The Devil Wears Prada, Integral Mission and Thy Kingdom Come in Wales
The Devil Wears Prada, Integral Mission and Thy Kingdom Come in Wales
Introduction
Integral mission is a concept which, until very recently, was absent from my vocabulary.[1] It was not, however, absent from my practice. René Padilla’s theological concept has been shaping the way I practice mission in Wales – albeit unwittingly. He is one of the most influential theologians not only in Latin America, but globally, and his concepts have had wide reaching implications. For Padilla, ‘salvation has to do with the transforming totality of personal and social responsibilities and relationships.’ The Gospel goes beyond a guide to personal salvation: it is the announcement of the coming of the kingdom of God, and its repercussions ripple throughout society and into eternity.[2] Integral mission posits that ‘social action and evangelism are both essential and indivisible components of Christian mission – indeed both are central aspects within the Christian Gospel.’[3]
For Padilla, they are the ‘two wings’ of the plane of mission where ‘word and deed’ are ‘equally essential to Christian witness.’[4],[5] In Padilla’s context, however, social action was being neglected as a form of mission, and he sought to redress this imbalance. In my own context I have also observed this, although not necessarily with the same emphasis; in Wales in 2023 the wing of evangelism can equally be overlooked. There seems to be difficulty in striking a balance between the two, and, to borrow Padilla’s metaphor, a plane cannot fly very effectively with disproportionate wings. When considering Jesus’s ministry, the two are perfectly balanced,[6] and Padilla argues that this balance is vital if we are to do mission well and see ‘Thy Kingdom come’ in our own contexts. In this essay, I aim to evaluate the importance of the balance of the ‘two wings’ for the practice of mission in my Welsh context.
The Devil Wears Prada
There is a scene in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ which helps me understand how theology works, and specifically, how Latin-born integral mission has shaped my practice in Wales decades later. A fashion-challenged intern (Anne Hathaway) joins a top fashion firm in New York City, under a frightening but fabulous fashion tycoon (Meryl Streep). In one scene, Hathaway scoffs at what she perceives to be a pointless fashion deliberation. Using Hathaway’s lumpy blue jumper to make her case, Streep educates her intern: that jumper which she had thoughtlessly bought at a ‘bargain basement’ cannot be viewed in isolation. That lumpy blue jumper, she explains, was not just blue. It was not azure blue, sapphire blue or otherwise: it was cerulean blue. Cerulean blue had been the feature colour on a runway by pioneering top-line designers; that colour was consequently appropriated by other designers, before working its way to popularity in department stores, and eventually landing itself in a bargain basement where Hathaway thoughtlessly bought a lumpy blue jumper. Streep lets her (and us) know that despite what Hathaway thought, it was no thoughtless, disembodied act: ‘You are wearing what people in this room have decided for you.’[7] So too with theology.
My practice of mission in South Wales is in some ways a direct result of the decisions made for me, far before I entered the scene, in another room, by the designers of theology. I do not practice in isolation: René Padilla chose cerulean blue.This choice was incredibly intentional and undoubtedly influenced by Padilla’s own context. Having grown up in poverty and as ‘an economic migrant and a member of a religious minority, Padilla came of age within a context of violence, oppression and exclusion.’[8] The relationship between suffering and theology was consequently ‘an organic one for him.’[9] He later 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'.[10] Jorge Barro notes that those ‘who have lived in poverty and are impacted by the Kingdom of God cannot forget this sad reality that afflicts millions of people.’[11] This understanding and empathy, as well as a deep sense of conviction rooted in Scriptural truth, led to his development of integral mission.[12]
Six months prior to the 1974 Lausanne Congress, John Stott and René Padilla travelled throughout Latin America, preaching and lecturing. Their tour included a visit to ‘hard-line communist political prisons in southern Chile, who had been ‘interrogated under torture’ by the military regime.[13] These experiences, combined with the reality of living in poverty, persecution and the threat of revolution, sparked conversations which led to its own kind of revolution.[14] The plenary speaker and member of the planning committee at Lausanne 1974, Samuel Escobar, recognised that these concepts ‘sprang from the fertile ground of a Latin American revolutionary context and the friendship that Padilla and Stott shared in its midst.’[15] They (and others) were like the ‘fashion designers’ who decided upon cerulean blue.At the Lausanne Congress, ‘2,473 Protestant Evangelical leaders from over 150 countries and 135 denominations had gathered in Lausanne under the leadership of the North American Southern Baptist Billy Graham and the British Anglican John Stott for the International Congress on World Evangelisation.’[16] It became apparent, however, that the ‘Western-planned agenda for the entire world were no longer tenable.’ Instead, on the runway of ideas that was Lausanne I, it was the incisive contributions from leaders from the Global South that came to the fore and began a ‘radical reshaping of global Evangelical Protestant mission.’[17],[18]
This concept, which began with the deliberation of a few, was now being taken up by the many. The Lausanne Congress of 1974 is recognised as one of the most significant worldwide missionary events in the twentieth century.[19] Its ‘affirmation that social and political responsibility is an essential aspect of the mission of the church’[20] has had widespread impact which has rippled and echoed in the decades since; it has been adopted by many, whether consciously or not, and now finds itself in the ‘bargain basement’ of everyday churches, everywhere. This was a ‘Devil Wears Prada’ moment in theological history.[21] Padilla chose cerulean blue. We have been wearing it ever since.
Cerulean Blue (Integral Mission)
If we are to wear cerulean blue as we practice mission, it would therefore be prudent to know and weigh the ‘why’ of that particular shade of blue, that we might not be guilty of Hathaway’s character’s same ignorance, which led to an impotence and ineffectiveness in the world of fashion. The stakes are much higher, however, when it comes to faith. As we practice theology, we are joining a long-standing conversation and inheriting (oftentimes unconsciously) layers of Christian tradition; these in turn form our practice of mission. That we might be more effective and potent in our practice, let us therefore consider the inheritance of integral mission.The Lausanne Congress was a conference ‘largely planned and funded by a Western leadership – particularly by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.’ Padilla decried, however, the exportation of 'American culture Christianity' and pre-packaged theological methodologies exported from the West to the Majority World.’[22]
There had been a disproportionate Western influence for some decades which had resulted in prolific preaching, but which had also brought with it very real pitfalls. The great global expansion of the gospel that took place after the Second World War happened during a period marked by what David Moberg calls ‘the great reversal’[23] — a ‘departure from social concern on the part of evangelicalism in the United States.’ [24] Consequently, ‘many of the churches that the modern missionary movement from the West established around the world had a very limited vision of the social dimension of Christian mission.’[25] The mission that was therefore being brought to Padilla’s third world context, was bringing the truth of the gospel without its love-in-action-reality.[26],[27]
David Bebbington demonstrates that Evangelical social action in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was largely justified theologically as the removal of 'obstacles to the progress of the gospel' or as the ‘elimination of social sins that contravened divine commands.’[28] In terms of theological methodology, it is what David Bosch called a 'two mandate approach', which predominated in Evangelical theological language prior to the 1970’s.[29] This consequently divided what Padilla would argue are indivisible, into a greater and lesser category: ‘a primary, spiritual mandate and a subordinate (often muted) social mandate.’[30] This ‘departure from social concern’ meant that in contexts which desperately needed the Gospel to ‘bear witness to the love and the justice revealed in Jesus Christ’ that they might see ‘the transformation of human life in all dimensions’,[31] people were left to suffer.
In contrast, Padilla considers the evangelical awakening in the 1700’s in Britain: the ‘spiritual revivals under Wesley and Whitfield in the eighteenth century had such an impact on social structures that there is good reason to believe that those revivals were the main reason why radical social change took place without a bloody revolution like the one that affected France.’[32] The abolition of slavery, the rights given children, the establishment of hospitals, universities and orphanages, to name a few, are the by-product of Christian mission: of saints getting involved in politics.[33],[34] Missionaries in the twentieth century had, it seems, lost touch with that heritage. Notably, this heritage goes back further than the 1700’s as the care for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien (the quartet of the vulnerable), goes back to the early Christian Church,[35] to Jesus’s own Ministry,[36] and further back into the Old Testament,[37] which was radical for its social laws.[38] This aspect of Christian practice should be central to our faith, as it is close to the heart of God.[39]
Integral mission is a return to a Biblical mandate: an understanding that posits that social action and evangelism are both essential and indivisible components of Christian mission; it ‘dissolve[s] the barrier between social action and evangelism’ and connects the mission ‘to the content of the Gospel message.’[40]Padilla’s participation at the Lausanne Congress was decisive and is reflected in the Lausanne Covenant, especially paragraph five, in which it is written: ‘We express penitence for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive... For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and Man, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ.’[41] There is an equal weight radically given to both. I confess that the evangelical background in which I have been raised causes me to question anything equalling the task of proclaiming the gospel in importance, and my scepticism is not isolated: Padilla encountered much debate about the ‘primacy of evangelism’.[42] Padilla, however, recognised that ‘the widest and deepest human need is for a personal encounter with Jesus Christ’, but argued that in heralding the King of Heaven, we would be more effective if we did so in both word and deed.The Lausanne Covenant states that a ‘church which preaches the cross must itself be marked by the cross. It becomes a stumbling block to evangelism when it betrays the gospel or lacks a living faith in God, a genuine love for people’.[43] There is no denial, that ‘In the Church’s mission of sacrificial service, evangelism is primary’:[44] the gospel ‘must be proclaimed diligently’,[45] but doing so also inherently includes this ‘sacrificial service’, that our actions might not be a stumbling block to our evangelism. John Stott conceded that social action is in once sense a consequence of evangelism, since those involved in it are already Christians, ‘saved for good works’,[46] however, ‘good works’ are not a happy by-product of conversion, but ‘the purpose of evangelism’[47] — we were saved for good works. We meet this ‘widest and deepest human need’ by telling others of Jesus and showing them his love in action; of preaching the cross and being marked by it. Practically speaking, Padilla argues that we need ‘no rule of thumb to tell which comes first and when,’[48] so long as they are both done.This missionary paradigm holds together ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19) and ‘to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).[49]
Padilla broadens our understanding of mission to encompass more than preaching alone. Integral mission is just that: an integrated approach to mission. One cannot divide words and deeds,[50] and in taking a closer look at Scripture, there is indeed a harmony to both: ‘Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.’ (Matthew 4:23 NRSV) Faith without deeds is dead.[51] There is also no faith without the hearing of the word.[52] Equilibrium is required, because when flying a plane, ‘you would hardly fly with only one wing.’[53]
Thy Kingdom Come in Wales
If we long to see ‘Thy Kingdom come’ here in Wales, then Padilla suggests that we must comprehend an eschatological reality for the effective practice of mission. Integral mission offers us this framework. We live, Padilla posits, ‘between the times’: (as his collection of essays on the kingdom is so titled) in the era of the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ of the kingdom of God. There is an eschatological reality that is ‘both the starting point and the goal of the church.’[54] The Kingdom of God is both a present reality and a promise to be fulfilled in the future; the Great Commission is not only ‘converting people and establishing churches’, it is also a call to discipleship and integral mission, ‘a summons to participate in training citizens of God’s Kingdom who are willing to obey him in everything’,[55] and in doing so, they would help bring this kingdom to the earth. We are therefore not only considering the two wings of the plane, but two plains of reality, and in donning Padilla’s cerulean blue, we are recognising that we are both preaching the coming kingdom and bringing it to bear before our eyes simultaneously.
Padilla’s theology is rooted in Scripture and he repeatedly comes back to Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 as he begins his ministry, claiming that the hour announced by the prophets has arrived: the Anointed One had come ‘to preach good news to the poor, to announce freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’.[56] Padilla elaborates that ‘both evangelism and social responsibility can be understood only in light of the fact that in Jesus Christ the kingdom of God has invaded history and is now both a present reality and a future hope, an ‘already’ and a ‘not yet.’[57] In this seismic event, as God incarnate ‘invaded history’, ‘Christian ethics (as well as theology) encounters its beginning and its end.’[58] Through the church and its good works ‘the kingdom becomes historically visible as a present reality. Good works are not, therefore, a mere addendum to mission; rather they are an integral part of the present manifestation of the kingdom: they point to the kingdom that has already come and forward to the kingdom that is yet to come.’[59] As obedient citizens of this kingdom we must therefore be committed to this manifestation, both tangibly (already) and intangibly (not yet).In other words, we have a social responsibility now – to help and heal and offer love-in-action, to make the kingdom a ‘visible’, ‘present reality’; equally, we have a mandate to preach and populate the kingdom which is not yet here in its fullness. Jesus’s disciples are called to preach good news to the poor and release the oppressed into freedom. There is a future hope and a present one.
Furthermore, Padilla writes that this mission is ‘not the responsibility and privilege of a small group of the faithful who feel called to the mission field… but of all members.’[60] This is no longer about ‘the West to the rest’, or for an elite few, but rather about the shared mission of all believers everywhere: of all who belong to this kingdom. In Wales, there is much work to be done,[61] and talking alone is not enough.[62] If we are to see ‘Thy Kingdom come’ in our context, we must speak and act.What I have witnessed in my context, however, is that creating this equilibrium is difficult to achieve. Oftentimes, I have noted the priority given not to words, but to deeds. There is a swathe of ‘Community Churches’, which makes clear this essential aspect of our mission, however, what seems a common theme is that they run many community groups, support many charities, and do incredible work mid-week, yet Sunday attendances are trending downward. There is a weakness on the weekend and a lack of effective preaching in the pulpit. The word is often liberalised as people compromise. It may be in many ways easier to run a foodbank than it is to tell people they need the bread of life, but Padilla would encourage us, that we cannot commit to the former and neglect the latter. We are called to help the poor, care for the orphan, the widow and refugee, feed the hungry, visit those in prison — but all the while remembering that we are not a secular not-for-profit: ‘The church that is not committed to the mission of witnessing to Jesus Christ... is no longer the church but becomes a religious club, simply a group of friends, or social welfare agency.’[63]
Padilla not only recognises but advocates that social action does not and cannot replace reconciliation with God, evangelism or salvation.[64] Mission must remain true to the great commission to go ‘and make disciples’, ‘teaching them to obey everything I [Jesus] have commanded you’ (Matthew 28:19-20 NRSV). Despite the shortcomings of earlier missionary endeavours, Padilla recognises that because of ‘the work of the traditional missionaries – true heroes of the faith, many of whom gave their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ – the church really is a worldwide movement. Praise God!’[65] He suggests that it ‘goes without saying that verbally communicating the gospel is a task that Christians cannot avoid. In the words of the apostle Paul, ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ.’ Telling the age-old story of Jesus and explaining its meaning for our lives requires words. For the work of the Holy Spirit, human words are used to transmit the word of God.’[66] I would suggest, however, that it does not ‘go without saying’. This is now also a neglected ‘wing’ and integral mission reminds the church to hold fast to the ‘word of Christ’. We must preach it faithfully and passionately lest we cease to be the church.[67] We must commit to telling the age-old story with grace and truth: compellingly, creatively, authentically, and repeatedly, that people might be added to the kingdom. We must remember the weight and honour of this responsibility and endeavour to do it with all integrity and diligence. We must preach the gospel, as we must also live the gospel, and become a ‘people whose words and deeds are in line with a confessed faith in the crucified Messiah.’[68]
Though I have witnessed a weakness in the preaching of the word, I am also aware that in my own church context, we have perhaps swung the pendulum too far in the other direction: we have strength on Sundays; we hold fast to orthodox preaching; people come to hear the word. In the week, however, we could be doing more. We ‘tell’ well; we could ‘show’ better. Padilla is shaping my understanding of mission and convicting me afresh of the need for balance in both: ‘Both word and deed are inextricably united in the mission of Jesus and his apostles, and we must continue to hold both together.’[69] It is clear that ‘a more holistic approach to mission’ remains relevant.[70] David Bosch summarises: ‘Mission takes place where the church, in its total involvement with the world bears its testimony in the form of a servant, with reference to unbelief, exploitation, discrimination and violence, but also with a reference to salvation, healing, liberation, reconciliation and righteousness.’[71] Padilla advocates for Bosch’s ‘also’, and commends the power of doing so. The ‘proclamation of the gospel (kerygma) and the demonstration of the gospel that gives itself in service (diakonía) form an indivisible (indisoluble) whole,’[72] and it is in this wholeness that we best convey and make concrete the kingdom. Though Padilla reminds us that ‘neither seeing nor hearing will always result in faith’, nevertheless both ‘word and deed’ do indeed ‘point to the kingdom of God’.[73]
If we are to make visible the kingdom in Wales, then we must fly the plane with both wings intact as we navigate two plains of reality. I am persuaded that though there are no guarantees to faith, that we nevertheless must be faithful in word and deed, for ‘Thy Kingdom come’. As Padilla evocatively puts it, the best way to understand the relationship between the right and left wings of the plane would be ‘by actually flying it rather than merely theorising about it.’[74] To see the kingdom evident here, the church needs begin flying this plane, with balanced wings and intentionality once again. ‘Something is missing’ Padilla reflects, ‘when we serve our neighbour but refrain from giving an account of the hope that is in us and motivates our action. On the other hand, something is also missing when we share our faith verbally but our faith does not work through love.’[75] I wonder how many more we might add to the kingdom if we served our neighbours and shared our faith with them, if we committed to an integrated approach.
Conclusion
There is a blue jumper that I threw on a while ago. I donned it in my early twenties as I began to help the homeless and the girls in the red-light district; I wore it as my appetite for the word grew, as my passion to tell others effectively about its truth developed. Now in my early thirties, with a decade of ministry under my belt, I confess that I have held these two passions clumsily in my hands. I have felt the pull on my heart to help vulnerable children particularly but could not put all my effort into it as I felt equally compelled to preach the gospel. Knowing which to prioritise and when has been difficult.
In considering Padilla however, I have a renewed confidence in this blue jumper. Padilla and his wife, Catharine Feser Padilla, modelled this colour well as they successfully carried out significant ministries among the poor, widowed and addicts both in their home and in the Evangelical Baptist Church of La Lucila in Buenos Aires.[76] Padilla preached from his youth, risking his life in the process,[77] and in 1976, became a pastor of a church.[78] They did both, because ‘evangelisation may be distinguished in theory but must not be separated in practice. Both word and deed are inseparable in the Christian life and equally essential to Christian witness.’[79]
Integral mission informs me that in holding these two passions, I am not trying to force two different things together, rather they are two sides of a whole, two wings of a plane. I have a passion to see His Kingdom come here in Wales, and Padilla has given me a theological framework to understand that the best way to do that is by doing both: in word and deed, that we might show and tell of this kingdom reality. I have been wearing cerulean blue, but it was a bargain basement thoughtless act. Having been ‘in the room with the designers,’ I now thankfully and deliberately choose it. I can care for vulnerable children and preach the gospel – not just ‘can’ – I am compelled to. The Devil may wear Prada, but in the Kingdom, we wear cerulean blue – and it looks good. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, here on Earth (and in Wales) as it is in Heaven.
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[1] Padilla, C. R., (2006) What is integral mission?, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Kairos, p. 21.
Padilla recognised this himself, noting that ‘there are a growing number of churches who practice this concept without actually using it to define what they do — integral mission is not part of their vocabulary.’[2] Kirkptrick, D.C., (2016) C. René Padilla and the Origins of Integral Mission in Post-War Latin America. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 67(2), pp. 351-371.[3] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016).[4] Wagner, C. Peter, (1969) Teología Latinoamericana: ¿Izquierdista o evangélica?, Miami: Padilla remarked that 'This would be equivalent to asking about the relative importance of the right wing and the left wing of a plane.'[5] Stott, John R. W., (1996) Making Christ known: historic mission documents from the Lausanne movement, 1974–1989, Exeter, p. 182: Padilla's words, including his metaphor of the 'two wings', were repeated throughout the 1970s and 1980s, most clearly in the documents of the International Consultation on the Relationship between Evangelism and Social Responsibility, held at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 19-25 June 1982.[6] Matthew 4:23 (NRSV): ‘Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.’[7] Frankel, D., (2006) The Devil Wears Prada. United States: Fox 2000 Pictures.[8] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016).[9] Ibid.[10] Padilla, C. R., (2009), My theological pilgrimage, Journal of Latin American Theology, pp. 91 -111.[11] Opt. Cit., Padilla, C. R., (2006), Foreword by Barro, J. H., p. 18.[12] Ibid.[13] Southern Chile, 24-31 Jan. 1974, John Stott papers.[14] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016).[15] Kirkpatrick, D. C, (21 Oct. 2013) Interview with Samuel Escobar, Valenica, Spain.[16] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick (2016).[17] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016).[18] Padilla, C. R., (2010) Mission Between the Times, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, p. 7: ‘I regard it as a God-given privilege to have been invited to participate in all four [consultations between Lausanne I and Lausanne II], three times as one of the plenary speakers and once as the person in charge of responding to one of the main papers.’[19] Ibid., p. 1.[20] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2006), p. 21.[21] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016): ‘From these Latin American origins, Padilla's influence spread around the world - in Christian political activism, mission and relief organisations, in congress declarations and global ecclesiastical movements.’ [22] Ibid.[23] Moberg, D. (1972), The Great Reversal: Evangelicalism versus Social Concern, Philadelphia: Lippincott.[24] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2006) p. 3.[25] Ibid.[26] Padilla, C. René, (2009), ‘My theological pilgrimage’, Journal of Latin American Theology iv/2, pp. 91–111: Padilla recognised the inadequacy of Western Protestant Evangelical theology: ‘I found myself lacking a social ethic. My years of studies in the United States had not prepared me for the sort of theological reflection that was urgently needed in a revolutionary situation!' [27] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick (2016): ‘Padilla's own dissatisfaction with existing approaches to ministry, combined with student demand for social engagement, resulted in a unique social theology.’[28] Bebbington D., (1983) Evangelicals and reform: an analysis of social and political action, Third Way, pp. 10 -13.[29] Bosch, D. J., (1991) Transforming mission: paradigm shifts in theology of mission, Maryknoll, NY, p. 403.[30] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick (2016).[31] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2006), p. 26.[32] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2010) p. 3.[33] Howse, E. M., (1952) Saints in Politics, London: George Allen & Unwin.[34] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2006), p. 82: ‘Church history is full of examples of Christians contributing to solving social problems. These days, almost no one is aware that many social welfare institutions currently part and parcel of many nations originated thanks to the initiative of Christians who were dedicated to the policy of the Kingdom, a policy of sacrificial love.’[35] Scheffler, E. (2016). Caring for the Needy in the Acts of the Apostles. Neotestamentica, 50(3), pp. 160-161: ‘The gospel they follow [the Apostles] is good news since it is directed at the alleviation of human suffering in the widest sense of the word.’[36] Matthew 15:30-31 (NRSV): ‘Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, 31 so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.’[37] Isaiah 1:16-17 (NRSV): ‘Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil,17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.’[38] Leviticus 23:22 (NRSV): ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God.’[39] Micah 6:8 (NRSV): ‘He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’[40] Padilla, C. R., (1972), La teología en Latinoamerica, Boletín Teológico, p. 139.[41]The Lausanne Covenant, ed., Stott, J., (1996), Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents from the Lausanne Movement 1974-1989, Cumbria: Paternoster Press.[42] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), p. 11.[43] Opt. Cit., The Lausanne Covenant, paragraph six.[44] Ibid.[45] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), p. 210.[46] Stott, J., (1996), ed., Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents from the Lausanne Movement 1974-1989 (Cumbria: Paternoster Press), p. 182.[47] Ibid.[48] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2010), p. 210.[49] Ibid., p. 18.[50] Opt. Cit., Padilla (1976), p. 139: ‘One without the other is an incomplete, mutilated 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.’[51] James 2:14 (NRSV).[52] Romans 10:17 (NRSV).[53] Opt. Cit., Padilla, (2010), p. 210.[54] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), p. 199.[55] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), pp. 40-41.[56] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010)., p. 210.[57] Ibid.[58] Padilla, C. R., (1973), Evangelio y responsibilidad social, Certeza vii /52, p. 109.[59] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), pp. 205-206.[60] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 26: ‘since all are members of the royal priesthood, and as such, have been called by God ‘that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wondering light’ (1 Peter 2:9) wherever they may be.’’[61] Wales Online, (2013), [Online Source] Accessed at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/chapels-closing-rate-one-week.[62] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 58: ‘If talking is not enough, then evangelistic campaigns are not enough… handing out tracts or preaching on the radio or television is not enough to fulfil the Great Commission: it takes much more.’[63] Ibid.[64] Opt. Cit., The Lausanne Covenant: In the Lausanne Covenant they affirm that ‘reconciliation with other people is neither reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation.’[65] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 25.[66] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 56.[67] Ibid., p. 25.[68] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 58.[69] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), pp. 209-120.[70] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 21.[71] Bosch, D. (1980), Witness to the World: The Christian Mission in Theological Perspective, London, p. 18., emphasis mine.[72] Opt. Cit., Padilla (1976), p. 139: ‘One without the other is an incomplete, mutilated 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.’[73] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2010), p. 206.[74] Ibid., p. 210.[75] Ibid., p. 20.[76] Opt. Cit., Padilla (2006), p. 14: Through his work in the Lausanne Movement, The Micah Network, The Way Network, as founder, co-founder and president of many organisations, Padilla has been pivotal in equipping the church to do mission in an integrated way in myriad ways.[77] Opt. Cit., Kirkpatrick, (2016): ‘By the time Padilla was eighteen years old, multiple attempts had been made on his life – including an assassination attempt while he was preaching; as an economic migrant and member of a religious minority, Padilla came of age within a context of violence, oppression and exclusion.’[78] Ibid.[79] Opt. Cit, Padilla (2010), p. 20.