Integral Mission (and hence Integral Church) has to do with the church being integrated in a very clear and real way into the community it seeks to serve. It is an upside-down view of the world, which reflects very much Christ's way. There is a song by Patrick Appleford ('O Lord all the world belongs to you') of which the final line of each verse reveals that Jesus is '...turning the world upside down'. See www.integralmission.net
The way of God is an upside-down way, a going-against-the flow way; that's the way Jesus calls us to work, whether it is in mission abroad or mission in our own back yard. We are called to find new ways to touch the hearts of all - and the Sumumpaya project that this website describes is one model of this different approach to reaching people for God. It doesn't mean going up to a starving person and offering to read them 1 Corinthians 13; rather it means offering them a loaf of bread - and then showing the love of Jesus to them in ways that are right for them at that moment in their lives. There is a famous story about a missionary to a distant tribe who went to live amongst the people of that tribe. Only after eight years did he mention Jesus; he needed to win their trust first.
"Integral mission is being adopted today by churches around the world who not only proclaim the gospel of forgiveness through Jesus Christ but seek to integrate their witness with demonstration of the love and justice of God in every dimension of life". (www.kairos.org.ar)
Tearfund talk about Integral Misision here and go on to emphasise how to explain the term to those who are new to the concept; it involves :
Love in action
Whole/complete
Human need and divine solution
Reaching out to the unreached
Social concern
The key facets of this holistic approach to mission apply to churches too, for the extent to which they see an integrated aspect to their ministry as being important, gives an indication of their engagement in Integral Mission, which is 'the church speaking of and living out its faith in Jesus Christ in an individual way in every aspect of life'. Read the theological background to this view by the Integral Mission partnership here.
Communities Integral mission takes place when a church is planted into the communities to which people actually belong. ‘Church’ is of course not a building where people sing and pray together, but a living community of people who are committed to the Royal Road, the route to God. They can then become agents for change within their local culture
Just as God's Son entered our world to win us, so Christian missionaries need to enter the cultures they are trying to reach (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). This can be termed Incarnational mission - a movement which takes Christ right into the heart of the community, into the individual and collective lives of ‘the people’. Service in the name of Jesus can then happen through listening to the needs of the community and sharing their hopes and fears and dreams.
