© 2017, by OMF International (IHQ) Ltd. This is the final version of a paper published in Mission Round Table. Reproduced with permission from the editor. Arthur, E. (2017) The Future of Mission Agencies. Mission Round Table, 12 (1), pp. 4-12. The Future of Mission Agencies

1. Introduction

Before proceeding, we need to relief and development, and other areas briefly define what we mean by of social action. the term “mission agencies.” Ralph Winter distinguishes between two Equally, it is difficult to define mission types of church structure: the settled agencies in terms of their relationship to church structure or modality, and churches. Some, such as Wycliffe Bible the missional structure or sodality.1 Translators, are governed independently However, though Winter’s definition of any church or denominational is widely used and discussed (see 3.1 structure. Others, such as Grace Baptist below), it is too broad a term for our Mission, are quasi-independent, as the needs, covering, as it does, a wide arm of a denomination. range of structures not all of which The Anglican CMS shares many of the would be termed mission agencies. characteristics of a mission agency, but Eddie Arthur is actually a community of the Church In historical terms, the genesis of of —a missional and dispersed Eddie has worked with mission agencies is often traced expression of the Church. Moving a Wycliffe Bible Translators back to Carey’s 1792 Enquiry into the step further, there are also churches for over thirty years. He Obligation of Christians, to use Means for and denominations that are involved and his wife Sue were part the Conversion of the Heathen and the in overseas mission work without any of a translation team in subsequent founding of the Baptist intervening agency structure. Ivory Coast and Eddie has Missionary Society.2 Carey suggested been involved in a number the establishment of voluntary societies Practically speaking, within the UK of leadership and training with the purpose of enabling Protestant context, the simplest way to identify roles in Africa and the UK. Christians to serve as in evangelical agencies is by looking He was also seconded to faraway places. These societies would at organisations which self-identify Global Connections, the UK be governed by independent boards as such through membership in network for Churches and that would take care of the necessary Global Connections, a network of mission agencies. Eddie is administration and recruitment in the UK agencies, churches, colleges, and a part time consultant and UK. Over two hundred years later, support services.3 This excludes a small pursuing a PhD in Theology most missionary agencies are still number of agencies that have chosen and Religious Studies at run on broadly similar lines to those not to join Global Connections, but it Leeds Trinity University. suggested by Carey, though with the does include the vast majority. He blogs regularly on added complexity which comes from missiology and Bible being international organisations Even this definition leaves us with a translation at www.kouya.net. with administrative and governance wide range of organisations to consider. structures in a number of countries. For the purposes of this paper, we will concentrate principally on what It is difficult to define agencies in Fiedler terms “faith missions”—those terms of what they do. The primary which “trace their origins, or the purpose of the earlier mission agencies origins of their principles, directly or was evangelistic, though education indirectly back to the Inland and medical work were often part of Mission.”4 This includes most of the their remit as well. Latterly, specialist larger, well-known agencies such organisations have come into being that as OMF, AIM, SIM, and Wycliffe. focus on areas such as support for the These agencies place missionaries persecuted church, Bible translation, across the world and have links to

4 Mission Round Table 12:1 (January–April 2017): 4–12 many churches and denominations and the internet for the spread of By 1985 there were over 16,500 but are not ultimately responsible their work. At the same time the conversions a day (in Africa), yielding to any particular church group. separation of the sacred and secular, an annual rate of over 6 million. In associated with the Enlightenment, the same period some 4,300 people 1.1. The historical context tended to distance missionaries were leaving the Church on a daily from the people they were serving, basis in Europe and North America.13 Evangelical missions developed at a as they often failed to appreciate time when it was possible to conceive the complex spiritual worldviews The different experiences of the of the world as being divided into the of many societies worldwide.7 church in the West and elsewhere Christian West and the non-Christian have led to a change in the profile rest. The distinction between the of Christians around the world. In two was clear and mission could be 1.2. The situation today 1800, well over 90% of Christians distinguished from other forms of lived in Europe and North America, Christian service because it involved 1.2.1 Religion whereas in 1990 over 60% travelling out of the Christian world lived in Africa, South America, into the non-Christian one. Over the last fifty years the religious Asia, and the Pacific, with that profile of the world has changed proportion increasing each year.14 The political world in which the dramatically. What Andrew Walls calls British mission agencies developed the Christian centre of gravity has Evangelical mission agencies that was one dominated by Empire. The shifted from the West to Africa, Asia, were originally founded to take the places to which British agencies were and Latin America.8 gospel to Asia and Africa now work sending missionaries were also very in a context where there is often often the same places that became Philip Jenkins describes this change: a higher proportion of Christians colonies of the British Empire. Though on the “mission fields” than in the the relationship between the colonial Already today, the largest Christian traditional sending countries. authorities and missionaries was communities on the planet are to be complex, they did, to some extent, found in Africa and Latin America. There is a growing disparity between become closely entwined, with the If we want to visualize a “typical” the worldviews of the growing world government seeing missionaries as part contemporary Christian, we should church and that of the mission of the strategy for expanding colonial think of a woman living in a village sending churches. The southern reach.5 From the point of view of in Nigeria or in a Brazilian favela.9 churches tend to be spiritually those receiving the missionaries, it vibrant, expecting God to intervene could be very difficult to separate out Comparing trends in Uganda and in situations where their northern the religious agenda of the missionaries the gives an counterparts would look for rational, from the political and commercial indication of the process which is scientific causes and solutions.15 agenda of their colonial overseers. underway. only took There was also an inevitable power root in Uganda around 150 years There is a danger that the gap; the missionaries being seen to be ago, yet today 75% of the population increasingly Christian South will backed by the vast wealth and military would describe themselves as define itself against what they see power of the empire. Christian.10 By contrast, in 2005 a as the secular and overly liberal Manchester University study showed North and that this could lead to Mission agencies developed in an that only 50% of British Christian a new fracture in the church.16 intellectual climate dominated by parents succeeded in passing on We may already be seeing this the Enlightenment and a period of their faith to their children,11 whilst demonstrated in the diversity of rapid technological development. a report by Peter Brierly suggests attitudes to homosexuality within Agencies tended to be highly pragmatic that the membership of Christian the Anglican Communion. organisations which rapidly adopted denominations in the UK will fall new practices from the business and to under 5% by 2040, compared 1.2.2. Politics commercial world in order to further to just under 10% in 2005.12 6 the missionary cause. Over the Since the Second World War, virtually succeeding 200 years, mission agencies Sanneh sums up the cumulative effect every country that was once part of have also been quick to adopt new of these two trends: the British Empire has been granted technologies such as radio, computers, independence, fundamentally altering the relationship between the UK and There is a growing disparity between the worldviews of its former colonies. the growing world church and that of the mission sending The relationship between missionaries and local Christians has also shifted. churches. The southern churches tend to be spiritually It should no longer be assumed that vibrant, expecting God to intervene in situations where missionaries will be in charge; they have to learn to work under the their northern counterparts would look for rational, direction of local Christian leaders. scientific causes and solutions.

The Future of Mission Agencies Eddie Arthur 5 agencies are losing their focus on has always been carried out within a evangelistic mission. In 1974, the given context. However, the impact of globalisation is that Lausanne Covenant helped evangelicals to recapture the importance of social there is now no such thing as a purely local context. action as an integral part of mission Every situation in the world is informed by the larger work.28 However, in the intervening years, the pendulum appears to have global context. swung in the other direction to such an In the UK, the move away from Every situation in the world is informed extent that evangelistic proclamation is Empire has been attended by a growth by the larger global context.24 being sidelined by concerns for climate in post-colonial guilt which itself has an change, poverty relief, and justice.29 In impact on mission work. Proselytising The long held distinction between September 2015, Martin Lee of Global mission, which encourages people “home” missions and “foreign” missions Connections wrote: “The evangelical to change their religious allegiance or the “mission field” is becoming church has lost its desire to help people to Christianity, is no longer seen as increasingly redundant in a globalised come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, appropriate in the contemporary world. While we will continue to use happy with just social action and doing 30 world.17 Lamin Sanneh recounts these terms in this paper, this is a good.” the story of a British Methodist convenience that allows us to avoid missionary who discouraged him from lengthy explanations, rather than a At the same time an increasing number converting from Islam to Christianity.18 reflection of the current situation. of churches and denominations are Evangelical theologian Steve Holmes engaging in mission without the intermediary of mission agencies.31 has demonstrated that societal criticisms 1.2.4. Rapid change of mission are having a growing Sometimes this simply involves a impact on the way in which church partnership with a project, church, or We are living in a period of massive congregations perceive mission agencies diocese in another part of the world, change: the world is increasingly and their work.19 Paul Hildreth draws while in some cases churches are urbanised, communication technology attention to the paradoxical situation directly involved in church planting is evolving at a rapid rate, while the 32 in which UK churches are increasingly across the globe. economic balance of the world is interested in mission to Muslims, but shifting. The population in Europe feel constrained by political correctness and is ageing, while in Africa 1.2.5.1. Agency numbers as to what they can say.20 and other parts of Asia the population is growing at an explosive rate. Across Given the tensions that we have At the same time, there is active the globe, huge numbers of people are mentioned (the decline in the church hostility in the wider secular media moving to avoid conflict or simply to in the West, the ambivalence towards towards the work of Christian mission. improve their standards of living. One mission, and the growing trend of This can be seen in the comments result of these trends is a huge shift churches that choose not to work with pages of newspapers or in major in population towards urban centres agencies) it would be logical to assume publications such as Norman Lewis’s and away from rural areas.25 We are that the number of agencies in the The Missionaries.21 living in the midst of these changes UK would be declining. However, today and it is difficult to predict what the opposite is actually true. The It is, perhaps, significant that in 2011 a their impact will be on the future of graph on the next page compares major survey of the beliefs and habits of mission agencies. One thing is clear, the number of mission agencies that evangelical Christians in the UK made however: agencies that wish to respond are members of Global Connections no reference to overseas mission.22 to these changes will need to be very with the weekly attendance at

adaptable.26 Anglican churches in the UK. 1.2.3. Globalisation 1.2.5. UK trends It is possible to argue that the Church Globalisation is the spread of western of England figures are not entirely representative of the evangelical church economic progress and influence We have noted that the church has in the UK. However, they are broadly throughout the world, in particular grown enormously in recent decades illustrative of a trend. Ultimately, there through information technology. “It across the globe. However, the growth are more and more agencies seeking has beneficial potential but also has in the world population more or less support from a shrinking constituency. been the source of a consumer society matches the growth in the church, This is not sustainable even in the short in the West, a growing gap between such that the number of Christians as a to mid-term. rich and poor, ecological destruction, percentage of the world population has a massive displacement of peoples, and hardly changed.27 Therefore the need a homogenising force imposing the for evangelistic mission to reach people 1.2.6. Missionaries today spirit of Western culture on the cultures who have no opportunity to hear about 23 of the world.” Christian mission Jesus is as crucial as it ever was. It would be wrong to assume from has always been carried out within a the preceding discussion that there given context. However, the impact However, in the UK at least, there is no place for missionaries in the of globalisation is that there is now no is concern that churches and mission contemporary church. We can identify such thing as a purely local context.

6 Mission Round Table 2.2. Reforming

The alternative recommended by Hildreth is to reform the model—for agencies to find ways of deploying their workforce which reflect the current realities of the world. Generally, it is the medium-sized and smaller agencies that are adopting these strategies. They are not only more threatened by the changes in the world, but also have a flexibility to change and adapt which may not be present among some of the larger agencies. The following section illustrates some of the approaches which are being adopted.

2.2.1. Diaspora mission three key roles for missionaries in the church that is both in decline and of networks world today: apparently less interested in overseas mission work than in previous Typically, mission agencies have built 1. Taking the Christian message to generations and for whom the focus of up expertise and experience in working people who have not yet heard the mission has often shifted to the UK.35 with people from particular languages message of Christ. and cultures. This was done by sending 2. Current approaches missionaries to the regions where those 2. Serving the church through technical languages and cultures were indigenous. Today, however, in a very mobile skills and providing training. In response to these issues, British world, people from a wide array of mission agencies have made some linguistic and cultural backgrounds are 3. Encouraging and teaching the changes to the way in which they found in most major towns and cities in church by virtue of experiences operate. These can be broken down the West. It is suggested that one future gathered in very different cultural into two broad categories: tweaking and role of mission agencies would be to contexts. reforming. reach these diaspora communities. However, the majority of these missionaries will not be westerners and 2.1. Tweaking There are various aspects to diaspora they are unlikely to be dependent on ministry that we need to note. Western structures for their work.33 Some agencies, in particular the larger ones that are less threatened by the The first, and perhaps most obvious, is current situation, are responding by 1.3. Summary reaching settled immigrant communities improving their managerial processes, with the Christian gospel. For example, sharpening their communications and there are missionaries with experience This introduction has demonstrated fund-raising, and adapting their funding in the Indian Subcontinent who are that the world in which evangelical models to meet the new challenges. working with Indian churches and mission agencies operate has changed These tweaks are well intentioned and mission groups in cities across the UK. dramatically over the last fifty years or often demonstrate good stewardship. The work they do in Britain is very so. David Smith describes the impact of However, they do not reflect the extent similar to that which they did in India, these changes in stark terms: to which the operating environment except that they do not need to travel has changed for mission agencies and half way across the world. There are What is clear by now is that both are unlikely to be successful in the long a number of other communities in the the concept of mission as a one-way term. UK which can be reached in this way. movement from Christendom to the un-evangelised world, and the Paul Hildreth, in his report on mission Equally, there are more transient structures devised at the close of the agencies, referred to this approach as diaspora communities in the business eighteenth century to facilitate that “operating within the model.”36 and student worlds where the expertise movement, have been overtaken by historical developments that render them increasingly irrelevant and At the same time as agencies confront questions about their redundant.34 purpose and structure, they are faced with the challenge of At the same time as agencies confront raising support from a church that is both in decline and questions about their purpose and apparently less interested in overseas mission work than in structure, they are faced with the challenge of raising support from a previous generations and for whom the focus of mission has often shifted to the UK. The Future of Mission Agencies Eddie Arthur 7 to engage directly with mission to the Diaspora ministry is complex and the avenues for unreached overseas. Though there involvement are expanding. It is undoubtedly the case are some honourable exceptions, most churches in Britain who take that churches in the West will require support and advice direct responsibility for mission, or as they seek to minister to the growing international who engage in overseas partnerships, tend to work in East Africa where communities in their midst. The challenge for mission English can be used and where there agencies is to learn how to work alongside churches, is already a significant Christian presence. If agencies are to transfer supporting but not supplanting them. much of what they do to churches, and experience of cross-cultural of a general economic movement. there needs to be a significant mission agencies could be of use. These communities are planting development in the British church’s Reaching these transient communities churches where they settle. There vision for mission. There is currently is strategically important, as the visitors are now many African churches in no visible sign of this happening. to the West will one day return to their and it has been suggested own countries, perhaps taking the gospel that African church-goers outnumber 2.3. Where does this to places where expatriate missionaries British ones in the city. However, these leave us? find it very difficult to work. African churches have had limited impact on the British population. All of these suggestions have been Ministry to refugees and asylum seekers adopted in one way or another by in the West is an area of growing 2.2.3. Training the church mission agencies in the UK, but all interest, possibilities, and concerns. in the home country of these approaches have significant Many churches are concerned for the problems in common. refugee populations which are moving Another channel for involvement is into their cities, but have no idea how In the introduction we noted the best to serve them. Mission agencies training churches in the home country in cross-cultural ministry. Interserve unsustainable situation of having may well be able to provide support an increasing number of mission and help in this area. offers a number of courses which aim to train British Christians how agencies coupled with a falling church to reach out to neighbors who have attendance. None of the above Diaspora ministry is complex and approaches addresses this issue; indeed, the avenues for involvement are come from other countries. As the UK, and the West in general, grows more some of them exacerbate it. If mission expanding.37 It is undoubtedly the case agencies are to make the shift from that churches in the West will require multicultural, it is clear that this sort of training will become increasingly being sending agencies to serving support and advice as they seek to churches as consultancies, then there minister to the growing international necessary. However, it is obvious that the number of agencies that could would be a need for significantly fewer communities in their midst. The agencies than exist today. challenge for mission agencies is to potentially offer training far exceeds learn how to work alongside churches, the number ever likely to be needed within the UK context. Another issue is that each of these supporting but not supplanting them. suggestions depends on the church, either as a local congregation or a 2.2.4. Moving to a 2.2.2. Mission to the West denomination, taking a particular consultancy model course of action in order to make use As the church grows and develops of the services that the agency provides. in the majority world and shrinks Bryan Knell suggests that mission Anecdotally, there is not a great deal of in the West, mission is no longer agencies need to encourage churches evidence to suggest that churches are unidirectional. Of particular relevance to take over the role that the agencies using agencies in this way. to us in this context is the flow of once adopted, while agencies themselves missionaries from former mission fields become consulting and advisory bodies The steps that agencies have taken to to support churches in their mission meet the changing situation are simply to the UK and other Western nations. 39 A number of mission agencies, for work. However, this ignores the not radical enough. However, Hildreth example Latin Link, are sponsoring practical and administrative services that suggests that agencies are unlikely to missionaries to plant churches amongst agencies can offer in supporting workers adopt truly radical solutions until they the indigenous British population. overseas. experience a greater degree of stress Harvey Kwiyani refers to this than they do at the moment.40 phenomenon as “the blessed reflex.”38 On a more practical, though anecdotal, note, there is very little evidence that In the following section, we will explore It could be argued that there is no churches are using the consultancy some of the issues that would need need for mission agencies to be services that agencies are already to be addressed for agencies to make involved in this movement. There providing. radical changes to the way in which are many Christians and Christian they work. A first step is briefly to leaders who are migrating to the Another pragmatic issue is the general explore the legitimacy of agencies as West, particularly from Africa, as part unwillingness of churches in the UK separate structures in the first place.

8 Mission Round Table 3. Whose problem is it churches and across denominational responsibly and with dedication, anyway? boundaries. They may provide initiatives by groups of Christians in opportunities for fellowship, worship, obedience to the Gospel seem to be teaching, and service, perfectly in order.48 3.1. Legitimacy of agencies acting as catalysts and giving encouragement, but never trying to However, these occasions when the Up to this point, we have taken the be substitutes for the churches.45 church fails in its mission vocation existence of mission agencies as a given should be seen as the exceptions, rather without questioning their validity. Scott Sunquist adds: “The concept than taken as the norm. Even when However, there are some ambiguities of voluntary societies, as a parallel agencies perceive that the church is not about the nature of agencies which structure for mission, was not a fulfilling its missional calling, the agency need to be briefly examined before we theological conviction—it was a should not simply step into the breach, can proceed any further. practical necessity.”46 but should work in dialogue providing both a model and an encouragement The Lausanne Covenant is positive The role of the agency, then, is to for the church. about the existence of specialist serve as a specialist arm of the church, agencies: doing things that the church sees as When a missionary is sent by one of necessary, but which require a degree thousands of missions, there is still “We also thank God for agencies which of specialisation or international reach the need for a local church to be the labor in Bible translation, theological which the local church cannot achieve. primary sending body, since mission education, the mass media, Christian However, this implies that the agencies is the work of the church—the church literature, evangelism, missions, church need to listen to the churches and to universal, through a local, particular renewal and other specialist fields.”41 be, in some fashion, directed by them. church.49 For various reasons, this has not always As we mentioned in the introduction, happened. 3.2. Working with home Winter rationalises the existence of agencies by suggesting that the church Again, Neill makes a strong point: country churches globally and historically has always had two types of structure: the sodalities It was the failure of the churches to The contents of this section and the (the voluntary orders) and modalities develop a missionary sense that drove next will inevitably simplify the rather (the local congregations or churches).42 certain missionary societies to adopt complex situation faced by agencies at positions and policies which were the present time. However, one central Winter’s conclusion, however, is unrelated to anything in the New principle needs to be retained. The not universally accepted. Schnable, Testament, and then subsequently future role of mission agencies must for example, argues that Winter’s to attempt to work out a theological be determined in dialogue with the sociological explanation for church rationale for that which in itself is churches to whom the agencies are and mission structures has no biblical theologically indefensible.47 responsible. validity.43 Nevertheless, not all positions and In considering the relationship between Perhaps a more useful approach is one policies adopted by mission agencies mission agency and the church, it is that is adopted by a number of authors are “theologically indefensible.” convenient to identify three types of who, rather than getting tied up in agencies. details of the legitimacy of agencies, Undoubtedly, members of the seek to deal with them on pragmatic Church have sometimes unnecessarily • Denominational Agencies, such as grounds. Thus Neill writes: succumbed to the entrepreneurial the Baptist Missionary Society and spirit of the age, initiating projects, the Anglican Church Missionary Missionary societies as we know and founding institutions and Society, are linked in some way into them today, are in no sense a organisations which have been a denominational structure which necessary part of the existence of the detrimental to mission rather than provides (at least in theory) for clear church; they are simply a temporary furthering it. On the other hand, communication and accountability. To expedient for the performance of where the Church at large is clearly some extent, Protestant denominational certain functions that could be failing to fulfil its mission vocation agencies can be considered as performed in different ways.44 Similarly, Kirk concludes: The role of the agency, then, is to serve as a specialist Their only theological rationale is arm of the church, doing things that the church sees as in the service they can give to the necessary, but which require a degree of specialisation or churches, fulfilling those tasks which the churches see as necessary but international reach which the local church cannot achieve. which they do not have the resources However, this implies that the agencies need to listen to the on a local level to accomplish. Their main objective should be to churches and to be, in some fashion, directed by them. For facilitate co-operation between local various reasons, this has not always happened.

The Future of Mission Agencies Eddie Arthur 9 homologues to the Catholic Orders but to a busy church leader they look This dialogue needs to take into which are linked in one way or another very much alike and it is impossible to account the basic change in the nature with the broader church structure. engage with all of them. of the church that we highlighted in the introduction—the fact that the majority • There are also a number of smaller There is, perhaps, a need for a national of Christians now live in the continents agencies that have close links with a dialogue which involves leaders from a of the South and East, not the Western limited number of churches—often range of church backgrounds as well as home of mission agencies. those churches which the founder of a number of agencies to consider the the agency attended. These agencies, if future shape of mission support and Hanciles highlights this point: “there they are so inclined, are in a position involvement from the UK. can be little doubt that the future of to seek advice and input regarding their global Christianity is now inextricably future from the churches to which they 3.3. Working with field bound up with non-Western initiatives are accountable. churches and developments. This is supremely applicable to missionary enterprise.”53 • However, these two types of agency represent a minority both in terms On the surface, seeking advice and In the light of this, Hanciles suggests of the number of agencies as well as input from churches on “the field” that there is a need to address a the number of missionaries sent from is simpler than the situation in the number of issues: the UK. The faith missions, such as “home country.” Whereas agencies OMF, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and may have to relate to multiple • The preponderance of American/ Interserve, represent a much more churches at home, they will, with a few Western concepts which dominate complex situation. These organisations exceptions, relate to only one or two approaches to mission. These include tend to have links with a large number denominations on the field and they short-term missions (“many of which of individual churches, but much may well have direct organisational amount to little more than Christian weaker links with denominational or links to that denomination. tourism with a touch of scheduled inter-church structures. This means humanitarianism”) and terms such as that it is very difficult to establish any However, two significant issues may “unreached peoples” and “the 10/40 meaningful communication between impact the quality of dialogue: the Window” (“both of which reflect churches and the agencies regarding first is the quality of the partnership Western mapping of the world and the agencies’ future. between mission and church and the ignore the living witness of Christians second concerns the future direction of residing in non-Western contexts”). Typically, the board of trustees the church across the world. has been the mechanism by which • Western missionary action and churches have been able to have an Partnership is a wonderful idea; thinking reflect over-dependence input into the work and future plans pity about the practice! Truly equal on material resources and confuse of agencies. Over the years, most sharing will remain problematic quantifiable measures of growth or mission agencies have appointed a across the world Church as long as human development with missionary number of clergy to their boards, material resources are so unevenly success. who, although they had no official owned. All too often Western representative status, could provide Churches and mission agencies use • There is a need to rethink our advice and guidance from the point either financial inducements or veiled understanding of Christian mission, of view of their churches. However, threats of withdrawal to promote but the current structures may be too over the past few years, British charity their own concepts of mission entrenched to allow this thinking to legislation has become more complex and evangelism, church growth, take place. and boards of trustees have to deal development and social struggle. with a complex legal and financial Sometimes a cloak of respectability Hanciles concludes his argument thus: environment. Because of this, there is is given to Western programmes and less time available in board meetings strategies by ensuring that indigenous The main problem is that Western for discussion of mission strategy and leadership from the Third World missiologists are stuck with agencies are required to include board has a high profile. Yet the most definitions, models, and instruments members from legal, accounting, and important decision-making and long- of measurement associated with term planning are still done outside other professional backgrounds. 51 Western operations and ill-suited the situation. for evaluation of new non-Western Equally, the fragmentation of British initiatives. For starters, the term evangelicalism into a number of This issue of the relationship between “missionary” is generally linked with different “tribes”50 makes it difficult, agencies and the churches that they “command and go structures” and if not impossible, for agencies to have helped to found has been of is typically applied to individuals have boards which represent the full concern since the days of Henry Venn. “sent” by an organisation to a spectrum of evangelicalism. However, if agencies are to discover foreign country (usually outside the their future role, then they will need to West). The initiatives, movements, The proliferation of mission agencies is find ways to facilitate honest, open, and and sheer numbers involved in the unbiased dialogue with their partners in another modern problem at this point. 52 non-Western missionary movement To the insider, the various agencies the countries where they work. are of a scale and magnitude that have different purposes and characters, defy statistical analysis; nor are they

10 Mission Round Table driven by the results-orientated to provide for the continuation of that The World Council of Churches calculations with which the American which they do well. emerged from the 1910 Edinburgh missionary movement is notoriously Missionary Conference and while obsessed. The reasons are not hard In order to find their role for the evangelicals may suggest that the WCC to find: Non-Western initiatives future, agencies need to be in dialogue has lost its way theologically, it is clear are disconnected from structures with churches in their sending countries that mission is a theme which can of domination and control, freed and also with churches in the countries serve to draw Christians and churches from the bane of triumphalism (and where they work. However, it is likely together. International Denominations, the militant aggression associated that churches in different contexts such as the Anglican Community, are with it), less resource-dependent/- will have very different priorities. able to create links between churches oriented, and bereft of territorial One simple example of this relates to and dioceses around the world. understanding of mission. But these the placement of missionaries. The However, mission agencies, with their developments hint at something far Lausanne Covenant suggests that breadth of church affiliations, are in more significant. The new “centre” there are situations in which expatriate a position to facilitate much broader is radically different and failure to missionaries are a hindrance rather dialogue than can be achieved within a appreciate this fact impoverishes than a help to local mission: denominational structure. This does not our understanding of its profound suggest recreating a large conference historical implications.54 A reduction of foreign missionaries or organisation along the lines of the and money in an evangelised WCC or the Lausanne Movement; Hanciles’ point is that the shift in country may sometimes be necessary those structures exist already, though the centre of gravity of the church is to facilitate the national church’s it could be argued that they have not just a numerical issue, it is also a growth in self-reliance and to release little effect at a grassroots level.57 conceptual and theological one and resources for unevangelised areas.56 However, agencies, with their grassroots mission agencies need to take this into contacts, will have a key role in the account. The presence of foreign missionaries future in finding ways for exchange, (and foreign funding) can stifle the communication, and shared mission 4. Conclusion growth of the church. Even so, a between churches in very different parts “sending church” may still wish to send of the world. MRT a missionary into that situation. It could British mission agencies face a twin be that they “feel a call” to work in problem: the decline of the church in a specific country, or it could be they 1 the UK is undermining their support Ralph D. Winter, “The Two Structures of God's feel that by sending missionaries it will Redemptive Mission,” Missiology: An International base (at a time when the number of help their congregation to understand Review 2, no. 1 (1974): 121–139. 2 agencies is still increasing) and their the needs of the world. Whatever William Carey, An Enquiry Into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the raison d’être is called into question by the the reasons, there is a potential clash growth of the church worldwide. Heathens (London: Carey Kingsgate Press, 1961); between the interests of the sending http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/enquiry/ and receiving churches. anenquiry.pdf (accessed 19 January 2017). There For the most part, agencies have were a number of Protestant mission structures which predate Carey, including the SPCK reacted to their dramatically altered Balancing these competing priorities circumstances by effecting limited or (1698) and the USPG (1701). The Cromwellian and conceptions will be a major parliament in 1649 debated the establishment of incremental changes which do not preoccupation for mission agencies in a society to support mission in North America reflect the Copernican nature of the the future. This will not be easy. For (J. Cox, The British Missionary Enterprise since 55 1700 (London: Routledge, 2009), 8, 13). There transformation of the world church. the most part, agencies are dependent were also a number of continental mission on churches in the West for their structures in existence as Carey acknowledges in If it is the role of agencies to support personnel and finances, but as Hanciles his Enquiry. However, Carey provided both a churches in their mission, and they has noted, the way in which the new, theological rationale and a pragmatic structure which allowed for the flowering of the Protestant are not serving churches, then the growing churches of the South conceive agencies no longer have a function. If mission movement. of mission can be very different than 3 Global Connections, “List of Members,” Global the agencies fail to adapt adequately to their Western counterparts. Finding Connections, http://www.globalconnections. a changing situation, then they should a way to serve the growing Southern org.uk/list-of-members/all (accessed 25 January close. 2017). church, while not alienating those in 4 Klaus Fiedler, The Story of Faith Missions (Oxford: the West who provide resources is likely Regnum, 1994), 11. Any future plans for agencies should to be extremely difficult. However, 5 D. W. Smith, Mission After Christendom (London: be directed towards them helping to agencies must avoid, at all costs, Darton, Longman and Todd, 2003), 25. 6 D. J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts support churches across the world, imposing a Western agenda on other not towards their own survival. In in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, churches simply because the West is in 1991), 330. all likelihood, the number of mission possession of more financial resources. 7 See, for example, P. G. Hiebert, “The Flaw agencies in the UK will start to decline of the Excluded Middle,” Missiology 10, no. 1 in the next few years. Ideally, this (1982): 35–47. Nevertheless, although this represents 8 should be done intelligently with an Andrew F. Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in a significant challenge, it also opens Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and eye to preserving those functions which up the possibility of an important new Appropriation of Faith (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002), support the church. The fear is that role for mission agencies: stimulating 31. 9 Peter Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming financial or other pressures will cause dialogue between the churches of the agencies to fold without the opportunity of Global Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University West and the rest of the world. Press, 2002), 2.

The Future of Mission Agencies Eddie Arthur 11 10 Jenkins, The Next Christendom, 91. Social Action (Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, agency is an agglomeration of the roles of 11 Matt Barnwell and Amy Iggulden, “Religious 2005). the missionaries who belong to that agency belief ‘falling faster than church attendance’,” 33 However, as long as there are some Western and it is vitally important that there are clear Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2005, http://www. missionaries, there will still be a place for some lines of communication between agencies, telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1496384/ sort of administrative agencies. For example, one their missionaries, and the churches that have Religious-belief-falling-faster-than-church- significant contribution of the agencies is in terms commissioned the missionaries for the specific attendance.html (accessed 25 January 2017). of “economies of scale”. By sending financial mission work. 12 Jonathan Petre, “Churches ‘on road to doom support to numerous missionaries, they are also The second issue is duplication. There are if trends continue’,” Daily Telegraph, 3 September able to benefit from advantageous exchange rates literally hundreds of Christian agencies in the 2005, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ and bank transfer charges. Not only that, but as UK, many of which do very similar work in uknews/1497493/Churches-on-road-to-doom-if- government regulation on the transfer of funds identical situations. This makes it very difficult for trends-continue.html (accessed 25 January 2017). overseas becomes ever tighter, mission agencies churches to know how best to support the work 13 Lamin O. Sanneh, Whose Religion Is Christianity? are able to deal with the complexity involved they are doing or to have any meaningful input The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand Rapids: on a broad scale. The overhead involved for a into it. Eerdmans, 2003), 15. church supporting one missionary overseas is 50 In an unpublished 2010 paper, Peter 14 Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process, 31. significant and likely to increase. This seems to Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden, identified seven 15 D. W. Smith, Against the Stream: Christianity and indicate that there may be a continuing role for distinct “tribes” within British Evangelicalism Mission in an Age of Globalization (Downers Grove: agencies in the future, even if their number is which cut across denominational boundaries. IVP, 2003), 19. reduced. 51 Kirk, What is Mission, 192. 16 Smith, Against the Stream, 23. See also, Jenkins, 34 Smith, Mission After Christendom, 116. 52 Raymond Porter, “Mission Impossible,” The Next Christendom, 107-108. 35 Kim, Joining in with the Spirit, 13. Commentary (December 2015): 27–28. 17 Kirsteen Kim, Joining in with the Spirit: Connecting 36 Hildreth, “UK to Global Mission.” 53 Jehu J. Hanciles, Beyond Christendom (Maryknoll, World Church and Local Mission (London: Epworth, 37 Alternative aspects of diaspora ministry can be NY: Orbis, 2008), 382. 2009), 11. seen in the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators 54 Hanciles, Beyond Christendom, 384. 18 Smith, Mission after Christendom, 10. in the UK. Wycliffe Korea has sent a couple to 55 One agency which has undergone major 19 Steve Holmes, “‘A Love I seem to Lose England to recruit Koreans as translators. They change is the Wycliffe Global Alliance (formally with my Lost Saints’: Mission and Evangelical work among Korean churches in the UK with Wycliffe Bible Translators International). In Identity,” http://steverholmes.org.uk/ the aim of mobilising people to join Wycliffe the 1990s, the various international divisions blog/?p=7261 (accessed 11 April 2016). Korea at some point. The idea is that Christians of Wycliffe Bible Translators, which were 20 Paul Hildreth, “UK to Global Mission: What Is who have lived in a cross-cultural environment subsidiaries of Wycliffe US, became independent Really Going on? A Strategic Review for Global will be more willing and prepared to work as charities in their home countries. These Wycliffe Connections,” Global Connections, http://www. missionaries than those who have never left their Organisations were, for the most part, Western globalconnections.org.uk/sites/newgc.localhost/ home culture. Another initiative involves British agencies which provided finance and personnel files/papers/GCSR2011%20Summary.pdf translation teams working with the diaspora for Bible translation around the world. They (accessed 25 January 2017). Christians to translate the Scriptures for language were mirrored by National Bible Translation 21 Norman Lewis, The Missionaries: God against communities in regions where it would be very Organisations (NBTOs) that recruited local the Indians (London: Secker and Warburg and difficult to do translation and literacy work. staff and received expats and finance from the New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988). See also However, while these approaches may appear Wycliffe Organisations worldwide. Over the the responses to my article in The Guardian: radical on the surface, in reality they are simply last twenty years this structure has evolved such http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ carrying on Wycliffe’s traditional ministry in a that the Wycliffe Global Alliance is now “a belief/2011/dec/20/bible-translation-ivorian- slightly different setting. dynamic, interdependent community of diverse village?commentpage=9#start-of-comments 38 Harvey C. Kwiyani, Sent Forth (Maryknoll, NY: organizations, networks and movements in (accessed 25 January 2017). Orbis, 2014). various stages of development, drawn together 22 “21st Century Evangelicals: A Snapshot,” 39 Bryan Knell, The Heart of Church and Mission by God as participants in the Bible translation Evangelical Alliance, http://www.eauk.org/ (Nürnberg: VTR, 2015). movement”. church/resources/snapshot/21st-century- 40 Hildreth, “UK to Global Mission.” Kirk Franklin, CEO of the Wycliffe Global evangelicals.cfm (accessed 25 January 2017). 41 Lausanne Movement, https://www.lausanne. Alliance, lists some of the advantages of this 23 Michael W. Goheen, Introducing Christian Mission org/content/covenant/lausanne-covenant transformation, which include: giving a greater Today: Scripture, History and Issues (Downers Grove: (accessed 19 January 2017). voice to various partners in the Global South IVP Academic, 2014): 21. 42 Winter, “The Two Structures,” 121-139. (balancing the voice of the more mature and 24 Timothy C. Tennent, Invitation to World Missions: 43 Eckhard J. Schnable, Early Christian Mission, Vol. influential northern organisations), improved A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-First Century 2, Paul and the Early Church (Downers Grove: IVP missiological reflection, and the training of (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2010), 42. and Leicester: Apollos, 2004), 1578-9. leaders for the Bible translation task. Franklin, 25 Tennent, Invitation to World Missions, 42. 44 Stephen Neill, Creative Tension (London: "A Paradign for Global Mission Leadership,", 26 Kirk J. Franklin, “A Paradigm for Global Edinburgh House, 1959), 82. 65, http://www.repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/ Mission Leadership: The Journey of the 45 J. Andrew Kirk, What Is Mission: Theological handle/2263/53075/Franklin_Paradigm_2016. Wycliffe Global Alliance,” (PhD diss., Explorations (London: Darton, Longman and pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed 13 University of Pretoria, 2016), 17–19; http:// Todd, 1999), 199. February 2017). repository.up.ac.za/dspace/bitstream/ 46 Scott W. Sunquist, Understanding Christian The transformation that the Wycliffe Global handle/2263/53075/Franklin_Paradigm_2016. Mission: Participation in Suffering and Glory (Grand Alliance has undergone is a valuable one. Yet pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed 19 Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 81. there is little evidence that the changes were January 2017). 47 Neill, Creative Tension, 84. made in conjunction with or in order to serve 27 “Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and 48 Kirk, What Is Mission, 199. the needs of the church. Internally, the Wycliffe Distribution of the World’s Christian Population,” 49 See Sunquist, Understanding Christian Mission, 7. Global Alliance is clearly much better structured Pew Research Center, 19 December 2011, The importance of a missionary being sent out for the work of Bible translation. However, it is http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global- by a local church raises two issues which are not not clear that this new formation will help the christianity-exec/ (accessed 25 January 2017). central to this paper, but which deserve mention constituent organisations support the church in 28 John R. W. Stott, Making Christ Known: Historic in passing. their mission. Mission Documents from the Lausanne Movement, First, it is incumbent on mission agencies 56 John R. W. Stott, “1974: The Lausanne 1974–1989 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997). to ensure that their candidates and staff are Covenant, with an Exposition and Commentary,” 29 Hildreth, “UK to Global Mission.” integrated into a church both in their home in Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents 30 Martin Lee, “Integral Mission: an Analysis,” country and, where circumstances allow, on the from the Lausanne Movement, 1974–1989, (Grand paper presented at the Global Connections field. It is, unfortunately, a fact of economic Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 1–56. Council, London, 2015. necessity that many missionaries have a 57 Daryll Jackson, “Love of God, Love of 31 Ted Ward, “Repositioning Mission Agencies number of supporting churches from which Neighbour,” in The Mission of God: Studies in for the Twenty-First Century,” International Bulletin they receive financial and prayer support. Orthodox and Evangelical Mission, ed. Mark Oxbrow of Missionary Research 23, no. 4 (October 1999): However, agencies should not accept candidates and Tim Grass (Oxford: Regnum, 2015), 31. 146–153. who are not members of a specific church or 32 David Devenish, What on Earth Is the Church for: are not responsible to the leadership of that A Blueprint for the Future of Church Based Mission and church. In some senses, the role of the mission

12 Mission Round Table