Following Jesus in extending his shalom to everyone, everywhere.
Into our broken, war-torn, conflict-ridden, hurting, confused, lonely, and discomforted world, God-in-Jesus is bringing wholeness, flourishing, wellbeing, reconciliation, healing, justice, welcome, and comfort. This is God’s mission. We want to be part of it and we want everyone who participates in Manna to be a part of it. We see this mission through several complementary lenses
- Shalom - God’s mission, to which he invites us to participate, is to bring peace, wholeness, justice, flourishing, care, comfort, equality, and equity through Jesus to everyone, particularly the poor and those especially vulnerable to injustice, negligence, and indifference.
- Jubilee - economic “reset”, particularly for the poor, as well as liberation from afflictions of all kinds, in part now, in full when Jesus returns.
- Holistic gospel - Jesus’ reign of shalom is good news because it brings healing to people in the fullness of their whole selves and to the whole of creation, as a material and spiritual reality.
- Upside-down kingdom - Jesus invites us to participate in the genuinely good, or blessed, life that he himself embodied, where values and social structures are reversed from the norms of the world, inverting the worldly-normed with what’s Christ-normed.
- Cruciformity - Jesus emptied himself of his glory, power, and status in self-giving love and invites us to do the same as we participate in his cruciform, nonviolent life.
While shalom, jubilee, the holistic shape of the gospel, the upside-downness of Jesus’ kingdom, and cruciformity all in their own way are ways of describing God’s mission of cosmic renewal, each one contributes something unique to the whole.
Shalom - creation-wide wholeness/flourishing - relates to . . .
Jubilee - economic and political justice - which relates to . . .
the holistic gospel - material and spiritual restoration - which relates to . . .
embodiment of Jesus’ upside-down values - Christ-normed social and personal values - which relates to . . .
cruciformity - daily self-giving love through co-participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
For everyone, everywhere—not least the poor, the oppressed, the neglected, and the overlooked—each value ensures we take Jesus’ gracious call on our lives earnestly.
Receiving and participating in God’s flourishing, healing, and restorative work in the world is ensured by Shalom; receiving and participating in God’s liberative rest-giving work in the world is ensured by Jubilee; receiving and participating in God’s care for whole people and whole places is ensured by the Holistic Gospel; receiving and participating in Jesus’s values is ensured by the Upside-Down Kingdom; and receiving and participating in Jesus’ self-giving, suffering-yet-persererving love for God and others is ensured by Cruciformity.