STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) – The church must allow itself to become part of the larger work of God if it is to succeed in mission in the future.

That was the message the Rev. S. Wesley Ariarajah (left), professor of ecumenical theology at Drew University School of Theology, brought to the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries during its Oct. 19-22 annual meeting.

Ariarajah, a Methodist minister from Sri Lanka and former deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches, spoke on "Christian Mission: The End or a New Beginning."

He outlined four shifts in philosophy needed to move the church from the "Protestant party line" on mission to a new understanding of how mission should be accomplished.

The first shift is to change from an exclusive to an inclusive concept of mission. That means accepting that "God is already in mission in the world today" and acknowledging the validity of other faith responses.

In Sri Lanka, for example, Christians compose only 6.8 percent of a population that is 65 percent Buddhist and 18 percent Hindu. Although Christians there believe God is present and cares for all people of Sri Lanka, they generally are unable to make that link to the other religions, Ariarajah said.

Without that sense of inclusiveness, of discerning God's presence in the lives of other people, "there's no meaningful mission that is possible in Sri Lanka," he added.

The second shift is to move from the concept of conversion to the concept of healing. While Christians think of conversion mainly in faith terms, for a non-Christian, it means "dragging a person from one community to another," according to the professor.

Mission must move from the idea of creating an alternative community to healing a community and bringing it wholeness, "an idea of creating a safe community in an unsafe world," he explained. "Jesus was primarily a healer."

The hidden assumption of mission has long been that its purpose is to "bring the whole world to Christ," Ariarajah said. He described the third shift in mission as moving from a majority to a minority mentality, focusing more on being a witness than on the necessity of conversion.

Within his own tradition, Jesus viewed mission "as a stubborn witness in the world as to who God is," he explained.

The most important mission, then, is to become a witness to the saving grace of God. "The church is the proof that God will save the world," Ariarajah pointed out. "If we can be saved, the world can be saved. If we can be God's community, the world can be God's community."

Moving from a doctrinal to a spiritual understanding of mission is the fourth shift the church must make, particularly if it wants to draw in young people, the professor said.

The search for authentic spirituality, community and belonging can be satisfied by the teachings of Christ, he said. "Have we … somehow glossed over the radical challenge that Christ brings for life?"