‘Missio Dei’ as embodiment of ‘Passio Dei’. The role of god-images in the mission-outreach and pastoral caregiving of the church – a hermeneutical approach

The following hermeneutical question is posed, namely whether the concept of ‘mission’ in missional activities should be interpreted in imperial or rather in pastoral categories? It is argued that the paradigmatic notion of imperialistic expansion runs the danger of interpreting the missio Dei in terms of powerful ecclesial categories that focuses more on denominational maintenance than on the sacrificial ethos of serving and caregiving within contexts of interculturality. Thus, the shift from omni- to passion-categories in a theology of missional engagement. It is hypothesised that, rather than the pantokrator-framework and power categories stemming from the Roman emperor cult and Egyptian mythology, sending actions in ‘mission’ should be based on the passio Dei. In the mission-outreach of the church, the theological concepts of esed and oiktirmos can help the sending-ministry of the church to overcome skewed perceptions regarding ‘traditional missiology’ and its painful association with colonial imperialism. The theological argument for a more pastoral approach to the missio Dei is based on the following presupposition: the passio Dei defines ‘practice’ and ‘mission’ in practical theology as ompassionate and hospitable being-with. Thus the imperative for an ecclesiology of home (xenodochia).