Hope in the theology of mission

A reflection in the context of the jubilee year

Abstract

This essay aims to analyze the concept of mission by articulating hope with its historical mediations. This theme is of paramount importance in a world where hope and despair coexist. But how can mission be understood as a source of love and hope? How can we be missionary disciples of hope in the face of suffering and despair? Can hope be the transfor-ming force of mission? These and other questions guide this research. This text assumes
that mission originates from the Missio Dei. It is not the Church that generates the mission, but rather the Church that emerges from God’s mission. Therefore, the missionary disciple, in a society marked by despair, must be a bearer of hope the driving force, the soul, and the
strength of the mission. Hope is deeply imprinted in the person as a transformative force of present reality in view of the eschatological Kingdom.