethics from theology. But this stand is today being challenged. Theology and ethics belong together. "Ethics is the hands and feet and face of theology, and theology the vital organs, the soul of ethics." Hereby, we can remember the well cited passage of WCC’s "a double credibility test": "A proclamation that does not hold forth the promises of the justice of the kingdom to the poor of the earth is a caricature of the Gospel; but christian participation in the struggles for justice which does not point towards the promises of the kingdom also makes a caricature of a Christian understanding of justice." Jesus, our Savior and Lord of our total life, is motif, ground, and goal of our theology and ethics. In conclusion, theology must be missionary theology, and ethics also must be missionary, because mission is and remains an indispensable dimension of the christian faith.

Transforming mission

Everything is changed, except God’s word. We can see how profoundly the understanding and practice of mission during the twenty centuries of christian mission history changed. D. Bosch points 6 far-reaching paradigm shifts in the understanding and practice of mission. Mission is transforming in two-fold meaning. Where mission is practiced, tradition and culture and worldview are changed. At its most profound level, the purpose and goal of mission is to transform reality around it. Mission refuses to accept reality as it is, even though it respects cultures and contexts as a channel of communication of Gospel. God’s word, crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit reawaken the confidence that everything need to bo renewed. Therefore, Bosch is right, when he says: "‘transforming’ is ... an adjective that depicts an essential feature of what Christian mission is all about."

However, "Transforming mission" means also that mission itself being transformed. The missionary practices since 16th century, and also in "the great century" are often criticized with 3C, i. g. Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization (or Colonialism), and 3M, that is, Mission, Money (Merchant), and Military. 3C became the "threefold flag under which the missionary ship sailed for the next generations". Missionary enterprise often viewed as "a fight for self-preservation" (D. Bonhoeffer), "the selfish war" (James Heissig), "a symbol of the universality of Western imperialism among the rising generations of the Third World" (Emerito Nacpil). Mission appears to bo the greatest enemy of the Gospel. It is because of the lack of critical reflection on the missionary work and on epistemological foundations for theology. Ethnocentric attitude of western missionary and the lack of understanding not only of the otherness of peoples, cultures, and religions in the mission field, but also of themselves and their times are also reasons for colonialistic practices of missions. The world was too much with them. Missionaries were affected by the spirit of their times. They were, too, children of their times. The church and missionary work can be biblical only if its being-in-the-world is, at the same time, a being-different-from-the-world.

The contemporary world situation, especially in hearing of the suffering and crying of the poor and the powerless, challenges us to practice a theological response which transforms us first before involve ourselves in mission to the whole world. A good example is the transformation of theology of Peter, before he visits the house Cornelius. (Acts 10:1-43). Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him." (:34-35).

As the missionaries and christians in the earlier times, we also subjected to the worldviews and attitudes, the prejudices and blind spots of our age. Not only our attitude toward and understanding of others and otherness impact profoundly the mission practice, but also our understanding of the Gospel influence the christian mission. In the words of John XXIII, shortly before his death, "It is not that the Gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better." We, christians, are "an object of the missio Dei, in constant need of repentance and conversion".

It is a different kind of conversion which calls for confession of unknowing and apathy of others, which would include admitting complicity in the oppression of the powerless and the poor and a turning from the idols of money, race, and self-interest. We have to repent our "pseudo-innocence" (Allan Boesak). The triune God is awakening the consciousness of His people to His call for repentance, for justice, for peace and for love. In the statement "Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today" (WCC’s ‘jubilee’, eight assembly, Harare 1998) said: "the church must ... repent of past failures and reflect more self-critically on their ways of relating to one another and their methods of evangelizing". It must be not forgotten that ecclesia semper reformanda, with its corollary, cultus et societas semper reformanda. The christian mission, as the participation of Christians in the liberating mission of Jesus, needs constantly to be renewed and re-conceived and re-orientated.

We, as bearer of the cross, are challenged by the vision of kingdom of God which will reach out to everyone - in the shape of sharing, caring, servicing, and communicating the Gospel. The christian life is touched and inspired by God, and christians may in return touch and inspire with faith, hope, and love the lives of others anywhere and everywhere, because experiencing a daily cross means experiencing of "immeasurable suffering, unspeakable oppression, atrocious exploitation and expansive dehumanization".

Advocacy means "public support for a course of action or way of doing things", then it is practiced with solidarity and intercession. Mission is practiced in our involvement to feed the hungry, give water the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison, and give love to the unloved.(Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus said that "to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me". (Matthew 25:40). The poorest of the earth are waiting for a cup of warm water or for a visit in the name of Jesus Christ. So, we christians, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, take part in the destiny of indigenous people, and advocate their ancestral values, their lands, their spiritualities, languages, human and cultural rights. Advocacy means also helping indigenous people to live in the dignity of human being through an unshakable faith, hope, and love in Christ. Advocacy is a question of our church understanding. Are we really as church(s) capable to understand us as "God’s people" and as "Christ’s body"? "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26). Are we able to grasp human basic needs in hearings of crying of the poor and oppressed and the marginalized, and of crying of indigenous people? Can we receive and use these challenge and chance in the missionary practice? The forms of advocacy are at first knowing, second understanding, lastly loving.

The actions that Christians and churches can take will vary across the different contexts and will differ according to the capacity of churches, however, we called to take action! Some suggestions are the following:

1. Upholding life and human dignity of indigenous people - helping to achieve the right to self-determination relating political, economic, social, spiritual and cultural affairs, and the territorial rights.
2. Working for justice and peace - "Recognize indigenous rights to indigenous territories, including the recovery and demarcation of such territories." "Recognize, honor, and document under international law all treaties, compacts, accords and other formal agreements concluded with indigenous peoples of the world." "Provide legal assistance and technical training to the indigenous organizations and nations." "Promote at the national and international levels the reform of laws and policies such that they recognize the sovereign rights of the indigenous peoples."
3. Creating community with indigenous peoples - providing services to respond to material, social, cultural and spiritual needs, supporting initiatives of indigenous peoples, being church together with indigenous peoples.

The starting point of our proclamation is Jesus Christ and "Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23). To proclaim Christ as the only Savior and Lord is not arrogance. However, we must proclaim the Truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Everybody need the Gospel and God’s mercy.

In doing witness we are called to respond to the compassionate love of God in Jesus Christ. God’s compassionate love attains the highest perfection over cross which is a symbol of suffering, and also a symbol of hope. Cross depicts God’s advocating love for the lost.

In the cross, we are going to empty ourselves (kenosis) and are humbled, but we also are refreshed and experienced new birth. This is the transforming mission, and the missio Dei which on every occasion purifies His church and sets it under the cross. The cross is the only place where it is ever safe. Learning from the Bible and His history, we know, that in the cross reveals the power of the powerless. As community of the cross and of the God’s compassionate love, the pilgrim church and mission as the very nature of it (AG9, 1 Peter 2:9), constitute "the fellowship of the kingdom, not just ‘church members’; as community of the exodus, not as a ‘religious institution’, it invites people to the feast without end". It is grace that we are called to participate in the unfinished task of mission, to advocate for the poor, to encourage indigenous people for self-determination, to participate in the liberating mission of Christ, and sharing our lives with others.

Soli Deo Gloria!