As an organisation that bases its principles on that of Integral Mission we remember Carlos René Padilla, the ‘Father of Integral Mission’ who sadly passed away in April this year.
CARLOS RENÉ PADILLA, 1932-2021
René Padilla was born in Quito, Ecuador before moving to Columbia with his parents at the age of 6 years. His father was a tailor by trade, and a Church-planter by faith; a difficult calling in a Catholic dominated society. Schooling was difficult due to his evangelical background resulting in several expulsions and exclusions. He went to University in the United States of America (USA) studying at Wheaton College (1953) and Manchester University (1963-1965), returning to Wheaton College in 1992.
As an economic migrant and as a member of a religious minority community, Padilla was shaped by a context of violence, oppression, and exclusion. The relationship between suffering and theology was an organic one for Padilla. As a young person, he recalled ‘longing to understand the meaning of the Christian faith in relation to issues of justice and peace in a society deeply marked by oppression, exploitation, and abuse of power’. The question for Padilla was not whether the gospel spoke to a challenging Latin American context, but how.
NEW THEOLOGY
In 1959 Padilla was Secretary to the Latin American International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. This meant travelling between institutions, providing him with an ‘ear to the ground’. In the 1960s, South America was gripped by politics and political unrest. Students were powerful and could cause turmoil, and often did with strikes. Evangelism was dominated by the large movements of the richer nations, with a model of separating out evangelism from social action. Renée Padilla and his colleagues could not reconcile this style of working as he surveyed the young people and their political struggles. Working with Samuel Escobar and Pedro Arana, they began to generate a theology that would respond holistically from the Gospels to the pressing realities evident around them: social justice with an evangelical theology.
LAUSANNE MOVEMENT
In 1974, over 2,400 evangelical leaders met in Lausanne, Switzerland. This conference, known as the International Congress on World Evangelization (ICOWE) or the Lausanne Congress, brought participants together from across the world to share ideas on global mission for the first time. It was at this meeting that Padilla presented his theology on combining social justice and evangelism.
During his presentation, Padilla castigated American evangelists for exporting the American way of life, bringing solutions to local problems, devoid of any social responsibility. Mainstream protestant evangelism considered social action as implicit and not inherent with evangelism. Padilla argued that social action and evangelism were essential and indivisible components (opposite sides of a coin) or in Padilla’s words, ‘two wings of a plane’. And that belief in Jesus not only brought salvation but a demand to look after the immigrant, poor, needy, vulnerable, and widowed; a new societal way of thinking that remains valid today. The Christian faith was a way of life, not an added extra.
From this meeting the Lausanne Covenant was drafted, a document detailing the goals of evangelism, including Integral Mission. This eventually led to the Lausanne Movement, a way to connect ‘influencers and ideas for global mission’.
RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP
Seizing the momentum generated by Escobar and his plenary papers, Padilla, alongside John Howard Yoder, rallied an ad hoc group of 500 attendees they called the ‘Radical Discipleship’. This gathering sought to further sharpen the social elements in the drafted Lausanne Covenant. After the congress, Padilla recalled their radical discipleship document as ‘the strongest statement on the basis for holistic mission ever formulated by an evangelical conference up to that date’. He also declared the death of the dichotomy between social action and evangelism in Christian mission.
The proclamation of the gospel (kerygma) and the demonstration of the gospel that gives itself in service (diakonía) form an indivisible (indisoluble) whole. One without the other is an incomplete, mutilated (mutilado) gospel and, consequently, contrary to the will of God. From this perspective, it is foolish to ask about the relative importance of evangelism and social responsibility. This would be equivalent to asking about the relative importance of the right wing and the left wing of a plane.
It may have been ‘radical discipleship’, but Padilla did not invent integral mission. Integral mission is the core teaching of God’s word. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God calls His people to be aware of the undervalued (poor, refugee, foreigner) and vulnerable (old, widowed, sick). He frequently laments that His people are not doing this and constantly exhorts and reminds us of our duty and responsibilities.
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:16-17
HOW CAN WE DO INTEGRAL MISSION IN HEALTHCARE?
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is one of the largest employers in the world, employing 1,093,638 whole-time-equivalent people who work alongside many ancillary staff employed by partner organisations. The NHS budget in 2018/19 was £130.3 billion, 9.8% of gross domestic budget.
The NHS has employed chaplaincy staff (formal and informal) to look after the spiritual needs of patients and staff for many years, but overt expressions of faith by Christian staff are discouraged and often obstructed. The law in the UK and many other countries reinforce this.
For too long the Christian Church has colluded with society, encouraging ordinary folk to keep their faith private, to take it off like a coat when they arrive at work or - better still - leave it at home. Yet the Gospels tell a different story. Christians are encouraged to share their faith (Matthew 28:16-20), not to hide their light under a basket (Luke 11:33-36) and to be the salt in society (Matthew 5:13). The Manila Manifesto (a 1984 elaboration of the Lausanne Covenant) states that the ‘Gospel must become visible in the transformed lives of men and women’.
We are never promised an easy life, rather one of hard toil and persecution. The Christian life requires total dedication, not attention just one day in seven. The work place is the largest mission in field in the world. How often have we seen churches commission pastors, overseas workers, schools workers and Sunday school teams whilst overlooking those who toil in the secular world? We are called to witness to our friends, colleagues and families - to plant that small seed (Luke 13:18-21).
How can we be witnesses in the work place? Why, simply by demonstrating the love of God to our patients and our colleagues. We can be a beacon for God, a mirror that reflects His love and glory (Isaiah 43:10). We are His ambassadors to a troubled world.
Intercede for your work place. Pray for your colleagues and patients. Be prepared to be open and vulnerable, to share your story. This may come at a cost. It may be uncomfortable and difficult initially but rewards will follow. People will come to know God. Talk to your colleagues. Have a coffee or meal with them. Listen and share. Deliver a loving service to your patients, respecting their intrinsic value as beings made in the image of God. Demand justice and peace for them. Take any opportunity that is offered - the Bible on the bedside table, a throwaway statement or a direct question.
Tomorrow may be too late, so seize the day: ‘Carpe Diem!’
Dr David Smithard is a consultant physician for older age adults at a South East London hospital
and is a current participant on the Health & Justice Track.