Mission on the margins: A proposal for an alternative missional paradigm in the wake of COVID-19

Abstract

Contribution: This article represents a systematic and practical reflection within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generate an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse.

The agency of the church during COVID-19 and beyond: Koinonia and ubuntu in the context of poverty and unemployment in South Africa

“…This is what is described by Jeffress (2017:468) as radical hospitality. This is the kind of missional ecclesiology that does not only seek to be incarnational or be present where challenges are (Jentile 2020:11) but to be a church on and with the margins (Mpofu 2020), one that stands in solidarity with God and the poor in their pursuit for justice (Mashau 2018). This does not only require a paradigm shift in ecclesial praxes but also the need to disrupt and unsettle traditional beliefs and practices (Mpofu 2021:4).…”

Sanitation, vaccination, and sanctification: A South‐African theological engagement with COVID‐19

“…37 In the same theological vein of marginalization, the missiologist Buhle Mpofu in his "Mission on the margins: A proposal for an alternative missional paradigm in the wake of COVID-19," proposes a critical paradigm to identify missional areas that have received scant attention from the church. 38 Buhle, acknowledging the current disrupted traditional practices and exposed missional blind spots, seeks to find ways in which alternative modes of doing mission in the context of COVID-19 present a solution against tendencies which marginalize and exploit the poor. The church historian Johan van der Merwe in his "Poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic: A challenge to the church," examines the devastating effect (especially poverty) that the COVID-19 pandemic has on communities in South Africa.…”