Missio Dei

Missio Dei is a Latin Christian theological term that can be translated as the "mission of the God," or the "sending of God."

Missio Dei as a term and concept became increasingly popular in the church from the second half of the 20th century and is a key concept in missiology being used by theologians such as David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, Darrell Guder, Alan Roxburgh, David Dunbar, Steve Taylor, Alan Hirsch, Dwight Smith, Martin Robinson, William Storrar, Tim Keller, and Ed Stetzer, as well as missional networks such as the Gospel and Culture Network (Guder), Forge Mission Training Network Australia (Hirsch), Together in Mission UK, and the Allelon Foundation (Roxburgh).

The received history holds that, in 1934, Karl Hartenstein, a German missiologist, coined the phrase in response to Karl Barth. This language, it is argued, was picked up at the 1952 Willingen conference of the International Missionary Council (IMC) and developed theologically by Lutheran theologian, Georg Vicedom.