The Legacy of Alan R. TIppett

Darrell L. Whiteman

Ian R.Tippett (1911-88) was a man who emerged from In 1938 he was ordained in the Methodist Church and also A twenty years of service with the Australian married Edna Deckert, to whom he had been engaged for several Methodist Mission in to become a significant missiologist years. In the following three years they served two rural pastor­ contributing to the so-called churchgrowth school of missiology. ates in , had their first of three daughters, and were His passion was to enable the missionary enterprise to move accepted by their mission board to serve in Fiji. more quickly from the colonial to the postcolonial era, and he came to believe thatanthropological insights were indispensable Missionary Work in Fiji in that endeavor. In this article we will consider several areas where Tippett has left his missiologicallegacy through his im­ After being denied even two or three weeks of specific mission­ peccable scholarship and wide range of publications. ary training before departingAustralia, Tippettarrived in Fijion May 6, 1941, walking right into what he perceived to be a Early Life thoroughly colonial mission. In this situation he realized the importance of becoming a Alan Richard Tippett was the descendant of devout Wesleyan, learnerandso threwhimselfintothe taskof languageandculture lower-middle-class tin-miners who emigrated from Cornwall, learning with great enthusiasm, setting aside a minimum of five England, in 1853 and settled in Victoria, Australia. Tippett fre­ hours a day for this purpose (p. 121). He was obviously serious quently credited his Cornish background for his "defiant spirit about language learning, for within eight or nine weeks of his which refused to admit defeat" when the going got tough, which arrivalhe preached(or ratherread) his first shortsermonin Fijian it often did for him.' The elder of two sons of a Wesleyan pastor, without a translator (p. 123). Tippett's school days were filled with unpleasant experiences of It did not take him long to recognize that it would be very being bullied by schoolmates, and on occasion being misunder­ easy to get sidetracked and swallowed up in administrative stood and unappreciated by teachers. These memories haunted duties, noting that, him all his life and often drove him to being a perfectionist in orderto provehimself. Tippettwasprofoundlyinfluencedby his father, whowas an amateurnaturalistofsomerenownin Victoria a man may become so involved with this kind of administration that and passed on to his son Alan a scientific mind, a voracious it takes possession of his whole life and hinders his language learning curiosity about the world, and an innate ability to organize and and thereby his witness. A missionary at everyone's beck and call, howeverpatientandlovinghis service, ifhe neverlearnsthe language classify data. Tippett's"Aldersgate experience" of faith came one evening to speak the things of the Spirit, is a pathetic figure. In my missionary on the way home from work in 1929, passing by an open-air research the wide world over I have met this person. How sad! (P. 123) He soon discovered the worldview of the Fijians, recogniz­ ing that "more andmoreIbecameawareof the Hebrewcharacter Tippett felt that a of it all and ... I discovered what I had really never discovered missionary who never in all my training-theOldTestamentworld" (p. 128).He felt his biggest missionary challenge in Fijiwas "howto interpreta New learns the local language is Testament message to an Old Testament people" (p. 168). Early a pathetic figure. on in Fiji, Tippett began to question the picture of mission that hadbeengivento himby his homepromotionanddeputationists. He remembers, evangelistic meeting in the Victoria Market in Melbourne (p. 43). Shortly afterward he knew a vocation in missions was to be his calling. "Iwas readythereandthento go to Chinaor NewGuinea Our promotion had been built on the idea that the island people were or wherever, just as I was" (p. 44). Reluctantly taking the advice "child races," that they were delightful children growing up, that of his father, however, he pursued the full ministerial training some day with continuing mission, with more advanced education, course (1931-34), earning his L.Th. at QueensCollege, Melbourne they would mature and be able to stand on their own two feet and be University. His training, however, had no cross-cultural dimen­ an independent church. I began to question the whole concept of the sion to it and "no course in Missions, either its Theology, Theory "primitive" and the "child mind" as a concept of western conceit and or History" (p. 52). He resented this lack of appropriate training supposed superiority. (P. 131) and years later, when he encountered formal anthropological During Tippett's twenty years in Fiji (1941-61) he served in studies, realized what a tragedy it was to have been sent to Fiji various capacities in five locations, but his pattern of missionary without adequate preparation. work always involved heavy itineration through Fijian villages in order to stay in close contact with the world in which Fijians Darrell L. Whiteman isProfessor ofCultural Anthropology in theE.StanleyJones lived. And he always went on these treks barefoot. School of World Mission andEvangelism, AsburyTheological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky. Theresearch forhis book Melanesians and (1983) was I had tried boots, shoes, sandshoes, and sandals, all of whichdamaged stimulated byAlan Tippett's ' Christianity. the feet. I found the Fijian way the best, once one had learned how to

OcroBER1992 163 walk on coral. I continued with this until I left Fiji.It was the only way institute.' Tippett was familiar with McGavran's writing, includ­ of crossingcoconuttrunkbridgesin the rain. Ialso discovered whythe ing Bridges ofGod. "When I read it," he says, "I reflected and said good Lord had given us big toes. (P. 166) to a friend in Fiji,'This is absolutely right but this man will never sell it to the mission Boards.' So I was more than delighted when During his first term Tippett was instrumental in helping to he wrote to me out of the blue. Our correspondence showed that write a new constitution for the mission that would pave the way we shared a great deal and had reacted to, and against, the same for the colonial mission to become an indigenous church, a goal things in Christian mission" (p. 273). he hopedwould be accomplished within twenty years of the time Tippett settled his family in Australia and departed for the the new constitution went into effect in 1946. Its manifest pur­ in late 1961to accept McGavran's invitation, not for pose was to bring an end to the long era of colonial paternalism only nine months as he had intended, but for a long, painfully that Tippett and other younger missionaries believed would drawn out two and a half years. He joined a handful of other men never die of its own accord. "It had to be deliberately 'put to studying with McGavran, noting, sleep,' and this is what we set out to do," he said. The major issue was where the decision making and ultimate authority lay. "We We . . . shared convictions from our missionary experiences. We argued for the Fijian majority as over against the Board, or even sought to modify colonial, paternalist mission strategy. We were the European Synod. We were convinced, that [i.e., European aware of the fact that anthropological research had something impor­ tant to say to Christian mission. We were aware that there were cases of growth and non-growth that called for scientific study. We all On his barefoot treks believed that in the world we faced days of unprecedented opportu­ through Fijian villages, nity for Christian expansion. We were all drawn to Donald McGavran as the man who had most articulated these convictions, and was Tippett discovered why the disposed to gather men together to study them. (P. 277) Lord gave us big toes. Tippett had gone to Eugene expecting to earn an M.A. during his study, but neither the Institute of Church Growth nor paternalism] had to go" (p. 169). And it did, with independence Northwest Christian College could give one. He thus felt "hood­ coming to the church in 1964, owing in no small measure to winked" into doing a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Tippett's tireless efforts to bring it about. Oregon, located across the street from Northwest Christian Although Tippett was thrust into positions of leadership in College in Eugene. the mission's educational centers, he says, "I had not seen myself At the , Tippett's mentor was Homer as an institutional man. It was in my itinerations, my preaching, Barnett, the leading applied anthropologist at the time. The two evangelism and pastoral counselling that I found my most satis­ hit it off, as Barnett was pleased to have a mature student with fying experiences. What spiritual gift God had given me seemed such a rich resource of twenty years of "fieldwork" in Fiji, and to lie in that direction" (p. 177). Nevertheless, he was given Tippett was thrilled with Barnett's theories and models of cul­ institutional responsibilities, including the editorship of the ture change, which he found to be so illuminating for missiology. church paper Ai Tukutuku Vakalotu in 1951,and he served once as Of Barnett's book Innovation: TheBasis ofCultural Change (1953), acting chairman of the mission. All of the administrative hassles Tippett wrote, "Barnett's work on Innovation was the most dealing with a colonial structure Tippett saw retrospectively as influential book on my life, with the exception of the Bible.... It "part of my preparation as a missiologist of post-colonial mis­ was the most exciting thing I ever found in academia" (p. 288). sion" (p. 294). An important turning point for McGavran and Tippett came In 1955Tippettwent to American University in Washington, in 1963 with a consultation on church growth called by the D.C., where he earned an M.A. focusing on social anthropology, Department of World Mission and Evangelism of the World history, and archives. He returned to Fijiin 1956for what would Council of Churches to examine the two men's viewpoint, dis­ be his last term of missionary service. Upon reflection, he saw cuss the problems it raised, and make a statement for the world these five years as the most manifestly rewarding years of his church.' Out of this consultation came a good statement on missionary life, but he felt it was now time to pass from the Fijian church growth that McGavran and Tippett used widely in sub­ scene. sequentyears. Moreover, TippettmetVictor Hayward, wholater Tippettconsidered transferringto anotherfield of missionor invited him to participate in the "Churches in Mission" project, becoming involved in some aspect of training new missionaries which sent him to the Solomon Islands in 1964.Tippett's research in Australia, but his mission board provided no opportunity for there led to what is probably his best-known book, Solomon either. Islands Christianity (1967). The Solomon Islands research project (August-December Alan Tippett and Donald McGavran Join Forces 1964), in which he compared Methodist and Anglican mission work, seemed almost tailor-made for Tippett. He says, "Surely I In 1961 McGavran read an article published by Tippett the could never have found a more suitable field for testing out the previous year in the International Review of Missions entitled theoretical base of church growth missiology" (p. 300).It was an "Probing Missionary Inadequacies at the Popular Level."? important "rite of passage" from the role of a missionary to Fiji McGavran was fascinated by Tippett's perceptions, which were to becoming a missiologist to the world. He summed up the so similar to his own. McGavran had come out of India after experience, noting that thirty years' struggling against colonial paternalism and had recently established the Institute of Church Growth at North­ after my termwithMcGavranIcouldlook morecritically at a situation westChristian College in Eugene, Oregon. He wrote to Tippettin with what he called "church growth eyes." After my tutelage under Fiji, inviting him to become one of the research fellows at the Homer Barnett I saw situations pulsating with innovation, natural

164 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH and directed culture change, and I found a new world of models and In addition to the anthropological contributions Tippett demonstrated anthropological principles. My terms of reference had made to missiological theory, he also helped shape a number of beento lookat everythingcritically,buthelpfully. I thought Icould see key concepts that became popular in missiological discourse. a whole area of application of anthropology for the sake of the Gospel Among these included the concepts of functional substitutes.' 8 .... I felt now I could face my fellow anthropologists and McGavran powerencounter, people movements," and indigenouschurch.10 himself as a peer. I was raring to go. (P. 316) Tippett also demonstrated over and over again in his research that missionaries might be the advocates of change, but it is the In 1965McGavran was invited by Fuller Theological Semi­ receptors who are the real innovators and bring change to their nary in Pasadena, , to found a new School of World lives and culture." There are many more we could highlight, and Mission. Tippett notes that "McGavran was not interested, un­ of course they are not all original with him, for he borrowed less they would consider taking over the whole project of the manyfrom anthropology, buthe gave them prominence because Institute of Church Growth, including both himself and myself" of his careful research and insightful missiological application. (p. 317). Although Tippett spent only twelve years of his life at I believe he was enthralled with anthropology because it Fuller (1965-77), it is within this relatively short time span that he made his mark on the wider missiological world. The Legacies of Alan Tippett Church growth strategy owes much to Alan Tippett, Let us move now from the chronological development of his although the name of thought to the substantive areas where he has left a legacy. Beyond the legacy of being instrumental in ushering in the Donald McGavran is most transition from colonial mission to indigenous church in Fiji, often associated with this Tippett has contributed to missionary strategy, missiological theory, teaching, scholarship, and publications. movement. Contribution tomissionary strategy. Although Tippett was not as prominent on the lecture circuit as his colleague Donald McGavran, there is no doubt that through his careful research, opened up to him a whole new world of understanding mission, strong anthropological underpinnings, and theological sound­ and he came to see it as indispensable for missionary training. It ness Tippettgavemuch-needed credence to the emerging church was this very dimension that he regretted so much having growth movement." Tippett, more than his colleague, saw the missed in his own preparation for missionary service in Fiji. necessity of using multiple models, methodologies, and ap­ "Anthropology does not bring individuals to Christ," he said, proaches to the studyofchurchgrowth. For example, he required "but it shows missionaries how they may be more effective and his doctoral students to write their dissertations using as-yet less of a hindrance in doing SO."12 In his efforts to create a unexplored anthropological models or ethnohistorical methods postcolonial missiology, he saw anthropology as fundamental, applied to missiology, and no two students ever used the same noting that "in the area of Christian education for mission, the models and theories under Tippett. This approach gave a rich­ inclusion of courses in anthropology [is] essential, and that for ness and depth to church growth studies that was much needed. the post-colonial era of mission it is inconceivable that mission­ He was always open to employing new methods of critique and aries should be sent out without exposure to this discipline" (p. never shied away from self-examination. 339). His enthusiasm for anthropology in the service of mission To McGavran's church growth concepts of discipling (quan­ was contagious, noting once that "I never found any aspect of titative growth) and perfecting (qualitative growth), Tippett social or cultural anthropology which did not speak somehow to stressed the importance of organic growth. He summarized it mission" (p. 333). thus: Contribution tomissiological teaching andscholarship. Tippett's strengths in teaching were evidenced more in the one-on-one Those of us who have studied intensively the planting and growth of mentoring mode than as a classroom lecturer. For those students churches on the mission field have found that the churches that grow who wanted to mine the depths of his insight and share from his best and vibrate with indigenous life have paid attention to three reservoirof missionexperience,anytime spentwithhim, whether things-a concern for winning large numbers of people from the in class or out, was always worthwhile. I have vivid memories of world, a concern for effective nurture within the fellowship, and a meeting with him in his office surrounded by his marvelous concern for the development of functional roles and opportunities for library." He would throw himself into the conversation, asking service. Each of these stimulates a form of church growth, which we me if I had read this book or that one, or if I was familiar with this may call quantitative, qualitative and organic." author's perspective or that anthropological concept. And then he would pull from his shelves book after book to illustrate his The strategy of church growth owes much to Alan Tippett, points. It was all deliciously scintillating for an eager doctoral although the name of Donald McGavran is most often associated student. with this movement. He alerted students to the diachronic and historical dimen­ Contribution tomissiological theory. Tippett saw missiology as sion of mission by bringing to bear ethnohistorical methods on an interdisciplinary field of study and brought to that field church growth studies. And he always insisted that events be competencies in anthropology, history, and theology. He was interpreted in their proper context, not from the perspective of driven by the conviction that missiology must be holistic and another time or place. He could get "picky," much to the annoy­ interdisciplinary, always striving for synthesis out of analysis, ance of his colleagues, as for example, when he held up for six and that one area of its development must not occur at the years the publication of People Movements in Southern Polynesia expense of another's neglect. until he could check the accuracy of a single paragraph to make

OcrOBER1992 165 sure he had interpreted it according to its proper context. And he the field of missiology. Reflecting in his unpublished autobiog­ was mighty glad he did! raphy he surmised, Finally, we cannot conclude this section without acknowl­ edging Alan Tippett's role as founding editor (1973-75) of the If I have made any worthwhile contributions to missiology for the journal Missiology. In 1972 the American Society of Missiology post-colonial era, it has probably been in the area of the theoretical was founded, and plans were laid for its journal Missiology to base, the development of research methodology, the application of continue Practical Anthropology, which was being terminated by anthropological principles positively to church growth, and the ex­ its sponsor, the American BibleSociety. Tippett, who wasabsent ploration of research models for pin-pointing matters for concentra­ at the organizing meeting, felt pushed into the editor's role, tion of evangelistic thrust and pastoral care. (P. 446) which he neither sought nor wanted. Nevertheless, he was ideally suited for this role because of his anthropological back­ Alan Tippett was a remarkable and complex man, and only ground and breadth of missiological acumen. He notes, a fraction of his story has been told here. The missionary world is much richer todaybecause of the legacies he has left us. He was In that three years we covered most of the aspects of missiology, that rare breed who combined the careful, meticulous eye of the published material from everyContinent,by missionaries and nation­ scholar with the passion of a fiery evangelist. Few missiologists als. I tried to maintain a balance. If an article was at one extreme I haveblendedso well the two worldsof ministry andscholarship. sought another to balance it. It was a middle of the road publication Perhaps it will be fitting to close with his own thoughts on how between Evangelical and Conciliar emphases, though we were spe­ his scholarly pursuits were motivated by the drive for practical cific about standing on the Great Commission and Scripture. (P. 444) results. He says, "I have aimed at bringing anthropology as a science, the Bible as a record of God and humanity in relation­ Conclusion ship, and Christian mission as its medium for demonstration We have witnessed 'how through teaching, publishing, and until the end of the age, together in a missiology adequate for the editing Alan Tippett made so many important contributions to post-colonial era" (p. 447).

Notes------­ 1. Alan R. Tippett, "No Continuing City" (unpublished autobiography, 8. Tippett, "Problems of Encounter," in Solomon Islands Christianity (1967), 1988),p. 32.Subsequent pagecitationsin the text refer to this manuscript. pp. 100-118;"Universalism or Power Encounter," in Verdict Theology in 2. Tippett, "Probing Missionary Inadequacies at the Popular Level," Inter­ Missionary Theory (1973),pp. 79-91. national ReviewofMissions 49 (1960):411-19. 9. Tippett, People Movements in Southern Polynesia (1971). 3. McGavran, "Missiologist Alan R. Tippett, 1911 to 1988," Missiology 17, 10. Tippett, Solomon Islands Christianity; "Indigenous Principles in Mission no. 3 (1989):262. Today," in Introduction to Missiology, pp. 371-86. 4. "The Growth of the Church: A Statement Drawn Up by a Consultation 11. Tippett, "Ethnic Cohesion and Acceptance of Cultural Change: An Convened by the WCC Department of Missionary Studies at Iberville, Indonesian EthnohistoricalCase Study," in Introduction toMissiology, pp. Quebec, July 31-August 2, 1963," Ecumenical Review16, no. 2 (1964):195­ 285-301. 99. 12. Tippett, Introduction to Missiology, p. 28. 5. SeeTippett, Church Growth and the Word of God (1970). 13. Today this library of more than 16,000 books and documents is the 6. Ibid., p. 34. Tippett Collection of St. Mark's Library in , Australia. 7. Tippett, "The Functional Substitute in Church Planting," in Introduction to Missiology (1987),pp. 183-202.

Bibliography Selected Works by Alan R. Tippett 1954 The Christian: Fiji1835-67. Auckland, New Zealand: Institute 1980 OralTradition and Ethnohistory: TheTransmission ofInformation Printing and Publishing Society. and Social Values in Early Christian Fiji, 1835-1905. Canberra, 1967 Solomon Islands Christianity: A Study in Growth andObstruction. Australia: St. Mark's Library. London: Lutterworth Press. Reprinted in 1975 by William 1987 Introduction to Missiology. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Li­ Carey Library, South Pasadena, Calif. brary. 1969 Verdict Theology in Missionary Theory. Lincoln, Ill.: Lincoln Christian College Press. 2d ed. printed in 1973 by William Selected Works about Alan R. Tippett. Carey Library, South Pasadena, Calif. 1970 Church Growth and the Word of God. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Caldwell, Larry W. "Selected Missiological Works of Alan R. Tippett." Eerdmans. Missiology 17, no. 3 (1989):283-92. 1970 Peoples of Southwest Ethiopia. South Pasadena, Calif.: William Davis, Peter. "Portrait of a Pioneer: Alan Tippett, 1911-1988." St. Mark's Carey Library. Review136 (Summer 1988):29-31. 1971 People Movements in Southern Polynesia: Studiesin theDynamics Dillman, Kathleen A. W., "Alan R. Tippett's Elaboration of Biblico-Classical ofChurch-Planting andGrowth in Tahiti, NewZealand, Tonga, and . Anthropologese for the Christian Mission and Its Significance for Samoa. Chicago: Moody Press. Missiology." Ph.D. diss. (research in process), Golden Gate Baptist 1973 Aspectsof Pacific Ethnohistory. South Pasadena, Calif.: William Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, Calif. Carey Library. Kraft, Charles H., and Douglas D. Priest, Jr. "Who Was This Man? A Tribute 1973 God, Man, and Church Growth: A Festschrift in Honorof Donald to Alan R. Tippett." Missiology 17, no. 3 (1989): 269-81. Anderson McGavran. Ed. A. R. Tippett. Grand Rapids, Mich.: McGavran, Donald. "Missiologist Alan R. Tippett, 1911to 1988."Missiology Eerdmans. 17, no. 3 (1989):261-67. 1977 TheDeep Sea Canoe: The Storyof Third World Missionaries in the SouthPacific. South Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library.

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