OCMS rates the context for mission as more significant than the background of the missionary. Therefore the study of mission cannot be removed from the study of the world, which God has made. Communication, culture, and history are all dimensions for understanding mission in any particular environment. Each dimension or any aspect of it, can be researched in its own right using one or more of a wide range of University disciplines. OCMS thesis abstracts give a good idea of this range.
Mission Studies for OCMS is a broad category. The missio Dei, or mission of God, transcends the church. Mission involves the mediation of the divine between different cultures. The activity of God in mission can normally be discerned by studying the particular cultures and the history of their interaction. Mission studies necessarily includes research into communication and language, culture, history and development. Communication and language clearly give a place to the study of Bible in mission, with a special emphasis on the context both in which the Biblical revelation was given and received and also the context in which it now speaks, so that translation and hermeneutics are relevant.
The study of culture has geographical, legal, philosophical, political, social, economic, military, ritual, aesthetic, educational, psychological, medical, technological etc. aspects. A theology with the incarnation of God as a premise must arise out of such earthly realities and not in ignorance of them. Thus holistic approaches combining consideration of belief and practice, to research are both welcome and possible in OCMS.
The international community which founded OCMS has been particularly associated with the development of "Mission as Transformation" as a helpful way of thinking about holistic mission. The volume of the same name is published by Regnum Publishing.
Mission and church may also be understood in history but this is not a merely antiquarian issue, seeking to interpret and influence present and future directions. While the study of culture in theology works primarily with the pattern and structure of human life under God in culture, development studies in missiology analyses how culture can be changed to liberate life holistically, and so be redeemed.
Development Studies is inter-disciplinary, dealing with the same aspects of culture. Its core lies in the social sciences of economics, sociology, social anthropology, and politics. It also draws from the relevant aspects of the environmental and natural sciences and constructs its own theory on appropriate technology, development management, and public administration. In addition to the academic tasks of accounting for and theorising about what is observed, a more activist and narrative dimension is concerned with designing, appraising, and evaluating alternative development strategies, policies, projects, programmes, procedures, and institutional arrangements, according to key development criteria, typically economic efficiency or growth, equity and welfare, gender differentials, good governance, or environmental and institutional sustainability.
Full empowerment and fulfilment of human potential must centrally involve the spiritual and moral dimensions. Therefore important theological and ethical contributions are made in areas such as holistic or transformational development, development ethics, and the assessment of the roles and performance of churches (as civil society organisations) and church-related non-governmental organisations in pro-poor development interventions. OCMS actively took part in the process of discussion between the World Bank and the Churches of Africa, documented in Faith in Development (Regnum/World Bank Publications).
The international fellowship which founded OCMS has been particularly associated with the development of "Mission as Transformation" as a helpful way of thinking about holistic mission. The volume of the same name is published by Regnum Publishing. Research articles may be published in the in-house journal, Transformation.
