How we read Scripture is never just an intellectual exercise. It shapes how we see God, ourselves, other people, and even the other‑than‑human animals who share our lives. Missional hermeneutics asks: What readers does God’s mission have before the text? How does Scripture form us for God’s mission (the missio Dei)? This mission is God’s continual movement toward creation in love. God seeks to heal, reconcile, and renew all things. This includes our relationships with animals and the rest of creation.

Missional Hermeneutics, According to McKenzie

Dr. Greg McKinzie, a theologian and missional scholar, offers a helpful framework in his book Hermeneutics of Participation. His work provides the language. It expresses what I have sensed in my own journey with the God–Human–Animal Bond (the GHAB™).

McKinzie asserts that theological and missional hermeneutics (how we interpret the mission of God in Scripture) are increasingly converging. The outcomes are shaped by how and why readers respond to the Bible. In other words, he emphasizes that readerly formation is central to the theological interpretation of Scripture.²

Readerly formation signifies the cultivation of dispositions, perceptions, and approaches. These qualities allow readers to engage the Bible not merely as passive recipients. Instead, they become active participants in God’s mission. McKinzie builds on Umberto Eco’s concept of the “model reader,” as adapted by Joel Green. He argues that compelling theological reading relies on communities. These communities must be open and able to hear the words of Scripture as God’s word addressed to them. The underlying question is: What cultivates such receptive readers?

This involves a reciprocal cycle: Scripture can need a particular readerly disposition to execute its formative work. In turn, that very work nurtures the necessary disposition. This cycle prevents colonizing or objectifying the text. It fosters openness to its voice and to God’s challenge. It aids in developing life habits aligned with divine vision and character.⁴ McKinzie emphasizes human and communal dynamics. Yet, his framework also explicitly recognizes the Holy Spirit’s agency. It guides and empowers the process.

From a GHAB perspective, this means that Scripture forms us as missional readers. It also forms how we see, name, and relate to animals and all creation. A colonizing way of reading can easily justify using animals as mere resources. A participatory, Spirit‑led way of reading can open our hearts. It allows us to accept animals as fellow creatures within God’s mission. This mission is one of healing and reconciliation.

Worldviews, Animals, and the GHAB^TM

To bring my ideas together here, different experiences, education, and religious traditions shape our worldviews. They are also influenced by interpretations of Scripture, to name only a few. Yet, these are not the only factors that inform our ability and willingness to engage with the other-than-human animal world. We could excel at achieving all of the above. Even so, we may not be willing and refuse to be around other animals. Hence, it’s in this complex cognitive process that thoughts are connected to our volition and emotions. In other words, how we think, what we choose, and how we feel all work together when we interpret Scripture. This triad will shape whether we see animals as included in God’s redemptive story. Alternatively, we might ignore them as if they do not matter at all.

In that sense, missional hermeneutics is not abstract. McKinzie asserts that the convergence of theology and a missional mindset is deeply connected to the reader’s purpose and attitude. This approach not only influences an individual’s understanding. It also shapes their identity and mission in the world according to Scripture. When our identity and mission are shaped by love, our posture toward animals changes. Participation in God’s life means our connection to creation can’t stay untouched.

In the same vein, to align our understanding with the missio Dei, we must develop habits, attitudes, and skills. These practices allow us to interpret Scripture faithfully and fruitfully. God’s story is greater than ours, yet because of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing power, the narrative continues in our lives. Stories of redemption and hope are like vehicles that carry God’s promises from one person to a community.

Within the GHAB, these stories often include animals. They serve as agents and companions of grace. Examples include therapy dogs, working animals, and everyday companions. They help us experience God’s characteristics of love, joy, and peace. A missional way of reading Scripture helps us see that we are not just observers of God’s story. We are active participants in the missio Dei as followers of Christ.

Readerly Formation as Spiritual and Missional Practice

In short, engaging with Scripture through “readerly formation” involves cultivating a receptive, active, and Spirit‑led posture. The process of cultivating this posture supports spiritual growth. It also enhances our capacity to approach the other missionally.

When we approach something or someone very different from us, don’t we “read” the situation carefully? We are being formed as we read. The Bible, the world, the people, and the other‑than‑human creation around us shape us. We must do it carefully. This type of careful reading creates time and space for God’s voice. It allows challenges, comfort, and transformation as one encounters the profound reflection of God’s intimate knowledge of the self.

For the GHAB, careful, Spirit‑led reading means we:

• Read Scripture with an eye for God’s care for all creatures.
• Read the world through a lens of shared creatureliness and interdependence.
• Read animals not as objects but as fellow participants in God’s story.

As missional readers, we start to ask: What is God doing in and through these bonds? How do animals show loyalty, presence, and non‑judgmental love call the church to a deeper, more embodied mission?

The Two Great Commandments at the Center of the GHAB

I imagine holding all spiritual practices in my hand. If I squeeze them into a fist, I hope two things will emerge. First is the greatest commandment: to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Second is to love my neighbor as myself. These commandments serve as the foundation for all other spiritual practices. They guide us by reminding us that our actions and disciplines are meaningful only when rooted in love.

As Jesus affirms in Matthew 22:37-39: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love Him with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” These two commandments capture the essence of a missional life. They are centered on love. This love should permeate every act of spiritual discipline. It transforms them from mere rituals into expressions of authentic care and devotion. All practices, whether baptism, communion, discernment, or evangelism, are missional. They achieve this when they flow from loving God. They must also aim to love others as they love themselves.

If animals are part of our “neighbor‑world,” then love must also shape how we treat, include, and value them. The GHAB invites us to see animals as integral to our mission. They are part of the sphere in which love is commanded and enacted. Missional hermeneutics, thus, doesn’t stop at church walls. It doesn’t stop at human relationships. It extends into barns, living rooms, animal shelters, and walking trails.

Loving Intention, Story, and Participation in the Missio Dei

The foundational step in participating in the missio Dei is a loving intention toward “the other.” I want to emphasize this. This intention informs how we retell our life stories with the intent not to harm, but to do good. We must take an honest inventory of the gifts God gives. Let this list guide our humility as we retell the story. We must remember that the story itself is a gift. Once the story is shared, it becomes organic and versatile. These living messages can continually inspire and shape people one by one.

McKinzie notes that how we write our story depends on our participation in God’s mission. Therefore, it fits within the larger story of Scripture.³ Hence, he further emphasizes a key question. How does wise reading allow such participation? Moreover, how can engaging with this ongoing narrative change the way readers perceive and live wisely? How do readers bring this to Scripture?⁶

Missional hermeneutics, then, is not just about reading the Bible correctly. Part of it is about becoming an insightful reader. As you read, your life will continually be drawn deeper into the love and mission of God. Relationships will start to form, and old ones will be seen in a new light. This includes human and animal relationships.

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Footnotes

1. Greg McKinzie, Hermeneutics of Participation (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023), 5.
2. Ibid., 5.
3. Ibid., 5.
4. Ibid., 5.
5. McKinzie, Hermeneutics of Participation, 20.
6. Ibid., 20.