Global Missiology for the Century

GLOBAL MISSIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The Iguassu Dialogue

Edited by William D. Taylor Technical editor: Susan Peterson Cover design: Cheryl Van Andel Cover photos: Jackie Gibson and William D. Taylor

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Global missiology for the 21st century: the Iguassu dialogue / edited by William D. Taylor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8010-2259-2 1. Missions—Theory—Congresses. I. Taylor, William David. BV2063.G56 2000 266—dc21 00-058583

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In appreciation ...... viii Foreword ...... ix Ravi Zacharias

Part 1: Setting the stage ...... 1 1. From Iguassu to the reflective practitioners of the global family of Christ ...... 3 William D. Taylor 2. The Iguassu Affirmation ...... 15

Part 2: Establishing the macro context of the major issues ...... 23 3. The global scenario at the turn of the century ...... 25 Samuel Escobar 4. Engaging Escobar … and beyond ...... 47 Jonathan Bonk 5. Globalization and world evangelism ...... 57 Alex Araujo 6. Christ and the mosaic of pluralisms ...... 71 Chris Wright 7. Evangelical missiology: peering into the future at the turn of the century ...... 101 Samuel Escobar 8. Learning from Escobar … and beyond ...... 123 Valdir Steuernagel 9. A Two-Thirds World evaluation of contemporary Evangelical missiology ...... 133 David Tai-Woong Lee 10. The Scriptures, the church, and humanity: who should do mission and why? ...... 149 Antonia Leonora van der Meer 11. Spiritual warfare and worldview ...... 163 Paul Hiebert 12. Rethinking trinitarian missiology ...... 179 Alan Roxburgh

v vi

Part 3: Grounding our reflections in Scripture: biblical trinitarianism and mission ...... 189 13. God: the source, the originator, and the end of mission ...... 191 Ajith Fernando 14. Jesus: the message and model of mission ...... 207 Ajith Fernando 15. The Holy Spirit: the divine implementer of mission ...... 223 Ajith Fernando 16. The church: the mirror of the Trinity ...... 239 Ajith Fernando

Part 4: Addressing issues of globalized Evangelical missiology ...... 257 17. Profiling a globalized and Evangelical missiology ...... 259 Tokunboh Adeyemo 18. Evangelical missiology from Africa: strengths and weaknesses ...... 271 Yusufu Turaki 19. Missiological challenges from the South Pacific region ...... 285 Joshua Daimoi 20. Evangelical missiology from an East Asian perspective: a study on Christian encounter with people of other faiths ...... 295 Kang San Tan 21. Evangelical missiology from India ...... 307 K. Rajendran 22. Ancient springs and sweet fruit: missiological contributions from the Middle East ...... 333 David Greenlee 23. Further contributions to missiology from an Arab perspective ...... 347 Raed Abdul Masih 24. Mission and missiology from Latin America ...... 357 Norberto Saracco 25. Younger generations and the gospel in Western culture ...... 367 Stuart McAlister 26. Telling stories: contextualization and American missiology ...... 377 Miriam Adeney vii

Part 5: Responding to the challenges ...... 389 27. The Indian church and missions face the saffronization challenge ...... 391 Joseph D’Souza 28. The Hindu missionary movements and Christian missions in India . . . . . 407 Richard Howell 29. The complex spiritual mosaic of East Asia ...... 421 Ian Prescott 30. A vision from the world beyond: Islam ...... 439 Bertil Engqvist 31. Dry bones in the West ...... 447 Rose Dowsett 32. Let X = X: Generation X and world mission ...... 463 Richard Tiplady 33. From synthesis to synergy: the Iguassu think tanks ...... 477 Rob Brynjolfson

Part 6: Listening to mission that rises from community and spirituality ...... 489 34. Celtic community, spirituality, and mission ...... 491 Clifton D. S. Warner 35. Nestorian community, spirituality, and mission ...... 495 Paula Harris 36. Moravian community, spirituality, and mission ...... 503 Richard Tiplady 37. Jesuit community, spirituality, and mission ...... 507 Bertil Ekström 38. Coptic community, spirituality, and mission ...... 511 Francis Omondi 39. Brazilian Antioch community, spirituality, and mission ...... 515 Barbara Burns

Part 7: Accepting serious commitments ...... 519 40. The Iguassu Affirmation: a commentary by eight reflective practitioners ...... 521 Oswaldo Prado, John Wood, Cathy Ross, Jeff Fountain, Rudy Girón, Jim Stamoolis, Seth Anyomi, Met Castillo 41. Drawing to a close: inviting reflective, passionate, and globalized practitioners ...... 549 William D. Taylor Index ...... 557 In appreciation

AM PROFOUNDLY GRATEFUL to many Many Iguassu participants have en- I colleagues who joined me in doing couraged me and made recommendations missiology. First, there are the brothers since Brazil, including: Paul, Rose, Bob, Bertil and Leif Ekström, Brazilian-Swedes, Cliff, K, Jim, Paula, Stewart, Richard, who made the Iguassu Consultation hap- Stanley, Jonathan, Jason, Alex, John, Bar- pen administratively. Joining them in Bra- bara, Jeff, David, Jorge, Stan, Hans, Kathy, zil were Mark Orr and David Ruíz. The four Norbert, Francis, Rosifran, Gary, Dave. You were a quiet, efficient, and servant-hearted know who you are. team. Susan Peterson again has taken on Thanks too to my World Evangelical the task as our technical editor. Her eagle Fellowship Missions Commission staff col- eye has shaped all our Missions Commis- league, Jon Lewis, and our Chairman, sion books. This volume has been a spe- David Tai-Woong Lee, who understood the cial challenge, and without her patience, entire concept of our “process.” Together keen sense for language, and accuracy, we we envisioned a process that would flow would not have the editorial quality we from consultation to publication and then have sought over the years. to further work on global missiological And finally, let me publicly express concerns. my thanks to Yvonne, my wife. Her con- Special thanks to the Iguassu Affirma- ceptual thinking helped shape the Iguassu tion team. Nobody knows how many Consultation itself in many ways. Her edi- hours they worked, late at night and early torial gifts clarified a number of the chap- in the morning, listening, writing and re- ters, including my own. Called by vocation writing, editing and re-editing. Thank you, to the contemplative life, she has served David Tai-Woong Lee (Korea) and Jim unseen, quietly, and deeply as my “silent Stamoolis (USA) as co-leaders, Rose Dow- partner.” sett (Scotland), Abel Ndjerareou (Chad), To all of you, a thousand steadfast David Neff (USA), Kang San Tan (Malay- thanks. sia), and Tonica van der Meer (Brazil). — William D. Taylor

viii WILL NEVER FORGET the first missionary conference I Foreword I ever attended. The year was 1966. My brother and I had just arrived in Canada as immigrants from India and happened to walk into a church that was beginning its week of missions emphasis. As it turned out, the opening speaker was an American missionary who had been serving in India for many years. I had never been at such a conference before. In a new church, in a new country, and experiencing a new theme, I sat there awaiting the missionary’s address. When he was through, I was quite shaken, wondering if all of his descriptions of the land of my birth were exactly the way I had seen them. Both my brother and I left that service somewhat perplexed by it all. Not only was I a relatively new Christian, but I was now going through an identity crisis. I was not sure if I was inside looking out or outside looking in. It took a few years for me to realize what had happened. When I made my first trip back to India five years after this event, its sights and sounds caught my attention in a way that had never registered with me before. Yes, there was the nostalgia and the thrill of using the language in which so much of my cultural memory was enshrined. But there was the staggering experience of surprise, even shock. I was reminded of the old Chinese proverb: “If you want to know what water is, don’t ask the fish.” The point is well taken. When we are immersed in an environment, we do not see it for what it really is. It takes an outsider’s glimpse to bring a visceral response to that for which proximity only brought familiarity without emotion. But something fascinating happened as a sequel. Years later, when I was preaching in India alongside that very missionary who was hosting my meetings, he made a comment

ix x that brought laughter to all of us. When I Candle and the Bird,” in which he con- told him of my initial reaction when I trasted the light of a candle with the song heard him years ago, he told me of his of a bird. If you extinguish a candle, he memory of seeing us walk into the sanc- said, the light goes out. On the other hand, tuary. It gave him a great deal of unease, if you chase a bird away, “it just goes and he said. Not knowing who we were— sings its song on another bough.” The friend or foe—he had held back from gospel as carried by the Holy Spirit, he many things that he had wanted to say. mused, is not just a candle. It is also akin This simple episode may well capture to a bird’s song. At times, it has seemed as our fears and agonies in finding a mean- the though the bird were silent in a land ingful response to a world in need of the because it has been frightened away. But, gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of us have he said, if you follow the bird, you will become so immersed in our present con- find that it is just singing in a different texts that we are not able to be objective land. judges of our failures and our shortcom- What a wonderful metaphor that is for ings. At the same time, cultural sensitivi- the proclamation and timing of God’s ties are running so deep that we are fearful work around the world! It was not acci- of saying the wrong thing and bringing dental, for example, that in the late 18th unwarranted offense. How do we under- century, at the very moment that the stand the need, the demands, the meth- French mob was tearing the cross off Notre ods, and the commitments that will be Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, William needed to bring the message to the whole Carey was setting foot on Indian soil. No, world? Change is in the air. the bird had not been silenced. It had just For that alone, I am deeply grateful to moved its music elsewhere. If we track the the men and women who gathered at the history of missions, we will see that just Iguassu Missiological Consultation to as one nation seemed harder to reach, share from their hearts and their convic- another one was opening its arms. The tions for the cause of Jesus Christ. Listen- writer summarizes that theme by saying, ing to this diversity of voices and having “There is a divine element in the church— our eyes opened to the vastness of the an element that no persecuting fires can need are the first steps to grasping the devour and that no convulsion can de- urgency of the response. I for one will al- stroy.” That is a glorious reminder that the ways be grateful to the Lord for the mis- light never goes out and the song of the sionary call and burden that brought the soul set free is ever being sung in some gospel to my native land. Because of the land somewhere. We must be in tune with passion of William Carey, the devotion of the kairos of God for such music. Amy Carmichael, and the sensitivity of the I commend this book to you who long missionary I just mentioned, there are to know what you can do to hear these millions today who call the Lord Jesus strains. I commend it to you who may be their Savior. They were missionaries who getting weary in well doing. I commend it loved the people and lived the message. to the Christian who needs to get a One of the key sentiments voiced at this glimpse of the convulsion in some parts historic consultation was that of kairos— and the exultation in others. Oh, that we the timing of God’s working. I believe this might hear his voice and say, “What will is real, not just imagined. May I add an- you have me to do, Lord?” When the famed other slant to this? An English writer years missionary Robert Jaffray was offered an ago penned an essay that he titled, “The enormous sum of money by an oil com- xi pany to work for them rather than as a When our task is done, with the hymn- missionary, he answered, “Your salary is writer we can beckon: big, but your job is too small.” How mar- Let every creature rise and bring velous is the example of those who knew Peculiar honors to our king what the real cost was and what the real Angels descend with songs again inheritance is. Are we surprised at the re- And earth repeat the long Amen. sult of such commitment? — Dr. Ravi K. Zacharias Let us who are immersed in familiar President air breathe in these thoughts. I have no Ravi Zacharias doubt that we will be stirred within by a International Ministries counter-perspective impelling us to capture the moment with eternity in sight.

Part 1

Setting the stage

WE BEGIN WITH AN INVITATION to the global Evan- gelical “reflective practitioners.” These are women and men of both action and study; rooted in the Word of God and the church of Christ; passionately obedient to the fullness of the Great Commandment and Great Commission; globalized in their perspective, yet faithful citizens of their own cultures. This book emerges from the Iguassu Missiological Con- sultation, held in Brazil in October 1999. The World Evan- gelical Fellowship Missions Commission leaders convened this strategic event because we perceived the need to pause at this historical hinge of both century and millennium to examine our missiological foundations, commitments, and practices. That event and this book initiated an ongoing process that purposes to release further serious and practical global missiology at the service of the borderless church. The structure of this publication in part parallels that of the Iguassu Consultation. Of the 41 chapters, only 13 were commissioned after Iguassu, primarily to fill in some gaps and address other major global challenges that Christians face. Only two of the 41 writers were unable to attend the consultation itself—Howell and Engqvist. Escobar had to cancel at the last moment due to his wife’s health, but his papers played a central role in the Consultation. The Iguassu Affirmation “began” months before the consultation, when the WEF Missions Commission leadership

1 asked David Tai-Woong Lee (Missions Commission Chair) and Jim Stamoolis (WEF Theological Commission Executive Di- rector) to coordinate the composition of a document that would reflect the Consultation itself and point to new directions of our globalized Evangelical missiology. Lee, who had read many of the papers prior to Iguassu, began structuring the missiological concerns in a draft form. By the time it was given to the Team of Seven, the document had gone through six initial revisions. The Team of Seven members were drawn Europe, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, North America, South America, and Africa. Together they crafted a broad-based document, carefully studied two cycles of written and oral suggestions from the participants, and presented the final copy for participants to affirm. The Iguassu Affirmation comes as a working document, forged in the warmth, collegiality, and discussion of a very intense week of doing missiology in Brazil. The Iguassu program was designed to be rooted in worship and prayer, followed by the models of mission that flow from spirituality and community, then Fernando’s expositions; from there we transitioned into the missiological themes during morning and afternoon sessions. These in turn led to group interactions and discussion, further prayer and worship, with the evenings primarily open for networking and relationships. One mid-week highlight came with Steuernagel’s poignant introduction to the movie The Mission, followed by viewing the film. Many scenes from that movie had been filmed at the Iguassu Falls, and hence when we visited them the next morning, they had been transformed from a natural wonder of the world into missiological waterfalls of historic significance for the church in mission.

2 1

UR NEW CENTURY and millennium present a kairos mo- From O ment of unparalleled magnitude and opportunity for the borderless church of Christ. However, the global chronos Iguassu moment will not make it easy for the Christian movement. Externally and internally, we grapple with a spectrum of sig- to the nificant and unrelenting challenges: globalization with its mixed blessings and curses; the global AIDS tragedy; the in- reflective formation technology revolution; unrelenting urbanization practitioners and the economic crises it presents; the massive refugee high- way movement; and a new pluralism that challenges our of the Christian concept of truth, our hermeneutic of Scripture, our Christology, and our understanding of what it means to global be human. Multifaceted persecution unleashes its violence against Christians in many areas of the world; yet, ironically, family we discover that we have a deficient theology of suffering and martyrdom. The worldwide worldview transformation— of Christ pre-modernity to modernity to post-modernity—does not allow us to rest on our past accomplishments. The church struggles to define truth and the authority William D. of Scripture. It also grapples with the nature of the trans- Taylor forming gospel of Jesus, with what it means to be “Chris- tian” and “Evangelical,” with what it means to “be” and “do” church, with the international anemia that characterizes the church, and with what it means to be obedient to the kingdom of God regarding our mission in the world and within our diverse mission movements. We still have not understood how modernity has misshaped our church and missions “enterprise.” In light of these challenges, many insightful and courageous observers of the international arena felt it vital that we as Evangelicals pause and gather together a group of women and men who, as reflective practitioners, could consider how

3 4 setting the stage these complex trends and realities affect 6. A “moment of time” that allows us us as we project mission and missions into to evaluate/critique the prime missiologi- the century before us. cal emphases and currents that influenced In light of this kairos hinge-moment the missionary movement in the last 50 of history, therefore, the World Evangeli- years of the 20th century. cal Fellowship Missions Commission convened an international missiological The Danger of consultation held in the historic city of Over-Simplification Iguassu, Brazil, October 10-16, 1999. There of a Complex Assignment 160 church, theological education, and Following up on the last item above, mission leaders met for an intense week we realized that during the last decades of worship, prayer, relationship-building, of the 20th century, an unfortunate over- and missiological reflection. We had six emphasis on pragmatic and reductionist stated purposes: thinking came to pervade the international 1. A call to international reflection in Evangelical missionary movement. Whether order to identify and carefully evaluate the we wish to recognize it or not, we must radical global and cultural changes which acknowledge that this emphasis has have shaped our contemporary world his- seeped into the church around the world. tory as well as the church and its mission. The results have not been healthy or en- 2. An occasion that allows us to begin couraging (see Engel & Dyrness, 2000). the process of identifying and seeking defi- What are some of the over-simplifica- nitions of the key concepts and terminol- tions that have been made? They include ogy of globalized Evangelical missiology, the following: faithfully representing the diverse and bib- • The crippling omissions in the lical perspectives from West and non-West, Great Commission—reducing it to proc- North and South. From one or two domi- lamation alone—which lead to only a par- nant centers of Christianity, the Spirit has tial understanding of the mission of the now created a rich panoply of centers of church, resulting in spiritual anemia and globalized Christianity. a thin veneer of Christianity, regardless of 3. An initial creation of a mosaic/ culture or nation. profile of this international Evangelical • The absence of a robust gospel of missiology, and then the effective commu- the kingdom which calls us to radical com- nication of its content and import to the mitment and discipleship to Christ. borderless church and mission commu- • An inadequate theology of suffer- nity. ing and martyrdom. 4. An opportunity to help shape glo- • The use of emotive slogans to drive bal missiological foundations which are the missions task, leading to a false un- both biblical and culturally appropriate derstanding of both task and success in and which will undergird us for the long- our mission. term future. • The application of simplistic think- 5. An occasion that encourages us to ing and methodologies to the Great Com- broker and invest in a process of global- mission, which are guided too much by ized missiology that returns us to our marketing strategies and secular concepts grassroots, to our cultures, to our home of what it means to be effective and effi- churches, and to our ministries and net- cient. works. from iguassu to the reflective practitioners 5

• The reduction of world evangeliza- to the spice and diversity of Iguassu. All tion to a manageable enterprise with an of us were challenged, even forced, to lis- over-emphasis on research, statistics, quan- ten to and engage with perspectives that tifiable objectives, and desired outcomes. graciously and at times sharply questioned • A focus on a limited geography of some missiological presuppositions. There the world and an excessive emphasis on were lively discussions and even disagree- the year 2000, generating unrealistic ex- ments between colleagues of West and pectations and leading to profound dis- non-West, East and East, South and South. appointment. It was a free-flowing and dynamic week. • An over-emphasis on short-term The venue of the consultation was se- missions that minimizes longer-term ser- lected by our Brazilian colleagues, the city vice, and an inadequate biblical theology of Iguassu, Brazil, a few short kilometers of vocation. from the majestic falls of the same name. • The illusion by some that mass me- Those who have seen the movie, The Mis- dia is the final answer to world evangeli- sion, will remember well the scenes filmed zation or the suggestion that “the church on site at the falls. Halfway through our finally has the technology to finish the consultation, Valdir Steuernagel presented Great Commission,” whether the Internet, an eloquent talk on the historic and con- mass communications, publication, or temporary significance of that film; then other media. The danger is obvious, for it we viewed the movie on a large screen. It disregards the sacrificial, incarnational was a powerful evening. The next morn- calling of God into our world of profound ing, we took a break from heavy discus- personal, familial, socio-economic, cul- sions and traveled the short distance to tural, and environmental crises. the falls themselves. We saw them not only as one of the seven natural wonders of Inviting the the world, but also in missiological con- Reflective Practitioners text. Steve Sang-Cheol Moon, one of our of the Evangelical World Korean colleagues, came up to me in the The search for “reflective practitioners” spray of the falls to say with a touch of guided us in formulating the roster of par- Asian humor, “Bill, Niagara Falls is a mo- ticipants who were invited to the consul- dernity worldview cataract—one huge tation. These women and men of both flow in the same general direction. But action and reflection are committed to Iguassu Falls is a post-modernity cata- God’s truth; obedient in the power of ract—three kilometers of 265 different God’s Spirit to the Great Commission in falls, flowing in so many directions!” all its fullness; servants who are global- This publication has been written by ized in perspective; citizens of their own and for the global community of reflec- culture but also of the world; leaders who tive practitioners—men and women en- are passionate of heart and who also re- gaged in the trans-cultural mission of God, flect the heart of Christ. Of the 160 par- whether students or veterans, female or ticipants at Iguassu, half came from Latin male, younger or older, activists or mis- America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and siologists, regardless of geography or the Islands; the other half came from culture. Samuel Escobar’s definition of North America, Europe, Australia, and missiology (see page 101) has been very New Zealand. This balance of West and helpful in the shaping of this book. For the “Great Rest of the World” contributed him, missiology is “… an interdisciplinary 6 setting the stage approach to understand missionary ac- radically different from those that are cur- tion. It looks at missionary facts from the rently known. perspective of the biblical sciences, theology, history, and the social sciences.” The Learning From Valuable consultation as well as this book flow in Missiological History the strength of this definition, and we in- Further background for the Iguassu tentionally emphasize a globalization di- Consultation came as we read our missio- mension. logical church history. As far as we in the The borderless body of Christ in recent WEF Missions Commission knew, this con- years has experienced a massive epicen- sultation, coming upon the eve of the year ter shift—from the centers of the North to 2000, was the primary Evangelical global the many centers of the South. No single event of such a theological-missiological center from now on will dominate the nature. This realization was disturbing, for agenda of our dialogue and reflection. it seemed that the major Evangelical in- Nobody knows for certain, but estimates ternational structures, networks, and theo- suggest that 75% of the family of Jesus is logical institutions were focusing on their found in the non-Western nations (Asia, own particular tasks and were perhaps Africa, Latin America, South Pacific, Car- more concerned about their own projects, ibbean, Middle East). This transformation programs, curricula, and organizational does not spell the end of the West as a future. There was relatively little interest center of God’s church and its leadership. in substantial theological and missiologi- It simply means that the Spirit of God has cal reflection or in a sober self-evaluation created many centers where he is at work, that would lead to a revised way of going and it provides rich soil from which new about our task in the world—a revitalized kinds of strategic thinking and long-term praxis. commitment to service will germinate, Looking back to the historic World Mis- flower, and transform the global church. sionary Conference of Edinburgh (1910) We are all familiar with the historic at the beginning of the 20th century, we three “selfs” of the church: self-support- realized there were lessons we needed to ing, self-propagating, self-governing. But heed. That international event, the fourth today’s reality is more complex, richer, of its kind in the West, had been very care- and more challenging, for there are really fully conceived and prepared “… in its five “selfs.” These include the known character as an assembly for careful and three, plus self-theologizing and self- scientific thought and not merely for the missiologizing. These latter two by defini- edification of the faithful and the expres- tion will challenge the established verities sion of Christian enthusiasm; and in the of older theology and missiology, includ- steps which it took to secure the perma- ing theological and missiological ap- nence of Christian cooperation in the fu- proaches and categories and the historic ture …” (Neill, 1986, p. 393). ways of conceptualizing and doing theol- Edinburgh’s driving slogan, coined and ogy and missiology. Guided by the Spirit, given currency by John Raleigh Mott faithful to Scripture, within the commu- (1865-1955), was, “The Evangelization of nity of faith, and graciously reflecting the the World in This Generation.” Actually, marvelous diversity of culture and church as Neill (1986, p. 394) reports, “The slo- permutations, the future is bright and en- gan was based on an unexceptional theo- couraging. However, the outcomes may be logical principle—that each generation of from iguassu to the reflective practitioners 7

Christians bears responsibility for the con- through Christ alone. He tended to take a temporary generation of non-Christians in much more favourable view of the other the world, and that it is the business of religions than his more conservative col- each such generation of Christians to see leagues, and to look forward to some kind to it, as far as lies within its power, that of synthesis of religions rather than to the the gospel is clearly preached to every disappearance of any of them. The real single non-Christian in the same genera- enemy is secularism. Adherents of all the tion.” great religions should stand together in Edinburgh’s leaders understood the defence of the spiritual reality of man’s continual growth of missionary outreach life. There should be no hostility between in the world and the hope that it would them, the spirit of proselytism being re- increase. Neill lists 12 great achievements placed by the willingness to learn from in the preceding century, and the confer- one another” (Neill, 1986, pp. 454-455). ence convened serious men and women As we approached the Iguassu Consul- for a landmark event. However, most sig- tation, at the end of the 20th and the be- nificantly, he notes: ginning of the 21st century, we members “There had been little discussion of of the international body of Christ recog- theology at the Edinburgh Conference of nized that it behooved us to listen to and 1910. There had seemed to be little need learn from our history. We did not want for it, when all were at one on all the to repeat the errors that have come from fundamentals. All were agreed that Jesus not revisiting the theological and biblical Christ the Son of God was the final and underpinnings of our mission. For that decisive Word of God to men; that in him reason, we felt it imperative to engage in alone is the certainty of salvation given to serious and substantive reflection and men; that this gospel must be preached analysis. For our own good as reflective to every living human soul, to whom God people of God in global mission, we must has given the freedom to accept or to re- strive to be thoughtful and grounded prac- ject and who must stand by that accep- titioners and visionaries. tance or rejection on the last day. The delegates differed somewhat in their atti- Revisiting a tude towards the non-Christian religions, Relevant and Poignant but all were agreed that, as the Lordship Gospel Narrative of Christ came to be recognized, these Having studied the various papers others religions would disappear in their prior to the consultation and pondering present form—the time would come when the issues and trends with which we would Shiva and Vishu would have no more wor- be grappling, I felt the Spirit of God call- shippers than Zeus and Apollo have to- ing me to Matthew 11:1-12 as a reference day. point for our days together in Iguassu. “But in these years of rapid missionary During the last decade, I have pondered expansion, a very different gospel had this story, mining it time and time again been growing up and taking hold of the for its richness and finding its application minds of a great many Christians, espe- so relevant for our lives and ministry. Fol- cially in America. The liberal was not by lowing are some of the reflections that any means so sure that Jesus Christ was flow from this narrative, with its power to the last Word of God to man. He was re- shape our lives and ministry. pelled by the exclusive claim to salvation 8 setting the stage

Matthew 11:1-12 wave of opposition that would soon ex- [1] After Jesus had finished instruct- plode against him. We contemplate his ing his twelve disciples, he went on from heart for the sick and the dead, the aged there to teach and preach in the towns of and the children, the oppressed and the Galilee. demonized, the helpless and the shep- [2] When John heard in prison what herdless. We see his commitment to prayer. Christ was doing, he sent his disciples [3] We note his selection and commissioning to ask him, “Are you the one who was to of the Twelve to a first-time, strategic, come, or should we expect someone else?” short-term mission project. Now, in chap- [4] Jesus replied, “Go back and report ter 11, Matthew introduces John the Bap- to John what you hear and see: [5] The tizer into the story. Jesus uses that occasion blind receive sight, the lame walk, those for penetrating and enigmatic statements who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, about the times of opportunity and vio- the dead are raised, and the good news lence, about true meaning in life and minis preached to the poor. [6] Blessed is the istry. man who does not fall away on account Little could the disciples have imagined of me.” what Jesus was referring to as he spoke of [7] As John’s disciples were leaving, personal and ministry significance and of Jesus began to speak to the crowd about the future. But they would discover and John: “What did you go out into the desert experience those realities very soon. And to see? A reed swayed by the wind? [8] If then the task would be theirs, empowered not, what did you go out to see? A man by the Spirit, to impact their own histori- dressed in fine clothes? No, those who cal moment. wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. In our times, today [9] Then what did you go out to see? A We stand at the start of this uncertain prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a new century, this new millennium. New prophet. [10] This is the one about whom language and categories have entered our it is written: ‘I will send my messenger lives. We speak of globalization, and we ahead of you, who will prepare your way witness the worldview transitions from before you.’ pre-modernity to modernity to post- “[11] I tell you the truth: Among those modernity with their respective blessings born of women there has not risen any- and curses. Regardless of our culture, our one greater than John the Baptist; yet he gender, our geography, and our ministry, who is least in the kingdom of heaven is the times have radically changed, requir- greater than he. [12] From the days of ing a serious re-evaluation of why we do John the Baptist until now, the kingdom the things we do in ministry—whether of heaven has been forcefully advancing, personal or organizational. and forceful men lay hold of it.” Mission is worked out in the Mission is carried out in the context of questions and doubt. context of change, crisis, and the unexpected turns of life. In the time of Jesus In the time of Jesus The Baptizer’s existential crisis has become painfully real. He had no idea that We observe our Lord in the previous his prophetic ministry would land him in two chapters encountering the swelling jail or of the kind of death that would from iguassu to the reflective practitioners 9 come to him with such violence. Grap- Mission must be carried out pling from prison with profound doubts in the context of downward (“Did I misunderstand history, God, and mobility, not upward success. you, Jesus?”), he sends a delegation of his In the time of Jesus last disciples to ask Jesus that very hard question. However, our Lord sends him The great Forerunner would soon face an oblique answer, inviting the disciples a stunning and ignominious death. What’s only to report to John what they had heard more, he never heard what Jesus had said and seen of the signs of the kingdom. It’s about him on that occasion, for Jesus only after they leave that Jesus gives his talked about him after John’s disciples left. verdict—an unprecedented accolade—of John apparently died without explanation John as a person with a mission. Why did and without comfort from God. But then, Jesus not encourage John more by send- Jesus himself would die a brutal and seem- ing word of his now public evaluation and ingly pointless death. In time, all of the affirmation of John? Notably, Jesus did not apostles except John would be subse- condemn John for his doubts. quently martyred. Worldly success, triumphalism, and popular acclaim were In our times, today definitely not written into the contract of We must feel free to ask each other, and their spiritual journey. God, the dangerous and presuppositional In our times, today questions: Where is the power of the gospel and the church today? Has something The majority of Christians—whether in gone wrong with the harvest? What kind the West or the non-West—do not have an of gospel have we transported around the adequate theology of suffering, much less world? Why Rwanda, Ireland, Bosnia? Why of persecution and martyrdom. But we such a post-Christian and anti-Christian must develop one soon! The Iguassu Con- Europe and North America? What does it sultation purposefully did not convene the mean to see the presence of the kingdom powerful, the network controllers, the of heaven today in our world? Has there wealthy, or the high-profile people. Those been an excessive export/import business present were primarily lower-profile ser- of theology, missiology, and church and vant-leaders. And if we don’t place our- educational structures, primarily from the selves in the category of the powerless and West to the rest of the world? the nameless, we need to revisit what we On a more personal level, why are we think it means to walk with Jesus on the followers of Jesus the Christ? How have path of downward mobility. we uncritically allowed our own cultures Perhaps the late Henri Nouwen (1989, to shape and misshape our worldview, our p. 62) says it best, with direct application relationship with the supernatural God, to our Evangelical world and its fascina- our theological structures, and our missio- tion with leadership and power: “The way logical reflection and action? What would of the Christian leader is not the way of it mean to become practicing supernatu- upward mobility in which our world has ralists today? invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said ‘yes’ to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to 10 setting the stage the joy and the peace of God, a joy and ment—from every nation and every conti- peace that is not of this world.” nent to every nation and every continent. This is good news and challenging news. Mission is worked out in We also live in a day of instant communi- the bipolar context of gospel cation through the Internet. Not every re- advance and persecution. port is truly true. So we must ask hard In the time of Jesus questions: What does it mean to be the Matthew’s narrative notes how the church? What kind of gospel have we ex- kingdom of heaven had advanced force- ported and communicated around the fully through the life and ministry first of world? John (Matt. 3:5-8) and then of Jesus (Matt. We rightfully must be wary of the 4:23-25). Yet we note the enigma of verse “Christian numbers game,” such as this 12, an ambiguity that is reflected in differ- statement which I recently read in a fund- ent translations. The first part is clear: the raising letter: “More than 100,000 people kingdom of heaven would advance force- a day are choosing to follow Christ in Asia, fully, as in the ministry of John and Jesus. Africa, Latin America, East Europe, and the But the second part is simply unclear. The former Soviet Union.” Where does this Greek text allows us to translate it two number come from? How do we acquire ways. One idea is that some would force- and believe rounded-off figures? Is the fully want to get into the kingdom. The truth being told, or are we being sold a second possibility is a very different idea, successful package of guaranteed religious that others would forcefully attack the projects and programs? More significantly, kingdom itself. The account in Luke 16:16 have we assumed that God promises that emphasizes the first option. In the time a majority of the world’s population will of Jesus, some people were pushing their be found in the church? way in, even tearing up the roof-tops of Even as we celebrate the growth of the homes to get to Jesus. But at the same Christian faith, we also witness the revival time, the opposition to Jesus would grow and expansion of a well-funded and in- into the plot to eliminate him. Ultimately, tensely expansionist Islam, the new mis- the converged adversarial forces would kill sionary vision of Buddhism and Hinduism, both John and later Jesus. Was our Lord as well as the plethora of smaller evange- playing with words, preparing the dis- listic religious groups. The New Age net- ciples (and us) for both options? works have spread throughout the world, offering an especially appealing religious In our times, today soup that allows one to be both spiritual World population stands today at and materialistic at the same time. These about the 6 billion mark. We saw the ad- religious alternatives have joined the dition of 2 billion in the 20th century alone. forces of anti-Christian secularism, moder- This is the global arena of the church of nity, and post-modernity to challenge Christ. The task is almost overwhelming! Christians today as never before. It is the We are encouraged as we witness and best of times and the worst of times for read of the advance of the gospel. We re- the church. And this is the arena into joice in each report—assuming the infor- which the Spirit invites Evangelical reflec- mation is verifiable—that marks the tive practitioners to serve, suffer, and die. advance of the kingdom message. We live While some of the opposition is subtle in the remarkable day of the globalization and non-violent, we have documented the of both the church and the missions move- growing wave of persecution against from iguassu to the reflective practitioners 11

Christians. Significantly, the theme of suf- • Grounding trinitarian missiological fering and martyrdom emerged many reflections in Scripture times during the Iguassu Consultation. • Addressing issues of globalized Ajith Fernando’s expositions, plus reports Evangelical missiology from specific geographies—the Middle • Responding to major challenges East, India, and other areas—were a so- • Listening to mission that rises from bering reminder of the suffering church. community and spirituality Ironically—and sadly—we know that • Engaging the commitments flowing some of the persecution of Christians is from the Iguassu Affirmation precipitated by Christians using language • Concluding with final challenges and missions metaphors that rely heavily Second, read and evaluate the Iguassu on military terminology: target, conquer, Affirmation (chapter 2), for much of the army, crusade, mobilize, beachhead, ad- book will echo these themes. This missio- vance, enemy, battle, spiritual warfare, logical statement summarizes the issues capture the city for Christ. Thankfully, the of the Iguassu Consultation. But keep in movement to eliminate inappropriate lan- mind that not all of your concerns will guage is growing, but much damage has emerge in this short document. been done (see Mission Leaders, 2000). Third, remember that this book reflects a globalized missiology. Represented here How Might One Read are many voices speaking from within or- This Book With Profit? thodox Christianity and the authority of This book emerges primarily from the Scripture, rooted in history and commit- Iguassu Consultation, where the majority ted to serious contextualization of the of the chapters were presented there in gospel and church. some form. Of the 41 writers, all but three Fourth, trace some of the key themes were with us in Iguassu. Another 13 chap- of personal interest through the index. For ters were commissioned afterward to fill example, note the references to trinitarian in missing themes. Three of the major missiology. papers, the two by Samuel Escobar and Fifth, don’t get sidetracked with things the one by Chris Wright, had been circu- with which you disagree. Examine every- lated by e-mail for the participants to read thing and attempt to read through the eyes prior to our gathering. of the writer. If what is said about mana- How might a person work through this gerial missiology irritates you, don’t worry; compendium? Some courageous ones you are not alone. At the same time, lis- might want to read from start to finish. ten to the challenge, for it comes from Congratulations if you do so! your colleagues and friends. If you are Here are some other possible ap- concerned about what “should” have been proaches: said, fine. At the same time, listen to the First, review the table of contents to godly and creative voices that may offer a get a sense of the overall flow of catego- healing critique to mission that flows from ries and topics. Note the structure of the the worldview of modernity and is too book and its major categories: dependent upon marketing techniques. • Establishing the global arena Ask the Holy Spirit to allow you to listen • Setting the macro context and rais- and learn, even when you disagree. ing major issues Sixth, keep in mind the diversity of the writers: ethnicity, gender, age, perspective, 12 setting the stage formal education, experiences in life and elements reveal that all of the writers had ministry, and style of writing. Almost half a commitment to think Christianly about of the writers would not consider English their world and the diverse challenges their first language, and for many of them before us. The publication uniquely con- this was their first venture into print. tributes to the robust Evangelical missi- Finally, read away! Stretch your mind, ology we need for the future. your heart, and your theological and Finally, this book is like a prism refract- missiological categories. Read together ing light. The resultant colors depend on and perhaps out loud with a group of re- the angle, but all come from a single beam flective practitioners, whether younger or of light focused on the prism. In a similar older, students or those experienced in way, light emanating from God’s full rev- ministry. In a spirit of receptivity, ask the elation is refracted through the prism of Triune God what he has to teach you the magnificent diversity of culture, lan- through this publication. guage, gender, and ministry of the writers of this book. All of the authors share a Metaphors That deep commitment to the authority of Draw to a Close Scripture, and all are deeply involved in This Invitation to Read ministry, most of them in cross-cultural The Iguassu Missiological Consultation service. The result is a singular sample of and this book remind me of my first trip Evangelical and global missiological reflec- to Singapore and a late-night visit to that tion. city-nation’s Newton Circus hawkers cen- I close with the powerful prayer that ter—the open-air culinary feast at the in- has come to us from the heart of Jim Engel tersection of Scott’s, Bukit Timah, and (Engel & Dyrness, 2000, pp. 24-25). Newton Roads. Surrounded by a dizzying A Prayer for Renewal array of food booths, we were invited to and Restoration savor the unusual diversity of foods, tex- Heavenly Father, tures, tastes (and after-tastes)—Chinese, our Lord and giver of life, Malay, Indian, and all of Southeast Asia. forgive us for the extent to which In a similar way, Iguassu and this book we have naively succumbed offer a feast of the globalized body of to the spirit of the age, Christ. This book also allows participants for our preoccupation with and readers to share in the multifaceted false measures of success, exchange and contribution to the mission for a sense of triumphalism of the church that took place as we sat which replaces together around the table as equal part- humble dependence on you, ners in mission. and for our blindness in avoiding Likewise, Iguassu and this book offer those parts of your Word us the gift of a tapestry, multi-colored and which do not fit neatly multi-textured, but all part of the same into our theology. weaving. From below, the pattern may be We humbly confess our total confusing; but from above, one discerns dependence on you the rich integration and harmony of the as the Lord of life. tapestry. What’s more, there are key col- Let us see a lost world afresh ors, fabrics, and designs. This book is com- through your eyes plex and challenging. However, the key and give us discernment from iguassu to the reflective practitioners 13

through your Spirit. Share with us your priorities and give us the courage to be responsible stewards of our obligation to take the whole gospel to the whole world. Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. To you we give all glory, honor, and praise. Amen. William D. Taylor is Executive Director of the WEF Missions Commission and has coordi- So to our colleagues, sisters and broth- nated the ministries of the MC since 1986. He ers in the global task, may the blessing and was born in Costa Rica of missionary parents empowering presence of the Sacred Three and has lived in Latin America for 30 years, be upon you all. 17 of them with his family as a long-term missionary with CAM International, serving on the faculty of the Central American Theo- References logical Seminary. Married to Yvonne, a na- Engel, J. F., & Dyrness, W. A. (2000). Changing tive Texan, he has three adult children who the mind of missions: Where have we gone were born in Guatemala. He has edited In- wrong? Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity ternationalizing Missionary Training Press. (1991), Kingdom Partnerships for Synergy in Missions (1994), and Too Valuable to Mission leaders urge end to “fighting” words. Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of (2000, August 4 ). World Pulse, pp. 6-7. Missionary Attrition (1997). He co-authored Report and formal statement from the Con- with Emilio Antonio Nuñez, Crisis and Hope sultation on Mission Language and Meta- in Latin America (1996), and with Steve phors held at the School of World Mission, Hoke, Send Me! Your Journey to the Nations Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, (1999). He also serves as visiting faculty at California, June 1-3, 2000. seminaries in various countries. Neill, S. (1986). A history of Christian missions. New York: Penguin Books. Nouwen, H. J. M. (1989). In the name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian leadership. New York: Crossroad.

ROM IGUASSU, BRAZIL, to the missions movement The F around the world, October 17, 1999: The WEF Missions Commission has just concluded the Iguassu historic Iguassu Missiological Consultation in the city of Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, October 10-15. With gratitude to God, Affirmation the Missions Commission leadership commends a crucial outcome of this singular week to the mission movement around the world, in particular the missions networks. We are profoundly thankful to our Lord for those who in recent decades have sustained the passion for world evangelization. There are many women and men, organizations and movements which have done all in their power to focus our attention on the unfinished task, to understand the vast unreached world of peoples and cities, and to underscore the vital necessity of obedience to Christ’s final charge to the apostles. For this we are grateful, and we are indebted to them. We are also grateful to God for the growing body of women and men who are seriously reflecting on just what it means to do biblical missiology in this complex world. Just as the epicenter of the global church has shifted from the North to the South, in the same way the epicenter of creating and doing theology and missiology is changing. We rejoice in the former shift and realize that the second one invites us to greater missiological partnership. The Triune God has many “centers” from which to work now. As we face the unique turn of a century/millennium, the 160 participants at the Iguassu Missiological Consulta- tion have also sensed the need for a serious analysis of the challenges we face in a radically changing world—in the sociological, cultural, philosophical, economic, and spiritual arenas. We came together to contribute to the development

15 16 setting the stage and application of a biblical missiology sion, modification, and adaptation of the which represents with authenticity the document for the diverse realities we live national and cultural diversity of God’s in mission. The invitation is to the global people in mission. And then we came to- missions community, and that can also gether to affirm the foundational commit- include mission societies, as well as theo- ments we make as mission practitioners, logical and missiological training institu- missiologists, and church leaders. We also tions. We will focus on Evangelicals whose worshiped and prayed together all roots are linked to the churches and through the week. whose members share our deep passion With this backdrop, we present to you for serious world evangelism. the Iguassu Affirmation, a statement of We invite each participating network context, declaration, and commitment as and organization to communicate to us we look to the Spirit’s empowering pres- your discussion of this document. We re- ence in our mission task, regardless of ge- lease the Affirmation to you for transla- ography, culture, or ministry. tion into any language, and we ask that The Iguassu Affirmation emerged from you send us a copy for our own records, the process of the week in Brazil. A “Team verification, and information. of Seven” was given an initial draft (based Respectfully submitted, on the plenary papers already in distribu- The Team of Seven and the tion) for discussion, and then they went WEF Missions Commission to work. The 160 participants were able Executive Commission to study three drafts of the document, giving scores of serious recommendations to The Affirmation team: David Tai-Woong Lee (Korea), co-leader the team. Friday the 15th found us meet- Jim Stamoolis (USA), co-leader ing for a three-hour session to finalize changes and emerge with a strong con- Rose Dowsett (Scotland) Abel Ndjerareou (Chad) sensus of the direction of the Lord on the David Neff (USA) Affirmation. The Iguassu Affirmation is to be re- Kang San Tan (Malaysia) Tonica van der Meer (Brazil) ceived as a working document to stimu- late serious discussion around the world. The Iguassu Affirmation We desire that it will become a point of dialogue that will help shape both missi- Preamble ology and strategy into the next century/ We have convened as 160 mission prac- millennium. The first phase of our work titioners, missiologists, and church lead- took place in Brazil, the second phase fol- ers from 53 countries, under the World lowed the consultation, and now the third Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commis- phase begins—the release of this major sion in Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, on Octo- book. We pray that this process—interna- ber 10-15, 1999 to: tional and contextualized—will facilitate 1. Reflect together on the challenges the flow of the Iguassu Affirmation down and opportunities facing world missions into our regional/national networks and at the dawn of the new millennium. organizations, and into the grassroots life 2. Review the different streams of 20th of the churches. century Evangelical missiology and prac- This local, regional/national, and orga- tice, especially since the 1974 Lausanne nizational contextualization invites discus- Congress. the iguassu affirmation 17

3. Continue developing and applying mission from people of all nations to a relevant biblical missiology which re- people of all nations, are needed for a flects the cultural diversity of God’s peo- valid missiology in our time. ple. Our discussions have invited us to We proclaim the living Christ in a world fuller dependence on the Spirit’s empow- torn by ethnic conflicts, massive economic ering presence in our life and ministry as disparity, natural disasters, and ecological we eagerly await the glorious return of our crises. The mission task is both assisted Lord Jesus Christ. and hindered by technological develop- In the light of these realities, we make ments that now reach the remotest cor- the following declarations: ners of the earth. The diverse religious Declarations aspirations of people, expressed in multiple religions and spiritual experimenta- Our faith rests on the absolute author- tion, challenge the ultimate truth of the ity of the God-breathed Scriptures. We are gospel. heirs of the great Christian confessions In the 20th century, missiology wit- handed down to us. All three Persons of nessed unprecedented development. In the Godhead are active in God’s redeem- recent years, reflection from many parts ing mission. Our missiology centers on the of the church has helped missions to con- overarching biblical theme of God’s cre- tinue shedding paternalistic tendencies. ation of the world, the Father’s redeem- Today, we continue to explore the relation- ing love for fallen humanity as revealed in ship between the gospel and culture, the incarnation, substitutionary death, and between evangelism and social responsi- resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and bility, and between biblical mandates and ultimately of the redemption and renewal the social sciences. We see some interna- of the whole creation. The Holy Spirit, tional organizations—among them World promised by our Lord, is our comforter, Evangelical Fellowship, the Lausanne teacher, and source of power. It is the Committee for World Evangelization, and Spirit who calls us into holiness and in- the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement—that tegrity. The Spirit leads the church into all have begun a promising process of part- truth. The Spirit is the agent of mission, nership and unity. convicting of sin, righteousness, and judg- Increased efforts at partnership have ment. We are Christ’s servants, empow- been catalyzed by an emphasis on meth- ered and led by the Spirit, whose goal is odologies involving measurable goals and to glorify God. numerical growth. Flowing from a com- We confess the following themes as mitment to urgent evangelization, these truths of special importance in this present methodologies have shown how our task age. These themes are clearly attested to might be accomplished. However, these in the whole of the Scriptures and speak insights must be subject to biblical prin- to the desire of God to provide salvation ciples and growth in Christlikeness. for all people. We rejoice in diverse missiological 1. Jesus Christ is Lord of the church voices emerging around the world, but we and Lord of the universe. confess that we have not taken them all Ultimately every knee will bow and into our theory and practice. Old para- every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. digms still prevail. Participation by and The Lordship of Christ is to be proclaimed awareness of the global church, as well as to the whole world, inviting all to be free 18 setting the stage from bondage to sin and the dominion of 5. Opposition to the spread of the gos- evil in order to serve the Lord for his glory. pel is foremost a spiritual conflict involving human sin and princi- 2. The Lord Jesus Christ is the unique palities and powers opposed to the revelation of God and the only Sav- Living God. ior of the world. This conflict is manifested in different Salvation is found in Christ alone. God ways, e.g., fear of spirits or indifference to witnesses to himself in creation and in God. We recognize that the defense of the human conscience, but these witnesses truth of the gospel is also spiritual war- are not complete without the revelation fare. As witnesses of the gospel, we an- of God in Christ. In the face of competing nounce that Jesus Christ has power over truth claims, we proclaim with humility all powers and is able to free all who turn that Christ is the only Savior, conscious to him in faith. We affirm that in the cross, that sin as well as cultural hindrances of- God has won the victory. ten mask him from those for whom he died. 6. Suffering, persecution, and martyrdom are present realities for many 3. The good news of the salvation Christians. made possible by the work of Jesus We acknowledge that our obedience in Christ must be expressed in all the mission involves suffering and recognize languages and cultures of the world. that the church is experiencing this. We affirm our privilege and responsibility to We are commanded to be heralds of pray for those undergoing persecution. We the gospel to every creature so that they are called to share in their pain, do what can have the opportunity to confess faith we can to relieve their sufferings, and work in Christ. The message must come to them for human rights and religious freedom. in a language they can understand and in a form that is appropriate to their circum- 7. Economic and political systems stances. Believers, led by the Holy Spirit, deeply affect the spread of God’s are encouraged to create culturally appro- kingdom. priate forms of worship and uncover bib- Human government is appointed by lical insights that glorify God for the God, but all human institutions act out of benefit of the whole church. fallenness. The Scriptures command that Christians pray for those in authority and 4. The gospel is good news and addresses all human needs. work for truth and justice. Appropriate Christian response to political and eco- We emphasize the holistic nature of the nomic systems requires the guidance of gospel of Jesus Christ. Both the Old Tes- the Holy Spirit. tament and the New Testament demonstrate God’s concern with the whole 8. God works in a variety of Christian person in the whole of society. We ac- traditions and organizations, for knowledge that material blessings come his glory and the salvation of the from God, but prosperity should not be world. equated with godliness. For too long believers, divided over issues of church organization, order, and doctrine—such as the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit—have failed to recog- the iguassu affirmation 19 nize each other’s work. We affirm, bless, shaped by God’s Word, brought to life and and pray for authentic Christian witness light by the Holy Spirit. wherever it is found. 3. Church and mission 9. To be effective witnesses of the Holy The church in mission is central to God, we need to demonstrate per- God’s plan for the world. We commit our- sonal and corporate holiness, love, selves to strengthen our ecclesiology in and righteousness. mission, and to encourage the global We repent of hypocrisy and conformity church to become a truly missionary com- to the world, and we call the church to a munity in which all Christians are involved renewed commitment to holy living. Ho- in mission. In the face of increasing re- liness requires turning from sin, training sistance and opposition from political in righteousness, and growing in Christ- powers, religious fundamentalism, and likeness. secularism, we commit ourselves to en- Commitments courage and challenge the churches to respond with a deeper level of unity and We commit ourselves to continue and participation in mission. deepen our reflection on the following themes, helping one another to enrich 4. Gospel and culture our understanding and practice with in- The gospel is always presented and sight from every corner of the world. Our received within a cultural context. It is hearts’ desire is the discipling of the na- therefore essential to clarify the relation- tions through the effective, faithful com- ship between gospel and culture, both munication of Christ to every culture and in theory and practice, recognizing that people. there is both good and evil in all cultures. 1. Trinitarian foundation We commit ourselves to continue to dem- of mission onstrate the relevance of the Christian message to all cultures, and ensure that We commit ourselves to a renewed missionaries learn to wrestle biblically emphasis on God-centered missiology. with the relationship between gospel and This invites a new study of the operation culture. We commit ourselves to serious of the Trinity in the redemption of the study of how different cultural perspec- human race and the whole of creation, as tives may enrich our understanding of the well as to understand the particular roles gospel, as well as how all worldviews have of Father, Son, and Spirit in mission to this to be critiqued and transformed by it. fallen world. 5. Pluralism 2. Biblical and theological reflection Religious pluralism challenges us to hold firmly to the uniqueness of Jesus We confess that our biblical and theo- Christ as Savior even as we work for in- logical reflection has sometimes been shal- creased tolerance and understanding low and inadequate. We also confess that among religious communities. We cannot we have frequently been selective in our seek harmony by relativizing the truth use of texts rather than being faithful to claims of religions. Urbanization and radi- the whole biblical revelation. We commit cal political change have bred increased ourselves to engage in renewed biblical interreligious and ethnic violence and and theological studies shaped by mission, hostility. We commit ourselves to be agents and to pursue a missiology and practice 20 setting the stage of reconciliation. We also commit our- isterial, to include substantive biblical and selves to proclaim the gospel of Jesus practical training in Christian character Christ in faithfulness and loving humility. formation. 6. Spiritual conflict 10. The cross and suffering We welcome the renewed attention As our Lord called us to take up our given in recent decades to the biblical crosses, we remind the church of our theme of spiritual conflict. We rejoice that Lord’s teaching that suffering is a part of power and authority are not ours but authentic Christian life. In an increasingly God’s. At the same time, we must ensure violent and unjust world with political and that the interest in spiritual warfare does economic oppression, we commit to equip not become a substitute for dealing with ourselves and others to suffer in mission- the root issues of sin, salvation, conver- ary service and to serve the suffering sion, and the battle for the truth. We com- church. We pursue to articulate a biblical mit ourselves to increase our biblical theology of martyrdom. understanding and practice of spiritual 11. Christian responsibility and conflict while guarding against syncretis- the world economic order tic and unbiblical elements. In a world increasingly controlled by 7. Strategy in mission global economic forces, Christians need We are grateful for many helpful in- to be aware of the corrosive effects of sights gained from the social sciences. We affluence and the destructive effects of are concerned that these should be sub- poverty. We must be aware of ethno- ject to the authority of Scripture. There- centrism in our view of economic forces. fore, we call for a healthy critique of We commit ourselves to address the reali- mission theories that depend heavily on ties of world poverty and oppose policies marketing concepts and missiology by that serve the powerful rather than the objectives. powerless. It is the responsibility of the church in each place to affirm the mean- 8. Globalized missiology ing and value of a people, especially where The insights of every part of the church indigenous cultures face extinction. We are needed, and challenges encountered call all Christians to commit themselves in every land must be addressed. Only thus to reflect God’s concern for justice and can our missiology develop the richness the welfare of all peoples. and texture reflected in the Scriptures and needed for full obedience to our risen 12. Christian responsibility and the ecological crisis Lord. We commit ourselves to give voice to all segments of the global church in The earth is the Lord’s, and the gospel developing and implementing our missi- is good news for all creation. Christians ology. share in the responsibility God gave to all humanity to care for the earth. We call on 9. Godly character all Christians to commit themselves to Biblical holiness is essential for cred- ecological integrity in practicing respon- ible Christian witness. We commit our- sible stewardship of creation, and we en- selves to renewed emphasis on godly courage Christians in environmental care living and servanthood, and we urge train- and protection initiatives. ing institutions, both missionary and min- the iguassu affirmation 21

13. Partnership Pledge As citizens of the kingdom of God and We, the participants of the Iguassu members of Christ’s body, we commit Missiological Consultation, declare our ourselves to renewed efforts at coopera- passion as mission practitioners, missiol- tion, because it is our Lord’s desire that ogists, and church leaders for the urgent we be one and that we work in harmony evangelization of the whole world and the in his service so that the world will be- discipling of the nations to the glory of lieve. We acknowledge that our attempts the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. have not always been as equals. Inad- In all our commitments, we depend on equate theology, especially in respect to the Lord who empowers us by the Holy the doctrine of the church, and the imbal- Spirit to fulfill his mission. As Evangelicals, ance of resources have made working to- we pledge to sustain our biblical heritage gether difficult. We pledge to find ways to in this ever-changing world. We commit address this imbalance and to demon- ourselves to participate actively in formu- strate to the world that believers in Christ lating and practicing Evangelical missiol- are truly one in their service of Christ. ogy. Indwelt by the Spirit, we purpose to carry the radical good news of the king- 14. Member care dom of God to all the world. We affirm Service of the Lord in cross-cultural our commitment to love one another and environments exposes missionaries to to pray for one another as we struggle to many stresses and criticisms. While ac- do his will. knowledging that missionaries also share We rejoice in the privilege of being part the limitations of our common humanity of God’s mission in proclaiming the gos- and have made errors, we affirm that they pel of reconciliation and hope. We joyfully deserve love, respect, and gratitude. Too look to the Lord’s return and passionately often, agencies, churches, and fellow yearn to see the realization of the eschato- Christians have not followed biblical logical vision when people from every guidelines in dealing with cross-cultural nation, tribe, and language shall worship workers. We commit ourselves to support the Lamb. and nurture our missionary workers for To this end may the Father, the Son, their sakes and for the gospel witness. and the Holy Spirit be glorified. Hallelu- jah! Amen.

Part 2

Establishing the macro context of the major issues

THIS MEATY SECTION requires careful study. Escobar’s two papers and Wright’s one were circulated via e-mail prior to Iguassu, enabling participants to start reflection as they prepared for the event, and also provide feedback to the writers prior to the Consultation. Escobar’s double challenge was to read both the global scenario as well as current Evangelical missiology. Due to his absence, Bonk and Steuernagel were drafted at a late date to engage thought-provoking challenges. Hiebert’s presentation was directed at the delicate yet crucial issue of spiritual warfare and worldview. In this section, four writers who were present at Iguassu—Araujo, Lee, van der Meer, and Roxburgh—were asked later to write chapters that addressed crucial issues. Araujo presents a well-researched discussion of the controversial issues swirling around globalization. Even as I write these words from Malaysia, news from Melbourne, Austra- lia, reports the organized protests against the World Eco- nomic Forum Asia/Pacific Economic Summit—sequels to the violent protests in Seattle in late 1999 and Washington, D.C. in early 2000. But globalization must be evaluated from a Christian perspective, for we cannot accept uncritically the

23 dictums of the dominant global financial institutions. How should thoughtful Christians respond to the journalist who declares, “That the world is moving towards globalization is as inevitable as the sun rises each morning”? Wright presented a masterful exposition of the pluralisms before us—hermeneutical (Scripture), religious (Jesus), and ethical (humanity). His consultation draft had a “pregnant” footnote on the subject of eternal destinies, which fostered discussion and controversy in small groups and hallways. Due to the complexity of this subtopic, Wright’s final chapter does not explore the options that godly Evangelicals have taken on this theme, and it remains a future agenda item. One element of Escobar’s second paper critiqued “managerial missiology,” and this generated another wave of discussions. In light of these issues, Lee was asked to write his own evaluation of contemporary Evangelical missiology, offering another perspective from the Two-Thirds World. Van der Meer focused on the church and its mission, and Roxburgh offered another perspective on the vital subject of trinitarian missiology. Iguassu reminded us that we live in a complex world. Some of our colleagues serve in the context of three overlapping worldviews: pre-modernity, modernity, and post- modernity. While some participants at Iguassu felt that too much emphasis was given to post-modernity, the fact is that this worldview has traveled at warp speed through the world— through modern media, the Internet, the arts world, and globalizing economies. While around the world the transition from pre-modernity to modernity to post-modernity is patchy, nevertheless it is taking place, whether we realize it or want it.

24 3

HE END OF A CENTURY and the beginning of a new one, The T which in this case is also the beginning of a new millennium, lend themselves not only to an inventory of opportu- global nities and resources, but also to a balance of where things stand at the point at which we have arrived. As I try to sketch scenario an outline of the way ahead for Christian mission, I am aware that as a Christian in 1999, I have a way of looking at reality at the turn grounded in the memory and the experience of my own of the Christian generation: I stand on ground that represents the sacrificial work of many missionary generations that have pre- century ceded us. The balance of that missionary work has been positive, in spite of the paradoxes of this century. Unbelievable scientific and technological prowess has gone hand in hand with Samuel the regression to refined forms of cruelty and barbarism in Escobar totalitarian revolutions and wars. Rapid and efficient communication that has turned the planet into a global village has gone hand in hand with intolerance and tribalism that hinder the pacific coexistence of peoples that have been neighbors for centuries. In a relentless movement of urbanization, the cities with their accumulation of intellectual so- phistication, wealth, and educational and medical services have attracted masses; but the same greed, injustice, and abuse that were the marks of feudal structures in the rural world have turned the hearts of these cities into a jungle of concrete and asphalt, where humans live in alienation and despair. However, in the midst of these processes that reflect so well the fallenness of human beings, Christian mission has advanced in this century, and the balance is positive for the cause of God’s kingdom. I feel it is only appropriate that I try to express some convictions that come from the

25 26 establishing the macro context of the major issues reflection about this positive balance of “translatable.” This means that the gospel the century that is coming to an end. These dignifies every culture as a valid and ac- are some notes of what is involved in the ceptable vehicle for God’s revelation. Con- way I look at the world from a missionary versely, this also relativizes every culture; stance. These are the notes from what I there is no “sacred” culture or language might call an Evangelical outlook on mis- that may be considered as the only vehicle sion from a Latin American missiologist. that God might use. Not even Hebrew or Aramaic is “sacred,” because the original A Translatable Gospel documents of the gospel that we possess I start with doxology, with thanksgiv- are already a translation from those lan- ing to God for the mystery and the glory guages to that form of popular Greek that of the gospel. The missionary facts of our was the lingua franca of the first century, 1 time make me pause in wonder. Jesus the koiné. Thus it is clear that the God Christ, Son incarnate of God, is the core who revealed himself in Jesus Christ of the gospel that as a potent seed has intended his revelation to reach all of flourished in a thousand different plants. humankind, as Jesus stated it so clearly We can name a place and a time on earth in the Great Commission, and Paul ex- in which Jesus lived and taught. In other pressed it in sweeping statements: words, we can place him in a particular “… God our Savior, who wants all men to culture at a particular moment in history. be saved and to come to a knowledge of “The Word became flesh and lived for a the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). while among us” in Palestine during the My Evangelical outlook starts with com- first century of our era. After that, the story mitment to the authority of God’s Word, of Jesus has moved from culture to cul- and in the contemporary situation I have ture, from nation to nation, from people become aware that understanding of to people. And something strange and God’s Word requires cultural awareness. paradoxical has taken place. Though this The new global dimension of Christianity Jesus was a peasant from Palestine, every- has brought this new sensitivity to the fact where he has been received, loved, and that the text of Scripture can only be un- adored, and people in hundreds of cul- derstood adequately within its own con- tures and languages have come to see the text, and that the understanding and glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. application of its eternal message demand Moreover, they have come to feel that he awareness of our own cultural context. is “theirs,” so that they say, “Jesus is one From a global Evangelical dialogue about of ours.” At this end of the century, the this issue after Lausanne came this illumi- global church stands closer than ever to nating statement: “Today’s readers cannot that vision of the seer in Revelation: “A come to the text in a personal vacuum and great multitude that no one could count, should not try to. Instead they should from every nation, tribe, people, and lan- come with an awareness of concerns stem- guage, standing before the throne and in ming from their cultural background, per- front of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). sonal situation, and responsibility to I cannot but wonder in amazement at others. These concerns will influence the the fact that the message of Jesus Christ is questions which are put to the Scriptures. What is received back, however, will not

1 For a fascinating development of the theological consequences of these facts, see Walls (1996) and Sanneh (1989). the global scenario at the turn of the century 27 be answers only, but more questions. As the remarkable variety of human cultures we address Scripture, Scripture addresses and the uniqueness of the gospel of Jesus us. We find that our culturally conditioned Christ, which is the one seed of a thou- presuppositions are being challenged and sand different plants. our questions corrected. In fact, we are Migration patterns and refugee move- compelled to reformulate our previous ments have also brought the great variety questions and to ask fresh ones. So the of cultures from this planet, as well as the living interaction proceeds” (Willowbank different forms that the Christian church Report, 1996, p. 84). has taken among them to Europe, the An adequate training provides the United States, and Canada. At the heart Bible scholar with a working knowledge of European and North American cities, of the cultural world of the Middle East there are now growing pockets of Third and the Mediterranean basin during the World cultures, as well as varied expres- time span covered by the Old and New sions of the global church. From the mis- Testaments. It also must provide a high sionary perspective, indigenous churches degree of cultural awareness to the evan- from faraway places have become sister gelist or teacher in the church, who must churches down the street, and growing move meaningfully from the questions of Muslim communities have become a new our post-modern culture to the answers evangelistic challenge that put to the test that the gospel has for them. the quality of our Christian lives, as well as our ability to communicate the gospel. A Global Church In the case of the United States, while Work in WEF activities and in several at the beginning of this century many of the Evangelical organizations related to churches and denominations were com- it that provide its capable international mitted to the task of “Americanizing” the leadership have made me aware of the immigrants, today the same churches have reality of a global church. At this end of a to grapple with multiculturalism. century, facilities for travel, the flow of This phenomenon also has a conse- information at a global scale through the quence for Christians in these Western media, as well as colossal migration move- nations, because the form of Christianity ments caused by economic change allow that has grown more in the Southern Christians and churches in the West and hemisphere and has come now to the everywhere else to see and experience the great Western cities could be described as amazingly rich and diverse varieties of ex- a “popular” form of both Catholicism and pression of the Christian faith. I have met Protestantism that we might well call with amazement wandering prophets of “grassroots Christianity.” It is marked by independent African churches, native sto- the culture of poverty: an oral liturgy, nar- rytellers from Latin American Pentecostal rative preaching, uninhibited emotional- Movements, tireless missionary entrepre- ism, maximum participation in prayer and neurs spreading through the world from worship, dreams and visions, faith heal- their Korean homeland, Orthodox priests ing, and an intense search for community regaining political weight in the lands and belonging. Sensitivity to this form of which used to be part of the Soviet Em- Christianity is especially necessary for pire. Their images fill the pages of our Evangelical leaders who have always em- missionary books and the screens of our phasized the clear and correct intellectual VCRs. They are also a living testimony to expression of Christian truth and the rationality of the Christian faith. 28 establishing the macro context of the major issues

A New Balance Those familiar with the history of theol- of Christian Presence ogy also perceive to what degree theological themes, language, and categories Through the reality of the global reflected this historical situation. Bühl- church, we have also become aware of the mann (1986, p. 6) goes on to say, “Now new balance of numerical and spiritual the Third Millennium will evidently stand strength in the Christian world.2 As we under the leadership of the Third Church, look at the religious map of the world to- the Southern Church. I am convinced that day, we find a marked contrast between the most important drives and inspirations the situation at the beginning of this cen- for the whole church in the future will tury and the present situation. Scottish come from the Third Church.” missiologist Andrew Walls has described Drive and inspiration to move forward it as a “massive southward shift of the cen- and take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ter of gravity of the Christian world.” He ends of the earth, crossing all kinds of understands the history of Christian mis- geographical or cultural barriers, are the sion—and of the church, in fact—as a se- work of the Holy Spirit. There is an ele- quence of phases, each one of which ment of mystery when the dynamism of represents the embodiment of Christian- mission does not come from above, from ity in a major culture area, and the move- the expansive power of a superior civili- ment forward through transcultural zation, but from below, from the little mission in such a way that when that ma- ones, those that do not have abundance jor culture declines, Christianity contin- of material, financial, or technical re- ues to flourish, now in a different setting. sources, but are open to the prompting In our times, Walls (1996, p. 22) reminds of the Spirit. It may not be entirely coinci- us, “… the recession of Christianity among dental that the form of Christianity that the European peoples appears to be con- has grown more during this century, es- tinuing. And yet we seem to stand at the pecially among the poor urban masses, is threshold of a new age of Christianity, one that which emphasizes the presence and in which its main base will be in the South- power of the Holy Spirit. It was by 1912 ern continents, and where its dominant that Roland Allen first coined the expres- expressions will be filtered through the sion “the spontaneous expansion of the culture of those countries. Once again, church,” and in this year 1999 we can Christianity has been saved for the world measure the incredible extent to which a by its diffusion across cultural lines.” Christian testimony among the masses of The new situation has been hailed by this planet has been the result of such a Swiss missiologist who was a missionary spontaneous expansion, especially in in Africa as “the coming of the Third China, Africa, and Latin America. In many Church” (Bühlmann, 1986, p. 6). He cases, such expansion was only possible points to the fact that the first thousand when indigenous Christians became free years of church history were under the from the stifling control of foreign mis- aegis of the Eastern Church in the eastern sionary agencies. half of the Roman Empire, and the sec- Another aspect of this reality is that ond millennium the leading church was while many non-Western cultures are very the Western Church in the other half. receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ,

2 Helpful data on which many statements of this paper are based can be found in Myers (1996). the global scenario at the turn of the century 29 paradoxically it is within the Western cul- the Lausanne Covenant: “Missionaries ture that we find less receptivity to it. should flow ever more freely from and to Lesslie Newbigin (1986, p. 3), who was a all six continents in a spirit of humble ser- missionary in India for 30 years and later vice” (LC, par. 9). on went back to minister among working These are some of the missionary re- class people in England, wrote, “The most alities of today, which allow us to believe widespread, powerful, and persuasive that the balance of mission in this century among contemporary cultures … modern has been positive. It has been the result Western culture … more than almost any of God’s initiative revealed in his Word, other is proving resistant to the gospel.” and human obedience that responded to Patterns of church growth prove the va- that Word. They are the ground from lidity of this observation in the case of which we peer into the future in an effort North America and Europe today. Several to figure out the special challenges to mis- of the old mainline denominations show sionary obedience in the coming century. decline and fatigue with significant numerical losses. We could well ask the ques- Globalization tion if here we are confronted with the and Contextualization resistance of Western culture or with the Empires have always been the impotence of the Western churches. In sociohistorical frame for the development many cases, ethnic churches of the same of Christian mission, as the Pax Romana denominations are growing vigorously. was in the first century, the Pax Hispanica This constitutes a tough challenge for part- in the 16th, or the Pax Britannica in the nership in mission. 19th. Since 1955,3 the way in which we Precisely at the point in which the in- used to look at the world was influenced fluence of Christianity declines in the by the idea of three worlds: the Western West, which turns into a hard mission field capitalist world, the socialist world, and because its culture resists the gospel, the the emerging “Third World” of new na- new global order has brought the so-called tions. In many ways, this perspective af- Third World into the heart of North fected missionary concepts and practices. America, Europe, and Japan. Within that Well into the 1980s, U.S. President Ronald environment, Christians from old and new Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as “the churches are called to new partnerships. evil empire.” With the collapse of the So- For the old traditional denominations, viet empire, bipolar thinking has become partnership with the new immigrant obsolete, and there is only one world churches will bring the need for serious power with several poles connected to it. self-appraisal. This is not easy for respect- There is a growing awareness that the able, middle class, Evangelical churches most recent form of capitalism is now that have a more steady, institutionalized, embracing all nations in the planet well-mannered, predictable kind of through a sophisticated system of commu- church. “Mission at our doorstep” is the nication that takes the latest aspects of new training ground for the new partner- Western culture as merchandise to the ships that will also carry on mission most remote corners of the world. “It is around the world. Such partnerships will every day more and more evident,” said have as an aim the proposal advanced by Jacques Attali (1991, pp. 8-9), “that the

3 That year during the Bandung conference of “non-aligned” nations, a French journalist coined the expression “Third World.” 30 establishing the macro context of the major issues central organizing principle of the future, numerical growth the only standard of whatever happens at the margins, will be correct missionary practice is destroying economic. This will become increasingly the ability of churches to develop pasto- apparent as we approach the year 2000. ral responses to sweeping cultural trans- The rule of military might that character- formations. My attention has also been ized the Cold War is being replaced by the called to another fact. Instant global reign of the market.” Like an irresistible communication through the Internet pro- wave, the market is the main force behind vides sometimes a selfish way of escape this process of globalization. The market to a fictitious “global village,” for mission- is even giving a new language to the way aries who refuse to work in the difficult some Christians in the North speak about task of contributing to build up fellowship the church: “marketing your church.” with those that live around them day after Howard Snyder (1995, p. 46) has very day. aptly summarized this trend: “Global in- If we trace back the globalization tegration and networking are now the movement, we may connect it with the ex- driving force in business and economics. pansion of Europe that took place after The world is becoming one vast market- Columbus came to the American conti- place, not a patchwork of local markets. nent in 1492. It accelerated in the 19th Economic integration on a world scale is century, and in both cases Christian mis- reshaping society in a process that will sionary work accompanied it. In the 16th reach well into the 21st century.” A key century, Iberian Catholic mission trans- question to be asked is, Should Christian ported to the Americas, some parts of mission simply ride on the crest of this Africa, and the Philippines the feudal wave? medieval social and economic order that Missiologists who have reflected about was disappearing in Europe. Two centu- this globalization process point to its am- ries later, on the wake of British imperial- biguities. Schreiter (1997, p. 9), for in- ism and U.S. “manifest destiny” advance, stance, analyzes the modern values of Protestant missions had a modernizing “innovation, efficiency, and technical ra- component by their insistence on Bible tionality” that drive the global systems. But translation, literacy, leadership training for he states that though innovation connotes the laity, and also by their use of modern improvement, “without a clear goal [it] medicine and the communication of ba- becomes change for its own sake, or sic technology. Aspects of globalization change to create new markets or to stimu- such as efficient communication at a glo- late desire.” Think for a moment on how bal level or facilities for exchange within this kind of innovation may create havoc an increasingly connected economic sys- for missionary organizations that make tem could be neutral factors from which computer technologies indispensable for Christian mission may benefit. Therefore, their task. In the same way, “Efficiency can it becomes more difficult to review criti- mean less drudgery; but efficiency with- cally the past and present associations of out effectiveness can become narrow and mission to globalization. abstract, even deadly. Technical rational- The culture of globalization as it has ity has the advantage of providing clear been pointed out creates attitudes and a purpose and procedure, but it can become mental frame that may be the opposite of profoundly dehumanizing” (Schreiter, what the gospel teaches about human life 1997, p. 9). I have observed this in mis- under God’s design. If mission simply sionary life: ideological pressure to make rides on the crest of the globalization the global scenario at the turn of the century 31 wave, it might end by changing the very expression. This may be described as a nature of the gospel. Coming from the contextualization movement, and Chris- experience of evangelistic movements that tian mission has also played an important wanted to pattern their missionary activ- part in it. Through Bible translation, Prot- ity according to biblical standards, in 1974 estant missions have contributed to the at Lausanne, René Padilla (1985, pp. 16- preservation, recognition, and evaluation 17, notes) criticized the total identification of native tongues and cultures. The his- of modern Western values (the American torical significance of this movement has way of life) and the gospel that was propa- been the subject of research and writing gated in the name of Christian mission. by African scholar Lamin Sanneh (1989, He called it “culture Christianity” and com- p. 2). His thesis is that “particular Chris- mented: “In order to gain the greatest tian translation projects have helped to possible number of followers, it is not create an overarching series of cultural enough for ‘culture Christianity’ to turn experiences with hitherto obscure cultural the gospel into a product; it also has to systems being thrust into the general distribute it among the greatest number stream of universal history.” Conversely, of consumers of religion. For this the 20th Bible translation into the vernacular has century has provided it with the perfect been a decisive factor in the strengthen- tool—technology. The strategy for the ing of a sense of identity and dignity of evangelization of the world thus becomes peoples and nations, thus preparing them a question of mathematical calculation.” to struggle against colonialism. On the The criticism is still valid today and a basis of his research in Africa, Sanneh good warning against contemporary (1989, p. 138) says, “When we look at trends. Let me give an example. Precisely the situation, we are confronted with the at the point in which religiosity has re- paradox of the missionary agency promot- turned to be a mark of our post-modern ing the vernacular and thus inspiring culture, organizations in the U.S. have indigenous confidence at a time when co- turned prayer for mission into an indus- lonialism was demanding paternal over- try in which teachings and methodologies lordship.” are packaged and marketed. The quanti- The great challenge to Christian mis- fying rationality of American technologi- sion at this point is for missionaries to be cal culture has been uncritically applied messengers of Jesus Christ and not just even to the understanding of demonic harbingers of the new globalization pro- activity. Nations that are at odds with the cess. The biblical perspective on mission foreign policies of the United States have has a global vision and a global compo- been represented in maps as “windows” nent that comes from faith in God the cre- in which we are told that through spiri- ator and his intention to bless all of tual mapping it is possible to detect a more humankind through the instruments that intense demonic activity than in other he chooses. The contemporary globaliza- parts of the earth. Without any care for tion process has to be evaluated from that theological consistency, the warlike lan- biblical perspective. Missionaries will be guage of the Old Testament permeates lit- caught in the tension between globaliza- urgy and worship to an intolerable degree. tion and contextualization, and they also In tension with the globalization pro- have to avoid a provincialist attitude that cess, we have the rise and expansion of a exaggerates contextualization to the det- movement that seeks to affirm local cul- riment of a biblical global awareness. tures in their search for autonomy and full 32 establishing the macro context of the major issues

The Growth of Poverty edge-based work brings enormous social and Inequality challenges that will transform the lives of people—for instance, by the disappear- The economic side of the globalization ance of old communities, such as family, process has accentuated social disparities village, and parish. For Drucker, neither in the world. On the one hand, it has gen- government nor the employing organiza- erated new wealth and unprecedented tions, the classic “two sectors” that hold comfort, placing the most sophisticated power in post-capitalist America, are able technologies within the reach of the aver- to cope with the effects of this massive age citizen in the rich nations and of the social change, what he calls “social tasks elites in the poor nations. On the other of the knowledge society.” These tasks in- hand, figures indicate that a larger pro- clude “education and health care; the ano- portion of people are being driven into mies and diseases of a developed and, extreme forms of poverty. According to especially, a rich society, such as alcohol Schreiter (1997, p. 7), “This is caused par- and drug abuse; or the problems of incom- tially by global capitalism’s quest for short- petence and irresponsibility such as those term profit, a quest that precludes long- of the underclass in the American city.” term commitment to a people and a place; Drucker places the agenda of assum- and partially by the destruction of tradi- ing those tasks in the hands of what he tional and small-scale societies and econo- calls “the third sector” in U.S. society, mies by the centrality of the market.” which is made up of churches and of a This process has brought uncertainty, myriad of voluntary organizations that he suffering, and decline in the quality of life calls “parachurches,” because they have for people whose welfare depends on pub- modeled themselves following the non- lic institutions, such as older and retired profit pattern provided by the churches. people, children, and poor students. Chris- He assigns to this “social sector” two re- tian missionaries become conversant with sponsibilities. One is “to create human the subject because of their firsthand ex- health and well-being,” and the other is perience with the victims of this process. “to create citizenship.” Of course, a pre- Long-term Christian endeavors such as theo- supposition behind Drucker’s scheme is logical education and institutional develop- the tremendous volunteerism that char- ment necessary for the fulfillment of the acterizes American society, and which has church’s mission have been affected by the definitely Protestant roots, though its con- collapse of financial supporting structures temporary manifestations may be secular in some Latin American nations, due to grow- in outlook and intention. His formula, ing unemployment brought by privatization however, may not work in societies that of health, social security, and education. have totally different structures, world- An analyst of the scene in the U.S. has views, and attitudes. stressed the social transformation that is From the perspective of mission, par- taking place in North America. Peter ticularly in the Evangelical world, we have Drucker (1994) describes this as the post- lately observed the mushrooming of ho- capitalist society in which “knowledge listic mission projects, in which a social workers” are replacing industrial workers. component becomes indispensable.4 In He stresses the fact that this shift to knowl-

4 Agencies such as World Vision, MAP, Food for the Hungry, Habitat for Humanity, MEDA, and World Concern have grown significantly in recent years. Several volumes in the series Cases in Holistic Ministry from MARC (Monrovia, California) provide a helpful overview. the global scenario at the turn of the century 33

Latin America, for instance, the number and a language to cope with poverty. Just of street children who are victims of all as in New Testament times, even among forms of exploitation is the result of fam- the poorest the gospel brings a measure ily disintegration, loss of basic Christian of prosperity. This prosperity is totally dif- values, and growing poverty. A good num- ferent from the kind of blessed consum- ber of missionary projects have developed erism known as “prosperity theology,” as a response, and there is now a network which is being propagated from the United trying to give a measure of coordination States, Germany, and South Africa. One of to them. Services to the material needs of the main differences is that Christian pros- people are in some places the only way perity goes always hand in hand with ethi- through which missionaries can obtain a cal responsibility and with an intentional visa to enter a country. Mission projects solidarity: “He who has been stealing must of this kind are not just the result of a new steal no longer, but must work doing awareness among Christians about a bib- something useful with his own hands, that lically based social responsibility. They are he may have something to share with those also the inevitable response to worsening in need” (Eph. 4:28). social conditions that have created many There is a related factor that seems a victims, becoming a new challenge to paradox from a purely human perspective. Christian compassion. It is precisely among the poor where we It will be a fact, however, that in the find people open to the gospel and en- coming century Christian compassion will thusiastic about their faith. Churches are be the only hope of survival for victims of growing with incredible vitality in this the global economic process. The chal- world of poverty, while churches in other lenge for missionaries will be how to avoid segments of society tend to decline. In the pitfalls of missionary paternalism on Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Evangeli- the one hand and the failed secular wel- cals have found receptive hearts among fare system on the other. Only the redemp- the millions who have moved from rural tive power of the gospel transforms people areas to the cities. Even in North America in such a way that it enables them to over- and Europe, popular forms of Protestant- come the dire consequences of poverty. ism are growing. These churches of the Sociological studies of Christianity in the poor have learned to respond to the ur- 1960s and ’70s were usually hostile against ban challenge; they speak the language of churches. The scenario has changed to- the masses and offer fellowship in the day. As social planners and city govern- impersonal city. The urban frontier pre- ments acknowledge the problems sents a challenge for holistic witness. generated by the current economic sys- Neighborhood associations, the mass me- tem, sociologists in places as distant as the dia, schools, medical services, and the war city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Staf- on drugs await the presence of Christians ford, 1999), the urban world of Brazil with a sense of mission. (Mariz, 1994), South Korea, or South Af- Moreover, missionary initiative ex- rica (Martin, 1990)5 have come to see pressed in numbers of persons volunteer- churches as the source of hope from which ing for missionary work seems to be the urban poor gain strength, courage, passing from North to South at a time

5 Martin (1990) uses studies about Pentecostal growth in South Africa and South Korea for comparison with his massive study about Latin America. 34 establishing the macro context of the major issues when the South is increasingly poor. They will need to exercise much care to Within this context of poverty, two mod- avoid stifling the lay initiative and sponta- els of mission activity have developed that neity that characterize it. provide keys for the future. In the cooperative model, churches from rich nations The End add their material resources to the human of Christendom resources of the churches in poor nations I would venture to say that the unbal- in order to work in a third area. Some spe- anced economic growth that has widened cialized Evangelical organizations or min- the gap between rich and poor may well istries such as YWAM, OM, and IFES have be an evidence of the degree to which experience with this model, forming in- Western culture has lost the veneer of ternational teams to carry on transcultural Christian values that it used to keep. The mission in very different settings. Several position of the church in society evolved other missionary organizations are mov- from the time that Emperor Constantine ing in this direction, but the model poses made Christianity official: “The church was some practical questions for which there blended into a half-civil, half-religious so- are no easy answers, one of them being ciety, Christendom. It has covered a whole the raising of support for non-Western civilization with its authority, inspired a participants. The traditional Catholic mis- politic, and had become an essentially sionary orders such as Franciscans or Je- Western reality” (Mehl, 1970, p. 67). suits, which are supranational, provide the Christendom presupposed the predomi- oldest and more developed example, fa- nance of Christianity in Western societies cilitated by the vows of poverty, celibacy, and a certain degree of influence of Chris- and obedience. However, they presuppose tian ideas and principles on the social life concepts of missionary vocation, church of nations and on their international poli- order, and ministry which are totally dif- cies. However, it is important to remem- ferent from the Evangelical ones. ber what historian Latourette (1948, p. 8) The migration model has also func- said: “No civilization has ever incorporated tioned through the centuries. Migrants the ideals of Christ.” Today the influence from poor countries who move in search of Christianity has declined, and not even of economic survival carry the Christian lip service is paid to elements such as com- message and missionary initiative with passion and fairness in the national or them. Moravians from Curazao moved to international policies of the rich and de- Holland; Jamaican Baptists emigrated to veloped nations where Christianity still England; Filipino Christian women go to may be an established religion. Muslim countries; Haitian believers went In the post-Christendom situation, to Canada; and Latin American Evangeli- Christians cannot expect society to facili- cals are going to Japan, Australia, and the tate through social mechanisms the kind United States. This missionary presence of life that abides by the qualities of and activity has been significant, though Christian ethics. Legislation in Western it seldom gets to the records of formal in- countries of Europe or North America con- stitutional missionary activity. Some de- tinues to lose Christian values. Today the nominational mission agencies as well as Christian stance in the West has to become faith missions are trying to set up connec- a missionary stance in which the quality tions that will allow them to serve within of Christian life goes “against the stream” the frame of this migration movement. to the point that to be a Christian is equiva- the global scenario at the turn of the century 35 lent to being a “resident alien”6 (Hauerwas Movements that minister among young & Willimon, 1989). The same qualities people and students have been more open that were required of the pioneers that to take risks, creating models of sensitive went to plant Christianity in mission fields multicultural missionary teams. Partici- have come to be required for the Chris- pants in them have been able to look at tian who stays at home in a Western na- their own culture from a critical distance. tion and wants to be a faithful witness of This has been facilitated also by the mo- Jesus Christ. Missionaries have learned bility and simple lifestyle of the teams. and have been inspired by the way in Through experience and reflection in light which Christians live their lives in the hos- of God’s Word, this has been an impor- tile environment where they are a tiny tant training ground for mission. I believe minority. Western Christians can learn that this type of experience gives partici- much from Christians in situations of mi- pants a taste of some of the positive char- nority and hostility, where every day they acteristics of the traditional monastic practice an alternative lifestyle. orders that have remained in the Catholic Within this situation, missionaries church as instruments for mission across will have to expect less and less in terms cultural and social frontiers. Evangelical of support or protection from their gov- movements could have a systematic ex- ernments as they travel and engage in change of experiences along these lines. mission. At the same time, it becomes nec- Much could be gained from the experi- essary for missionaries to go back to the ence of movements such as Operation fundamentals of the gospel and to disen- Mobilization, Mennonite Central Commit- gage themselves from the Western cultural tee, YWAM, and IFES. trappings that consciously or unconsciously characterized mission during the A Post-Modern Culture th th imperial era in the 19 and early 20 cen- Not only Christianity has lost a grip on turies. The Lausanne Covenant expresses contemporary Western societies. The re- this conviction forcefully when it says: jection of Christian values could be un- “The gospel does not presuppose the su- derstood within the larger frame of a periority of any culture to another but rejection of ideologies and worldviews evaluates all cultures according to its own that had been shaped by the ideas of the criteria of truth and righteousness, and Enlightenment, what is usually known as insists on moral absolutes in every culture. “modernity.” Now we see in Europe and Missions have all too frequently exported North America the rise of a culture and with the gospel an alien culture, and attitudes that might be described as “post- churches have sometimes been in bond- modern,” because they express a revolt age to culture rather than to the Scripture. against some of the key points of moder- Christ’s evangelists must humbly seek to nity. Thus we have the predominance of empty themselves of all but their personal feeling and the revolt against reason, the authenticity in order to become the ser- revival of paganism in elements such as vants of others, and churches must seek the cult of the body, the search for ever to transform and enrich culture, all for the more sophisticated forms of pleasure, and glory of God” (LC, par. 10). the ritualization of life. Sports and popular artistic shows take the shape of reli-

6 This is the title of a very helpful book that deals with the issue in the United States context. 36 establishing the macro context of the major issues gious celebration and substitute religious is the destiny of humankind?” A mark of services to provide relief from the drudg- post-modernity is precisely the loss of ery of routine work and duty. those dreams. No one has a clue to the An important aspect of post-modernity direction of history nowadays, and it does is the glorification of the body. Post-mod- not matter anymore. For post-modern ern culture depicts the body in all forms generations of students, the philosophy and shapes and offers thousands of prod- of life may be embodied in those words ucts to beautify, perfume, modify, improve, that Paul quotes from Isaiah to describe and perfect the body, even to the point of the materialism of his own day: “Let us promising ways to overcome the inroads eat and drink for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. of natural decay. There are products, meth- 15:32). ods, and stimuli for enhancing physical Such materialism lies behind the atti- pleasure in all its forms. This search for tude that turns consumption into the main pleasure has become a mark of contem- determinant value of the average citizen porary life that, coupled with the hope- in the developed world. The incredible lessness brought by the collapse of abundance of consumer goods generated ideologies, becomes pure and simple he- by modern economy is met by the passion donism. Globalization through communi- for buying and using, the ideology of con- cations generates another imbalance here. sumerism. The great shopping malls that The media portray this hedonistic way of are open seven days a week have become life and thought and propagate it across the new temples of a post-modern reli- the globe. Incitement to expensive plea- gion, and it is not difficult to detect the sure fills the screens of TV sets in poor vacuum in the lives of its worshipers. societies, and young people specially crave Jacques Attali (1991, p. 5) describes them the symbols and instruments of a sophis- as modern nomads with their Walkmans, ticated hedonistic West, while not having laptops, and cellular phones that “will met some of the basic necessities of their roam the planet seeking ways to use their own material life, such as adequate hous- free time, shopping for information, sen- ing and running water. sations, and goods only they can afford, Another important mark of modernity while yearning for human fellowship and was that its myths provided hope and a the certitudes of home and community sense of direction to the masses. Some of that no longer exist because their func- us remember well how the Marxist dream tions have become obsolete.” of a classless utopia fostered political mili- Statements like this from secular tancy in several generations of students sources about the human condition in the that were ready to give their lives for the post-modern culture come close to the cause of the proletariat. When some of us theological description of the symptoms attended high school, we were required of the fallen condition of human beings. to memorize the political liberal dis- Post-modern literature in both North and courses of the French Revolution and the South evidences the cynicism and bitter dreams of unlimited progress. Later on disillusion brought by the end of modern came Marxism, and the words of Argen- myths and ideologies. This is the condi- tinian medical doctor Che Guevara tion of the “unreached peoples” of afflu- painted in the walls of the University of ent post-modern societies, which are also Cordoba in Argentina come to mind as an a challenge to Christian compassion. illustration: “What does the sacrifice of a Prayer is required here, along the lines of man or a nation matter if what is at stake what Jesus taught us when he looked at the global scenario at the turn of the century 37 the “harassed and helpless” masses of his alert missionaries, especially on the uni- day (Matt. 9:35-38). Compassion and versity campuses around the world. Dur- prayer are needed, more than a kind of ing the first part of the century, Christian triumphalistic apologetics that seems to thinkers were confronted in cultural be saying, “I told you so,” from the dis- circles by a hostile rationalism nourished tance of a self-righteous aloofness. Mis- by the three “masters of suspicion”: Marx, sionary obedience at this frontier is Nietzsche, and Freud. From the perspec- mandatory for Evangelical churches and tive of Christian mission, the return of an is as urgent as missionary obedience to attitude of openness to the sacred and the go to “unreached peoples” in exotic mysterious looked at first sight as a sign jungles or remote rural areas. of improvement. Soon it became evident It is also important to reconsider the that Christians were being confronted with lifestyle of Jesus himself. Maybe our im- a new and more subtle challenge. Our ages of him and of what the Christian life apologetics needed serious refurbishing, is have been conditioned by the rational- and the plausibility, authenticity, and qual- ism of modernity. We have made him look ity of our faith were now being questioned more as a somber and serious professor from a different angle. of theology than as a popular teacher and As a student evangelist on campuses storyteller who was committed to his of different parts of the world, already in Father’s will but also able to enjoy cre- the late ’70s I had a chance to lecture or ation, human friendship, good meals, and to dialogue with students who showed this playing children. In contrast with the dark- new openness to the religious. In many ness of deconstruction and hopelessness cases, it allowed Christians to demonstrate that permeates what media moguls and in the open air a freer and uninhibited intellectuals try to sell to young people expression of Christian faith through around the world, how important it is to prayer, song, and drama. I found myself have in every level of society Christian fel- engaged in dialogues with people whose lowships that are communities of faith, language was strangely similar to the lan- love, and hope, able to express uninhibit- guage of some forms of evangelicalism: joy edly the joy of salvation and new life.7 in the heart, a feeling of self-realization, a Those that go to work as missionaries sense of peace and harmony, a feeling of among the poor confess that many times goodwill towards all human beings, in- they receive back the gift of joy from Chris- cluding animals and planet earth. How- tians who have an abundance of it in the ever, when I pushed some specific issues midst of dire poverty and persecution. such as suffering, death, compassion, final hope, failure, and sin, this new reli- A New Religiosity gious mood became hollow and empty. Modernity in both its liberal as well as And when I talked of the cross, evil, sin, its Marxist versions operated with the “en- redemption, and Christ, I could see hos- lightened” presupposition that religion tility developing against what was consid- was in the process of waning away. At this ered my exclusivism and intolerance. end of the century, however, we find our- The new attitude towards religion and selves in a more religious world. This the proliferation of religious practices has trend started in the 1960s and surprised to be understood as part of the revolt

7 For a well-informed and theologically based book on discipleship on North American campuses along these lines, see Garber (1996). 38 establishing the macro context of the major issues against modernity. The modern ideologies across this new religious frontier. Evan- of indefinite progress and social utopia gelicals must be open to the ministry of were actually myths that attracted and persons who are gifted to minister in these mobilized masses for action. Their failure areas. On the other hand, the Apostle Paul, and collapse have brought awareness of a writing to the Corinthians, recognized also vacuum and disillusionment about the that there could be worldliness, abuses, ability of human reason to give meaning and manipulation even within a context to life and provide answers for deep exis- of spiritual gifts. Eastern European theo- tential questions. This is at the root of the logian Peter Kuzmic has said, “Charisma search for alternatives, for a contact with without character leads to catastrophe.” the occult, for an ability to handle mys- This warning has a particular relevance tery, for a connection with extra-rational as we consider the phenomenon of new forces that may influence the course of megachurches that have developed in the human events, both in individual lives as most recent decades. Some of them fol- well as in communities and nations. low what we might call the Willow Creek It is helpful to remember that in the pattern, in which the marks of classical days of the New Testament, the message evangelicalism are evident in doctrine and of Jesus Christ confronted not only the liturgy, in spite of the fact that they studi- challenges of Greek philosophy and Ro- ously avoid names that would indicate a man politics, but also the questions that denominational origin. Others, especially came from the mystery religions that per- in Latin America, have come from Catho- vaded especially the ideas and practices lic charismatic movements and show in of popular culture. Mystery religions in the their preaching, lifestyle, and liturgy some first century claimed to help people with of the marks of the middle class Catholic their daily problems, to give them immor- culture from which they proceed. What tality, and to enable them to share their they have in common is the ability to re- lives with the god. They promised cleans- spond positively to the needs, attitudes, ing to deal with guilt, security to face fear and outlook generated by the market cul- of evil, power over Fate, union with gods ture in a post-modern society. There are through orgiastic ecstasy, and immortal- logical reasons to understand why pros- ity (Green, 1970). The way in which the perity teaching, developed within popu- Apostolic message and practice developed lar Protestantism in the U.S., attracts in the New Testament was the response people to these megachurches that have to these needs of the human heart, stem- developed adequate techniques to “mar- ming from the basic fact of Jesus Christ.8 ket” their church. Missionaries today are being driven to While Protestants in general and restudy the New Testament teaching about Evangelicals in particular have emphasized religiosity, as well as about the presence true doctrine as a mark of the church, they and power of the Holy Spirit. Communi- have been weak in their understanding of cation technology and techniques, as well ritual and symbol as well as church struc- as an intellectually reasonable faith, are ture as equally important components in not enough. Spiritual power and disci- the religious life of people, and conse- plines such as prayer, Bible meditation, quently in the formation of disciples of and fasting are necessary for mission Jesus Christ. The new religiosity demands

8 Helpful at this point is the article by Drane (1998). the global scenario at the turn of the century 39 a better understanding of how these ele- States. Islam’s success turned it into a ments relate, that will allow for better thriving, conquering faith that remained pastoral and teaching practices. Mega- in the Iberian peninsula for eight centu- churches have learned how to use these ries and could barely be stopped at the elements, though sometimes they may Pyrenees. Within the frame of a Christen- cross the thin line that divides an adequate dom mentality, Europeans later organized use from sheer manipulation. The fact that aggressive wars called “Crusades.” Chris- so many Evangelicals are attracted to tian mission at that time became a holy Catholic spirituality in North America is war against the Moors. Unfortunately, another indication of the limitations of many Christians still operate within those excessive concentration on correct doc- categories. The rhetoric of some Christian trine at the expense of the other dimen- mission promoters during the Gulf War sions of the Christian life. in 1990-1991 reflected more the propaganda of the United States government Old Religions and than the spirit of Christ. Criticizing that Fundamentalist Wars type of discourse during the 1990 Urbana Besides the new religiosity, there is the missionary convention, an IVCF staff resurgence of old religions. In the streets wrote: “Foreign policy is couched in spiri- of Western cities, you see now the shapes tual conflict terms, and militaristic atti- of mosques and Hindu temples being built tudes are baptized in the name of Christ. not as exotic ornaments for casinos, but Haven’t we learned anything from his- as places of worship for communities that tory?” (Escobar, 1991). sometimes outdo Christians in their mis- There is, however, an alternative way sionary zeal. With the end of Christendom, to relate to Islam that reflects more the many societies face the thorny issue of spirit of Christ. At the time of the Crusades, religious pluralism. The West with the Francis of Assisi dared to cross the battle Protestant ideals and practice of democ- lines peacefully in order to share the gos- racy and tolerance was intellectually pre- pel with the Sultan of Egypt, showing him pared. Nations where Catholicism and the a different Christian approach. The same Orthodox church predominated have attitude was exemplified by Raimon Lull, found it more difficult to come to terms the Spanish mystic and missionary who with it. All Christians, however, are faced made four trips to North Africa in order with the need to review their attitudes; a to preach the gospel and who died as a more alert form of apologetics must be result of persecution in 1315. Evangelical matched by spiritual discernment.9 missionaries I have known, such as Will- One of the most significant trends in iam Miller, Dennis Clark, Margaret Wynne, recent years is the resurgence of Islam. and Phil Parshall, have taught me that the Islam has become one of the greatest mis- key to mission in the Muslim world is a sionary challenges of today. It is now a ri- spirituality of the cross, readiness for suf- val faith in Indonesia, several African fering, and a respectful acquaintance with countries, the Middle East, and even at the the Muslim faith. heart of cities in Europe and the United

9 We are indebted to Vinoth Ramachandra (1997) for his excellent book The Recovery of Mission. It is an example of an Evangelical approach to other religions in a post-Christendom situation. 40 establishing the macro context of the major issues

What is a more difficult reality to face countries to their educational institutions is the phenomenon of fundamentalism. in the U.S. This term was coined to refer to the conservative reaction against theological lib- The Pentecostal eralism among Protestants in the U.S. at Phenomenon the beginning of this century. What started It is a well-known fact today that dur- as a theological effort to reformulate and ing this century there has been a relent- defend the fundamentals of Evangelical less process of urban accumulation that faith became dominated by what Carl has turned old cities into urban labyrinths Henry (1957, pp. 43, 33) called “a harsh and has given birth to new cities around temperament, a spirit of lovelessness and the world. This has brought to light the strife.” Its anti-intellectualism degenerated emergence of new segments of popula- into “a morbid and sickly enthusiasm,” and tion, especially those with low education it became a reactionary cultural phenom- or those that belong to ethnic minorities enon associated with the defense of a con- that in the past could be hidden in dis- servative political agenda in the United tant rural areas but now have invaded States and with racism, nationalism, blind massively the streets of capitals in six con- anti-Communism, and the arms race. tinents. The expansion of popular Protes- When in the 1980s a resurgent Islam tantism in the form of Pentecostal and came to power in Iran, the religious/ Pentecostal-like churches among these political phenomenon that followed in emerging masses has been one of the sur- several other countries of the Middle East prising phenomena of our century. and North Africa came to be known as These churches may be described as Muslim fundamentalism. It was around forms of “popular Protestantism” because the same time that Protestant Fundamen- they have taken roots among the populus, talists in the U.S. came again to political the social stratum at the base, which al- prominence through the Moral Majority. most everywhere constitutes the majority It is this reaction against modernity and of the population. During our century, the secularism from a conservative alliance of form of popular Protestantism known as religious conviction and political interests Pentecostalism has become a new force that today is known as fundamentalism. to be reckoned with in the Christian reli- There is Hindu fundamentalism in India, gious scene. Some observers predict that Jewish fundamentalism in Israel and the this will become the predominant reli- United States, and Catholic fundamental- gious force in Latin America at the eve of ism in Mexico and Argentina. Other religions the Third Millennium. These churches are such as Buddhism have also fundamen- indigenous in nature and inspired by a talist forms. From a missiological perspec- contagious proselytistic spirit. They show tive, the problem is the confusion this some of the marks of the early Pentecostal might create. Protestant fundamentalism Movement in North America that Hollen- in the form of religious/political alliances weger (1997) also associates with indig- such as the media empires of Pat Rob- enous non-white churches in other parts ertson and Jerry Falwell in the United of the world, namely, glossolalia, oral States tends to mix evangelism with the liturgy, a narrative style in the communi- promotion of a variety of political causes cation of their message, maximum partici- in different parts of the world. These fun- pation of all the faithful in prayers and damentalists seem committed to attract worship, inclusion of dreams and visions national Evangelical leaders from other in public meetings, and a unique under- the global scenario at the turn of the century 41 standing of the body/mind relationship estantism is to be. We can, however, per- applied in healing by prayer.10 ceive something of the direction which is In the case of Latin America, these Pen- being taken and from it may be able to tecostal churches grew especially among forecast in part what is to come. The very the most marginalized social groups in the fact that we cannot foretell the precise or urban areas, usually unnoticed during even the general features of the Protestant- their first decades. However, in some cases ism of the future is probably evidence of political circumstances brought them to vitality in that branch of Christianity.” public attention, especially when govern- Latourette said almost nothing about ments had tensions with the Roman Pentecostals. However, the marks of mis- Catholic Church and looked for other sionary Protestantism that he stressed, sources of religious legitimation. When the such as active lay participation in mission, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association indigenous leadership, poor ecclesiology, sponsored the great Congress on Evange- and a sectarian trend of separation from lism in Berlin (1966), one of the most dif- the world, are precisely the marks of ficult decisions that Graham himself faced Pentecostalism. Less than five years after was the admission of Pentecostals to the Latourette wrote what I quoted above, platform and the leadership of the con- Lesslie Newbigin (1954) was calling all gress (see Martin, 1992, especially chap. Protestants to acknowledge the reality of 20, pp. 331-335). Those of us who at- Pentecostalism and the missiological and tended the congress will never forget that theological contributions it was making to when reports about evangelization were Christianity. Recently, in a report about presented, country after country and con- conversations between Pentecostals and tinent after continent, the story was fre- Catholics, a well-known Catholic author quently the same: “Pentecostals number stated clearly that the importance of these more than all other Protestants put to- conversations was due to the fact that gether.” “Catholics and Classical Pentecostals [are] At the middle of the 20th century, the the two largest bodies of Christians in the great historian of missions, Kenneth Scott world” (McDonnell, 1999, p. 11). Latourette (1948, p. 147) presented a Latin American Pentecostalism has series of lectures assessing the state of been studied intensely in recent years, Christianity at that point and trying to un- partly because of its explosive numerical derstand trends that could help foresee growth and partly because of its political the future. As he drew the panorama with significance. David Martin (1990) offers a rough strokes, Latourette kept asking the massive summary of his own research and question, “What forms will Christianity that of many others and compares Ameri- take in the far future?” His balance of facts can Pentecostalism with other forms of and trends was mostly positive about the Pentecostalism in other parts of the world. contribution of Protestantism and its fu- It could be said that these popular Protes- ture. He answered the question in this tant churches have become alternative way: “The Protestantism of the future will societies where urban poor people are not be the Protestantism of the past. We accepted and become actors, not on the cannot yet clearly discern what that Prot- basis of what gives people status in the

10 This description comes from Walter J. Hollenweger, considered an authority in the missiological study of Pentecostals. His most recent book (1997) is a good summary of key points in a long-standing life of research around the world. 42 establishing the macro context of the major issues world, but on the basis of values that come the family and protects the woman from from their vision of the kingdom of God. the ravages of male desertion and vio- A new generation of social scientists work- lence. A new faith is able to implant new ing at the micro level have brought to light disciplines, reorder priorities, counter the transforming nature of the spiritual corruption and destructive machismo, and experience offered by these churches.11 reverse the indifferent and injurious hier- Martin (1990, p. 284) finds that the mas- archies of the outside world.” sive migration from countryside to mega- Any missiological outlook has to ask city is the background for the religious questions about the significance of what transformation: “The new society now sociology has now described and inter- emerging in Latin America has to do with preted. Both the redemptive nature of the movement, and Evangelicals constitute a Pentecostal experience and its indigeneity movement. Evangelical Christianity is a are key factors for mission in the future. dramatic migration of the spirit matching They throw light on our understanding of and accompanying a dramatic migration what is the gospel and the mission of the of bodies.” church? I have also posed elsewhere Observers and scholars have had to (Escobar, 1996) the way in which these come to terms with the fact that in spite facts throw us back to understand the New of all good theory and good intentions, Testament church as a model for mission many actions in favor of the poor were in our times. For non-Pentecostals, and tainted by a paternalistic approach. Social especially for those Evangelicals that have and political conscientization took the seen their task as guarding the integrity form of a struggle for the poor, trying to of a biblical gospel, a great question is how create a more just society for them rather their own contribution to Protestantism than with them. Historical churches con- will match the vitality and Spirit-filled nected to world communities and denomi- sense of mission that Pentecostalism is national families had access to funds, contributing. They must learn to apply a foreign press, and even diplomatic ties “hermeneutic of charity” instead of a that were used in an effort to help the vic- “hermeneutic of suspicion,” as theologian tims of poverty or state terrorism. Incar- Richard Mouw (1994, pp. 15-19) has so nation among the poor has been many ably reminded us. The future demands a times the source of these movements, but common walk of mutual understanding they have failed in mobilizing the poor and learning for mission. themselves. By contrast, the popular Prot- estant churches are popular movements Recovery of Biblical in themselves. Their pastors and leaders Patterns for Mission do not have to identify with the poor; they As we have moved through this quick are the poor. They do not have a social overview, it has become evident that the agenda but an intense spiritual agenda, new century will require a return to bibli- and it is through that agenda that they cal patterns of mission. Radical shifts in have been able to have a social impact. As culture, politics, and economics, as well Martin (1990, p. 284) observes about the as the growth of Christianity in the South- impact of the Pentecostal experience, ern hemisphere, have brought new sce- “Above all it renews the innermost cell of

11 The conflicting approaches to popular Protestantism are studied in Escobar (1994). the global scenario at the turn of the century 43 narios. Traditional mission models inher- what degree it had become just a human ited from the Christendom mentality and enterprise, maybe the religious side of the the colonial era are now obsolete. It is time expansion of one culture and one empire. for a paradigm change that will come from At the point at which we recover a biblical a salutary return to the Word of God. As vision, we come to experience the awe and South African missiologist David Bosch wonder of being invited to enter into (1993, p. 177) said, “Our point of depar- God’s plan, which is far more than choos- ture should not be the contemporary en- ing a career or going for a nice trip abroad. terprise we seek to justify, but the biblical We experience what Moses felt before the sense of what being sent into the world burning bush (Ex. 3:11), and Peter when signifies.” Jesus invaded his boat (Luke 5:8), and Saul The new perspective requires a firm when he was met by Jesus on the road to commitment to the missionary imperatives Damascus (Acts 22:8-10). that are part of the very structure of our John Stott opened for us another di- faith and at the same time a serious work mension of the biblical agenda: “mission of biblical scholarship and interpretation. in Christ’s way.”12 Already in 1966 he Here we have a key to understand the shifted our attention from the classic pas- long-term impact of the Lausanne Move- sage of the Great Commission in Matthew ment. An antecedent of the Lausanne Con- 28:18-20 to the almost forgotten text of gress (1974) was the Berlin Congress on John 20:21. Here we have not only a man- Evangelism that I have already mentioned. date for mission, but also a model of mis- It was called by Billy Graham to com- sion style: in obedience to the loving memorate 10 years of the periodical Chris- design of the Father, patterned by the ex- tianity Today. The vision for this periodical ample of Jesus Christ, and driven by the came from the desire to keep together the power of the Holy Spirit. In the cross, Jesus evangelistic thrust of Billy Graham with Christ died for our salvation and also left the scholarly work of leading Evangelical a pattern for our missionary life. Before theologians. The revival of Evangelical any “practical” training for mission in the scholarship in the English-speaking world, use of methods and tools for the verbal after the controversies of Fundamental- communication of a message, it is impera- ism, came from vigorous Evangelical stu- tive to form disciples for a new style of dent movements. It was not purely missionary presence. Mission requires academical, but it had a missionary thrust, orthopraxis as well as orthodoxy. thanks to the connection with the mission- This Christological model that was also ary life of those movements. the pattern under which Paul and the Mission has to be acknowledged as other apostles placed their own mission- God’s initiative coming from God’s love ary practice could be described as “mis- for his creation, and from his design of sion from below.”13 At the beginning of choosing some instruments to use them the 20th century, a great missionary gath- for the salvation and blessing of all of hu- ering such as the Edinburgh 1910 Confer- mankind. When the old way of doing mis- ence represented the triumphant spirit of sion needs to be reviewed, we can see to a church identified with Christendom and

12 I refer here to the 1966 Berlin Congress on World Evangelism that preceded the Lausanne Movement. Stott presented there the Bible expositions about the Great Commission that became very influential afterwards. 13 For an excellent theological meditation about this point, see Tomlin (1997). 44 establishing the macro context of the major issues the rich and developed West; it was “mis- gest some notes about the direction to sion from above.” The trends we have de- which we should be moving in light of the scribed make it necessary to consider a trends I have outlined. new paradigm, because the dynamism for As in the first century, when Paul en- mission is coming now from the periph- gaged in mission in the context of the ery of the world, from the churches of the Roman Empire, mission today should use poor, as well as from Christians in the West the means provided by globalization, with- that have to live as “resident aliens” in a out falling prey to the spirit of the global- post-modern culture. This Christological izing age. Paul used the means provided paradigm is only possible by the power of by the Pax Romana without ever appear- the Holy Spirit. ing in style, intention, or method as a rep- I think it is very important to remem- resentative of Rome. Paul also affirmed ber at this point that Protestant missions and defended the freedom of Gentiles came from the Evangelical movements in from the burdens that the Judaizers Europe. The missionary movement after wanted to impose on them. As missionar- Carey was more inspired by the Wesleyan ies today, we must be open to respect the revivals and the Moravian pioneers of mis- many contextual expressions of the faith sion than by the 16th century magisterial that are developing around the world. Reformers. The dynamism of missionary Existing missionary models among Protestantism came from the renewal Evangelicals have not been able to over- movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. come the distances and barriers created They had grasped truth about the Holy by the comparative affluence of mission- Spirit which then began to make sense. aries and agencies. The frequent tendency This, however, is not the whole picture. of Western mission agencies to bypass The readiness of men like John Wesley and their indigenous partners and to perpetu- Count Zinzendorf to abandon old church ate their own “independence” is an indi- structures and their creativity in develop- cation of failure, and growing poverty ing new structures for mission were made exposes that failure. The missionary dy- possible because they were open to the namism of churches in the South could movement of the Spirit. Such an attitude well be stifled and misdirected by an imi- of openness to the Spirit is what Brazilian tation of the expensive Western models of missiologist Valdir Steuernagel (1993) calls missionary organization. The future de- for: “Mission understood in pneumato- mands more models of non-paternalistic, logical language is one act with two steps. holistic missions. An incarnational ap- It is first to perceive the blowing of the proach modeled by Jesus and Paul is the Spirit and the direction from which it key. Gross inequalities make partnership comes. And then it is to run in the same impossible. direction to which the Spirit is blowing.” A church that lives comfortably in the post-Christian West is unable to respond Conclusions to the pain and the spiritual need of post- Contemporary trends place a demand- modern generations. It is interesting to see ing agenda for missionaries and mission how spiritual vitality can foster a mission- organizations in the new millennium. The ary stance in Western societies that ex- pace of change is such that we may better presses itself also in an ability to partner limit ourselves to think of the next decade. with churches abroad. It seems to me that By way of conclusion, I would like to sug- churches that look successful (because they give the people in North America the the global scenario at the turn of the century 45 kind of domesticated Christianity they are distinctives and the unique contextual asking for) become the supporters of the identity of the growing churches in the most traditional forms of global mission, world outside North America and Europe. the ones that prolong the old colonial situ- At the same time, this new appreciation ation. came from a firm stand on the biblical In the face of growing religiosity, mis- basis for understanding and articulating sion in the next decade will require spiri- the Christian message. This combination tual revitalization at the base. There must of firmness and flexibility will allow the be a more humble attitude of dependence rise of creative partnerships that are re- on the Holy Spirit and a renewed under- quired in order to respond to the new mis- standing of the gifts and the fruit of the sionary situations around the world. Spirit as they manifest themselves in mission. The question is not so much to mar- References ket “spiritual” packages that have no Attali, J. (1991). Millennium. New York: Times theological or biblical basis, but to walk Books. alongside churches everywhere that en- Bosch, D. (1993). Reflections on biblical mod- gage in mission from the base of a simple els of mission. In J. M. Phillips & R. T. Coote but real spiritual vitality. (Eds.), Towards the 21st century in Chris- Traditional missionary practice among tian mission: Essays in honor of Gerald (p. 177). Grand Rapids, MI: Evangelicals reflects a very weak and H. Anderson Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. undefined concept of the church. This ex- Bühlmann, W. (1986). The church of the future: plains the sectarian trends, the competi- A model for the year 2001. Maryknoll, NY: tive spirit, the waste of resources that we Orbis Books. all know and lament, and the tendency to Drane, J. W. (1998, February). Methods and practice proselytism instead of evangelism. perspectives in understanding the New As missionaries and missiologists, we need Age. Themelios, 23(2), pp. 22-34. to tackle seriously the task of understand- Drucker, P. F. (1994, November). The age of ing the church, in order to understand social transformation. The Atlantic Monthly, p. 73. better what we expect as a long-term out- Escobar, S. (1991). The significance of Urbana come of our mission activity. Not to do so ’90. Missiology, 19(3), pp. 333-338. is to content ourselves with irresponsible ———. (1994). The promise and precarious- activism. Such understanding of the ness of Latin American Protestantism. In church is also indispensable in order to D. R. Miller (Ed.), Coming of age: Protes- know better how to do mission in the face tantism in contemporary Latin America of the great traditional religions. (pp. 3-35). Lanham, MD: University Press I have tried to outline the missionary of America. challenge ahead of us in this century and ———. (1996, October–December). Mañana: Discerning the Spirit in Latin America. the resources of our trinitarian faith for Evangelical Review of Theology, 22(4), pp. responding to this challenge. God’s Spirit 312-326. is at work in the world in many different Garber, S. (1996). The fabric of faithfulness: ways. During the past half century, the Weaving together belief and behavior dur- Evangelical Missionary Movement has ing the university years. Downers Grove, been an instrument of God to keep a bib- IL: InterVarsity Press. lical missionary vision alive within Protes- Green, M. (1970). Evangelism in the early church. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerd- tantism. After Lausanne, the Evangelical mans Publishing Co. Movement—or at least some sectors within it—were able to appreciate the 46 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Hauerwas, S., & Willimon, W. H. (1989). Resi- Stafford, T. (1999, June 14). The criminologist dent aliens: Life in the Christian colony. who discovered churches. Christianity Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. Today, 43, pp. 35-39. Henry, C. F. H. (1957). Evangelical responsi- Steuernagel, V. R. (1993). Obediencia mission- bility in contemporary theology. Grand ária e prática histórica: Em busca de Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. modelos. São Paulo, Brazil: ABU Editora. Hollenweger, W. J. (1997). Pentecostalism: Tomlin, G. (1997, October). The theology of Origins and developments worldwide. the cross: Subversive theology for a post- Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. modern world? Themelios, 23(1), pp. 59- Latourette, K. S. (1948). The Christian outlook. 73. New York: Harper & Brothers. Walls, A. (1996). The missionary movement in Mariz, C. (1994). Coping with poverty. Phila- Christian history: Studies in the transmis- delphia, PA: Temple University Press. sion of faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Martin, D. (1990). Tongues of fire. Oxford, The Willowbank report on gospel and culture. England: Basil Blackwell. (1996). In J. R. W. Stott (Ed.), Making Christ Martin, W. J. (1992). A prophet with honor: The known: Historic mission documents from Billy Graham story. New York: William the Lausanne Movement 1974-1989. Grand Morrow. Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. McDonnell, K. (1999, March 6). Pentecostals and Catholics on evangelism and sheep- Samuel Escobar stealing. America, p. 11. and his wife Lilly Mehl, R. (1970). The sociology of Protestant- are Peruvians. From ism. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press. 1959 to 1985, they Mouw, R. J. (1994). Consulting the faithful: were missionaries What Christian intellectuals can learn among university from popular religion. Grand Rapids, MI: students in Peru, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Argentina, Brasil, Myers, B. L. (1996). The new context of world Spain, and Canada, mission. Monrovia, CA: MARC. under the Interna- Newbigin, L. (1954). The household of God: tional Fellowship of Lectures on the nature of the church. New Evangelical Students. Samuel’s missiological York: Friendship Press. thinking developed as reflection on praxis in ———. (1986). Foolishness to the Greeks: The evangelism and through mission conferences gospel and Western culture. Geneva: World such as the Urbana Missionary Convention, Council of Churches. CLADE I Bogota (1969), and Lausanne (1974). Samuel was a founder of the Latin American Padilla, C. R. (1985). Mission between the Theological Fraternity and served as its presi- times: Essays. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. dent (1970–1984). He has an earned Ph.D. Eerdmans Publishing Co. from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Ramachandra, V. (1997). The recovery of mis- Spain, and an honorary D.D. from McMaster sion: Beyond the pluralist paradigm. University, Canada. He is an ordained Bap- Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- tist minister. Presently he teaches at Eastern lishing Co. Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Sanneh, L. O. (1989). Translating the message: Pennsylvania, during the fall and serves the The missionary impact on culture. Mary- rest of the year as Consultant for Theological knoll, NY: Orbis Books. Education with Baptist International Minis- Schreiter, R. J. (1997). The new Catholicity. tries, based in Lima, Peru. He and Lilly have Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. a daughter who teaches in Spain and a son Snyder, H. A. (1995). Earthcurrents: The who works as agricultural economist with struggle for the world’s soul. Nashville, TN: MEDA in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Abingdon Press. 4

NE OF THE MOST CRYPTIC descriptions of the century Engaging O just passed has been provided by Robert Conquest (1999), for whom the 100 years of life on our planet from Escobar 1900 to 1999 are reducible to three T’s: total war, totalitari- anism, and terror. For all of humankind’s astounding tech- … and nical accomplishments—indeed, to some extent because of them—the human slaughter that wiped out an estimated 200 beyond million human beings, a majority of these civilians, may well be the 20th century’s most enduring legacy. Samuel Escobar’s 11-part discussion of themes which distinguish our globe as Jonathan it embarks upon a new millennium constitutes a similarly Bonk sobering inventory. Because both the present and the future grow out of the past, these themes mark the contours of the macro context in which Christian missionaries are formed and in which they must function. Escobar (page 26) begins with praise to God for the mystery and the glory of the translatable gospel. It is of course absolutely appropriate to begin with what Escobar refers to as “a potent seed” that has “flourished in a thousand different plants [soils?].” “Seed” is a wonderfully biblical metaphor, but it is sobering too, because it reminds us that fruit from any seed comes only with the death of that seed. This is one of the great themes in our Lord’s teaching. One of the great missiological books of the past decade is Lamin Sanneh’s (1989) Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture, to which Escobar alludes. This book is notable because it offers an articulate, dissenting point of view to the commonly held notion that Christianity destroys culture, arguing rather that with its insistence on providing the Scrip- tures in the vernacular, Christianity has provided otherwise oral cultures with a means of recollecting their stories.

47 48 establishing the macro context of the major issues

These stories—which would otherwise that while each of these groups is “cloaked suffer obliteration by the inexorably ho- with such heavy veils belonging to their mogenizing forces of modernity—thus environment that Christians of different affirm, strengthen, and enrich cultural times and places must often be unrecog- identities in ways which Islam, with its nizable to others, or indeed even to them- insistence upon Arabic, cannot. The trans- selves,” they must nevertheless be latability of the gospel is an appropriate regarded as “manifestations of a single theme with which to begin any missio- phenomenon” (Walls, 1996, p. 7). It is the logical discussion, but it must also be the presence of these elements which marks last word, and I shall return to the theme the faith community as Christian. in my conclusion. In terms of both demographics and Escobar next addresses the global evangelistic vigor, the Christian center (but church, the new balance of Christian pres- not the money center) has moved from ence, and globalization and contextuali- the North to the South, from the rich to zation, three naturally intersecting and the poor, from the centers of power to the overlapping themes. I begin with the re- slums of the periphery (see Barrett & minder that this global church is diverse— Johnson, 2000). While the profound rami- so kaleidoscopic in its variety as sometimes fications of this shift have yet to be to prevent one part of the church from adequately reflected in Euro-American recognizing its counterpart. Andrew Walls missiological theory and practice, we are (1996, pp. 3-15) has steadily reminded us beginning to understand that Eurpoean that the gospel is at once the prisoner and and North American churches no longer liberator of culture and that one will look command the heights when it comes to in vain for an “historic Christian faith.” theological, ecclesiastical, or missiological Walls takes his readers on an imaginary agendas. Their fiscal, organizational, and journey through Christian time, in com- print resources are significant, but as the pany with a scholarly space visitor, a pro- surprised and somewhat chagrined North fessor of comparative inter-planetary American bishops attending the 1998 religions, who is engaged in the study of Lambeth conference discovered, there is Christians over the centuries and whose a big difference between the agendas of research grant enables him to visit this the two hemispheres. While prim, politi- planet every few centuries to conduct his cally correct bishops, presiding over their research. After two millennia of study, in- older, somewhat theologically agnostic, volving field visits to Jerusalem in 37 CE, declining ecclesiastical domains might re- Nicea in 325 CE, Ireland in 650 CE, Exeter gard ordination of homosexuals and the Hall in 1840, and Lagos in 1980, Walls’ blessing of same-sex marriages as central imaginary scholar is able to distill several to the 21st century church’s task, to African seminal continuities from the plethora of and Asian bishops representing more conspicuous discontinuities. These con- youthful, vigorously reproductive chur- tinuities are that Jesus the Christ has ulti- ches, it was clear that evangelism was para- mate significance; the same sacred mount. writings are employed; all use bread, wine, Our Scriptures remind us that God has and water in similarly significant ways; and always found it difficult to work with or each group believes itself to be part of the through comfortably secure people. There same Christian continuity, which in turn seems to be something spiritually corro- is in some strange way linked to that of sive about the kind of security to which ancient Israel. Our professor concludes we who inhabit the hemisphere of privi- engaging escobar … and beyond 49 lege have come to assume entitlement. We inevitability of the corrosive effects of secu- Western theologians and missiologists larism upon the emerging centers of Chris- have, to all appearances, become accus- tian faith. This is something that our tomed to thinking like the Laodicean brothers and sisters in the South, not we church: we “have need of nothing,” and in the North, will need to address on their we think that the flow of missiological and own terms and within their own contexts. theological benefits, insights, personnel, Given the importance of evolving tech- and agendas is a one-way flow, with rich nologies in the global culture and the ease churches providing out of their largess for with which technological luxuries become the poor churches. Recognition that our technological “needs” in Western missiol- relative affluence may have made us im- ogy, Escobar is right to remind us that tech- pervious to our wretched, poor, blind, and nology will not save the world. Only the naked state is rare, despite the fact that of imitable gospel, incarnate at the level of the seven churches described in St. John’s person to person, will spare us from the Revelation, the most desperately needy pitfalls of propaganda and jingoism that church was the Laodicean church—a sometimes substitute for genuine Chris- “Christian” faith community with Christ on tian mission. The extent to which we who the outside, trying to get in. This being are part of the Western mission establish- so, it can come as no surprise that the ment have embraced the power and the church in affluent lands, seemingly secure convenience provided by the new tech- with its economies of plenty, its culturally nologies, on the one hand, and the essen- driven entitlements to more and more of tially relational nature of our faith and its this world’s goods, and its participation transmission, on the other, make Ruth in the Western engines of the global Conway’s (1999, p. 18) observations both economy, desperately needs its materially apt and timely: “One much trumpeted fea- poorer counterpart. ture of modern information and commu- Escobar is right to warn us of the in- nications technologies,” she observes, “is sidious effects of globalization upon those their ability to span geographical dis- of us who actually benefit from it. “The tance.” culture of globalization,” he warns (pages But we should not be fooled into 30-31), “creates attitudes and a mental substituting information exchange for frame that may be the opposite of what genuinely Christian mission. Conway the gospel teaches about human life un- (1999, pp. 18-20) continues, “We can ex- der God’s design. If mission simply rides change a flood of information but remain on the crest of the globalization wave, it aloof from the personal experience and might end by changing the very nature of feelings, the genuine hopes and fears of the gospel.” There can be no doubt that other people who are briefly ‘on line.’” missionaries must inevitably be carriers of Technology-reliant communication can more than the gospel of our Lord! They thus become “… a distancing power that are also powerful advocates of those val- undermines real understanding, solidar- ues, orientations, and privileges which ity, and commitment one to another. they themselves incarnate and value. I Preoccupation with disembodied instan- have written on this extensively (Bonk, taneous messages prevents a fully sympa- 1991) and need not belabor it in this con- thetic response to actual pressing human text. The awkward question which must needs…. It is this distancing power that be raised, but to which no sure answer contributes a lethal element to globaliza- can be provided, relates to the speed and tion: it makes possible the gathering of 50 establishing the macro context of the major issues data, the transfer of capital, the control of metamorphosis into the word “develop” markets, the bureaucratic communica- provides only the most threadbare of dis- tions within global institutions, and the guises, certainly not sufficient to conceal management of structural adjustment pro- its fundamental Eurocentrism, and its ef- grams, all without any ‘feel’ for the highly fects are the same everywhere, with the varied, unique local situations affected.” West both its measure and its motor (see, In anticipation of missiology’s ten- for example, Norberg-Hodge, 1996). dency toward Walter Mittyism, more needs It is within this context of chronic un- to be said concerning the globalization certainty and endemic mayhem that Esco- juggernaut sweeping our globe. No one bar’s stress on the authority of the Word can avoid being swept along by this tidal of God is significant, offering us an un- wave. Like the proverbial “flies on a chariot derstanding of ourselves, our times, and wheel,” we find ourselves “perched upon our destiny within the context of human- a question of which we can neither see kind’s individually short and sometimes the diameter, nor control the motion, nor brutal sojourn on this planet. The Word influence the moving force.”1 Christian of God is both a compass and a handbook, missionaries are at once caught up in and providing reliable direction regardless of contribute to this irresistible force for where its readers might be located in time, change, and like virtually everyone else on culture, or circumstance. our planet, they are deeply affected by the In his fifth section, accenting the impact of values, images, goods, and growth of poverty and inequality, Escobar weapons which emanate from the West rightly reminds us of the fact that the pros- and which are mediated through tourism, pect of material, economic, and techno- media images, Western-style education, logical progress—once thought to be an global economy, the substitution of artifi- inevitable outcome of social and economic cial needs for real needs, the generational organization along capitalist lines—has and economic division of once coherent proven to be an illusory and fundamen- families and peoples, and the widespread tally false dream. The relative proportion and seemingly indiscriminate use of fright- of impoverished people around the world eningly destructive Western weapons is increasing, not diminishing. At the same against largely civilian populations all over time, the relative proportion of very rich the world. Missiology needs to ask deeply persons is diminishing, while the percent- theological questions about prevailing age of the planet’s material resources notions of progress—notions whose roots which they control is increasing. extend to the old, discredited white man’s A recent United Nations Human De- burden, to a time when it was unabash- velopment Report2 provides some per- edly assumed that a part of the mission- spective on just what this means: ary’s task was to “civilize.” The term’s

1 This image comes from the colorful Sydney Smith, in his 1823 counter-petition to the several emancipating bills brought before the British Parliament in the first quarter of the 19th century— bills which alarmed his fellow Anglican clergymen. Smith suggested an alternative petition, asking “for an inquiry into all laws affecting the Roman Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland,” in the hope that “only those which were absolutely necessary to the safety of Church and State might be suffered to remain.” The quotation above was a part of his speech in support of his motion. Despite his eloquence, his motion was soundly defeated by his fellow Anglicans (see Russell, 1905, pp. 106-109). 2 As summarized in The New York Times (September 27, 1998, p. 16). engaging escobar … and beyond 51

1. The world’s 225 richest individuals, population earned 7.3% of all income in of whom 60 are Americans with total as- 1977 and 12.9% in 1999. Their after-tax sets of $311 billion, have a combined income amounted to $234,700 in 1977 wealth of over $1 trillion—equal to the and $515,600 in 1999, an increase of combined wealth of the poorest 47% of 119.7%.3 the entire world’s population. Evangelicals have responded to these 2. The three richest people in the realities by becoming more involved in world have assets that exceed the com- “holistic mission projects,” Escobar points bined gross domestic product of the 48 out. This is appropriate, being the way of poorest countries. obedience, and it will need to be a con- 3. The average African household is tinuing and growing priority if the gospel some 20% poorer today than it was 25 is to be comprehensible and meaningful. years ago. Partial obedience has always been lumped 4. The richest 20% of the world’s with disobedience in the Scriptures, and people consume 86% of all goods and ser- the line between “evangelism” and the so- vices. The poorest 20% consume 1.3%. called “social gospel” has always been an 5. Americans and Europeans spend excuse for selective obedience. For Evan- $17 billion a year on pet food. This is $4 gelicals, partial obedience is not an op- billion more than the estimated annual to- tion. tal needed to provide basic health and The fact that the capacity for vital nutrition for everyone in the world. missionary initiative is passing from the 6. Americans spend $8 billion a year North to the South at a time when the on cosmetics—$2 billion more than the South’s financial ability to engage in mis- estimated annual total needed to provide sions or theological education as modeled basic education for everyone in the world. by the North is diminishing has serious Even in the United States, the gulf be- implications, some of which we are just tween rich and poor is growing. In com- beginning to grasp. Escobar advocates an paring the change in relative wealth of the international model of mission which for wealthiest and the poorest U.S. citizens many Western agencies will require a re- between 1977 and 1999, Congressional thinking of their fundamental structures. Budget Office figures indicate that the It has been common for missiologists poorest 20% of the U.S. population earned and mission strategists to speak of “part- 5.6% of all income in 1977 but only 4.2% nership.” This is a useful term, but it has in 1999. Their after-tax income averaged its roots in the cognitive domains of man- $10,000 in 1977 but only $8,800 in 1999, agement and business and allows us to a 12% decrease. The richest 1% of the U.S. remain somewhat remote from the one

3 These figures appeared in The New York Times (September 5, 1999, p. 16). See also Zuckerman (1999, p. 108). Zuckerman, the Editor in Chief of U.S. News and World Report, points out that the U.S. itself is becoming two nations. “The prosperous are rapidly becoming more prosperous, and the poor are slowly getting poorer.” Even though the American economy continues to experience dramatic growth, according to New York University economist Edward Wolff, “the top 20% of Americans account for more than 100% of the total growth in wealth from 1983-1997, while the bottom 80% lost 7%.” Zuckerman cites another study that found that “the top 1% saw their after- tax income jump 115% in the past 22 years. The top fifth have seen an after-tax increase of 43% during the same period, while the bottom fifth of all Americans—including many working moth- ers—have seen their after-tax incomes fall 9%.” The result is that 4 out of 5 households are relatively worse off than they were 22 years ago. 52 establishing the macro context of the major issues with whom we partner. As the social and somehow more “Christlike” than those economic disparity between erstwhile other expressions of collective ego that we “partners” increases, partnership becomes have come to call “nations” continues to more and more complicated and to some result in great confusion in its inevitable extent unworkable, since in managerial conflation of human culture with Chris- terms a partnership between unequals al- tian gospel. ways favors the more powerful partner. Escobar’s comments on post-modern The term is to some extent satisfactory, culture and a new religiosity go naturally so long as our ecclesiology stresses the together, and I do not have time to dwell independence of individual churches, in on them. I note only that resurgence of consonance with the tried and true “three- religious interest is not necessarily a hope- self” formula. But when we begin to ap- ful sign, although it might be. To use a ply a more biblically satisfactory set of rather crude analogy, preoccupation with metaphors to the relationship—organic one’s body is usually a sign of ill health or metaphors that will not allow us to think old age, not a sign of health. It may be of being “independent” from one another, that Western interest in religion is simply but as interdependent members of the a symptom of that fatal malaise marking same body with limbs, torso, head, eyes, the approaching end of life. On the other ears, etc.—it becomes more difficult to use hand, the disillusionment and hope- the term. After all, what does it mean for a lessness of post-modernism are quite hand to be in partnership with a leg or a consonant with observations of God’s foot or an eye? All members are a part of messengers nearly 3,000 years ago. The the same body, and partnership in that prophets were deeply disillusioned be- context surely requires as a minimum a cause they could see their societies as God permanent sharing of resources, experi- saw those societies. If there is anything ences, and agendas. We need an ecclesi- positive about the culture of post-moder- ology and a missiology that more aptly nity, it is that people now have the capac- reflect the language, the intent, and the ity to see themselves and their cultural reality of God’s view of the church as the contexts for what they really are—without body of Christ. God, hopeless, and in desperate need of As a Mennonite, I heartily endorse what redemption. This is a good starting point Escobar has written about the “end of for conversion. Christendom,” his sixth point. The funeral Jesus was no stranger to either old dirge of Christendom is one at which religions or fundamentalism, Escobar’s Christians should join in lifting their voices ninth point. In the end, it was those bent in praise to God, since we humans so eas- on protecting the “old religion” who ar- ily confuse self-serving ends with God- ranged for Jesus’ execution. Jesus showed tolerated means. I can think of only one his followers the way to deal with this: the social aggregate than can be more mind- way of the cross, the way of the seed fall- lessly self-serving than the nation-state, ing into the ground, the way of love for and that is the ethnic group. The notion enemies, the way of forgiveness, the way that any nation-state ever has or indeed of refusing to respond in kind. All of this can manifest the self-giving, self-sacrific- takes place only at the level of everyday ing spirit of Christ has been one of the relationships with real people. It is risky, great delusions of Christendom and of of course, but there is no other way. much of its missionary expression. The The Pentecostal phenomenon is per- idea that the West in particular has been haps the most remarkable evidence that engaging escobar … and beyond 53 the gospel is still good news for the poor always takes place at the micro level. The and not simply a secret passage into West- macro level is simply context. But the gos- ern consumer culture and, in the sweet pel is always mediated through and to by and by, a comfortable “middle class” specific persons, families, communities, existence. It is only natural that there and contexts. An understanding of global should be a surge in the Pentecostal phe- trends can be helpful only if it helps us to nomenon, since its concerns and expres- incarnate the gospel right where we are. sions have always resonated with the If Evangelical missiology is to keep in poor—and most Christians around the touch with the really big issues, it must world are now poor. think small. Escobar’s conclusions begin with his A theme implicit in much of what appeal for a recovery of biblical patterns Escobar has written, but which we who for mission. His four concluding observa- fashion our livelihoods from thinking tions—each of which suggests the “new” “missiologically” can inadvertently over- direction required if our missionary en- look, needs to be highlighted: God’s deavors are to maintain or regain rel- people are never instructed or urged to evance—can be little improved upon love the world or large segments of popu- within the confines of this short response. lations within it. God can and does love That neither the present nor the future the world, but human beings are so con- is very different from the past may be the stituted that they cannot. When we try, our most appropriate vantage point from expressions of love for the multitudes in- which to contemplate the new century. evitably degenerate into pious posturing. Despite what appear to be remarkable We are called upon to love one another, changes at the turn of the century, the fa- spouse, neighbor, stranger, and enemy— mous lament of the author of the book of whatever the cultural or cross-cultural Ecclesiastes provides a helpful perspec- context. This is challenge aplenty for even tive. After a lifetime in close pursuit of the most pious among us. Wherever the novelty, he observed that there is nothing context of our missionary work, unless we new under the sun. This is at once com- fall into the ground and “die” at this forting and disconcerting. Comforting, personal level, our missiology means noth- because we know that the eternal revela- ing. Given the ways in which we missiol- tion of God transcends culture and time, ogists have come to envision and project addressing the sad realities of the human the Christian task, this fact is of profound condition which, while expressing itself missiological import. in various cultural contexts, remains es- When God sent his Son to save the sentially the same. We need peace with world, he sent him to live in a small back- God. We need redemption. We cannot save eddy of the Roman Empire—in an occu- ourselves. We need a Savior. pied country, traveling on foot, never While it is not a little fascinating to look wandering very far beyond a 30-mile ra- at the macro trends affecting persons, dius from where he grew up. It is good to tribes, nations, continents, and the entire recall that Jesus never even rode a bicycle, globe at the end of the century, it is en- let alone flew in a jet! The Son of God, tirely possible for us as missiologists and when he came to save the world, walked missionaries to become, in Walker Percy’s at three miles per hour (Koyama, 1980) (1983) words, “lost in the cosmos”—so and was constantly interrupted by the caught up in the big picture that we lose petty, intensely personal needs of individu- sight of the particular. Missionary action als who could not realize what an impor- 54 establishing the macro context of the major issues tant agenda he had personally—to save the References world. Barrett, D. B., & Johnson, T. M. (2000, Janu- The most significant discussion in ary). Annual statistical table on global mis- which we can engage involves this ques- sion: 2000. International Bulletin of tion: What does it mean to do missionary Missionary Research, 24(1), pp. 24-25. work in ways congruent with biblical pat- Bonk, J. J. (1991). Missions and money: Afflu- terns and models? Are there some con- ence as a Western missionary problem. stants that transcend time and culture and Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. society? I believe there are: Conquest, R. (1999). Reflections on a ravaged 1. We need a missiology that recap- century. New York: W. W. Norton & Com- pany. tures the servant mode—not the servant Conway, R. (1999). Choices at the heart of tech- with an a priori agenda, but the servant nology: A Christian perspective. Harris- who lets his or her master set the tasks. burg, PA: Trinity Press International. 2. We need a missiology that recap- Koyama, K. (1980). Three mile an hour God: tures the corn of wheat principle—the “he Biblical reflections. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis saved others, he cannot save himself” ap- Books. proach to mission modeled and mandated Norberg-Hodge, H. (1996). The pressure to by Jesus. modernize and globalize. In J. Mander & E. Goldsmith (Eds.), The case against the 3. We need a missiology that distin- global economy and for a turn toward the guishes between mere motion and actual local (pp. 33-46). San Francisco: Sierra accomplishment, between slick organi- Club Books. zation and costly incarnation, between Percy, W. (1983). Lost in the cosmos: The last believable propaganda and true commu- self-help book. New York: Farrar, Straus & nication, between self-serving career and Giroux. self-giving service. Russell, W. E. (1905). Sydney Smith. London: 4. We need a missiology that moves us MacMillan & Co. away from “efficiency” and teaches us to Sanneh, L. O. (1989). Translating the message: The missionary impact on culture. Mary- walk with the poor. knoll, NY: Orbis Books. 5. We need a missiology that forces us Walls, A. F. (1996). The missionary movement to think small, that encourages us to rec- in Christian history: Studies in the trans- ognize that each human being lives at the mission of faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis level of micro-context, that this is the level Books. at which the good news transforms and Zuckerman, M. B. (1999, October 18). A na- transfigures, and that this is the Great tion divided: What to do about the ever widening gulf between rich and poor? U.S. Commission. News and World Report, p. 108. 6. We need a missiology that translates the good news—a missiology that recognizes that any gospel not made visible in the living flesh of another human being is no gospel at all. It is simply noise. engaging escobar … and beyond 55

Jonathan J. Bonk, formerly Professor of Glo- bal Christian Studies at Providence College and Seminary in Canada, has served as Asso- ciate Director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut since 1997. He became Director of OMSC and Editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research in July of 2000. He grew up in Ethio- pia, where he and his wife also served as missionaries. He is an ordained Mennonite minister, has served as President of both the American Society of Missiology and the Asso- ciation of Professors of Mission. He is the author of numerous articles and reviews and has published four books, the best known of which is Missions and Money: Affluence as a West- ern Missionary Problem (Orbis, 1991), now in its sixth printing. He is Project Director for the multilingual (English, French, Portuguese, Swahili) electronic Dictionary of African Christian Biography. He graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and the University of Aberdeen.

OW CAN A BRAZILIAN ministry leader obtain funds from Globalization H a multi-national corporation like Microsoft? Simple, according to an electronic message I received recently. Microsoft and world offered to send someone a reward for testing one of its soft- ware products, this person writes. All one has to do, he ex- evangelism plains, is send a particular e-mail message to as many friends as possible, as a test of a new Microsoft product. This person claims to have received several thousand dollars already, and Alex he encourages all of us to participate in this product test to Araujo raise funds for our ministries. Anyone anywhere in the world can participate through e-mail, at no cost and in only a few minutes. I have not been able to verify this message, but the amazing thing is that the message was written by a sincere Christian leader at all. Globalization permits the merging of widely disparate interests from any place on earth by any person with access to modern technology. It permits, even invites, as in the real- life example above, the merging of world evangelization and the marketing plans of a multi-national corporation. For some, as with this Brazilian friend, globalization seems to be a welcome development, because it offers new ways to find and apply resources for ministry. Others have serious mis- givings, suspecting that there is a hidden danger when such disparate interests as the profit strategies of a multi-national corporation and the evangelism strategies of a missions agency come together. The difference of perspective between those Christians who are willing to seize the benefits of globalization for missions purposes and those who see or at least strongly suspect something wrong with this approach defines the essence of relevant discussions about globalization and missions.

57 58 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Is there something inherently bad or prac- of non-Western countries an opportunity tically harmful to missions in the global- to join the dialogue, it also provides ization phenomenon? Are there safe ways new avenues for the better resourced to take advantage of elements of global- Western Christians to promote and dis- ization without at the same time being seminate their own already-developed exposed to its harm? Perhaps more impor- ideas through Internet-ready literature, tant still, is globalization merely a neutral courses, and activity reporting. These ac- realignment of socio-economic mecha- tivities are extremely relevant to the ques- nisms, or does it have inherent ethical er- tion of better involvement of non-Western rors and weaknesses? missions thinkers and practitioners in the These questions cannot be ignored, worldwide missions movement, because because globalization itself cannot be ig- they maintain and even increase the gap nored. It is shaping how we think and between the more affluent and less afflu- function in missions. Either we know what ent churches, independently of spiritual it is and how to control what it does to us worth and effectiveness of ministry. and through us, or we will simply be shaped by it according to its own imper- Defining Globalization sonal forces and agenda. The missions How should Christians movement today already relies extensively think about globalization? on electronic mail, for example, one of the Globalization is, at the practical level, more ubiquitous tools made available a way of describing the manner in which worldwide by globalization. E-mail has made it possible for Christians from very socio-economic interaction is carried on. At this level, some would argue that it is different countries and socio-economic ethically neutral. The rice I eat is just rice, contexts to participate in dialogue about the theology and practice of missions. It whether it is produced by the local tenant farmer or by an international agro-busi- has also begun to divide us into those who ness concern. At another level, globaliza- have access to electronic mail and those who don’t. Some precious believers, toil- tion represents a way of thinking about the world, a worldview. It is a way of orga- ing under harsh conditions, blessing many nizing priorities, thus establishing a scale by their sacrificial service, are excluded from the rich mission dialogue the rest of of values for determining what is more important. “How is economic globaliza- us enjoy because they do not have effec- tion likely to change our common future tive access to e-mail. Globalization of information not only and particularly our view of what is important and of value?” asks Tom Sine permits wider participation in the dia- (1999, p. 49).1 Globalization, like any logue, but also provides avenues for worldwide dissemination of prevailing other worldview, has serious ethical implications. While it may not be a fully ideas and methods concerning missions. developed system of thought such as While on the one hand it gives Christians

1 Sine’s book Mustard Seed versus McWorld (1999) provides very practical approaches to understanding and responding to the pressures of globalization. The book is especially useful for American Christians, although non-Americans will also find it helpful as a tool for better understanding their American colleagues and their challenges. The book can also be used to identify some of the main issues of globalization that need to receive more specific treatment in each cultural context. globalization and world evangelism 59

Marxism, socialism, or Western democracy, “The strongest advocates for a new glo- it does provide ethical themes, which we bal economic order,” writes Tom Sine will discuss below. Christians eager to take (1999, p. 50), “… have been schooled in advantage of the new tools of globaliza- a worldview that defines what is best tion must first reflect seriously about these largely in terms of economic growth and less obvious ethical implications. My pur- efficiency. And they have concluded that poses in this essay are to identify and in- the best way to achieve those outcomes is troduce for the larger discussion some of through the creation of a borderless eco- these themes and to suggest some ques- nomic order.” tions Christians need to ask of one another Edward Luttwak (1999, p. 222) writes, concerning the implications of globaliza- “Everywhere the logic of turbo-capitalism tion for world missions. [Luttwak’s concept for what drives globalization] is that nothing should stand in What is globalization? the way of economic efficiency … for noth- Globalization is a complex phenom- ing must hinder competition, which alone enon that can be approached from many enforces efficiency by impoverishing less different directions. Thomas Friedman efficient individuals, firms, industries, lo- provides one of the best secular analyses cal communities, and countries—and in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree. sometimes all of them at once.” Another He offers the following as three key ele- way to put this is that growth and change ments to a definition of globalization: must occur because they can occur. The • Democratization of technology, fi- idea echoes the evolutionary view that a nance, and information. “This means that thing’s existence is its own justification it is now possible for hundreds of millions and that the possibility of growth and of people around the world to get con- change is sufficient reason for that growth nected and exchange information, news, and change to occur. C. S. Lewis (1946, p. knowledge, money … financial trades … 295) anticipated this in the mid-1940s, in ways and to a degree never witnessed when he put in the mouth one of his char- before” (Friedman, 1999, p. 45). acters the following words: “… is justified • Free-market capitalism as the orga- by the fact that it is occurring, and it ought nizing principle of world economics. “The to be increased because an increase is tak- more you let market forces rule and the ing place.” more you open your [national] economy It seems, from these examples and to free trade and competition, the more from the writings of other students of glo- efficient and flourishing your economy balization, that this complex reality con- will be. Globalization means the spread tains the following key elements: of free-market capitalism to virtually ev- 1. It is fueled primarily by economic ery country in the world” (Friedman, 1999, considerations. p. 8). 2. It is inspired by rapid economic • A specific cultural bias. “… global- growth and efficiency as the best founda- ization has its own dominant culture, tion for solving humanity’s problems. which is why it tends to be homogeniz- 3. It has a strongly Western, primarily ing.… Culturally speaking, globalization American cultural imprint. is largely, though not entirely, the spread 4. It is highly dependent on recent de- of Americanization … on a global scale” velopments in communication technology. (Friedman, 1999, p. 8). 60 establishing the macro context of the major issues

5. It favors those who have a longer is sweeping the world like a tidal wave. tradition in free-market capitalism and Those who learn quickly to ride the wave who lead in communication technology. will survive, and those who don’t will per- We will look at some of the implica- ish. This idea seems to have infected some tions of globalization to the Christian mis- in the missions movement, to judge by the sions movement, but first we need to optimism and eagerness of some mission consider globalization in relation to the agencies in adapting to globalization’s church. hopes and promises. The question of how the church should Globalization face globalization is misplaced. From a and Christ’s Church biblical perspective, it is globalization that The growth of the church around the has to face the church. We must judge the world, in contrast to globalization, is an “pattern of this world” and decide under expression of eternal principles set in the counsel of the Holy Spirit what is good motion by God in Christ through the Holy and what is not good about it. As the Spirit. It is not a product of recent secular Apostle Paul puts it, “Do not conform any historical movements and trends. longer to the pattern of this world, but be The church was meant to become glo- transformed by the renewing of your bal even if the world remained forever mind. Then you will be able to test and provincial. Since Abraham, God has been approve what God’s will is—his good, speaking explicitly about the gathering of pleasing, and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2). all nations into one people. The Psalmist The key principle for Christians look- writes, “The nobles of the nations as- ing at globalization, then, is to refuse to semble as the people of the God of Abra- be lured, intimidated, or pressured by it. ham, for the kings of the earth belong to Globalization is the current strategy that God; he is greatly exalted” (Ps. 47:9).2 And a secular and lost humanity has developed the writer of Revelation proclaims that the to cope with an existence devoid of faith new Jerusalem, representing God’s king- and hope in God. World evangelization is dom on earth, “does not need the sun or essentially the reality of which globaliza- the moon to shine on it, for the glory of tion is merely and ineffectively a shadow. God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. In this sense, missions has the answer to The nations will walk by its light, and the the question that gave birth to globaliza- kings of the earth will bring their splen- tion. The church does not need to learn dor into it.… The glory and honor of the how to adjust to globalization. It is called nations will be brought into it” (Rev. 21:23, to speak to people caught up in globali- 24, 26). zation’s tidal wave, just as it did with all We often hear the question these days the previous tidal waves in human history. how we should face globalization. It seems Jacques Ellul (1989, p. 4) has elo- that we feel the church may be left behind quently stated this point. Speaking of the if it doesn’t adapt and adapt speedily. Glo- church in society, he writes, “This ‘light of balization, the experts tell us, is the only the world’ is that which gives meaning and boat available for mankind today. If we direction to the history of the world, and don’t get into it, we will be left behind. thus explains it. In the succession of events Globalization is this inexorable force that which the course of history presents, there

2 See also Gen. 12:1-3; Isa. 49:6; 66:18-21; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 2:15-19; Rev. 5:9-10; 7:9; 11:15. globalization and world evangelism 61 is no logic, no certitude, but this logic is Britishness. Yet even to the degree that he supplied by the presence of the church, succeeded, he had to direct a fair amount however strange this may seem … the of energy to that issue. So, to the extent Christian … reveals to the world the truth that globalization today carries a strong about its condition.” The Christian, Ellul American flavor, American missionaries (1989, p. 39) continues, “judges the pres- have to face similar tensions. Conversely, ent time in virtue of a meta-historical fact, non-Americans on the field have to con- and the incursion of this event into the tend with this American cultural overlay present is the only force capable of throw- as they seek to work in cooperation with ing off the dead weight of social and po- their American colleagues. The sooner litical institutions which are gradually both sides recognize this reality and dis- crushing the life out of our present civili- cuss it openly, the better it will be for truly zation.” cooperative missions work. This view does not give us license to Second, the balance between nation- be aloof or proud, nor to ignore the states and global markets has changed. significant and occasionally beneficial These global markets are made up of mil- changes brought about by globalization. lions of investors moving money around It simply establishes a right order of rela- the world instantly through their comput- tionship between the church and the cur- ers and from the privacy of their homes. rent “pattern of this world.” Friedman calls them the “electronic herd.” This “herd” cannot be tightly controlled Understanding Globalization by national governments. The national With the above discussion in mind, we economy can be severely affected by this must set ourselves to the task of under- activity, whether or not it fits national standing globalization and its implications policy. Like swarming bees, this herd to the work of missions. cannot be controlled by governments, First, the balance between nation-states because they gain access to a nation’s has changed. In the present globalization economy from any place in the world system, the United States is the sole and through electronic transactions. And they dominant superpower, and all other na- can force governments to make decisions tions are subordinate to it to one degree and adopt policies by the simple threat of or another (Friedman, 1999, p. 11). In taking their investments from one coun- some ways and in a parallel sense, the situ- try and instantly placing them in another. ation resembles for the current American This weakens national sovereignty and missions movement the colonial days of erodes democratic processes. Voters may William Carey and Hudson Taylor. Just as elect their leaders, but the international Carey and Taylor rode on the wings of the economy may dictate the leaders’ policies. British economic empire, with all its fa- Third, the balance between nation- cilities and power of projection, American states and individuals has changed. Indi- missionaries today ride on the global ex- viduals and their wealth—particularly very pansion of American economic activities rich individuals—can move across national and accompanying cultural exports. This boundaries with increasing freedom. That is not a criticism of American missionar- means that financially powerful indi- ies. In some ways, Americans have no viduals such as Osama Bin Laden and Bill choice, just as Carey and Taylor did not. Gates may find themselves negotiating In fact, Taylor fought hard to shed his directly with governments of sovereign states, striking deals that their own coun- 62 establishing the macro context of the major issues tries’ governments may not approve, yet us understand how the church stands as are powerless to prevent. prophet and priest to the world. But in order to exercise its prophetic and priestly Implications for Missions role effectively, the church cannot be or What are the implications of this turn act like a mere religious segment of the of events to the missions movement? The world. The church is not part of the glo- challenge of globalization intersects with balization phenomenon, needing to learn the Christian missions movement in a va- how to ride its wave, as human institutions riety of ways. must, in order to survive. As Peter puts it, we are “aliens and The theology of the church strangers in the world” (1 Pet. 2:11). It We need to reflect on the current state seems, at times, that our local churches of our theology of the church and of mis- resemble more and more a religious versions. The church, to be true to its nature, sion of business enterprises. We compete must be distinct, separate from any cur- for customers by improving the market- rent human trend and condition, so that ing of our Christian product. We look to it can speak to humanity and to its condi- the business gurus to help us recreate our tion. The Apostle Paul tells us that “God churches and agencies in terms that make placed all things under [Christ’s] feet and sense within modern economic trends. appointed him to be head over everything The more our ecclesiology resembles in for the church, which is his body, the full- practice the commercial world around us, ness of him who fills everything in every the more it fits the terminology and world- way” (Eph. 1:22-23). And God’s “intent view of global economic trends. Unless we was that now, through the church, the review our ecclesiology and restore it to manifold wisdom of God should be made its biblical foundations and conceptual known to the rulers and authorities in the language, we will not be able to judge the heavenly realms, according to his eternal trends that surround us, and the churches purpose which he accomplished in Christ may in fact become simply one of the many Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:10-11). Unless we sub-elements of that trend. We have al- see the church as greater than the human ready seen the development of a school condition at any point in history, it does of thought that promotes the marketing not have a message. It must be “in” the of the church. Soon we may see the next world, in order to speak intelligibly to the development, the globalization of the world. But if it is “of” the world, it is part church, along the same driving concepts of the problem, however conscientious it of economic globalization: rapid numeri- tries to be in preaching the gospel. cal growth and efficiency defined by re- The church is not supposed to cope turn on missions dollars. with globalization, but rather to judge Non-numerical language globalization and offer itself as the real global community. The church is what a glo- We must rediscover the non-numeri- balized society can never be, “a chosen cal language of the gospel. Evangelicalism people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, has flourished predominantly in Western a people belonging to God, that you may and North American societies during the declare the praises of him who called you last two centuries. This flourishing coin- out of darkness into his wonderful light” cides with the development of the free- (1 Pet. 2:9). Peter, along with Paul, helps market capitalism that is now both the driving force and the essence of global- globalization and world evangelism 63 ization. It has given Western society a nu- Conceptual language is powerful in merical language that is particularly suited shaping how we think and eventually what to business transactions, but terribly poor we believe. I recently attended another to describe the worth and experience of regional-focused missions consultation. In the gospel. Recently I attended a missions the midst of field reports by various mis- consultation that focused on a region of sionaries, a woman believer from the re- the world where the growth of the church gion was asked to give her testimony. She is modest in comparison to certain places spoke from the podium about how the in Asia and Latin America. At least in two gospel came to her family. As she elabo- instances, speakers described the success rated on the biblical metaphor of the light of the mission in a given area by indicat- of the gospel shining to the darkness of ing the percentage of growth of the church her people, her testimony became increas- in the last 10 years. It was interesting that ingly an emotional expression of deep this growth was described in percentages gratitude to the Lord and to the mission- rather than absolute numbers, which al- aries he had sent to her country. She fin- lowed them to say the church grew 28 ished unable to speak, her eyes flooded times in 10 years—an impressive growth with tears of gratitude to her gracious God. rate. This way of reporting growth has a I was myself deeply moved by such a much greater impact on the churches back beautiful reminder of the reason for mis- home than if the growth were described sions, which is precisely to make the won- in absolute numerical terms: from 50 to a derful light of Christ to shine and deliver few thousand in 10 years. people from darkness. In my heart I Would the disciples in the early church deeply hoped the moderator would inter- have thought in terms of numerical valua- rupt the formal agenda with a time of tion of the church? After all, the Lord Jesus praise to God. Instead, as soon as this sis- used very different language, perhaps ter finished, the moderator announced the shocking to our ears, when he said that next presenter, and we went on with the there is more joy in heaven for one sinner report. Where was the rejoicing in the who repents than for 99 righteous; and church for the one sinner who had re- he considered the widow’s mite a greater pented? Can it be that we have become so offering than the larger offerings of the shaped by the pattern of this world that Pharisees. He also gave us a very humbling we don’t even recognize the full impact picture of the growth of the gospel in the of our own service to God in the lives of parable of the narrow way and the broad those we touch? Therefore, this matter of way. And he never promised that Chris- language is very important. How can we tians were to become a national majority judge the spirit of the age, the “pattern of population. this world,” if we do not have an indepen- I am not arguing for a total abandon- dent, biblically based conceptual language ment of numbers in assessing and report- with which to describe it? ing our missions work, but I suggest that Exporting distortions statistics and numbers for the most part be presented as footnotes to our field re- The church in mission-sending coun- ports, since they seem to be given only tries must be careful not to export such marginal significance in the Scriptures. culturally generated distortions to emerg- The actual language with which Christ de- ing churches. Yet the Western church may scribed matters of the kingdom was quite not be able to escape the strong grip of different, and we need to rediscover it. economic globalization without the help 64 establishing the macro context of the major issues of the emerging church. What does the consumers—buyers and sellers. Though church look like when it is not so heavily people who are in the vanguard of global- influenced by material affluence and ization may deny that this is their view of driven by the mechanistic values of growth human beings, in practice it really doesn’t and efficiency? How do brothers and sis- matter since they assume (whether implic- ters who live at the margins of this world- itly or obviously) that in the end every con- wide globalization pattern experience sumer will eventually find space within the communion with Christ and his family? We global economy and benefit from it. must learn to listen to and learn from The church, in contrast, must affirm them. the biblical view of human beings as Homo spiritualis, created male and female, in Redefining what it the image of God, not reducible to Homo means to be human economicus or any other variant. Since globalization is essentially driven by economic forces, it must redefine what Competition and Change it means to be human in terms that are The free-market economic model is compatible to the structures, mechanisms, marked by the need for constant compe- and outcomes of a free-market economy. tition and change. Wealth, in this system, We attribute to the economist Adam Smith is created by competition and innovation. much of the foundation of today’s West- It is not a maintenance economy but a ern version of a market economy. Theolo- growth economy. “Today,” writes Friedman gian Timothy Gorringe (1999, p. 30), (1999, p. 41), “there is no more First discussing this point, writes, “Aristotle World, Second World, and Third World. believed that speech was given us to form There is now just the Fast World—the community, but for Smith speech was part world of the wide open plain—and the of our ‘property to barter, truck, and ex- Slow World—the world of those who ei- change one thing for another.’ So for ther fall by the wayside or choose to live Smith it was not the polity [community] away … in some walled-off valley of their which came first, but the market. We see own.” Market economies have thrived for how the community that nourishes the centuries by ruthless competition, in an virtues is displaced by this loose agglom- economic Darwinism where the strongest erate of individuals in trade. Doubtless led survive by devouring the others. Global- on by the flow of his argument, Smith ization, says Friedman (1999, p. 41), abandoned the elaborate cautions of his “… put this process into hyperspeed in the moral philosophy and famously observed 1980s, requiring companies and countries that it is not to the benevolence of the to move much faster in order to avoid di- butcher that we owe our dinner, but to saster.” the appeal to his self-interest.” The reduction of humans to Homo Thus, Gorringe (1999, p. 30) goes on economicus does not alleviate the anguish to say, “Homo sapiens is reduced to Homo that a global free-market system driven by economicus, the rational utility maximizer, constant change at ever-increasing speed of whom it is assumed that self-interest, generates. Surely we must recognize that expressed primarily through the quest for competition as a way of life is ultimately financial gain, is his main concern.” Since destructive and in contradiction to the life globalization is primarily a globalization of the gospel. A socio-economic system of the Western free-market economy, the that thrives only when there is fierce com- market view of humans is that they are globalization and world evangelism 65 petition may indeed generate better the world, of American worship music CD- medical treatment and improved food pro- ROMs and tapes, and the trend toward duction. But its longer-term implications “seeker friendly” services copied from need serious and continuous assessment. America. While other societies have inter- Its implicit moral tenet is that each of us national projection and influence, none must fend for ourselves because there is comes close to matching the extent of no one else who is for us. American influence. But does this projection of American Christianity worldwide Effects on result in the global church being enriched American Culture by deeper spirituality and more serious We have seen that globalization is not missiology? culturally neutral. It is heavily marked and I must make the following caution at shaped by American culture, as Friedman this point. It is very important that the points out. Various authors have exten- reader not conclude that this is merely a sively documented this fact, and I will not generalized criticism of American believ- elaborate on it, except as it relates to the ers or specifically of American missionar- Christian missions movement. In sum- ies. It is simply a factor to take into account mary, all we have to do is to travel to any as we consider the impact of globalization country in the world, including some on world missions. It would be unprofit- small towns in under-developed countries, able and unjust to fault all American be- to see the presence of American culture, lievers for what obviously is not of their whether in the music coming out of radio doing. Neither does their cultural locus boxes, the brand names found in sports disqualify them for effective participation shoes and tee-shirts (in fact, the practice in the international missions enterprise. of wearing sports shoes and tee-shirts My point is simply to say that the role of merely as fashion is itself an Americanism), Americans in missions requires a more the long lines of applicants for visas in complex self-assessment in light of their American consulates, and the billboards society’s place in the globalization phe- advertising American products. Again, glo- nomenon. balization is not neutral. It has given all of Implications us, regardless of nationality, the wonders of Cultural Bias of the portable computer. Yet, it is Ameri- can-based Intel and Microsoft which make What are the implications for missions it possible for us to use it. This means that of this cultural bias in favor of the United globalization provides a home-culture fla- States? First of all, a missions movement vor for American mission personnel that so steeped in the dominant culture that is not experienced by missionaries of any drives globalization is bound to reflect, other country. This reality says that the role consciously or unconsciously, elements of of Americans in missions is not simply that the prevailing value system. It is easy to of just another cultural group, but of a discern in American missions thinking group whose culture and values have a certain traits that reflect the economic glo- major influence in shaping the trend and balization mindset, things such as numeri- values of globalization. cal thinking, pragmatism, efficiency, and More specific to our missions topic, we continuous quantifiable growth, to name note the predominance of American au- the more obvious. thors in Christian bookstores throughout 66 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Second, the American church has been ers must work very hard simply not to fall predominant in leading and shaping the further behind. Americans, we have seen, modern missions movement, at least since are at the front of the tidal wave, with some the end of World War II. That means that European and Asian countries close be- for much of the promising emerging mis- hind and matching the pace. But the vast sions movements from Latin America, Af- majority of the peoples of the world are rica, Asia, and even Eastern Europe today, lumped together in a very distant third the most visible missions model is Ameri- place. Though people from all countries can. In this sense, American missions lead- can experience globalization, not all can ers have a burden that they may not have participate in shaping it or reaping its ben- chosen to carry, but it is theirs neverthe- efits. less. They must pay particular attention Globalization is experienced differ- to how globalization trends, so closely tied ently by people near its front and people to American culture as it is projected at the rear. Like the paralytic at the pool around the world, shape their missions of Siloam, those in weaker and less stable model and how this model is unwittingly economies are too far from the water’s reproduced. edge, and there is always someone who Third, missions thinkers and practitio- plunges in first whenever the angel stirs ners from the emerging missions move- the water. That someone will most likely ments around the world, and even from be an American, Japanese, or Northern Eu- Western Europe, can in good faith help ropean. It is easy to say that with global- Americans see beyond their cultural blind ization we are all part of the same reality. spots (all cultures have them). But Ameri- Yet some Christians live in a Western coun- cans must be helped to divest themselves try with a negligible unemployment rate, of undue valuation derived from the free- while others live where unemployment market globalization, values such as the reaches 50% to 60%. In countries near the primacy of efficiency, continuous quanti- front of the globalization tidal wave, the fiable growth, excessive pragmatism, and church parking garages are full of relatively numerical thinking as applied to the work new automobiles. Churches in countries of missions. at the rear may not even have paint on the walls, much less own a parking garage Unequal Distribution or have members who drive cars. Though signs of a global economy and Implications for missions accompanying value systems can be seen For the missions movement, it is sig- nearly everywhere, it is important to un- nificant that most of the still unreached derstand that globalization is not experi- peoples of the earth belong to countries enced equally by everyone. It is possible that bring up the rear of globalization. to believe that globalization has made us What are some of the implications of this all equal in the face of the market forces reality? that shape us. But this is not true. As we First, we must discern this fact beyond pointed out before, globalization has ex- superficial appearances. When I traveled panded the free-market economy into through the rural communities of Chiapas world scale. That means that those societ- in southern Mexico, I was intrigued by the ies with a longer history of an innovative extensive Coca-Cola distribution network. free-market economy have a decided ad- Coca-Cola signs appeared frequently vantage. They set the pace, and the oth- along the roads, and occasionally I saw globalization and world evangelism 67

Coca-Cola warehouses and trucks, reflect- ence in the world missions movement ing a fairly extended distribution system. unless we find a way to shift the weight Signs of Western commercialism in places away from globalization-generated values. like Chiapas, Mexico, may give the impres- What adjustments can Western believers sion that globalization is more evenly make to minimize this imbalance? spread than is true. The view from the rear In Chiapas, rural peasants still cultivate small plots of land for daily survival. In Significantly, globalization is predomi- West Kalimantan, among the Dayaks I vis- nantly a Western concept, and from there ited two years ago, the drink offered to us it spreads to other economically power- was not Coca-Cola but coconut milk, ful nations. It was primarily born of a West- which our host obtained by climbing one ern reality and shaped and defined by of the coconut trees on his property, har- Western paradigms. Paradigms define the vesting a few coconuts, opening them with nature of problems and limit the range of a machete, and serving the nourishing, solutions. It is not surprising, then, that it fresh, cool liquid to us. These people are is the Westerners in the missions move- a little farther away from the reach of glo- ment that seem more at home with the balization. With or without Coke, the least subject and more likely to engage it. What reached peoples of the world—with the does globalization look like to those near exception of a small elite—still do not di- the rear? What perspective can they bring rectly participate in the global economy. to the missions movement and the remain- It can be argued that indirectly or not, they ing task of world evangelization? Perhaps are part of it. But the fact that a Chiapas they can help us see world evangelization Indian may have become addicted to Coca- as more than a task we must accomplish. Cola does not mean that he is ready to They can help us to see where the com- understand the new language of global- petitive urge of free-market economics ization. contradicts the Scriptures and can help us Second, failure to recognize the un- to correct our thinking. They may also help even impact of globalization around the us, among other things, to see that things world has implications for missionary that seem like virtues for those living at training. The preparation and training of the front end of globalization may not look missionaries to reach the remaining un- like virtues at all from a biblical perspec- reached may not need to differ very much tive. And the fact is that both in Scripture from the way pioneering missionaries and history, most of the advance of the were trained. Yet the pace of socio-eco- people of God has taken place in contexts nomic development in mission-sending of weakness, poverty, and uncertainty. countries may pressure mission agencies It is essential for the health of the mis- into more sophisticated and complex sions movement that we really listen to models of ministry, which make heavy use Christians from the rear. Those at the front of technology and may be less effective in may not be able to see and value the won- the host countries. derful things God is doing through his Third, the unevenness with which glo- church elsewhere. balization distributes resources and allo- cates control of decision-making, favoring Missions as an Antidote those near the front of the trend, means Missiologist, missionary, and anthro- that Western mission efforts will continue pologist Don Richardson faced criticism to have a disproportionately greater influ- from non-Christian anthropologists that 68 establishing the macro context of the major issues he and all missionaries are harmful to the lated minority cultures must eventually be culture of the people they seek to evange- overwhelmed by the commercial and po- lize. Some secular anthropologists charge litical expansion of the majority peoples.” that the introduction of a new religion Missions today still can perform a sig- disrupts benevolent age-old beliefs and nificant service to the nations by giving customs that define the values of persons them a new set of values—God-given within that culture, thus creating insecu- values with which they can judge all eco- rity and leading to the breakdown of the nomic systems, including the alien incur- cultures altogether. Richardson ably cor- sions of global market forces. Are new rects the critics by pointing out that long believers resulting from our missions work before the missionary comes to a people, becoming equipped to judge the pattern their doom is already sealed by the incur- of this world, or is our missions work sion of profiteers and adventurers (includ- merely helping make them more compli- ing the anthropologists who supposedly ant with it? This equipping of the new study these peoples in supposed neu- saints is not a peripheral by-product of trality), who introduce destructive new missions, but central to it. But in order to elements such as destruction of the envi- equip effectively, we must ourselves: ronment, liquor abuse, and new forms of 1. Understand the nature and power diseases. Missionaries, on the other hand, of globalization, not merely separating the actually bring to the peoples of the world products that are beneficial from those a set of values that are much more likely that are harmful, but discerning the value to enable them to resist the incursions of system that is communicated by globali- this incipient globalization. Though accel- zation’s very existence and nature. erated to the point where it covers the 2. Recognize the degree to which glo- globe and is making itself nearly irresist- balization may have already begun to re- ible to any human culture, globalization shape our worldview and take steps to has manifested itself to some degree for renew our minds through the Scriptures. centuries. 3. Reaffirm (for some of us, perhaps One of my favorite books is the biog- even rediscover) a biblical worldview that raphy of John Paton, missionary to the places Christ and his church above world New Hebrides more than a century ago. trends, whether economic, political, cul- One of his frustrations was the fact that tural, or religious. British colonial authorities did nothing to police the European merchants and profi- Mission Partnerships teers who introduced the liquor, diseases, and Globalization and firearms that caused irreparable dam- The face of the church today has age to the indigenous peoples to whom changed dramatically since 100 years ago. he ministered. Over 100 years ago, Paton, • The church has changed geographi- like Richardson, worked hard to prepare cally: In 1900, most Evangelical believers these people for the growing, irreversible were in North America, England, and onslaught of globalization in its earlier Northwest Europe. Today, these regions expressions. As Richardson (1992, p. C- comprise perhaps only 25% of the world- 144) states: “There are reasons why mis- wide Evangelical church. sionaries had to go into isolated areas like • The church has changed ethnically: Irian Jaya as soon as they could. History The church the Lord sees from his throne has taught them that even the most iso- today has many more people from Asia, globalization and world evangelism 69

Africa, and Latin America than from North Finally, we must return to the begin- America and Europe. ning. Globalization is a logical develop- • The church has changed intellectu- ment of a secular world system. It is the ally: No longer are theological thinking best one can expect of a world resistant and understanding coming predominantly to the love and the kingdom of God. As from North America and Europe. Godly such, it is grossly inadequate to answer men and women from other continents the pressing deepest anxieties and despair are studying, researching, writing, and of humanity. The church must be careful teaching on an equal footing with their not to be too comfortable in the company North American and European colleagues. of globalization. The church is the wor- • The church has changed dynami- shiping community of God, the one legiti- cally: Today, most of the growth of the mate unifying structure for the peoples of church worldwide is generated locally and the world. I believe the history of Babel nationally, rather than provoked and led was recorded precisely to help us under- by expatriates. stand this. It was humankind’s best effort We would be seriously mistaken if we to unite all peoples into one world com- assumed that these factors are just another munity. God rejected it as unfit for the pur- expression of some religious version of the pose. He offers instead a new community wider globalization trend. They are, rather, through the seed of Abraham, the church. the expression of the sovereignty of God We are the alternative. The church today in Christ, manifest in his church to fulfill must stand to globalization as Abraham his Great Commission. stood to Babel (see Gen. 11:1-8; 12:1-3). Globalization is not the enemy, but it is a Back to the Beginning bad answer to the problem of the fall and This encouraging state of the border- fragmentation of humanity, and it will fail, less church of Christ today offers us a just as Babel failed. marvelous opportunity to learn new ways “Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of working together. We must abandon, of power! In one hour your doom has through newly acquired mental and spiri- come! The merchants of the earth will tual disciplines, any trace of paternalism, weep and mourn over her because no one cultural resentment, or cultural blinders buys their cargoes anymore … articles of that might cause us to miss the blessing every kind … and bodies and souls of that comes from brothers and sisters from men” (Rev. 18:10-13). other cultures. Nigerians and North Ameri- Our mission remains, as always, to cans, Koreans and Brazilians, Filipinos and bring to the stranded peoples of the world Chinese, Swedes and Malays, and believ- the invitation to join the community of the ers in every nation on earth form the one God of Abraham and become the kingdom universal church, the people of the God of the Lord and of his Christ, who shall of Abraham, “a holy nation, a people be- reign forever and ever in a truly universal longing to God” (1 Pet. 2:9). In contrast kingdom. to the doomed Babel of our day, we live References like strangers in a foreign country, looking forward together to the “city with foun- Ellul, J. (1989). The presence of the kingdom. dations, whose architect and builder is Colorado Springs, CO: Helmers & Howard. God” (Heb. 11:10). Friedman, T. L. (1999). The Lexus and the olive tree. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 70 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Gorringe, T. J. (1999). Fair shares: Ethics and the global economy. New York: Thames & Hudson. Lewis, C. S. (1946). That hideous strength: A modern fairy-tale for grown-ups. New York: The Macmillan Company. Luttwak, E. N. (1999). Turbo-capitalism: Win- ners and losers in the global economy. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Richardson, D. (1992). Do missionaries de- stroy cultures? In R. D. Winter & S. C. Hawthorne (Eds.), Perspectives on the world Christian movement: A reader (rev. Alex Araujo was born in Brazil. His parents ed.) (pp. C-137–C-148). Pasadena, CA: Wil- were among the first-generation Evangelicals liam Carey Library. in his home town. Alex and his wife Katy have Sine, T. (1999). Mustard seed versus McWorld: three children. Araujo has become bicultural Reinventing life and faith for the future. after many years in the United States. He has Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. served with the IFES in Portugal and with the COMIBAM 87 steering committee in Brazil. He served for 10 years as Director of Interna- tional Operations with Partners International and is currently serving with Interdev as a consultant in contextualization and cross- cultural partnership dynamics. Araujo has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in international relations from San Jose State University, California. 6

N JANUARY 1999, England reeled under the shocking news Christ I that Glen Hoddle, the coach of the England national football team, had been sacked. This was not for failure on the and the football field (though that would have been justified enough!) but because of remarks he made about the disabled. Hoddle mosaic of had a Christian religious experience some years ago which led to his being called a “born-again Christian.” However, pluralisms more recently he has embraced a form of New Age spirituality under the influence of a spiritual faith-healer, Eileen Drewery. He expressed the view that the disabled are as they Chris are because of their karma from previous lives. It was, indi- Wright rectly, their own fault.1 This statement outraged public sen- timent in Britain and produced a fascinating clash of cultural and ethical worldviews. Hoddle’s view, of course, comes straight from the Hindu roots of much New Age philosophy (though he did not go on to include women as also “suffering” the results of their karma, perhaps fortunately for him, even though that is also part of the re-incarnational Hindu worldview). Interestingly, the response to Hoddle shows up a contradiction in secular pluralism. On the one hand, a “politically correct” ideology wants to affirm the validity of Hindu and New Age “alternative” spiritualities and reject allegedly “absolutist” and “arrogant” Christian claims. Yet on the other

1 Hoddle’s words, in an interview with The Times, were, “You have to come back [in another lifetime] to learn and face some of the things you have done, good and bad. There are too many injus- tices around. You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime.… It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap.”

71 72 establishing the macro context of the major issues hand, it is also very “politically correct” to 2. To suggest what will be key tasks for affirm and defend the disabled (or more Evangelical missiology in relation to them. “correctly,” the “differently abled”). It is not my brief, as I understand it, to What the Hoddle affair shows up is that propose what new mission strategies may in the latter case, the “politically correct” be needed in relation to global pluralities, attitude itself is the legacy of a Christian but rather to focus on what will be the worldview which affirms the value of ev- issues needing to be addressed by Evan- ery unique individual human being and gelical theological reflection that should denies the debilitating and imprisoning undergird our mission activity. doctrine of karma. This contradiction with- I have chosen three examples of in popular religious and moral belief was pluralism that I see as particularly chal- not much noticed, however. Pluralism lenging to Evangelical missiology: herme- does not foster clear thinking about the neutical, religious, and ethical.3 Part of the inconsistencies it is happy to live with. One reason for this selection is that these three version of popular pluralism says, “It forms of pluralism directly challenge three doesn’t matter what you believe so long of the defining marks of Evangelicalism— as you are sincere.” Another version seems our concern for the authority of the Bible, to say, “It does matter what you believe if for the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and for it means insulting the weak.” But those transformed living according to biblical who so vociferously adopt the latter view ethical standards. These three are also would probably not like to be told that central to an Evangelical understanding such a view is itself strongly indebted to of mission, which flows from our under- the biblical and Christian worldview. standing of the scriptural mandate, pro- This example from recent British life claims that Jesus Christ alone is Lord and illustrates how popular spirituality and Saviour, and aims to produce transformed opinions about ethical and social issues human lives and communities. are profoundly influenced by a great plu- I fully realise that this is an inadequate rality of religious worldviews, some being selection—there is a plurality of plural- new forms of pre-Christian paganism, oth- isms! Even pluralism itself is changing. ers being very ancient Oriental religious However, it is hoped that those reading fundamentals re-packaged in Western this sketch will helpfully fill out the gaps forms. in my own presentation, and that other paper writers will address issues that I am The Task well aware of but have not felt able to ad- My understanding of the task assigned dress in the confines of this paper. This to me in this paper is two-fold: would especially include the plurality of 1. To survey some of the forms of plu- contextualized Christologies and the mis- ralism that lie behind the pluralities of our siologies that flow from them. I have also world as we enter the new millennium.2 chosen not to discuss the inner plurality

2 I will use the term plurality to denote the empirical phenomena of social, political, ethnic, religious, etc. variety. Pluralism denotes the usually relativistic ideologies that support or respond to those phenomena. Plurality is simply an observable fact of life. Pluralism is a philosophy. I shall try to maintain this distinction. 3 In the first draft of this paper, I also included ethnic/political pluralism, but I have omitted that variety now, since some aspects of that phenomenon are discussed in Samuel Escobar’s paper (see chapter 3), under the heading “Globalization and Contextualization.” christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 73 to be found within Evangelical missiology tics and history.4 Among the features of itself (though I refer briefly to it under modernity that are particularly relevant to “Religious Pluralism” below). the Christian confrontation with various pluralisms are those listed by Andrew An Age of Walker (1996, ch. 5): the rise of the na- Enormous Transition tion-state, the establishment of functional Finally, by way of introduction, it is vi- rationality, the emergence of structural tal that we give full recognition to the tran- (epistemological) pluralism, the emer- sition from modernity to post-modernity gence of cultural pluralism, a worldview that is taking place in a very patchy way dominated by science and the idea of around the world, together with the im- progress, and the growth of individualism. plications not only for the practice of By post-modernity I am referring to the Christian mission, but also for the task of shift in Western intellectual and popular missiology. This is not to ignore the fact culture that began in the 1960s and 1970s. that in some parts of the world, the tran- It is helpful to distinguish the intellectual sition is still more from pre-modernity into and the popular forms of post-modernity modernity itself. However, it is the case and, furthermore, in each case to observe that some forms of pluralism that Chris- that there are negative and positive aspects 5 tian missiology must address are the to the form. product of post-Enlightenment modernity, Intellectual post-modernism whereas others are the product of the Intellectually, through the work of such post-modern reaction to modernity itself. as Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida, and Bau- Religious pluralism, for example, actually drillard, the whole Enlightenment project exhibits a variety of forms that have roots was exposed as having faulty foundations. in the intellectual and cultural soil of both The negative or “deconstructing” acids modernity and post-modernity. Missiologi- included the observation that so-called cal response, as we shall see below, must “objective and factual truth” depends on discern and distinguish these different all kinds of assumptions, which are them- roots when confronting different brands selves relative and questionable. Foucault of religious pluralism. pointed out that these hidden assump- By modernity I am referring to the ep- tions also frequently functioned as an in- och of Western civilization that began with herent ideology of Euro-centric power and the Renaissance, flourished in the wake hegemony. Language itself is no longer of the Enlightenment, and has reached its seen as referential (referring to real ob- zenith in 19th and 20th century cultures jects) but symbolic (a system of signs). The dominated by the triumphs of science and post-modern intellectual world is charac- technology. Its dominant characteristic has terized by relativism, with all attempts at been the exaltation of autonomous human finding meaning doomed to being noth- reason and the application of reason to ing more than arbitrary and changing so- every realm of life. There are many excel- cial constructions. lent analyses of modernity’s characteris-

4 See, for example, Sampson, Samuel, & Sugden (1994); Giddens (1990); and Walker (1996). 5 In the section that follows, I am dependent on the helpful outline that explores these distinctions provided by Craig Van Gelder (n.d.). 74 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Not all intellectual post-modern cul- It may well be, therefore, that Chris- ture is negative in this way, however. There tian mission in the 21st century will find are those who helpfully explore the rela- that some aspects of the post-modern tivity of all our knowing, without accept- worldview are more compatible with ing utter relativism. The position known bringing the gospel to certain cultures as critical realism accepts that there is an than the values of modernity, which have objective real world out there (physically unfortunately characterized much Western and historically) which we can know, but mission. it insists that we need to be constantly criti- Popular post-modernism cal of our own capacity to know it with any finality or completeness. All our know- Turning to the popular side of post- ing is embedded in culture, history, and modernity, popular culture manifests the community, but that does not invalidate same ambiguity of negative and positive it. We may never be able to know fully or forms of post-modernity. Negatively, there perfectly, but that does not mean we can- is the brutal nihilism of some forms of art not know anything. So we need to be and cinema. Life is meaningless: so what? humble (shedding Enlightenment arro- The failure and emptiness of so much of gance) but not despairing.6 the promise inherent in the mythology of In another way also, post-modernity modernity have led to a great deal of pes- returns to perspectives on human life and simism in Western life, as well as a very history which have been and still are held shallow attitude of “get what you can from by substantial sections of the human race the present: there isn’t much future to who have not yet been engulfed by the look forward to.” Enlightenment assumptions of Western- But post-modernity has its positive side style modernity. I quote here from help- in popular culture as well. There are the ful comments made on the first draft of more vibrant forms of playfulness, collage, my paper by Miriam Adeney: irony, and symbolism of much contempo- “Post-modernism has a number of as- rary culture. Mix and match; switch im- pects which may have positive dimensions. ages; plunder the past and mix it with the For example: (1) Subject and object can- present and future; don’t look for depth not be disconnected. (2) Fact and value but enjoy the surface; life is a carnival to cannot be disconnected. (3) History is not be enjoyed, not a drama to be understood. necessarily progressing. (4) Cultures are Furthermore, post-modernity celebrates not necessarily ranked. (5) Truth is expe- diversity of culture, whereas modernity rienced in multiple and incomplete ways, pushes for uniformity and homogeniza- including paradox and ambiguity. (6) If tion of human life into secular, scientific, there is a meta-narrative, it is not based and materialistic categories. on Enlightenment categories. Again, Miriam Adeney in her comments “Post-modernism is not really a prob- on the earlier draft of this paper warned lem for much of the world, who always against regarding plurality as a bad or be- have seen the sense of the above six per- wildering thing. She says, “I like to think spectives and so are not disturbed by their of God’s glorious multicultural kaleido- rise in the post-modern period.” scope. I view cultures as treasure chests

6 See Best & Kellner (1991, pp. 256-304). A helpful exposition of “critical realism” in relation to biblical history is provided by the outstanding Evangelical New Testament scholar N. T. Wright (1992, pp. 31-46). christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 75 of symbols for exuberant expression of is especially so for Evangelicals, because the image of God. It’s true that people (as of our commitment to attaining a theol- sinners) create patterns of idolatry and ogy of mission that can be defended as exploitation in every culture. Equally, how- “biblical.” The problem is, what does it ever, people (in God’s image) create pat- mean to be “biblical,” and who decides terns of beauty, wisdom, and kindness in when you are or are not being “biblical”? every culture.” Enlightenment modernity constrained I fully agree and would say that post- biblical hermeneutics into the straitjacket modernity’s celebration of cultural di- of the historical-critical method and a form versity is a lot closer to the Bible’s own of “modern scientific exegesis” that ex- affirmation of “every tribe and nation and cluded the transcendent from Scripture as language” than is the homogenizing anti- sharply as autonomous rationality ex- culture of modernity. cluded it from the natural sciences. But, It is important, then, to be aware of as Brueggemann and others have point- the fact that we live in an age of transi- edly made clear, the myth of neutrality, of tion—and it is not neat. People and soci- scientific objectivity, concealed a Western eties do not go to bed one night “modern” hegemony in biblical studies that tended and wake up the next day “post-modern.” to stifle all other voices or readings. There is an inter-layering between moder- Post-modernity, with its rejection of all nity, late or hyper-modernity (the “Mc- hegemonies and deep suspicion of all World” phenomenon (Sine, 1999) of the claims to “scientific objectivity,” finality, globalized, multi-national, capitalist and universality, has challenged the criti- world), and post-modernity. At the same cal hermeneutical consensus on Scripture time, of course, large sections of human- as well and has opened up a world of al- ity are bound to a religious worldview in most infinite plurality of readings and in- which the philosophical issues of moder- terpretations. At one level, this has had nity and post-modernity are largely irrel- the exhilarating effect of giving a place in evant or are treated with scathing dismissal the sun to a great variety of contextual as evidence of the poverty of “Western re- readings of the Scripture which are not ligion.” The challenge to missiology is to bound to the historical-critical method. know which world we are addressing in There is value in recognizing the relativ- any given context, which world the church ity of all hermeneutics. A positive benefit itself is identified with, and what chal- of the post-modern shift in biblical stud- lenges the gospel presents to each of the ies is that you don’t have to submit your interwoven worldviews.7 interpretation of Scripture to a single ac- crediting agency—the Western critical Hermeneutical guild of scholarship. On the other hand, Pluralism the post-modern rejection of any founda- The transition from modernity to post- tion or grounds on which we might affirm modernity is producing some fascinating a reading of the biblical text to be right or effects in the world of biblical herme- wrong opens up an uncontrolled relativ- neutics, which have knock-on effects in ism. The plurality of contexts in which the missiology, since so many missiological text is read and heard becomes a plural- issues are hermeneutical in essence. This ism of approach that has no limits or con-

7 Helpful discussion of these interwoven phenomena is to be found in Van Gelder (1996). 76 establishing the macro context of the major issues trols in relation to the truth of the text. meaning of any biblical text is to be found Indeed, such an approach questions by going back to the origins of the text. whether the very concept of “the truth of Exegesis is fundamentally based on recov- the text” is meaningful. The text can have ering the author’s intent. This then in- as many meanings as there are readers and volves the grammatico-historical method. contexts. By means of textual criticism, lexical and I believe 21st century missiology will semantic study, words, syntax, and gram- have to wrestle with a doctrine of Scrip- mar, the exegete seeks to answer the ques- ture that moves beyond the way Evangeli- tion, “What did this author actually say, cal scholarship has tended to defend the and what did the words mean at the inspiration and authority of the Bible with time?” A vital step in this process is to “set the concepts and methods of modernity the text in its context” or rather, its con- itself, towards a more dynamic under- texts, which will include canonical, histori- standing of the authority and role of the cal, social, and cultural contexts. Then, Bible in a post-modern world. And I think further, all the tools of critical study, some- this will be one of the biggest challenges times collectively described as the his- for Christian theology in the 21st century, torico-critical method, will be employed since there is no mission without the au- to explore the origins of the text before thority of Christ himself, and our access us. These include source criticism, form to that authority depends upon the Scrip- criticism, redaction criticism, etc. The com- tures. So, a major missiological task for mon aim is to get as close as possible to Evangelical theology will be a fresh ar- understanding what the original author(s) ticulation of the authority of the Bible of the text meant to communicate through and its relation to Christ’s authorization its production, collection, and preserva- of our mission. tion. Faced with the basic hermeneutical There are several obvious strengths in question, “What does this biblical text such an approach: mean?” scholars have tended to focus on • It seems to be the “common sense” one of three possible locations for the real approach. It assumes that meaning starts source of “meaning” in texts: (1) the in the mind of the author; when some- author(s), (2) the text itself, or (3) the body speaks or writes, he or she intends reader(s). I would like to look at each of to communicate some meaning which the these three focal points. First, I will very hearer/reader is meant to understand. This briefly describe each one and evaluate approach respects the priority of author- some key strengths and weaknesses. Then intent. I would like in each case to explore not • Author-centred focus tries to take only how they relate to the contemporary an objective approach, arguing for some plurality of cultures and religions, but also core of stable meaning in each text, which how cultural and religious plurality was is in principle recoverable by the exegete. actually a major factor in the ancient bib- • This approach offers some control lical context in which the text emerged over the hermeneutical process by setting and which it addressed. limits/boundaries to possible meanings. It enables some adjudication of legitimate Author-centred focus and illegitimate interpretations. We may This hermeneutical approach, which is agree that a text could have several pos- common to Evangelical as well as more sible meanings but also agree that some critical interpretation, assumes that the meanings are impossible. This does not christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 77 guarantee “certainty”—there is always the expense of teleology (i.e., at the ex- room for disagreement among readers. pense of seeking the purpose of some- But there is an assumption that we can thing). Science explains by reducing know enough to get a reasonably close phenomena to their smallest parts and by approximation to what the author prob- seeking causes of how things have become ably meant to say. what they are. It does not ask, “What is • The importance of paying attention this for?” Similarly, some critical exegesis to the authors of biblical texts also lies in of the Bible breaks the text up into ever their character as witnesses (directly or smaller sources and then explores the ori- indirectly) to the story of salvation. It is gins, history, and structure for the small- assumed that biblical texts are referential. est possible units of the text, but it does That is, they actually refer to real events not answer the question, “Yes, but what is in the real world—events in which God this book as a whole actually saying? What has acted for our salvation. The world of is this text for? What does it do?” the biblical authors is the world where • Author-centred focus treats the text things happened that constitute the gos- as a window, through which we can gain pel. The biblical text is like a window to access to the authors’ own world. How- that world. Using the Bible among the re- ever, exclusive attention to that world ligions must therefore mean telling the (“the world behind the text”) can obscure story which makes it good news, not the fact that the purpose of a window is merely treating it as a quarry of religious also to let the light shine into the room of ideas and ideals for comparison, admira- the observer—i.e., it can overlook (or ex- tion, or exchange. clude) the revelatory function of the bib- • This last point highlights the futil- lical text. The text is not there simply to ity of the question, “Is there salvation in shed light on the world of ancient Israel other religions?” Such a question over- or the early church, but to be “a light to looks the primary nature of salvation in my path.” In other words, an Evangelical the Bible, namely, as something that God approach to the Bible recognizes that “au- has done in and through the story which thor-intent” is not confined to the human the Bible relates. Other religions do not author but must also include the intent save, not because they are inferior as reli- of the divine Author whose message ad- gions in some way, but because religion dresses every human context through itself does not save anybody. God does. these inspired texts. Other religions do not tell the story, this In what way, then, does an author- story. This is also why we cannot accept centred focus relate to religious plurality? the substitution of the scriptures of other It is vital to remember that the biblical religions for the Old Testament. authors did not speak or write in a vac- But there are also some dangers if we uum: religious plurality was often a fac- focus exclusively on the search for the tor in their contexts just as much as ours. original author’s intent: Their “intended meaning” was related to • Obsession with origins can obscure their world. We do not just look for a the purpose of the text. The expression sealed package of “original meaning” and “modern scientific criticism” reveals the then seek to apply it to our context of fact that the rise of the critical approach mission in the midst of plurality; we need to the text went hand in hand with En- to recognize that what they meant in their lightenment modernity’s preference for context was itself shaped by the missional explaining everything by finding causes at 78 establishing the macro context of the major issues engagement of God and God’s people • Colossians. The uniqueness and with the world around them. supremacy of Jesus Christ are upheld, in Here are a few examples in which reli- the midst of the surrounding mixture of gious plurality is clearly part of the con- paganism, early Gnosticism, Jewish ritu- text of the author’s world and needs to als, and mystery cults. be taken into account when interpreting • Revelation. Jesus is limned as the the text in question: Lord of history, against a background of • Exodus 15, the song of Moses. The the sinister threat of emperor worship and polemical affirmation of the kingship of the state cult of Rome. Yahweh is made in the context of a power So, it seems to me that we will get encounter with Pharoah’s claim to divin- a closer understanding—a better under- ity. standing—of the author’s original mean- • Joshua 24:14f. “Choose today …,” ing when we actually take into account the whether Mesopotamian gods of the ances- worlds of religious plurality in which they tors or the gods of Egypt or of Canaan. lived and therefore feel the contrast, feel The monotheistic covenantal choice of the way in which these words are being Yahweh was made in the context of ac- emphasised. Our use of the Bible in the knowledged religious plurality which was world of modern religious pluralism will part of the roots and background of the be greatly helped in its missional sharp- people of Israel. ness if we give more attention to the reli- • Hosea, confronted with the syncre- gious pluralism that was part of the world tism of Baal cults with Yahwism, takes the of the biblical authors themselves. offensive by using the sexual nature of the Text-centred focus former as a source of language and imagery to portray the “married” relationship This approach believes that meaning of Yahweh and Israel. By presenting the is to be found in the text itself. The mean- covenant relationship as a marriage, he ing is regarded as an artifact, that is, some- can then portray Israel’s covenant unfaith- thing of human construction—like a fulness as adultery and prostitution. But painting, a piece of music, or a sculpture, in doing so, he is exploiting the sexual which can be appreciated for itself, no imagery of the very religious corruption matter who produced it or why. The text he is attacking. is not so much a window that we look • Isaiah 40–55. The great affirma- through to some world beyond itself as it tions of Yahweh’s sovereignty over nations, is a painting that we look at. A painting history, and “the gods” are made against can even be made to look exactly like a the background of the grand claims of window, giving the illusion of some ob- Babylonian gods—especially the astral jective reality outside itself, but it is still deities (40:26) and state gods (46:1-2). merely a painting, a work of human art- • Genesis 1. Israel’s monotheistic istry. So, as applied to biblical texts, this understanding of creation is affirmed approach pays little attention to the au- against contemporary Ancient Near East- thor and his or her intentions (which we ern mythology, polytheism, astrology, etc. cannot know for certain anyway). The text • John. The conflict with elements of now has an existence and a meaning of Judaism that rejected the messianic claims its own, to be appreciated for its own sake of Jesus and his early followers is por- as a work of literary art and craft. trayed. This approach has developed the use of many helpful tools of literary analysis christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 79 and tends to engage in close reading of verbal inspiration; the choice of words texts, paying careful attention to all the matters. fine detail of a narrative or poem, in the • A literary approach helps us to un- same way that an art connoisseur will ap- derstand how meaning is carried by the preciate every brush stroke of a master form of a text and not just by its content. painter. Literary appreciation of biblical We need to look not only at what is writ- literature will include, for example: ten, but also at how it has been written. • Genre identification – What kind of • Paradoxically also, a text-centred literature is this, and how is it to be read? approach respects the author, not so much • Literary conventions – How do sto- on the assumption that we can recover the ries, poems, etc., actually work? How do author’s intended meaning, but that we they engage and affect us when we read can admire the author’s artistry. them? • Such an approach can go along with • Narrative art – Setting, plot, char- the conviction that, strictly speaking (e.g., acters, suspense, irony, perspective, gap- 2 Tim. 3:16), inspiration is a property of ping, patterning, word-play, etc. the texts of Scripture, not of the authors • Poetic art – Economy of words, im- or of the pre-canonical sources, etc. There- agery, metaphor, parallelism, poetic fig- fore, indirectly, a close literary reading of ures, chiasmus/concentricity, climax, the biblical texts is a compliment to the contrast, symbolism, etc. divine Author as well (on an Evangelical Literary approaches to the biblical text understanding). often bring out all sorts of layers of mean- • A text-centred approach treats the ing and significance that have been em- great variety of biblical texts with integ- bedded by the skill, the thought, the art, rity by genuinely listening to their pluri- and the craft of the human author to vocality—i.e., the internal dialectic of whom God was entrusting the message views and perspectives, which often seem that was to be conveyed by the medium in uncomfortable opposition to one an- of literature. other. It resists flattening everything out In evaluating this text-focused, literary or squeezing everything into a univocal approach to biblical hermeneutics, we system. This is a major emphasis in recent may observe several strengths and values: post-modern hermeneutics.8 • The Bible is great literature: it can But there are also, of course, dangers and should be appreciated at that level. in a literary approach which focuses ex- There is no necessary conflict between clusively on the text itself without concern believing in divine inspiration and appre- for the identity or the world of the author. ciating human artistry. (“Never mind the history; feel the art.”) • Literary approaches tend to be • Literary approaches to the text can more wholistic (that is, they tend to treat sometimes totally ignore history. If the fas- passages or books as a whole), yet at the cination with literary art leads us to dis- same time they pay very close attention to miss the historical question, “Did it really the fine details of the text. This is conso- happen?” then we have problems with the nant with an Evangelical commitment to biblical faith, which is actually rooted in

8 Cf. especially the later work of Brueggemann (1997a, 1997b), who rightly highlights how the Bible itself has counter-pointing voices and traditions (exodus and exile, covenant and judgement, hymn and lament, etc.), which need to be given their full expression and not explained, excused, or excluded. 80 establishing the macro context of the major issues history. Now we may make allowances for former as a source of language and imag- “narrative liberty”—that is, we may be will- ery to portray the “married” relationship ing to accept that not every single detail of Yahweh and Israel. By presenting the in the way a story has been told mirrors covenant relationship as a marriage, he precisely “what actually happened if you’d can then portray Israel’s covenant unfaith- been there.” But it is possible for real his- fulness as adultery and prostitution. But tory to be told as a good story and for a in doing so, he is exploiting the sexual good story to be grounded in real history. imagery of the very religious corruption The “having-happenedness” of the bibli- he is attacking. cal story is very important and should not • Some Psalms make use of be lost sight of when we look at the art by Canaanite mythology. For example, Psalm which that story was written. 48:1-3 uses the mythological “city of the • A purely literary approach can lead great king,” which in Baal epics was situ- to texts being read without reference to ated in the far north, to describe the his- their place in the canon and therefore in torical city of Yahweh, Jerusalem. Other the story of Scripture as a whole. One can psalms employ Canaanite poetic metres, focus on a text and appreciate its literary such as Psalm 93, which also portrays qualities and even be moved by it, yet re- Yahweh as triumphant over the mighty main untouched by its significance as part mythological enemy, the sea. of the whole word of God to humanity. • Isaiah 51:9-10 and Ezekiel 29:1-6 • Unbalanced commitment to unre- make use of Ancient Near Eastern dragon/ solved plurivocality of the texts (favoured monster mythology to describe Yahweh’s by post-modern interpretation) results in judgement on Egypt, both in the Exodus the loss of any real finality or normativity: and in the defeat by Babylon. all we have is a constant oscillation of per- • Ezekiel 1 uses familiar Ancient spectives. This seems to me an abuse of Near Eastern religious art and statuary, but the plurality of the Bible’s texts. It is the he transcends these objects in portraying opposite danger to the tendency to flat- the dynamic sovereignty and glory of ten the whole Bible out into a single Yahweh (e.g., four-headed, bull-legged, monotone message. This is the tendency winged creatures who held up the thrones never to allow the Bible to say anything of gods or rode on wheeled chariots were with finality at all. well known in Ancient Near Eastern ico- Now, what about the religious plural- nography). ity aspect of this focus? It is important to • Paul in Athens uses Greek poets, recognise—and I think sometimes Evan- yet subverts their religious worldview (Acts gelical scholarship does not adequately 17:24-31). recognise—that the biblical texts them- • John’s Logos was a familiar term selves do use religious language, meta- in Greek philosophy, but John harnesses phors, and symbolism that are drawn from it to full-scale Christological and incarna- the plurality of religions that surrounded tional significance (John 1). the authors, yet without sharing the poly- Such examples raise the age-old theistic worldview that supported such missiological question of whether or how religion. far biblical texts can be preached and • As noted in the previous section, taught, making use of contemporary reli- Hosea, confronted with the syncretism of gious concepts and symbols in our day. Baal cults with Yahwism, takes the offen- Can we re-contextualize the biblical text sive by using the sexual nature of the from an ancient to a modern religious christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 81 milieu, without dissolving the text into every knee will bow; by me every tongue syncretism? If the Bible itself could utilize will swear. They will say of me, ‘In the Lord a plurality of pagan words, symbols, alone are righteousness and strength.’” So, myths, etc., to communicate its mono- the Philippians 2 passage is affirming the theistic and saving message, why should uniqueness of Jesus in the context of Cae- not the church in mission, and in transla- sar worship (religious plurality of the first tion, do the same? But what are the limits century) and building it on the founda- and controls? Again, the hermeneutical tion of the uniqueness of Yahweh in the task is fundamentally a missiological one, context of Babylonian religious plurality and pluralism is the operating context at in the sixth century B.C. Both texts derive both ends of the task, for both the biblical their sharpness and significance from the text and the modern world. plurality of the contexts in which and It needs to be stressed that biblical texts against which they were uttered. From a emphatically reject idolatry in all its forms, missiological perspective, we need to see throughout a very wide span of historical their monotheistic meaning as sharply and cultural contexts: Egyptian, Canaan- defined because of the pluralism that they ite, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Ro- so vigorously deny. man idolatry are all condemned in the Reader-centred focus course of biblical history. In fact, although biblical texts obviously do describe the Let us move on finally, then, to the third religious practice of God’s own people main focus—a reader-centred focus. This (i.e., of Old Testament Israel and of the is a more recent approach, in which New Testament church), there is a strong people bring into the foreground the role textual tradition that is “anti-religious.” of the reader(s) in active interpretation of The Bible undermines the idea that the Bible. religion itself is the solution to human Under an author-centred approach, we problems. More often (in the prophetic looked at the text as a window through perception), it was the most virulent form which we have access to the other world— of the problem itself. (cf. Isa. 1, Jer. 7, Amos the world of the ancient author. Under a 5, Hos. 6, etc.). text-centred approach, we looked at the Some biblical texts make remarkable text as a painting—that is, as a product of universal claims, in the midst of surround- human art and skill, which needs to be ing religious plurality, in relation to the appreciated and understood for its own revelatory and salvific significance of par- sake. Here, under a reader-centred ap- ticular key events (e.g., Deut. 4, Psalm 33, proach, we are thinking more of the text Psalm 24, Isa. 40–55, John 1, Phil. 2, Heb. as a mirror. What can be seen in a mirror 1, etc.). The great claim made for Jesus, depends on who is standing in front of it. for example, in Philippians 2:10-11, was The “contents” of the mirror, in a sense, made in its own context, against the wor- reflect who is looking into it or what ob- ship of Caesar (Caesar is not Lord; Jesus jects are before it. And so, in this view, the is). But it is made on the basis of quoting meaning in the text is not something fixed a text from Isaiah 45:22-24 which is actu- and final in the text—some sort of objec- ally a claim for Yahweh in the context of tive reality. The meaning of the text actu- Babylonian pluralism: “I am God, and ally only arises in the act of reading. It is there is no other. By myself I have sworn, when the reader reads that the text means, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a just as it is only when you look in a mirror word that will not be revoked: Before me 82 establishing the macro context of the major issues that the mirror reflects you. So meaning position geographically (where they live); is the interaction between text and reader. their culture; their position within the Now this approach also reflects the culture (whether at the top or the bot- shift from a modernity paradigm of exege- tom); their social, economic, and politi- sis to a post-modernity paradigm. Under cal interests, and so on. All of these aspects modernity, the reader, rather like a scien- of the readers’ contexts will affect the way tist, was simply the neutral observer of a in which the meaning is articulated and fixed reality which was external to him- applied. There is no such thing as “con- self or herself. An objective “real mean- textless, presuppositionless” exegesis or ing,” like the “real world,” was assumed interpretation. to exist; the task of the interpreter, like How do we evaluate this reader-centred the task of the scientist, was merely to approach? As before, there are positive uncover the meaning. The more post- things to be said, first of all: modern view is to say, “Well, actually, even • There is no doubt, I think, that fo- in science the subjective observer is part cusing on the reader has facilitated fresh of the reality under observation and, in- ways of discovering the relevance of the deed, may change it in the act of observ- text in many modern contexts. The reality ing it.” And so the myth of the “objective of “contextualised theology” is now taken neutral observer” has been somewhat de- for granted, provided we recognise that moted in newer forms of science and is we are all interpreting contextually, be- similarly also being lost in hermeneutics. cause all of us interpret in a particular The reader as subject also is a significant context! Western biblical interpretation part in the whole process. There is no in- has no right to assume that all its insights dependent, final, fixed meaning. And of are “the standard,” while those from other course, we are not the only readers of the continents are “contextualised.” The West biblical text. There are also the original is also a context—and not necessarily a readers to whom the text was first ad- better or a worse context for understand- dressed; the later biblical readers who ing and interpreting the text of the Scrip- collected these texts, edited them into tures than anywhere else on the planet. books, built the books into collections, • Recognizing this fact has led some- and built the collections into a canon; the what to the demise of Western hegemony whole long chain of Jewish and Christian over exegesis and hermeneutics. We recog- readers down through the centuries since nise the relativity of all hermeneutics and the Bible reached its final form; and finally, the fact that we all need one another. In modern readers in multiple global con- fact, for Westerners to hear the Bible in- texts around our world today. terpreted, understood, and preached by So, a reader-centred focus urges us to African, Latin, or Asian brothers and sis- take all these readers seriously. We need ters in Christ, and vice versa, and then to to recognise that the meaning of the text see the perspectives that others are bring- does relate to and cannot ignore who is ing are often very enriching experiences. doing the reading and what they bring to • Attention to the context of the their reading from their own cultural back- reader(s) has unleashed the power of the ground, presuppositions, assumptions, biblical text into contexts of human need, and so on. (Nobody reads just as a blank conflict, or injustice—e.g., in liberationist, sheet; we always read with something else feminist, and other “advocacy” hermeneu- in our minds.) We also need to take note tics. We may not always agree with where of where readers are reading—that is, their such readers want to take us, but we can- christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 83 not deny the validity of reading the text in Effects on interpretation and into such contexts and issues. Mean- How then is the interpretation of the ing is affected by who you are and what Bible affected by the religious plurality of agenda you have. As Anthony Billington contemporary readers? How do the mul- once put it, “If you are a feminist, pacifist tiple cultural and religious contexts of vegetarian, the text may show up differ- people reading the Bible today affect how ent meanings as you read it than if you they understand its meaning? This of are a male-chauvinist, war-mongering car- course is a question as old as the Bible nivore.” itself. The Hebrew Scriptures were trans- There are, of course, dangers in an lated into Greek long before the New Tes- unbalanced emphasis on the role of the tament was written, so that culturally and reader in determining the meaning of the contextually Greek-speaking people could biblical text: read them. A few examples will suffice to • A reader-centred approach can de- illustrate how the reading of the Scriptures generate into pure subjectivism if it is not is affected by the cultural and religious carefully watched. It reverses the priority pre-understandings of the readers. of author intent as the determinant factor in a text’s meaning. In fact, in some cases, The Islamic world reader response theory goes so far as vir- There are obvious difficulties in the tually eliminating the author altogether: Bible for Muslims: God as Father, Jesus as “It doesn’t really matter who said this or the Son of God, the story of the Conquest, what they meant by saying it; what mat- and the treatment of Ishmael. More subtle ters is what it means to me. That’s all that difficulties include the biblical record of really counts.” So the reader is prioritised the “sins of the prophets,” such as Abra- over the author, and the authority, there- ham’s lies, Moses’ murder, and David’s fore, lies not with the author or with the adultery. These human failings—things text but with the reader, the reader’s self— which Jews and Christians accept as en- and that, again, is very reflective of a post- couraging evidence of the humanity of the modern kind of worldview. One has to say Old Testament saints—are for Muslims that it is not far removed either from some further proof that Christians have tam- popular forms of Evangelical Bible read- pered with the Bible. ing, which arrogantly exclude any tradi- Positive aspects of interpretation in the tion of scholarly study of the text and are Islamic world include the Arab/Islamic content only to ask, “What does this text appreciation of stories (cf. the work of mean for me?” Kenneth Baillie). Parables are quite pow- • A reader-centred approach also erful in this culture, and the parabolic means, of course, that all sense of objec- method is helpful in circumventing cer- tive or external controls is lost. If there is tain theological objections and blindspots. no assumption of some fixed or stable core The Hindu world of meaning in the text itself deriving ultimately from the author’s intention, then Some biblical language and imagery is pluralism rules: there is no such thing as very open to misunderstanding within the a “right” or a “wrong” reading, a “legiti- Hindu worldview, such as “born again,” mate” or “illegitimate” reading—some may avatar/incarnation, “abide in me,” etc. be better than others, but it is difficult to The apostles could freely use pagan know who has the right to say so. words that had different connotations in the Greek world, such as theos, kyrios, 84 establishing the macro context of the major issues logos, soter, and mysterion, in order to idiom, and imagery of the text; and in the re-shape and use them for Christian pur- contexts of the readers. poses. But there is the danger of liberal Indian theologies that syncretise biblical Religious Pluralism categories into the Hindu worldview and Features and roots then dissolve the vital distinctions. It is not the facts, statistics, and chal- African Independent lenges of the plurality of religions which Churches (AICs) are at issue here. Obviously, it is a task for Because of their practice of reading the practical mission strategy to address the whole Bible “flat” (i.e., assigning equal multiplicity of specific religious contexts authority to all parts, with no regard for in which ambassadors for the Christian historical development in the canon), gospel must witness. What the missiologist some AICs have picked out some very odd must address is the challenge of the phi- and exotic aspects of, for example, Old losophy of pluralism which presents itself Testament ritual. They have then not only as a powerful and dominant response to continued these practices, but also exalted that religious plurality. Pluralism, briefly them as “biblical.” defined, is the view that “salvation/enlight- Sometimes, as an indirect result of enment/liberation is said to be a reality in translation policies, young churches have all major religious traditions, and no single had only the New Testament for almost a religion can be considered somehow nor- generation before the Old Testament be- mative or superior to all others. All reli- comes available. The Old Testament, com- gions are in their own way complex ing later, is viewed as superior (like historically and culturally conditioned secondary education), so some Old Tes- human responses to the one divine real- tament practices are regarded as privi- ity” (Netland, 1991, p. 26). leged. Furthermore, the long delay in Elsewhere, pluralism is defined as “the translating the Old Testament means that belief that there is not one, but a number sometimes the underlying worldview of of spheres of saving contact between God the traditional religion has not been chal- and man. God’s revealing and redeeming lenged or replaced by a fully biblical one activity has elicited response in a number encompassing creation, the fall, the his- of culturally conditioned ways throughout tory of salvation from Israel through Jesus, history. Each response is partial, incom- and the eschatological hope of a new cre- plete, unique; but they are related to each ation. other in that they represent different culturally focused perceptions of the one ul- Conclusion timate divine reality” (Race, 1982, p. 78). The thrust of my argument in this sec- Religious pluralism of the variety that tion is that Evangelical missiology will have has emerged from the cradle of moder- to take as a major task in the 21st century nity is primarily an epistemological plu- a fresh articulation of our doctrine of ralism. That is, it has to do with the Scripture. In doing so, we shall have to question of how we can (or cannot) know take more account of the plurality (cul- the truth-value of religious claims. It is tural and religious) that is to be found at based on a key feature of the Enlighten- every level of the hermeneutical process— ment transformation of Western think- in the world of the author; in the language, ing—namely, the cleavage or gulf that was christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 85 inserted into human knowing in the wake logical pluralism). Rather, it limits the of Descartes and Kant in particular. The boundaries of what can be known to be whole sphere of Western life and culture true to the realm of materialistic science was divided into two hemispheres—pub- and applied rationality. Then, by exclud- lic and private. The public world is the ing all religious belief from any valid claim world of so-called objective facts, which to knowable truth, it argues that the only are discovered by empirical enquiry and valid stance in relation to conflicting reli- by the application of reason by a detached, gious beliefs is to allow the possibility of neutral observer. The private world is the some truth in all of them and to exercise world of subjective beliefs, personal mo- a tolerant pluralism. rality, family values, religion, etc. In this Along with this epistemological plural- structural dichotomy, one can only really ism goes that other fruit of modernity—a “know” what is in the public hemisphere, consumerist, supermarket approach to because knowledge has to be based on everything at the popular level. In a su- “scientific” proof. Only that which can be permarket, you don’t look for the break- empirically proved can be taken as true fast cereal that is “right” or “true.” You just and therefore can be known. Everything choose what you like. The same goes for else is a matter of opinion or faith, but it religion and morality and all the values cannot be a matter of truth and knowl- that go with them. Since they fall into the edge. Any appeal to authoritative divine hemisphere in which objective knowledge revelation is ruled out as a source of truth is said to be impossible in principle, you and knowledge. Therefore, religion, since just choose what suits you best. it cannot be “proved” empirically and ra- Missiological response tionally, is removed from the arena of public truth and relegated to the zone of The missiological task in relation to the private belief. kind of pluralism that stems from moder- Western culture thus embraced a du- nity roots has to be to attack those roots alism. On the one hand, there was a kind themselves. That is, we must carry forward of secular monism—a commitment to the the critique of Enlightenment modernity sole objective truth of all things scientific assumptions that have made pluralism the and rational. In that “hemisphere,” intol- dominant philosophy of Western culture, erance ruled: you don’t argue with the both intellectually and in popular plausi- objective facts of science. On the other bility. Easily the most pioneering voice in hand, there developed religious plural- this task has been that of Lesslie Newbigin. ism—the refusal to accept that any single Along with other participants in the Gos- set of religious beliefs could be proved to pel and Culture Movement in Britain, he be solely true. Since religious beliefs can- has exposed the fallacies and false trails not be known or proved by the exercise of modernity’s epistemological dichotomy 9 of reason alone, we have to allow for a and arrogance. He has shown that the variety of opinions. It is important to un- task for the church in Western societies, derstand that this is an epistemological where religion has been privatized and form of pluralism. It does not assert that marginalized by the dominance of scien- there is no such thing as truth at all (that tism and materialism, is to re-affirm the is the more post-modern brand of onto- gospel as “public truth.” By that he means

9 See Newbigin (1989, 1991, 1995). Another key work from the Gospel and Culture Move- ment is Walker (1996). 86 establishing the macro context of the major issues that Christians must assert their claim that at all, science included. When this post- the biblical story of God’s redemptive en- modern mindset comes to deal with reli- gagement with the world he created is the gions, it moves beyond the epistemo- universal story, that it can be known and logically based religious pluralism we have affirmed as truth, and that it constitutes a just considered (“we cannot know which valid starting point for other truth-seek- religion gives us the real truth, so we must ing and knowing. We must reject the nar- allow for something true in all of them row, shallow reductionism that tells us we and seek the truth in dialogue together”) can only “know” what we can discover to a more ontological religious pluralism with our senses and demonstrate with our (“there is no universal truth, in religion rationality. We must get the claims of Chris- or anywhere else; what matters is not what tian truth back into the public hemisphere may or may not be universally true, but from which modernity banished them. what is locally or temporarily true for you; Furthermore, we must point out more religion is little different from therapy for aggressively that even scientific knowing the self—if there is such a thing”). also starts out from some enormous faith It seems to me that Evangelical missiol- commitments. As Newbigin says, all know- ogy will have to continue to tackle both ing starts from believing something— kinds of religious pluralism—modernity in the world of science as much as reli- based epistemological pluralism and post- gion. The Enlightenment dichotomies of modern ontological pluralism—well into objective-subjective, public-private, and the 21st century, since both forms will co- knowledge-faith are built on very shaky exist during the era of cultural transition foundations. we have entered. Ironically, in confronting the false- hoods of modernity, Christian missiol- What’s Wrong 10 ogy now has an ally in the post-modern With Pluralism? critique that has arisen from the contra- Superficially, pluralism can seem plau- dictions of late modernity itself. Post- sible and attractive. After all, it still talks modernity attacks the presuppositions of about God and is willing to keep Christ in modernity, just as many Christians do the picture somewhere, so what more do (though many Evangelical Christians, in- you need? You are allowed to keep Christ cluding many mission strategists, still op- as the focus of your own religion, so long erate within paradigms profoundly shaped as you make room for the other “planets” by modernity). However, while post- in the religious solar system. Isn’t that fair modernity certainly helps us to dispense enough? It also seems to relieve us of all with the arrogant claim that scientific truth that worry about what will happen to is the only truth worth knowing or capable those who never hear the gospel of Christ. of being known at all, it throws up what is They have their own religion which puts probably an even more serious challenge them in touch with God, so that’s all right to the Christian worldview—that is, the then too. And most of all, it fits so per- assertion that there is no ultimate or uni- fectly with the “supermarket mentality” versal truth to be known about anything

10 This section is substantially an extract from Wright (1997). In that volume, I seek to define and critique the three major Christian responses to the reality of religious plurality—exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism—and to provide further biblical reflection on the uniqueness of Christ in that context. christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 87 that characterizes the modern and post- Jesus, Vishnu, Allah, Brahman, etc., are modern Western mind. However, un- simply human cultural constructs by derneath all these attractive features, means of which people within a particu- pluralism has some major implications lar religious community give expression that set it totally at odds with biblical Chris- to their experience of the divine. What- tianity and make it actually a particularly ever those believers may think or claim, dangerous philosophy for Christians to toy the names of their gods are not to be iden- with. My dominant criticisms are directed tified with the actual divine reality. (It is at what pluralism does to our understand- important to realize that what pluralism ing of God, Jesus, and the worship of does to Christianity, it also does to all reli- Christians themselves.11 gions; none of them has access to the ultimate truth about God as God really is.) Pluralism reduces Those names or concepts found in the God to abstractions various religions are like humanly con- John Hick is one of the leading plural- structed “masks”12 by which the divine ist theologians. He has argued for what reality is thought to be encountered by he calls “pluralist theocentrism”—that is, devotees of those religions. But none of we should no longer put Christ or the them is ultimately true in the way their church at the centre of the religious uni- worshippers claim. Thus, for example, verse, but only God. “God” is like the sun Hick (1992, pp. 130-131) says about the at the centre of the solar system, and Chris- Jewish view of God: “The concrete figure tianity along with all the other religions of Jahweh is thus not identical with the are like the orbiting planets, all attracted ultimate divine reality as it is in itself but by the gravity of the sun, but each in its is an authentic face or mask or persona of own unique orbit. However, one marked the Transcendent in relation to one par- feature of this “Copernican revolution,” as ticular human community.” He then goes Hick called it, is that the theos (“god”) who on to say that this is how he regards the is finally left at the centre becomes utterly ultimate names of deity in other religions: abstract. Clearly “he” cannot be identified “For precisely the same has to be said of or named in terms of any particular deity the heavenly Father of Christianity, of the known within the different world faiths, Allah of Islam, of Vishnu, of Shiva, and so for they are all only partial responses to on.”13 this mysterious being. In fact, Hick is quite So one finds that the “sun at the cen- insistent on this. Names like Yahweh, tre” is given other “names,” which are in

11 I am confining myself here to some fundamental theological issues raised by pluralism. There are many other aspects in which pluralism is open to profound criticism and which are tackled by other scholars (cf. Newbigin, 1989; Netland, 1991; Kirk, 1992; Carson, 1996). 12 Hick uses the term personae for this, which originally in Latin referred to the mask that ancient actors wore. Thus, what the worshippers of a particular deity “see” as they contemplate their particular god is not the divine reality as it really is in itself (the actor), but only the “mask” as a kind of interface between the hidden divine reality (the actor) and the worshipper (the spec- tator). This assumes, of course, that although the different religions have manifestly different and grossly contrasting “masks,” it is the same actor behind all of them. Then Hick goes on to suggest using impersonae for the non-personal understandings of the ultimate as found, for example, in philosophical advaita Hinduism and Buddhism. 13 A fuller explanation of Hick’s thinking in this area will be found in Hick (1989, especially part 4, pp. 233-296). 88 establishing the macro context of the major issues fact not names at all but abstract “undefi- tween the fact that Jesus preached the nitions.” “Ultimate Divine Reality” is Hick’s kingdom of God (i.e., a theocentric proc- favourite. Then you will often read of lamation) and the fact that the church “Transcendent Being” or even simply “The preached Jesus (thus shifting the focus to Real.” And if you ask what this “Being” is a Christocentric proclamation, which then like, you will be told that you cannot know. became the church’s dominant position). It is beyond description or knowing as it However, this will not do. Certainly Jesus is in itself. But all the religions have some preached the kingdom of God—a very partial view of it through the “lens” of their theocentric thing to do. But the kingdom culturally particular religion. of God, as preached by Jesus, centred on By using this kind of language, you can himself—who he was and what he had also avoid having to decide whether this come to do. In fact, it was precisely be- divine being is personal or impersonal. cause he so persistently put himself at the This is very convenient, since that is pre- centre of his teaching about God and cisely the point of conflict between, say, about God’s kingdom that Jesus aroused Hinduism and Christianity, and even with- such hostility. in different schools of Hinduism. But the There was nothing at all scandalous language of the pluralists certainly tends about simply being theocentric in Jewish towards an impersonal view of deity. society! God was at the centre of every- There is little of the living warmth of the body’s religious “universe” in one way or biblical language of the personal charac- another. But for a man to claim that scrip- teristics of God. Most ordinary people find tures concerning the future work of God the abstract concepts of philosophers were fulfilled in himself, that he had power rather difficult to understand and even to forgive sins, that he was Lord over the more difficult to believe in for their salva- Sabbath, that he was the Son of Man to tion. As Newbigin (1995, pp. 165-167) has whom eternal dominion would be given, put it so strongly, why should we have to and many other such claims was simply believe that an impersonal, indefinable blasphemy—and these claims were indeed abstraction has any better claim to be the reckoned to be blasphemous by his con- centre of the religious universe than a temporaries. That was why they crucified known person who stands revealed in re- him—not for being theocentric, but for corded history? Why should such an ab- putting himself in that centre where they stract philosophical concept be regarded knew only God should be. Blasphemous as a more reliable starting point for dis- it certainly was—unless, of course, it was covering the truth and finding salvation true. than commitment to a personal God in In the same way, the first Christians, Christ? who were Jews and therefore strict mono- theists, already lived in a thoroughly theo- Pluralism diminishes Jesus centric universe. They were shaped to the God or Christ at the centre? core by the central affirmation of Jewish The pluralists want us to be theocentric faith: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, (God-centred) but to give up being Christo- the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God centric (having Christ at the centre). The with all your heart and with all your soul trouble is that it seems impossible to do and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4-5). this and stay within the framework of New But with considerable struggle and often Testament faith. There are some scholars, at great personal cost, these believers de- however, who try to drive a wedge be- liberately put their contemporary, the man christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 89

Jesus of Nazareth, right at the centre of and light as, for example, John 1 presents that majestic Old Testament faith. They did him. so every time they made the crucial affir- However, if the New Testament is taken mation, “Jesus is Lord.” That did not mean even as a reasonably reliable source, then they had given up or diluted their theo- it is unquestionable that Jesus made some centrism. On the contrary, their faith in astounding and absolute claims for him- God at the centre of the religious universe self. It is equally clear that his immediate was as strong as ever. But now it was filled followers in the early Christian church out, re-defined, and proclaimed in the made similar claims concerning him, both light of their encounter with God in the explicitly in their preaching and implic- person and action of Jesus, the Christ. So itly in their worship and prayer through Paul could write what is virtually an ex- his name. So since biblical and historical pansion of the great Jewish creed to in- Christianity makes such affirmations about clude Jesus Christ alongside the creator Jesus, it follows that whatever kind of God: “For us there is but one God, the “Christianity” is put into orbit around the Father, from whom all things came and “sun of ultimate divine reality,” it is not for whom we live; and there is but one the Christianity of Christ and his apostles. Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all Jesus only for Christians? things came and through whom we live” (1 Cor. 8:6). Now pluralists will reply that Jesus still The New Testament writings are a con- remains central for Christians and that stant reflection of the struggle by which nothing need change that. As such, they the God-centred faith of the Old Testament say, Jesus is the distinctive Christian gift was seen to be Christ-centred in reality. to the inter-religious dialogue. But, we are This was not a perversion nor an exaggera- told, we should only come to the dialogue tion born out of human hero-worship. It table once we have renounced those ab- was the calm conviction that Jesus of solute claims to the uniqueness or finality Nazareth, in the light of his life, death, and of Christ, for those claims are regarded by resurrection, was indeed the centre and pluralists as arrogant and intolerant and key to the whole redemptive work of God, therefore out of place in genuine dialogue. past, present, and future. He was at the Jesus may be decisive and authoritative for centre of their theocentric religious uni- those who have chosen to follow him verse because he was Immanuel, no less (Christians), but he need not be imposed than God with us. on others as unique or universal. Thus Race (1982, p. 136) says, “Jesus is ‘deci- A relativized Jesus? sive,’ not because he is the focus of all the Following from the above point, it light everywhere revealed in the world, but seems to me that the pluralist view can- for the vision he has brought in one cul- not be reconciled with authentic Christian- tural setting.… Jesus would still remain ity, because to relativize Jesus Christ is to central for the Christian faith.” In other deny him. By “relativizing Jesus,” I mean words, the great New Testament affirma- regarding him as only one among many tion, “Jesus is Lord,” is reduced to mean- great religious figures through whom we ing, “Jesus is Lord for us because we have can know about God and find salvation. chosen to regard him as such; his Lord- It means regarding him as one of the or- ship is relative to our acceptance of him.” biting planets of world religions, not as It no longer means, “Jesus is objectively the one and only absolute source of life and absolutely the universal Lord to whom 90 establishing the macro context of the major issues alone we submit and to whom ultimately in the Trinity only at the Council of Chal- all creatures in heaven and earth will bow.” cedon. Somehow, Hunter (1985, p. 55) simply knows that it was “psychologically A deluded Jesus and religiously impossible for Jesus [to or a deluded church? have claimed divinity], and it is historically But even supposing we were to go false to say that he did.” When you can be along with the pluralists at this point and so confidently and dogmatically negative accept that Jesus is unique only in the about the “historical” Jesus, you have to sense that he is relatively special for Chris- be equally negative and uncertain about tians but not the supreme Lord of all, we what value he has for faith. Hunter (1985, then have to ask what kind of “gift to in- p. 76) concludes: “What emerges is that terfaith dialogue” this relativized Jesus though we are agreed that Jesus is at the actually is. If Jesus Christ was not God in- heart of our faith as Christians, it is hard carnate, if he was not the final revelation to find any clear consensus as to the pre- of God and the completion of God’s sav- cise delineation of his importance.” ing work for humanity, if he is not the risen If such paralysed agnosticism is all we and reigning Lord, then we are faced with are left with, is it worth contributing to two possibilities: The first is that Jesus religious dialogue at all? Is that what rep- himself was mistaken in the claims he resentatives of other world faiths want to made concerning himself, in which case hear from us? If, as pluralists say, we have he was either sadly deluded or an arro- to relativize Jesus before we can come to gant boaster. Certainly, if his enormous the dialogue, then we had better not come claims were actually false, he would not at all. All we have to bring with any integ- be a worthy religious figure whom we rity would be a repentant confession that could bring to the dialogue table with any we belong to a worldwide faith which confidence. We would need to apologize, throughout the whole of its history has not evangelize. had an illusion and a falsehood at its fun- The second possibility is that the damental heart and core. church from its earliest period (including the generation of Jesus’ own contempo- Pluralism renders raries, who were the first witnesses to him) Christian worship idolatrous has grossly misunderstood him, inflated Religious pluralists say that Jesus can- his claims, and exaggerated his impor- not stand at the centre of the religious tance. Pluralists require us to accept that universe. He cannot be equated or identi- the church throughout its history (until fied with the God (however described) at its rescue by late 20th century pluralist the centre. We must not look at Jesus Enlightenment) has propagated, lived by, “from above,” so to speak, as God incar- and based all its hope upon a massive, self- nate, but rather see him as essentially one deluded untruth. A deluded Jesus or a of us (which he was, of course) and do deluded church or both—this seems to be our Christology “from below.” There are the unavoidable implication of the plural- many shades of opinion among scholars ists’ insistence on relativizing Jesus. who prefer this approach, but in the end The dismal results of this view are what it means is that, whatever else Jesus quickly clear. A. G. Hunter, for example, may have been, he was ultimately not argues that Jesus was, in fact, not more more than human. Certainly he was not than human but was elevated to divine God incarnate in any ontological sense. status only by the church and was installed He may have been a vehicle or agent of christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 91

God’s activity for revelation and salvation, centre along with other great religious fig- but only as a man. That is, he may have ures who all have their own unique fea- been one of those exceptionally special tures also. human beings through whom the rest of The more I reflect on this view, the us can come to a deeper and clearer un- more surprised I am at how reluctant its derstanding of God, but the language advocates seem to be to draw the ultimate about his being “of God, with God, or from conclusion from it, which seems quite in- God” is simply the understandable exag- escapable—that is, that Christianity is and geration that gives voice to faith and ado- always has been the worst form of idola- ration and gratitude. try ever practised on earth.14 The most Many who take this view would agree serious charge which Jews and Muslims15 that Jesus was unique in some sense: for have levelled against Christians all through example, in the depth of his own relation- the centuries would actually be true: we ship with God and the extent to which he have elevated a human being to the place mediated God to others, including our- of God and have worshipped him there. selves. But they would see this as a unique- For that is what we do and what we have ness of degree, not of essence. God may been doing ever since the book of Acts. have been very specially present and ac- We ascribe to Jesus honour and glory that tive through Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus belongs only to God; we call on his name was not (and therefore is not) God. He in prayer as God; we call him Lord and cannot stand at the centre of the religious refuse to acknowledge any other; we claim universe. Even in his uniqueness as de- that through Jesus and Jesus alone God fined, he must go into orbit around the has acted to save humanity and there is

14 Some pluralists are indeed prepared to say that the worship of Christ is actually idolatry, though they carefully re-define idolatry in a positive light and tend to be very dismissive of how the Bible talks of it. Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1987), for example, in a carefully argued re-assessment of what, based on a pluralist understanding, actually constitutes idolatry, says that it should only be used negatively when describing religious positions which regard themselves as ultimate and then negate the value of others. On such grounds, “For Christians to think that Christianity is true, final, or salvific is a form of idolatry,” if by that they mean to deny that God has also inspired Islam, Hinduism, etc. Smith goes on to ask whether “the figure of Christ served as … an idol through the centuries for Christians?” and essentially answers that it has, but there is nothing wrong with that, since the best meaning of idols in all religions is something earthly or material in itself, which becomes the channel of transcendence. See Smith (1987) and also the comments of Tom F. Driver in the same volume: “I think it necessary to say that the idolization of Christ—let us call it ‘christodolatry’—is not only possible but in fact frequent. Indeed I would go further and say that there is even such a thing as an idolatrous devotion to God” (pp. 214-215). I still prefer to maintain a biblical understanding of the category of idolatry as meaning the action of giving ultimate and divine status to anything or anyone that is not in reality the living God—meaning the God as revealed in the Bible, not the characterless abstract “Transcendent” of the pluralist hypothesis. According to this understanding, the worship of anything or anyone other than God as revealed in Christ is idolatry, but the worship of Christ himself as not merely the one through whom we can “see” God, but ontologically God-in-humanity, is assuredly not idolatry. 15 Muslims are well aware of the implications of the pluralist developments in Christian theology. A friend from Singapore has told me that The Myth of God Incarnate (Hick, 1977) is required reading for Muslim missionaries. I was told by Indian Christian missionaries in India that even in remote rural villages, Muslims can counter the Christian gospel with the riposte that even bishops in the Church of England now believe what Muslims have always believed—that Jesus was not really God and did not really rise again. 92 establishing the macro context of the major issues no other way; we apply to him the most dependence, which included basic state- solemn scriptures that Israel used con- ments about human equality and pro- cerning Yahweh; we sing to him songs of claimed ideals of life, liberty, and the worship and praise that were originally pursuit of happiness. Universal statements sung to Yahweh and have made up book- of ethical rights and duties, such as the fuls of our own. All these things we have various United Nations declarations on done for 2,000 years but with no justifica- human rights, command less respect, in tion at all, if the pluralists are right. For, spite of continued lip service and the no matter how remarkable he was, no moralizing of Western politicians. matter what God did in and through him, On the one hand, such universal dec- if Jesus was not more than a man, then larations are challenged by countries and the whole Christian faith and all the gen- cultures whose moral views come from a erations of Christian worship have been a radically different religious worldview monstrous idolatry. from the broadly Christianized context out of which the U.N. Declaration of Human Conclusion Rights, for example, arose. Islamic states So we arrive at the end of the plural- have protested at being judged by moral ists’ road. At best, “Christ” becomes so standards which they see as not founded universal as to be of no real value except in the principles of Islam, especially since as a symbol. At worst, he is exposed as an the very nations which “preach” those idol for those who worship him and as standards at Islamic countries are guilty dispensable by those who don’t. of manifest hypocrisy in their own moral The discussion above has been limited failures. Similarly, in India, militant Hin- to the internal Christian debate about the duism sees no ethical hindrance to its plurality of religions and has not even exclusion of lower caste and non-caste begun to focus on the challenges pre- Indians from social participation or politi- sented by the great world religions them- cal rights; the caste system, allied to the selves to Christian mission and missiology. religious philosophy of karma and re- Each of them would need a separate pa- incarnation, provides plenty of ethical per, since the contexts they represent are justification for the status quo. This phi- so unique. Obviously, Christian missiologi- losophy, which turns up in the West as cal response to each of the great faiths will somewhat outlandish but malice-free st remain a major challenge in the 21 cen- views on the lips of Glen Hoddle, is the tury. But Evangelical missiology will have religious worldview that undergirds the to continue to confront that brand of oppression currently resurgent in the larg- Christian pluralism which undermines the est democracy on earth. uniqueness of Christ and subverts the On the other hand, universal moral challenge of the gospel from within. declarations are under challenge in the cultures which produced them in the first Ethical Pluralism place—within the West itself. In the post- Features and roots modern, post-imperial climate, any claim regarding universally valid morality is re- We live in a world of ethical plurality jected as cloaked imperialism. To say that and confusion. Even in the West, it seems something is an absolute human right or a long way, both historically and cultur- duty is simply to impose our cultural val- ally, from the apparent “self-evident ues on others. If there is no transcendent truths” of the American Declaration of In- authority behind morality, then we have christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 93 no right to choose one set of values that ill, by the most powerful will, or the more appeal to us and insist that the rest of the sinister “will to power” that Nietsche en- world abide by them. This is a problem visaged. Since “God is dead,” then there faced not just by Christians. Some West- is no transcendent, revealed, and authori- ern secular companies with a concern for tative basis for ethics. In such a climate, business ethics are conscious of the fol- ethics either fragments into private value lowing dilemma, which I read in a secular preferences or succumbs to the tyranny business magazine on an international of “might is right.” flight: When you are operating in a non- Part of modernity’s attractiveness, how- Western country where accepted practices ever, was its optimism. The myth of inevi- clash with your own ethical standards table progress that would follow on the (e.g., as regards human rights violations heels of scientific advance led generations in working conditions, etc.), do you adopt to believe that somehow things were get- the view, “When in Rome do as the Ro- ting better and better. Human beings mans do,” and call it “cultural sensitivity could eventually achieve sufficient ethical and respect for others” (in which case you consensus to engineer a future that would will have a struggle with your own integ- be both good and happy. The trouble was rity and conscience), or do you make a that autonomous reason seemed capable fuss and insist on certain ethical standards of generating widely conflicting ethical as a precondition of doing business at all visions, depending, it seems, on what sci- (in which case you may be accused of neo- entific approach one regarded as primary colonial imposition of Western cultural or, to be more precise, what particular values or, even worse, of missionary arro- scientific reductionism governed one’s gance and intolerance)? view of the fundamental essence of hu- Again, the roots of ethical pluralism can manity. be traced both to modernity and to the What is the essential nature of human post-modern reaction. life? Different life sciences and social sciences came up with different answers— Modern ethical pluralism all of them partially true but inadequate We recall that Enlightenment moder- as full explanations of what it is to be nity introduced structural dualism—the human. These answers then became the division of life into public and private basis for similarly inadequate ethical theo- hemispheres. This had the effect of con- ries. Thus, biology produced a version of signing ethics as well as religion to the ethics based on evolution. This itself bi- hemisphere of privatized belief, as distinct furcated into a positive form, which en- from public knowledge. Even if some thused about our ability to control our moral absolute did exist (as Kant contin- own evolution as a human species for ued to assert with his “categorical impera- good, and a more cynical form, which as- tive”), it could not be known by the only serted that if survival of the fittest is the mechanism capable of knowing anything, game, then everyone should try to be autonomous reason. It could only be rec- among the fittest and, if possible, engineer ognized and responded to through the the genetic or genocidal non-survival of will. But what if human wills differ? Mo- the least fit. Biology also produced the rality becomes merely a fragile matter of behaviourist ethic of the human zoo: eth- social consensus, for as long as it lasts. And ics is nothing more than socialized and if the consensus of will breaks down, then rationalized animal instincts. Psychology morality will be determined, for good or reduced ethics to health or sickness of the 94 establishing the macro context of the major issues mind and replaced repentance with spectrum: If no culture has the “right” therapy. Sociology reduced ethics to a answer to ethical questions, then why function of social interaction; Marxism, to bother wrestling with the questions at all? economic determinism, and so on. All that counts in the end is the will to Such ethical reductionisms stem from power. It seems sometimes that ethics, not modernity’s insistence on analysing and just power, comes out of the barrel of a describing human life by means of the gun. Or if we are too refined to impose same kind of allegedly neutral scientific our will by might, there is always manipu- tools as were applied to the rest of the lation by propaganda, persuasion, and material universe. They then tried to image-massaging. Never mind the ethics; come up with some account of the “laws” watch the spin. governing human behaviour that would On the other hand, there is the more be as universal as the laws of physics, cheerful celebration of plurality that chemistry, or biology which appeared to comes at the popular end of post-modern govern the universe. culture: let’s not only respect, but also enjoy the wide divergences of values that Post-modern are to be found in today’s multi-cultural ethical pluralism society. Western “soap operas” often tackle The post-modern reaction has been to ethical issues in their story lines. The most reject the idea of any absolute and final popular British “soap,” Eastenders, in re- explanation of human reality, of any uni- cent years has included racism, homo- versal moral framework that can be epis- sexuality, AIDS prejudice, adultery, incest, temologically grounded in some objective wife-battery, alcoholism, child abduction, or scientific “truth.” Not only is there no and murder. But the dominant impression transcendent authority to provide ethical in responding to many of these situations, universals (a denial common to modernity especially the sexual ones, is a non-judge- and post-modernity); neither is there any mental individualism (“you just do what universal truth to be found in modernity’s is right for you; nobody can tell you oth- pursuit of scientific objectivity—in the erwise”). The trouble is that “multi- human and social sciences any more than culturalism” as espoused, for example, in in the physical sciences. Modernity re- Australia and Canada, generates an ethic jected transcendent authority but tried to of political correctness which can be op- preserve some universal moral criteria. pressive in its hidden absolutisms. It also Post-modernity rejects both transcendent has no means of dealing with (or even authority and the possibility or even de- actually recognizing) the kind of paradoxi- sirability of universal moral grounds. So cal clash of values illustrated by the no ethical stance can be deemed final and Hoddle case above. As another British universal on the basis of any allegedly sci- commentator has said, “We’re all ethical entific description of the human being. pluralists now … until we meet a paedo- Historical and cultural relativism pervades phile.” human ethics as much as human religion. As we noticed in the earlier discussion Missiological response of post-modernity, there are negative and The Christian missiological response to positive aspects of this feature of ethics in ethical pluralism needs to start from the a post-modern context. On the one hand, same place as for religious pluralism— there is a cynical nihilism at the more in- namely, by identifying and attacking the tellectual end of the post-modern cultural roots. We must follow the same agenda of christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 95 critiquing Enlightenment modernity’s rel- ism, the 20th century battle over Christ- egation of ethics to the hemisphere of ology and soteriology will doubtless con- privatized belief, as Newbigin has so ef- tinue. But if God became incarnate in fectively done for religion. This has two Jesus in order to save humanity, what was effects. First of all, we must firmly chal- it that he became in becoming truly hu- lenge the epistemological arrogance that man, and what is it that is saved through claims to outlaw all ethical matters from his death and resurrection? the realm of genuine knowledge, on the Returning to ethical pluralism, post- grounds that only scientific “facts” can be modernity will certainly help us to chal- regarded as objectively true. This “reality lenge the dominance of scientific filter” needs to be exposed as the decep- reductionism, but unfortunately it also tion it really is. Secondly, those ethical presents an even more dangerous kind of stances that are based on the variety of relativism at the ontological level. How scientific reductionisms in relation to should we respond to the post-modern human life also need to be challenged— assertion that there are simply no foun- whether biological evolutionism or be- dations for any common human moral- haviourism, psychology, sociology, ity? Must we accept that uncontrolled economics, or more recently, geneticism ethical variety is inevitable because of the as preached by Richard Dawkins. When- plurality of cultures and perspectives and ever we are told that human ethics is that there is no possibility of any “stand- “nothing but …,” we should be on the ing ground” outside all cultures, from alert and expose the poverty of all at- which anyone can have the right to adju- tempts to reduce human life to partial and dicate ethically between them? materialistic explanations. A very interesting attempt to address In fact, I would urge that Evangelical this problem from within the religious mission theology must address afresh the pluralist camp has come from Paul Knit- question of our doctrine of humanity. At ter (1992, pp. 111-122). Recognizing the the heart of so much of the fragmentation strength of the “anti-foundationalist” case, in human societies today lies the loss of as expressed in the last paragraph, Knit- human identity or the struggle (often vio- ter asks if there is any way that the differ- lent) for identity to be recognized or ent religions can overcome the impasse recovered. Where is it to be found? Mo- of utter relativism, any way in which they dernity located human identity in the au- can find some “common ground” (even tonomous rational self. Post-modernity though the term is out of favour). He be- dethrones reason and goes on to decentre lieves it is important to do so, because of and dissolve the self. What is there left that the dangers of succumbing too easily to is distinctly human, or are we left with only post-modern relativism. He pin-points the kaleidoscopic relativities of cultures two dangers: First, full-blown relativism and histories? Culture and history enrich gives you no grounds to criticize even your human life and identity, but according to own culture, let alone other cultures, and Christian understanding they do not con- it produces an “ethical toothlessness stitute or exclusively define it. I believe brought about by the lack of any basis on that 21st century Evangelical missiology which to validly and coherently resist what must address the question of what it appears to be intolerable in other cultural- means to be human and must seek to linguistic systems.” Secondly, it offers no give a genuinely biblical answer. As we basis for moral resistance to naked power: observed in the section on religious plural- “In arguing that we must simply rejoice 96 establishing the macro context of the major issues in plurality without ever allowing the pos- paths—from Eastern to Western to so- sibility that some truth claims may prove called primal spiritualities—are recogniz- to have intrinsic or universal validity, post- ing that their own spiritual traditions moderns allow the warning of Michael require them to respond to the reality Foucault to become reality: the verdict on of human and planetary oppression” differing truth claims will be decided (Knitter, 1992, p.119). But do they? It is not on any mutually reached judgments seriously questionable, I would argue, (since they are impossible) but on the whether most religions would take the basis of who has the economic or military same view of human and planetary suf- power.… The criteria will be deter- fering as Knitter does, and even more mined … by those who have the dollars questionable that “within all religious tra- or the guns” (Knitter, 1992, p. 114). ditions there seems to be a “soteriocentric Knitter’s answer to the dilemma is to core” of concern for human well-being in suggest that rather than looking in vain this world” (Knitter, 1992, p.119, empha- for common ground at the start of the dia- sis added). logue, the different religions should get So the weakness of Knitter’s proposal stuck into making a common response to is that it wants to find common ground, human problems. Then, hopefully, in the while simultaneously denying that any process and praxis of making that re- ground can be or has been provided by a sponse, some patches of common ground transcendent or trans-cultural source— may emerge between them. He then iden- such as the biblical revelation. Yet the is- tifies what he regards as the two most ur- sues he chooses to see as primary and the gent problems facing the world: human response he sees as needing to be made poverty (“the millions who because they to them are actually only ethical issues and are deprived of such basic needs as food, responses within certain worldviews (such drinking water, shelter, and medical care as Christianity). Even identifying the issues are prevented from living a human life”) to which we call for a response requires and ecological damage (“the victimized standing on some ground. planet earth which, as its life-giving and Missiologically, however, in my view, sustaining gifts of air, water, and soil are we can turn Knitter’s weakness into a devastated and drained, becomes the do- strength. We can certainly agree with his main of ever more human victims”). He identification of two major evils in today’s goes on, “I am suggesting that the reality world—poverty and ecological destruc- of suffering due to oppression and victim- tion. And we can certainly also challenge ization—both human and ecological— and invite the wider non-Christian human calls for a common response that can community to address them. However, in become a common ground for cross- doing so, we ought to make prominently cultural and inter-religious understand- clear the Christian “ground” on which we ing” (Knitter, 1992, p. 118). do so. That means telling the story, which Knitter seems almost embarrassed by in the Christian worldview both explains the glimpse of an ethical universal lurk- the problems in terms of humanity’s re- ing in such a proposal. So he backs off it bellion against God and consequent frac- somewhat: “One must be careful of speak- ture of all relationships, including that ing of an ethical imperative to confront with the planet itself, and also proclaims such issues, since morality is so culture- the redemptive action that God himself bound. And yet, it does seem evident that initiated in the history of Israel and the today followers of almost all the religious saving work of Christ. Indeed, we can go christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 97 further than a liberationist response, be- because we have grown timid, lost faith cause the full biblical story illuminates in the gospel, or even forgotten it, that wider aspects and deeper roots of the we do not rush forward for our voices to problems than the presenting symptoms be heard amidst the clamour of compet- themselves. At the Rio de Janeiro Earth ing interests. We must avoid the vain temp- Summit, it was said that the intense tation to build another Christendom; but “green” concern for ecological action was equally we must not shirk our duty to stir “an ethic in search of a religion.” Yet the the conscience of our nations for as long Christian voice was muted, leaving the “re- as they last.” ligion” to be provided by the New Age Finally, the missiological challenge of Movement. ethical pluralism is, of course, practical. If Human and planetary oppression are we proclaim that the Christian ethical vi- major examples, but they are only part of sion is distinctive and that it is grounded the total spectrum of ethical issues that in the true story of God, the universe, societies will face in this new millennium. human history, and salvation through The missiological challenge to our ethics Christ, are we able to demonstrate that it must be: is so? The church, as Newbigin again so • That we seek to show how a bibli- effectively argued, must be the “plausibil- cally grounded ethic is valid in theory and ity structure” for the gospel and the ethic works in practice. that flows from it. • That we also tell the story in which that ethic is grounded and without which Concluding Challenges it is empty moralism. What are the major issues for our mis- • That we ensure that the telling of siological reflection and work? Here are that story preserves the central focus of some suggested questions arising out of Jesus Christ. each of the main sections above. We need, in other words, a missiologically framed and motivated ethical Hermeneutical pluralism engagement with the world. Such is the 1. How can a missiologically framed re- plea of Andrew Walker (1996, p. 170) as shaping of the Evangelical doctrine of he urges Christians to remember and re- Scripture better equip us to discern, ar- tell the story of the biblical gospel, which ticulate, and apply the authority of the modernity has marginalized by its episte- Bible in the cultural plurality of the 21st mological arrogance and which post- century and especially in a world increas- modernity threatens to swamp by the way ingly affected by post-modernity? it relativizes and equalizes all narratives: 2. How can we make room for the mul- “Christian activism is not a question of tiplicity of readers’ contexts in the global creating a programme for government: it hermeneutical community and especially is about standing up in the public square climb down off the pedestal of Western to be counted. Do the public know what dominance, without either surrendering the Christian story has to say about moral to subjectivism, relativism, and the loss of behaviour? Have we taken the time to tell any commitment to a stable core mean- the story often enough so that people can ing in biblical texts or substituting the see that from it flow economic and social authority of readers/contexts for the au- consequences? Lesslie Newbigin appears thority of the biblical text itself? to be right about Christian witness. It is 98 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Religious pluralism culturally and probably intellectually 1. Are there ways in which Evangeli- shaped by post-modernity, yet whose edu- cal Christians can harness the energy of cation and worldview has largely been post-modernity in its critique of Enlight- shaped by the paradigms of modernity, enment modernity’s arrogance, without and whose future ministry may well be submitting to the ontological relativism in cultures that are as yet effectively pre- that comes with post-modernity? modern. How can we prepare them ad- 2. Are there positive and gospel- equately to understand the cultural friendly categories/symbols/perspectives identity crisis they themselves are living within post-modern consciousness that through, as well as the one they are head- st can be harnessed in order to re-concep- ing into? Missionaries in the 21 century tualize and communicate the uniqueness will need to be the Christian and cultural of Jesus in the midst of religious plurality equivalent of Olympic triple-jumpers. and in polemical engagement with reli- References gious pluralism? Ethical pluralism Best, S., & Kellner, D. (1991). Postmodern theory: Critical interrogation. New York: 1. What will a missiological approach Guilford Press. to ethics look like? How can we demon- Brueggemann, W. (1997). Biblical Theological strate (intellectually and existentially) that Bulletin, 127, pp. 4-8. the Christian ethic is actually “best,” be- ———. (1997). Theology of the Old Testament: cause it most closely relates to the “way Testimony, dispute, advocacy. Minneapo- lis, MN: Fortress Press. things are,” according to the biblical story Carson, D. A. (1996). The gagging of God: and revelation? Christianity confronts pluralism. Downers st 2. Is it our Christian task in the 21 Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. century with its post-modern perspectives Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of mo- to work out fresh ways to enshrine and dernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University advocate our understanding of biblical Press. ethics, rather than simply repeating the Hick, J. (1989). An interpretation of religion: classical formulations of Western univer- Human responses to the transcendent. sal declarations? London: Macmillan. 3. What is a more biblical understand- ———. (1992). A religious understanding of religion. In D. Cohn-Sherbok (Ed.), Many ing of humanity, which can go beyond the mansions: Interfaith and religious intol- reductionisms of modernity but avoid the erance (pp. 122-136). London: Bellew. narcissism of post-modernity? What theo- Hick, J. (Ed.). (1977). The myth of God incar- logical understanding of human/ethnic nate. London: SCM Press. identity can provide a missiology that Hunter, A. G. (1985). Christianity and other then generates appropriate missional re- faiths in Britain. London: SCM Press. sponses to the fragmentation, anger, and Kirk, J. A. (1992). Loosing the chains. London: despair that seem likely to afflict increas- Hodder & Stoughton. ing numbers of human communities in the Knitter, P. (1992). Common ground or common response? Seeking foundations for 21st century? interreligious discourse. Studies in Inter- And finally… religious Dialogue, 2, pp. 111-122. Netland, H. A. (1991). Dissonant voices: Reli- In training people adequately for mis- gious pluralism and the question of truth. st sion in the 21 century, we shall be han- Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- dling young adults who are themselves lishing Co. christ and the mosaic of pluralisms 99

Newbigin, L. (1989). The gospel in a pluralist Wright, C. (1997). Thinking clearly about the society. London: SPCK. uniqueness of Jesus. Crowborough, En- ———. (1991). Truth to tell: The gospel as gland: Monarch. public truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Wright, N. T. (1992). The New Testament and Eerdmans Publishing Co. the people of God. London: SPCK. ———. (1995). The open secret: An introduction to the theology of mission (2nd ed.). Chris Wright, born Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- of missionary par- lishing Co. ents in Belfast, North Race, A. (1982). Christians and religious plu- Ireland, obtained ralism: Patterns in the Christian theology his doctorate in Old of religions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Testament economic ethics from Cam- Sampson, P., Samuel, V., & Sugden, C. (Eds.). bridge University in (1994). Faith and modernity. Oxford, En- 1977. Ordained in gland: Regnum. the Church of En- Sine, T. (1999). Mustard seed versus McWorld: gland, he spent sev- Reinventing Christian life and mission for eral years in pastoral a new millennium. Crowborough, En- ministry. For five gland: Monarch. years he taught at the Union Biblical Semi- Smith, W. C. (1987). Idolatry in comparative nary, Pune, India, as a missionary with the perspective. In J. Hick & P. F. Knitter (Eds.), Anglican mission agency Crosslinks (formerly The myth of Christian uniqueness: Toward BCMS), of which he is now Honorary Presi- a pluralistic theology of religions (pp. 53- dent. In 1988 he returned to the U.K. as Di- 68). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. rector of Studies at All Nations Christian Van Gelder, C. (1996). Mission in the emerg- College, the largest Evangelical mission training postmodern condition. In G. H. Huns- ing institution in Europe. He was appointed berger & C. Van Gelder (Eds.), The church Principal there in September 1993. He has between gospel and culture: The emerging written several books, including Knowing mission in North America (pp. 127-133). Jesus Through the Old Testament (Marshall Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- Pickering and Inter-Varsity, 1992) and Think- lishing Co. ing Clearly About the Uniqueness of Jesus ———. (n.d.). Shaping ministry in a post- (Monarch, 1997). His life’s passion is bring- modern world: Building bridges with the ing to life the relevance of the Old Testament gospel to a changed context. Unpublished for Christian mission and ethics. He and his manuscript. wife Liz have four children, two of whom are Walker, A. (1996). Telling the story: Gospel, now married. mission and culture. London: SPCK.

HE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN mission during the 20th cen- Evangelical T tury could be summarized in the words of Latourette as the story of “advance through storm.” Thinking especially missiology: about Evangelical missions, Ralph Winter has used the expression “unbelievable years” for the explosion of American peering missionary activity during the 25 years that followed World War II. As we come to the start of a new century, there are into the clear signs that a new age of missions has come, to be marked future by the new face of global Christianity and the engagement of the churches of the Southern hemisphere in the fulfillment at the of the Great Mandate and the Great Commission. There was an old way of doing mission developed during the age of the turn European empires and the United States era of “Manifest Destiny.” It has become obsolete, even though its patterns of the endure to the point of being imitated by Third World agencies. At the close of my first paper (see chapter 3), I outlined century the missiological recovery of biblical patterns for mission that will be developed in this paper. I define missiology as an interdisciplinary approach to Samuel understand missionary action. It looks at missionary facts Escobar from the perspectives of the biblical sciences, theology, history, and the social sciences. It aims to be systematic and critical, but it starts from a positive stance towards the legitimacy of the Christian missionary task as part of the fundamental reason for the church’s “being.” A missiological approach gives the observer a comprehensive frame of reference in order to look at reality in a critical way. Missiology is a critical reflection on praxis, in light of God’s Word. One could say that in that regard a significant portion of the writings of the Apostle Paul is missiological in nature. Think, for instance, of 2 Corinthians and the way in which Paul refers

101 102 establishing the macro context of the major issues to his own missionary practice, pointing three trends that have developed during to Old Testament teachings as well as the this period. I will then outline a trinitarian living revelation of God in Jesus Christ direction in which I think the missiological through the Spirit. The Spirit-inspired agenda should be pursued in order to missionary acts of Jesus, Paul, and the meet the challenges posed by the kind of apostles, as well as their Spirit-inspired developments in the church and in the reflection on their practice, are authorita- world that I have outlined in my first pre- tive for us in a way in which no other post- sentation. apostolic missionary practice or reflection Two cycles of Protestant mission devel- is authoritative. oped during the 20th century. Before World As the Spirit drives God’s people to War II, mainline Protestant denominations missionary obedience today, we have the played a key role both in the practice of light of God’s inspired Word to continu- mission and in the theologizing about it. ally check and evaluate our actions. David It was a period still marked by significant Bosch (1993, p. 177) has very aptly re- activity from European as well as North ferred to the critical spirit in which the American churches and by theological missiological task is to be approached: debate about the nature of the Christian “… if we wish to reflect on ‘biblical foun- mission and the identity of the young dations for mission,’ our point of depar- churches that were growing in Africa, Asia, ture should not be the contemporary and Latin America. After the War, there was enterprise we seek to justify, but the bibli- a decline of traditional Protestant activity cal sense of what being sent into the world and a marked growth of activity and influ- signifies.” I would add that theology, his- ence from conservative Protestant agen- tory, and the social sciences are useful as cies in the United States. There was also tools for a better understanding of God’s an explosive growth of faith missions and Word and of contemporary missionary parachurch agencies that spread mission- action, but only the Word is inspired and ary concepts, along with methodologies always fertile to renew the church in mis- that reflected American cultural values and sion. Moreover, there is another proviso mores. Through massive use of Christian from Bosch (1993, p. 177) which we must media, theological institutions, and mis- take into account: “… however important sionary conferences, its influence was felt single biblical texts may [seem to] be, the not only in countries receiving missionar- validity of mission should not be deduced ies but also in the old sending countries from isolated sayings but from the thrust of Europe. of the central message of Scripture.” I think it is important to acknowledge During the last quarter of the 20th cen- the fact that new generations of mission- tury, Evangelical missiologists embarked aries without an adequate historical aware- on a concerted effort to reflect on the ness or biblical training were condemned massive experience of Evangelical mis- to repeat the mistakes of the past. It be- sionary activity. Honest evaluation of mis- came necessary for theologians to embark sionary activism in light of God’s Word, anew in the search for a missiological re- theological truth, and new missionary flection. This is what historian William H. challenges becomes an effort to envision Hutchison (1987, p. 176) has called “fa- new models of missionary obedience. In miliar debates in an unfamiliar world.” As this paper, I will summarize developments an Evangelical, I find comforting the fact in Evangelical missiology during the sec- that the explosion of Evangelical mission- ond part of the 20th century, outlining ary activity after 1945—criticized by mis- evangelical missiology: peering into the future 103 siologists from the previous half of the Background of century—provided a bulk of new practice, Missiological Developments on the basis of which it was possible to Among Evangelicals reflect and formulate new theories. Com- Within the second half of the 20th menting on critical remarks from missiol- century, we can place events such as the ogist R. Pierce Beaver, Dana Robert (1994, birth of World Evangelical Fellowship, the p. 146) has described the situation in growth of an American Evangelical mis- which a renewed effort has come at the sionary vitality, the development of the level of scholarship from the missionary World Council of Churches and its even- activity of conservative Evangelicals: “The tual merge with the International Mission- ‘sectarian’ evangelicals that Beaver had ary Council, the Vatican II Council, and excoriated in 1964 reached such a level of the increasing growth and recognition of institutional maturity and ecclesiastical the Pentecostal Movement. I will refer spe- dominance that critical historical analysis cially to the Lausanne Movement because became possible and necessary.” At the of the missiological trends it synthesized same time, I also find sobering the remark and sparked. of Joel Carpenter (1990, p. 131) pointing Lausanne was preceded by three vig- to the Evangelical isolation from previous orous Evangelical Movements following missionary practice and experience: “When World War II. First, there was the renewal a post-fundamentalist, ‘neo-Evangelical’ of mass evangelism that reached public theological movement appeared in the notice with Billy Graham in Los Angeles 1950s and 1960s, it virtually had to rein- in 1949. Some classic elements of revival- vent Evangelical missions theology.” istic Protestantism, combined with the use Missiological reflection has experi- of mass media, shook the dormant reli- enced sustained growth in both quantity gious routine of people, especially in the and quality because of the widening and big cities, first in North America and then deepening of its agenda, the growing dia- in Europe. The type of evangelistic orga- logue of different traditions, and the emer- nization represented by Billy Graham put gence of missiologists from the younger in evidence the fact that in those coun- churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. tries there was a new awareness of spiri- Evangelicals kept a very focused mission- tual needs and a religious vacuum that was ary activity, even at periods in which such not being filled by the routine life of insti- activity declined in other sectors of Chris- tutionalized Christianity. Second, there tendom. Their reflection was made pos- was a renewal of serious Evangelical schol- sible in part by the new developments in arship in biblical studies and theological theological scholarship within the Evan- reflection, following a renewal of Evangeli- gelical camp and by the growth towards cal university life in Europe and especially maturity of Evangelical churches in those Great Britain. This was related to the Evan- lands that used to be called mission fields. gelical student work of InterVarsity, that Towards the end of the third quarter of had managed to keep together mission- the 20th century, Evangelical missiological ary zeal and concern for theology and reflection gathered momentum, and the scholarship. Third, strong Evangelical 1974 Lausanne Congress became a rally- churches and movements had emerged ing point to promote Christian mission but around the world, connected to Protes- also to reflect about it. The Lausanne Cov- tant missionary work of the pre- and post- enant became at the same time a summary World War II streams of missionary fervor and an agenda. 104 establishing the macro context of the major issues and activity from Europe and North the leadership of Carl F. H. Henry, to cel- America. Independent “faith missions” ebrate the 10th anniversary of the maga- had played an important role in this emer- zine Christianity Today. Henry was a gence, representing a new generation that theologian and journalist who had articu- threw itself with great vigor into the task lated with clarity the theological agenda of planting churches, translating Scripture, for an Evangelicalism that wanted to dis- and reaching the restless masses of the tance itself from the Fundamentalist trap. Third World through evangelism. As editor of Christianity Today, he was in These three movements exemplify the contact with a new generation of Evangeli- type of Evangelical churches, missionary cal scholars that were not afraid to dia- organizations, and denominational re- logue in the academic world and had gone newal groups that find a way of express- beyond the narrow anti-intellectualism of ing their concern for Christian unity and fundamentalists. This scholarship, how- cooperation in alliances such as WEF or ever, was matched by an evangelistic and the Lausanne Movement. Their variety also missionary thrust and a global perception explains the tensions that develop within that Billy Graham’s ministry had made those alliances or umbrella movements, possible. which sometimes are unable to contain The vision of the Berlin congress was them. The volunteerism which is the ge- summarized in its motto, “One Race, One nius of Evangelical life and mission is a Gospel, One Task.” One important fact key factor in understanding these devel- about Berlin is that Evangelicals acknowl- opments. The “faith mission” type of mis- edged and accepted the validity and sig- sionary activity contributes to the rise of nificance of the Pentecostal Movement. vigorous Evangelical churches in the Third The follow-up congresses after Berlin were World, which are independent and have platforms of convergence not only for re- no connection with the historic Protestant affirming Evangelical truth, but also for denominations. Ecclesiology is undefined sober consideration of the spiritual needs in these independent churches. Their par- of the world. The pragmatic concerns of ticipation in Evangelical alliances brings Evangelicals from North America and the them into contact with Evangelicals inside theological and missiological acumen of the mainline churches. The encounter is European Evangelicals were matched by mutually enriching, but it also accounts the restless sense of mission of Evangel- for a long and difficult process of theo- icals in the young churches of the Third logical dialogue and definition. There is a World or among the oppressed minorities. dialectical interaction between the vital- The agenda of the ongoing reflection had ity that comes from these movements at to make room for the burning questions the grassroots and the direction and stimu- of those who were witnessing to their faith lation that the alliances themselves pro- in Jesus Christ within situations where the vide. In order to understand Evangelical ferment of nationalism, social upheaval, missiological developments, both the and ideological conflict were testing the promise and the precariousness of this theological depth of both Evangelical and interaction have to be appreciated, and its non-Evangelical missionaries and churches. historical significance has to be evaluated The Berlin follow-up regional congresses theologically. in Singapore (1968), Minneapolis (1969), The three movements mentioned Bogotá (1969), Ottawa (1970), Amsterdam above converged in the Berlin 1966 World (1971), and Madrid (1974) were steps in Congress on Evangelism, convened under the building-up process that culminated evangelical missiology: peering into the future 105 in Lausanne 1974. Because of this preced- of dualistic spiritualization that had come ing process, Lausanne was not the missio- to be prevalent in the practice of Evangeli- logical and theological monologue of cal missionaries. Mission relates to every European or North American Evangelicals, area of human need. For the majority of but a brotherly global dialogue of a com- Evangelicals, however, holistic mission has munity that had grown beyond expecta- evangelism as a key and primary compo- tions all over the world: a dialogue in nent: “In the church’s mission of sacrifi- search of ways of obedience to the mis- cial service evangelism is primary” (LC, sionary imperatives of Jesus, our Savior par. 6). and Lord. Second, there was the call for coopera- The Lausanne Covenant expresses this tion in the mission task—between church unique missiological moment. Precisely at and parachurch, mainline and Evangeli- the point in time in which Evangelical cal, Pentecostal and Reformed—based Christianity was joyfully aware of its glo- solely on the missionary passion shared bal dimension, it also became painfully in the Lausanne event and the basic theo- aware of its serious shortcomings. Liber- logical consensus reached in the Covenant ated by its missionary thrust from the itself. The sheer magnitude of the task of bonds of sterile fundamentalism, Evangeli- world evangelization, along with the scan- calism was able again to rediscover the dal of sterile division and competition holistic dimensions of the Christian mis- among missionary agencies, demanded a sion that are clearly presented in the Bible. new attitude. The sense of urgency of The Lausanne Covenant restates convic- reaching those still unreached even makes tions that are characteristic of Evangelical- room for the type of concern that had been ism. It starts with a trinitarian confession, underlying the call for a “moratorium” a statement about the authority of the (LC, par. 7, 8, 9). Bible, and an expression of Christological Third, and closely related to the previ- conviction (LC, par. 1-3). At the same time, ous point, was the awareness that in the the Covenant expresses repentance for post-imperial era in which we live, the what was wrong or missing in the way in missionary and the theological tasks have which Evangelicals had been accomplish- a global dimension. Christians and mis- ing their missionary task. sionaries from the European and North I think it possible to summarize in four American regions, once strongholds of points the direction of the process of the Evangelical faith in the past, had to ac- Lausanne 1974 event, as well as the con- knowledge the spiritual decline in those tent of the Covenant it issued. They ex- regions and the rise of new thriving press a forceful challenge to adopt a new churches in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. form of missionary practice for world evan- Thus, neither imperialism nor provincial- gelization and a corresponding call for ism could be tolerated. new theological formulation. Fourth was the commitment to con- First, there was a commitment to a consider seriously the context of mission. Is- cept of holistic mission that retains the sues such as culture, education of leaders, Evangelical emphasis on proclamation of spiritual conflict, and persecution were the gospel of Jesus Christ while also de- addressed (LC, par. 10-13). The need was scribing the kind of missionary presence recognized for an evaluation of the social, it requires, and the call to discipleship and ideological, and spiritual struggles that incorporation into the church (LC, par. 4). surround and condition the missionary Inherent in this is self-criticism of the type 106 establishing the macro context of the major issues enterprise, in order to design a relevant respect the legitimacy of Third World con- type of discipleship for our own times. cerns and challenges.1 In spite of all these objections, between Lausanne I in 1974 From Lausanne I and the second conference sponsored by to Lausanne II in Manila the Lausanne Committee, Lausanne II in After the Lausanne Congress, Evangeli- Manila in 1989, a good degree of mission- cal missionary action was more visibly ac- ary activity and reflection was sparked, en- companied by a process of reflection and couraged, oriented, or fostered by the clarification. A series of consultations was Lausanne Movement. The balance of co- sponsored by the Lausanne Committee, operation and global dialogue achieved with the participation of missionaries, was very delicate and fragile, and in many pastors, mission executives, and missiolo- instances it almost came to breaking gists from World Evangelical Fellowship, points. However, it was kept, thanks to the Latin American Theological Fraternity, maturity and diplomatic ability of Evan- Fuller School of World Mission, World Vi- gelical statesmen such as John Stott, sion International, Evangelicals for Social Leighton Ford, Emilio Núñez, Bishop Jack Action, and many other Evangelical bod- Dain, Gottfried Ossei-Mensah, Dick Van ies. These gatherings became the platform Halsema, and others like them. As the date in which practitioners and theoreticians for Lausanne II approached, several mis- of mission engaged in the task of “doing sionaries and theologians, especially in the theology” together, at a global scale. In Third World, expressed apprehension one of the first of those consultations, an about the direction that the movement agreement was reached and a commit- seemed to be taking. They detected a ment expressed: “We should seek with mood of retreat from the territory gained equal care to avoid theological imperialism in 1974 to narrower and “safer” positions. or theological provincialism. A church’s They perceived what appeared as an ef- theology should be developed by the comfort to avoid controversial issues and munity of faith out of the Scripture in in- speakers, and a tendency to use Lausanne teraction with other theologies of the past II as a marketing launch for missionary 2 and present, and with the local culture packages devised in North America. and its needs” (Willowbank Report, 1978). Lausanne II was held in Manila, Phil- Some Evangelicals (notable among ippines, July 11-20, 1989, 15 years after them is Johnston, 1978) became very criti- the first conference. Chris Sugden and cal of the kind of missiological and theo- Valdir Steuernagel (1990) have interpreted logical agenda expressed by the Covenant. this second event in the pages of Trans- 3 Others tried to narrow and reduce the formation. Robert T. Coote (1990) wrote Lausanne Movement to a fundamentalistic an excellent interpretative chronicle of the program. For some, it was impossible to event in the International Bulletin of Mis- accept the commitment to globalism and sionary Research. From my own perspec-

1 The best study of this aspect of the post-Lausanne process is the Ph.D. dissertation of Brazil- ian missiologist Valdir Steuernagel (1988). 2 As an example of this perception, René Padilla, who was a speaker at Lausanne I, did not accept the invitation to Lausanne II. See his editorial comments in Padilla (1989). 3 This issue also contains the text of several presentations and documents from the Lausanne II Conference. evangelical missiology: peering into the future 107 tive, in Lausanne II we had a clear dem- new forms of cooperation. Here I offer an onstration that at grassroots level, across outline of the three missiological ap- the world, significant progress has been proaches that I see at work. made in the practice of mission following Post-imperial missiology the agenda of Lausanne I. Voices like those of Caesar Molebatsi from South Africa, This is the missiology coming from Valdir Steuernagel from Brazil, Peter Kuz- Evangelicals in Great Britain and Europe, mic from Yugoslavia, and Jovito Salonga and it is characterized by a clear post- from the Philippines could not be barred imperial stance. By this I mean an aware- from the platform. But there were also ness that the imperial domination they hundreds of practitioners of holistic forms used to exert is gone and new patterns of of mission sharing their experience, their relationships have developed. For this joys, their pain, their frustration, and their missiology there are two sources of seri- hope in seminars and workshops. How- ous questions about mission: on the one ever, this progress in the application of hand, the decline of Christian churches Lausanne I has come in tension with Evan- in Europe and their loss of influence on gelical forces that seem committed to pull shaping values and attitudes in their soci- the movement backwards, towards mission eties, and on the other hand, the emer- styles of the Cold War era and imperial gence of new forms of Christianity in the marketing of theological and missiological Third World. packages created within the frame of the The practice and the theory of mission present North American society. have to deal with these facts as part of the new frame of reference for mission. Con- Three Missiological Trends sequently, missiological research and reflection have moved in at least three I think that in the Lausanne II process directions. First, there is a renewed search through the most recent years we have for biblical patterns to correct and illumi- seen the development of three different nate contemporary mission activity. The missiological schools or approaches cur- field was pioneered by John Stott (1967, rently present in the Evangelical world. 1975) in his biblical studies about the They have gone their own parallel ways Great Commission and his definition of within the Evangelical Movement, and it key words such as salvation, conversion, would benefit greatly the cause of mission evangelism, dialogue, and mission. An- if they could interact adequately. This is other systematic contribution that focused especially important as a new missionary on evangelism came from Michael Green thrust develops in the churches of the (1970), in a book that summarized the Third World, which are in search of mod- findings of contemporary scholarship els for their participation in the global from the perspective of an evangelist. missionary task of the coming decades. Other Evangelical contributions exploring However, the Lausanne consensus has the New Testament material have impor- been a fragile platform, and constructive tant missiological consequence as they interaction has not been easy and some- clarify the relevance of New Testament times seems impossible. Coexistence has ethical teaching (especially Yoder, 1972) not developed into cooperation. Given the or social practice (a good summary is given urgency of the tasks ahead and the grow- in Tidball, 1983). Missionary practice, es- ing scarcity of resources, we should try our pecially its social and political dimension, best to have a real dialogue and come to has been the source of the questions 108 establishing the macro context of the major issues brought by these scholars to the explora- faith in their own cultures. The contribution of the biblical material, and there has tion of Max Warren (1967) in his analysis been a significant growth of scholarship of the British missionary movement was around the world.4 very valuable in this regard. American The second direction taken by this missionary anthropologist Jacob Loewen missiological approach has been the criti- (1975) has been one of the most consis- cal work of writing and interpreting the tent scholars in his use of insights from history of missionary activity, taking very anthropology to evaluate critically the seriously the ambiguities of the Western missionary enterprise from North America. imperial enterprise and trying to detach The third direction of this missiologi- missionary obedience from it. This view cal exploration is the visualization of the of history uses critical insights from the future of mission as a global task in which sociology of knowledge and the sociology the churches of the North Atlantic world of religion. However, it does not reduce enter into creative patterns of partnership missionary history to a form of class with churches in the Third World. In rela- struggle or imperial advance, as some lib- tion to this, Andrew Walls (1996) has ex- eration theologians do.5 Missiologists plored the missiological significance of from the Ecumenical Movement that are what he calls “the massive southward shift taken seriously by Evangelicals, such as of the center of gravity of the Christian Max Warren (1967) and Stephen Neill world,” and the theological consequences (1966), pioneered this effort of missio- that such a shift has for the self-image of logical clarification. An excellent method- churches in both North and South. Excel- ological introduction was provided by lent introductions to mission from this Roger Mehl (1970, especially chaps. I, II, perspective have been written by Maurice and 8), himself a theologian and a soci- Sinclair (1988) and Michael Nazir-Ali ologist, and some valuable Evangelical (1991). What is distinctive of the partner- contributions have been added recently.6 ship proposed by this missiology is that One important consequence of this the Third World churches are seen as approach has been to clarify the degree agents and originators of a missionary ef- to which missionary ideas and practices fort and a missiological reflection that is were influenced by the social context from valid in its own right. They are not simply which missionaries came. In this way, it is being asked to join the missionary enter- possible to distinguish the biblical content prise devised in a mission center of North of their teaching from the trappings of America or Europe. This point becomes their class attitudes and their national especially important because the mission- idiosyncrasies. This is especially helpful as ary agenda in the Third World cannot a generation of leaders in the younger avoid the issues linked to Christian mis- churches give themselves to the theologi- sion and social transformation—issues cal task of contextualizing the Christian such as human rights, the socio-political

4 The field was pioneered by E. A. Judge (1960) and followed by authors as diverse as Wayne Meeks, Alan Kreider, and Derek Tidball. 5 This kind of reductionism was expressed, for instance, in the WCC-sponsored “Declaration of Barbados,” which caused an uproar in the 1970s. See International Review of Mission, July 1973, and my discussion of this matter in Escobar (1978). 6 See Stanley (1990) and Carpenter & Shenk (1990). These books are truly historical essays and go beyond the naïve chronicles or memories that we commonly call “mission history.” evangelical missiology: peering into the future 109 consequences of missionary action, the orientation well defined. One way of ideological use of the Christian message achieving manageability is precisely to re- for political aims, and the religious sanc- duce reality to an understandable picture tion for contemporary forms of economic and then to project missionary action as a or cultural colonialism. response to a problem that has been de- What characterizes this missiology is scribed in quantitative form. Missionary that the traditional Evangelical missionary action is reduced to a linear task that is zeal is matched with a disposition to take translated into logical steps to be followed courageously the lessons of history and in a process of management by objectives, explore God’s Word using the best tools in the same way in which the evangelistic of biblical scholarship at the service of task is reduced to a process that can be mission. More than a closed package that carried on following marketing principles. is to be protected from the tough ques- Movements that express this approach tions that come from life, mission theol- proliferated as we were approaching the ogy is grounded on basic convictions, but end of the century. Organizations and it is also an open enterprise so that mis- strategies using the year 2000 A.D. as a sionary practice is open to correction. One date to complete evangelization were could also say that missionary practices of given prominent publicity during the British and European agencies tend to Lausanne II gathering, in which an array express these convictions and that agen- of “arresting but mystifying statistics” were cies like Tear Fund, South American offered in highly promoted packages (see Missionary Society, Overseas Missionary Coote, 1990, pp. 15-16). The use of statis- Fellowship, or Latin Link try to shape their tical information in order to visualize the policies according to biblical principles missionary task, as well as of key dates in more than mere pragmatic considerations. order to motivate missionaries, is not something new in the history of missions. Managerial missiology The famous “Enquiry” written by William The distinctive note from the missiol- Carey in 1792 in order to promote Protes- ogy that has developed especially around tant missions devoted a good number of the cluster of Evangelical institutions in pages to statistical charts about the popu- Pasadena, California, connected to the lation of the world and the religious affili- Church Growth School and movements ation of the peoples. In preparation for such as the AD 2000 and Beyond Move- some of the great missionary conferences ment, is the effort to reduce Christian of our century, similar statistical informa- mission to a manageable enterprise. Ev- tion was compiled in order to communi- ery characteristic of this missiology be- cate the nature of the missionary effort that comes understandable when perceived was required and to promote a sense of within the frame of that avowed quantify- urgency about it. ing intention. Concepts such as “people Within managerial missiology, statisti- groups,” “unreached peoples,” “10/40 cal analysis was used first as a way of mea- window,” “adopt a people,” and “territo- suring the effect of missionary action, in rial spirits” express both a strong sense of an effort to reduce the lack of clarity that urgency and an effort to use every avail- surrounded it and the fuzziness in the tra- able instrument to make the task possible. ditional way of defining and evaluating it. As a typical school of thought coming from This evaluative methodology was at the modern United States, the quantitative ap- service of a narrowly defined concept of proach is predominant and the pragmatic mission as numerical growth of the 110 establishing the macro context of the major issues church, coupled with an insistence about Anyone who has engaged in mission the unfinished evangelistic task among in the Third World or among the poor in those that had not yet heard or accepted the First World knows that the neat dis- the message of the gospel. Donald McGav- tinction established by McGavran is arti- ran was the champion of this position, ficial. It was good for debate against which he presented in contrast to more exaggerations, but it does not function in inclusive definitions of mission that were practice. In the United States or in Europe, predominant, especially in the conciliar middle class churches can keep a neat dis- Ecumenical Movement. In one of his tinction between “spiritual” needs and “so- last writings, McGavran (1989, p. 338) cial” needs, and they can specialize in the posed the dilemma very clearly: “In short, former. In most African American or His- is mission primarily evangelism, or is it pri- panic churches of the U.S. or in churches marily all efforts to improve human exist- of immigrants in Europe, such distinction ence?” His choice is clear: “Winning many is impossible. On the other hand, there to the Christian life must be the dominant are some aspects of missionary work that concern of all Christians. All those engag- cannot be reduced to statistics. Manage- ing in missiology need to be all things to rial missiology has diminished those as- all people in order to lead some to be- pects of missionary work which cannot be lieve in Christ and receive everlasting life. measured or reduced to figures. In the Once that is done, then limitation of popu- same way, it has given predominance to lation, feeding the hungry, healing the that which can be reduced to a statistical sick, developing just forms of government, chart. and other steps toward the better life will The second important note that re- become much more possible and more flects managerial missiology’s origins is permanent” (McGavran, 1989, p. 340). the pragmatic approach to the task, which Extreme forms of managerial missiol- de-emphasizes theological problems, ogy as we know it may have not been what takes for granted the existence of adequate McGavran intended to develop, but it content, and consequently majors in came to happen in any case. Some acts of method. An enterprise that presupposes verbal communication of the gospel, such that the theoretical questions are not im- as distribution of the printed page, hours portant will be by force anti-theological. of broadcasting through radio or TV, mas- It is the kind of process that demands a sive gatherings for evangelism, and groups closed view of the world, in which the of new believers organized into churches, tough questions are not asked because are all activities that can be counted and they cannot be reduced to a linear man- registered. It is not difficult to see how agement-by-objectives process. This sys- such a narrowed-down concept of mission tem cannot live with paradox or mystery. has given birth to a managerial approach It has no theological or pastoral resources to the missionary task. It is at this point to cope with the suffering and persecution that this missiology has been subject to involved many times in mission, because severe criticism, because it has yielded to it is geared to provide methodologies for the spirit of the age. It is interesting that a guaranteed success. However, only cat- as the influence of market economy ideas egories like paradox, mystery, suffering, becomes pervasive in society, authors from and failure can help us grasp something this movement are writing now about mar- of the depth of the spiritual battle involved keting the church. in mission. In this way, an important aspect of the history of missions is either evangelical missiology: peering into the future 111 silenced or underestimated, because it pel and Christian mission. Harvie Conn would not fit the mathematical categories (1983) has studied the development of the of so-called “church growth.” missiological thought of Donald McGavran The pragmatic bias accounts also for in relation to this area, especially the con- the reductionist theological foundation of cepts about discipling and perfecting as this missiology. If the missionary effort is phases and moments of the missionary reduced to numerical growth, anything process. that would hinder it has to be eliminated. Proponents of this missiology that en- If the struggle for obedience to God in tered in a global dialogue after Lausanne holistic mission involves costly participa- 1974 have worked critically to develop the tion in the processes of social transforma- best of its insights. On the other hand, tion, it is simply eliminated. The slow Conn suggests that McGavran’s evolution process of development of a contextual and self-correction have not been always theology for a young church tends to be adequately noticed or followed by his stu- considered inefficient and costly, and it is dents and defenders. As an insider in the easy to substitute prepackaged theologies movement, Arthur Glasser (1986) pro- translated from English. Efficient educa- vided a brief and clarifying evaluative tional techniques like “extension” have chronicle. Some anthropologists of this been developed within the frame of mana- school, especially Alan Tippett (1987), gerial missiology, but there has not been Charles Kraft (1979), and Paul Hiebert much success in the production of con- (1986), worked patiently in a clarification textual textbooks. Charles Taber (1983, p. of methodologies from the social sciences 119) points to the Evangelical origins of as they are applied to missiological work. the theological presuppositions of the Missiologist Charles Van Engen (1991) has Church Growth School, but he proves that worked systematically in an effort to in- its foundation is a “narrowed-down ver- corporate key concerns from the Church sion of the evangelical hermeneutic and Growth School into a full-fledged theol- theology.” ogy of the church in mission. In the third place, the strong influence A more recent movement that embod- of the American functionalist social sci- ies in an extreme form all the characteris- ences on managerial missiology accounts tics we have outlined above is the so-called for an important deficiency when we come Spiritual Warfare Movement. While no one to the transformative dynamism of the would deny the reality of spiritual life and gospel. The structural-functional model of the spiritual battles involved in mission- cultural anthropology is based on a static ary work, this American-based movement view of the world for which, as Taber provides maps and statistics of demons in (1983, p. 119) says, “‘Cultural givens’ take cities and regions. It majors in offering on permanence and rigidity; it suggests methodologies for which there is no bib- that whatever is endures. This cannot help lical or theological basis, and it handles but undermine the hope of transforma- Scripture in an arbitrary way. It comes in tion which is central to the gospel.” Peru- packages of literature, video, songs, and vian missiologist Tito Paredes (1986) has methodologies that are being propagated developed this critical point, showing how with the best use of marketing techniques. the way in which managerial missiologists The Evangelical Missiological Society has read Scripture is affected by this socially provided a careful theological and bibli- conservative approach, which takes them cal evaluation of this movement (Rom- to reductionist understanding of the gos- men, 1995). 112 establishing the macro context of the major issues

The enthusiastic fervor and the mili- but what kind of missionary action is nec- tancy of some proponents of managerial essary. And the concern with quality links missiology, as well as the great amount of naturally with the questions about the material and technical resources with social dynamism of the gospel and that which they promote their cause, has cre- transformative power of the experience of ated a suspicion about motivation, espe- conversion to Jesus Christ. cially in the Southern hemisphere. The What characterizes Evangelical churches idea that an accumulation of material rein the Third World, especially in Africa, sources is bound to produce certain ef- Latin America, and Asia, is their evangelis- fects has reflected itself in the constant tic and missionary dynamism. And that is preoccupation with augmenting the mis- clearly reflected in the missiology that sionary force quantitatively, without much comes from them. None among the pas- debate about the quality of that mission- tors, missionaries, and theologians from ary action. The suspicion of some Third the Third World that spoke at Lausanne I World Christians is that they are being or Lausanne II proposed a moratorium of used as objects of a missionary action that evangelization or a concept of mission that seems to be directed to the main objec- would deny the priority of announcing the tive of enhancing the financial, informa- message of salvation in Jesus Christ as tional, and decision-making power of Savior and Lord. Most of them, however, some centers of mission in the First World. would agree about the need to distinguish The first rule of missionary life is that between the gospel and the ideologies of embodied in the model proposed by the the West, between a missionary action Lausanne Covenant of emptying our- patterned by the model of Jesus Christ and selves, and there is a right to suspect mo- one that reflects the philosophies and tivation. However, that is precisely the methodologies of the multi-national cor- aspect that cannot be grasped by simple porations. Probably the Latin Americans statistical analysis. Properly speaking, René Padilla and Orlando Costas are the more than a missiology, this is a method- theologians that have done more to pro- ology for mission, and if it limits itself to vide a solid biblical foundation to the two- that realm, accepting the need to enter fold missiological approach of Evangelicals into dialogue with theology and other from the Third World: the criticism of ex- missiologies, it could make its valuable isting patterns of mission and the proposal contribution to mission in the third mil- of a missiology that corresponds to the lennium. missionary challenges of the day. Costas’ (1983) approach was Evangeli- A critical missiology cal in its inspiration and emphasis, and from the periphery he tried to formulate basic missiological From the lands which used to be mis- concepts that would incorporate some in- sionary territories, a new missiology has sights from liberation theologies as well started to develop and is letting its voice as others from church growth methodolo- be heard. Lausanne I was characterized by gies. His holistic concept of church growth the openness to hear from that new re- is an excellent summary of his efforts to- flection, at the same time contextual and wards a synthesis that could be commu- engaged. We could say that the basic thrust nicated and implemented at the level of of this missiology is its critical nature. The the local church. His missiological explo- question for this missiology is not how ration into biblical themes is specially valu- much missionary action is required today able in his posthumous work, Liberating evangelical missiology: peering into the future 113

News (Costas, 1989). His study of the sig- Three collective volumes contain some nificance of the ministry of Jesus in Gali- of the missiological contributions from lee and from Galilee provides a paradigm Evangelical theologians of the Third World for mission from the Third World that he to the ongoing dialogue, with special ref- describes as “a model of contextual mis- erence to the relation between mission sion from the periphery.” In light of it, and social transformation. A careful con- Costas (1989, p. 67) believes that, “The sideration of their content will show that global scope of contextual evangelization this missiological concern is not some- should be geared first and foremost to the thing added artificially to what otherwise nations’ peripheries, where the multitudes would be purely evangelistic emphasis. It are found and where the Christian faith is a concern that comes from the demands has had the best opportunity to build a of both the evangelistic and the pastoral strong base.” Many historical examples as activity which these practitioners of mis- well as the tremendous dynamism of sion cannot avoid. What is at stake every churches in Africa and parts of Asia and day and every week in the ministry of these Latin America today prove his point and men, be it in the ghettos of North Ameri- mark some guidelines for the future of can cities or in the dusty roads of Latin mission, not so much as churches adopt America, Asia, and Africa, is their credibil- managerial plans from the North, but as ity as messengers of Jesus Christ. Thus a they develop their own missionary proj- renewed Christology is essential for their ects that express their genius and ethos. mission (Samuel & Sugden, 1983), as well Padilla also offers a missiological reflec- as the way in which churches can respond tion that is especially committed to take to human need (Samuel & Sugden, 1987) seriously the biblical text. His most com- or proclaim Christ among those that have plete proposal thus far is in his book Mis- not come to saving knowledge of him sion Between the Times (Padilla, 1985). (Samuel & Hauser, 1989). Padilla finds in the biblical text solid Contributions from missiologists like ground for a concept of the gospel and Kwame Bediako and David Gitari in Africa Christian commitment, in which the so- or Vinay Samuel and David Lim in Asia to cially transformative dimensions are un- the above-mentioned volumes posed spe- avoidable. Conn (1983, p. 85) thinks that cial questions in the area of the relation- Padilla’s dealing with issues like the “ho- ship between gospel and culture and the mogeneous unit principle” provides “a way in which Evangelicals rooted in the powerful model of exegetical interaction context of non-Christian cultures will deal with the church growth paradigm” and “an with their historical memory and their own articulate example of the way in which religious past. From the Catholic context these questions ought to be approached of popular religiosity and syncretism in from a biblical-theological perspective.” Latin America, these questions have a dif- What this example offers to missionaries ferent twist in the work of men like Tito is an exploration into the depths of the Paredes and Key Yuasa. In all these con- social significance of the basic Christian texts, the religious experience cannot truths. Precisely it is this kind of Evangeli- avoid reference to its social conditioning cal depth that is missing in managerial and its social impact. As militant social missiology and that makes sense to those scientists put missionary work in the Third who minister in the name of Jesus Christ, World under the microscope of their rein the midst of poverty and with the pain search, missiologists have to come to of social transitions. terms with the lights and the shadows of 114 establishing the macro context of the major issues a missionary enterprise made up of hu- Schrotenboer, 1987). In all these docu- man frailties and ambiguities. The missiol- ments, the concept of mission is grounded ogist in the Third World cannot avoid the on Scripture, both Old and New Testa- evaluative questions not only for the de- ment: “Mission arises from the self-giving fense of missionary work as it stands to- love of the Triune God himself and from day, but also for the formulation of a his eternal purpose.” From Scripture missionary strategy for the coming de- comes the conviction that “the arrival of cades. the messianic Kingdom through Jesus ne- cessitates the announcement of the Good Trinitarian Missiology News, the summons to repentance and In the final section of this paper, I want faith, and the gathering together of the to outline some notes of a trinitarian people of God.” missiology that may give us clues in rela- This effort to find the missionary im- tion to the challenges of the future. Evan- perative in the great lines of God’s reve- gelical missiological reflection has been lation in both Testaments is part of an strong in its Christology, because Evangeli- ongoing rediscovery of the missionary cals in mission have usually been Christo- theme that runs through the Bible. Here centric in their spiritual life and their we come to a point Evangelicals must ac- concept of mission. I have the conviction knowledge: they themselves have a long that the times call for a new understand- way to go in terms of deepening their un- ing of the Triune God as we think about derstanding of the biblical basis of mis- mission in light of God’s Word. This is not sion, in order to establish its validity not to detract from a Christ-centered stance on isolated sayings but on the general but to look at our Lord the way Scripture thrust of biblical teaching. As an Evangeli- presents him in relation to the Father and cal from Latin America, I have found es- the Spirit. I will refer to several documents pecially significant the fact that Catholic that have been produced by conferences scholars have produced books that have and consultations, because many times become standard works in the field of the they reflect the consensus of practitioners biblical basis of mission. South African and missiologists as a result of exercises missiologist David Bosch (1993, p. 178) in dialogue. Missiology is the reflection of referred to this reality in an eloquent com- the people of God, not only of bright, spe- ment: “One might even say that by and cialized scholars. large, Catholic biblical scholars are currently taking the missionary dimension of God’s mission Scripture more seriously than their Prot- in all of Scripture estant counterparts.” Because Evangelicals have the highest In the WEF Perspective (Schrotenboer, regard for the Word of God, they see the 1987) there is also a note of self-criticism Bible as the norm for faith and practice. It about this point: “We must acknowledge is therefore the norm for our way of think- that often we have also set our Evangeli- ing and acting in mission. Documents such cal traditions above Scripture. In many in- as the Lausanne Covenant and those pro- stances our lip service to biblical authority duced by working groups and consulta- contradicts the predominant place we give tions of the World Evangelical Fellowship to our denominational and historical bag- in dialogue with different Christian inter- gage.” With this note comes also an im- locutors reflect this biblical conviction portant commitment to enter into a global (Stott, 1996; Meeking & Stott, 1986; inter-Evangelical dialogue to better under- evangelical missiology: peering into the future 115 stand the biblical teaching on missions: has to make room for understanding this, “The time has come for Evangelicals as one of the joint groups working on the around the world to work together in a issue of proselytism came to acknowledge, contextual hermeneutics that will benefit affirming that most persons engaged in from the rich expressions of Evangelical proselytism “do so out of a genuine con- faith that are now taking root in so many cern for the salvation of those whom they nations and cultures.” address” (quoted in Robeck, 1996, p. 6). Some of the more difficult dialogues The Christological and debates within the Evangelical Move- center and model ment are related to the corrective role of Scripture in relation to missionary prac- McGrath (1995, p. 65) has reminded tice. I have referred to the missionary strat- us recently that the Evangelical stance is egy known as Spiritual Warfare developed radically Christ-centered. He relates this in relation to the Church Growth Move- to the high view of Scripture to which ment. At a time in which there is a resur- Evangelicals are committed: “Christology gence of religiosity in many parts of the and scriptural authority are inextricably world, Spiritual Warfare has contributed linked, in that it is Scripture and Scrip- to a renewed awareness of the spiritual ture alone that brings us to the true and dimension of the missionary task. The saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.” One Lausanne Covenant had a clear reference could describe the development of Evan- to it: “We believe that we are engaged in gelical missiology after Berlin 1966 as the constant spiritual warfare with the princi- search for a new Christological paradigm. palities and powers of evil” (LC, par. 12). Traditionally, the Great Commission of However the Spiritual Warfare Movement Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18 had been has taken extreme and confusing direc- the motto of Evangelical missions, stress- tions. The Lausanne Committee (1992) ing the imperative of Jesus’ command to issued a statement warning about this de- go and evangelize the nations. In Berlin, velopment and recommending some an- John Stott started his Bible expositions tidotes: “There is a danger that we revert with the Gospel of John and emphasized to think and operate on pagan worldviews that in it we have a model for mission (“As or on undiscerning application of Old Tes- my Father hath sent me”), as well as a tament analogies that were in fact super- missionary imperative (“even so send I seded in Jesus Christ. The antidote to this you”). Many came to agree with Stott is the rigorous study of the whole of Scrip- (1967, p. 39) that “although these words ture always interpreting the Old Testament represent the simplest form of the Great in the light of the New.” Commission, it is at the same time its most The return to Scripture in Evangelical profound form, its most challenging and missiology, especially to the New Testa- therefore its most neglected.” ment patterns, means a continual redis- The Christological paradigm of mission covery of how mission was carried on by found in the Gospels is incarnational and the pre-Constantinian church. Sometimes is marked by a spirit of service. Its roots the understanding of this may not give are in the message of prophets such as adequate regard to historical develop- Isaiah as well as in the theological elabo- ments. This lack of historical awareness ration of the Christology of Paul, Peter, mixed with Evangelical zeal may account John, and other apostolic writers. It came for some ways of doing mission that may to be understood as a corrective to Evan- well be labeled as proselytism. Dialogue gelical triumphalism, and consequently 116 establishing the macro context of the major issues taken very seriously by Evangelicals around missiological paradigm, and the spiritual the world (see, for instance, Padilla, 1976; conflict involved in mission. Samuel & Sugden, 1983). From the shift Within the Evangelical missionary of attention to the Johannine version of stance, the theme of imitatio Christi was the Great Commission came a new appre- given a missiological dimension, and one ciation of the humanity of Jesus Christ and could say that in the case of Latin America the importance of his incarnational style there were in this process some conver- of mission. This may be an adequate gences with certain forms of liberation source for evaluation and self-criticism theology. For Evangelicals, however, it is within the Evangelical missionary enter- clear that biblical Christology also includes prise. One finds it as a theme in the an unequivocal reference to the atoning Lausanne Covenant and as a hermeneuti- work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the cal key in several documents produced need of every person to respond to it. later on by the Lausanne Movement and There cannot be an imitation of Christ in WEF. the biblical sense without a new birth. In René Padilla (1982) has expressed well response to liberation theologians who an Evangelical perspective recovered from would stress the socio-political dimension a fresh reading of the Gospels: “Jesus of the death of Jesus, Padilla, for instance, Christ is God’s missionary par excellence, accepts the truth based on examination and he involves his followers in his mis- of the texts of the Gospels that the death sion.” As we find it in the Gospels, Jesus’ of Jesus was the historical outcome of the mission includes “fishing for the king- kind of life he lived, and that he suffered dom,” or, in other words, the call to con- for the cause of justice and challenges us version to Jesus Christ as the way, the to do the same. But a warning is neces- truth, and the life. It is this conversion to sary, because: “Unless the death of Christ Jesus which stands as the basis upon is also seen as God’s gracious provision which the Christian community is formed. of an atonement for sin, the basis for for- Mission also includes “compassion” as a giveness is removed and sinners are left result of immersion among the multi- without the hope of justification … salva- tudes. It is neither a sentimental burst of tion is by grace through faith and … noth- emotion nor an academic option for the ing should detract from the generosity of poor, but definite and intentional actions God’s mercy and love as the basis of joy- of service in order to “feed the multitude” ful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ” with bread for life, as well as bread of life. (Samuel & Sugden, 1983, p. 28). Mission includes “confrontation” of the Here we can appreciate better an powers of death with the power of the Suf- Evangelical conviction that distinguishes fering Servant, and thus “suffering” be- Evangelicals from others (Catholics, for incomes a mark of Jesus’ messianic mission stance), as we see in the section on the and a result of this power struggle and of biblical basis of mission in the ERCDOM human injustice. Through creative contex- Report (Meeking & Stott, 1986). First we tual obedience, Jesus’ mission becomes a find a summary of agreements and dis- fertile source of inspiration. It contains the agreements in a crisp sentence: “While seeds of new patterns being explored to- both sides affirm that the pilgrim church day through practice and reflection—pat- is missionary by its very nature, its mis- terns such as simple lifestyle, holistic sionary activity is differently understood.” mission, the unity of the church for mis- It goes on to explain the Vatican II defini- sion, the pattern of God’s kingdom as tion of the church as “sacrament of evangelical missiology: peering into the future 117 salvation … the sign and promise of returning process, they are invited to the cru- demption to each and every person with- cified and risen Christ by the Holy Spirit out exception.” It then states that most who prompts them to die to the sinful Evangelicals have a contrasting position: desires of their old nature and to be liber- “The church is the beginning and antici- ated from Satanic bondage and to become pation of the new creation, the first born new creatures in him. This is their pas- among his creatures. Though all in Adam sage from spiritual death to spiritual life, die, not all are automatically in Christ. So which Scripture calls regeneration or new life in Christ has to be received by grace birth (John 3:5).” with repentance, through faith. With Because mission involves frequently a yearning, Evangelicals plead for a re- transcultural action, it is important to be sponse to the atoning work of Christ in alert against forms of evangelism and con- his death and resurrection. But with sor- version that appear more as the imposi- row, they know that not all who are called tion of foreign cultural patterns on the are chosen” (emphasis added). This con- receptors of the gospel. The Lausanne viction is then reflected in missionary ac- Covenant had a warning reminding us tivity: “Evangelization is therefore the call that, “Missions have all too frequently ex- to those outside to come as children of ported with the gospel an alien culture, the Father into the fullness of eternal life and churches have sometimes been in in Christ by the Spirit, and into the joy of bondage to culture rather than to Scrip- a loving community in the fellowship of ture” (LC, par. 10). The Hong Kong Call the church.” (1992, pp. 264-265) offers a more specific This call to conversion is crucial for reminder: “There is a radical discontinu- Evangelical mission. Personal encounter ity in all conversions, in the sense that the with Jesus Christ changes people radically, convert ‘turns from darkness to light and and there is a component of moral trans- from the power of Satan to God’ (Acts formation in this concept of conversion. 26:18).” However, it also tries to make As an historian observed, in the Evangeli- clear that: “Conversion should not ‘de- cal revival of John Wesley we could see culturise’ the converts. They should re- both the pessimism about human nature main members of their cultural characteristic of Calvin’s biblical anthro- community, and wherever possible retain pology and the optimism about divine the values that are not contrary to biblical grace from Evangelical Arminianism that revelation. In no case should the converts matched it (Rupp, 1952). I would say that be forced to be ‘converted’ to the culture this balanced but tense vision has been of the foreign missionary.” one of the marks of Evangelical mission- The radical Christocentrism of Evan- ary and evangelistic efforts. There is power gelicals accounts also for their stance in in the blood of Jesus Christ to regenerate relation to other religions. The WEF Per- persons by the power of the Holy Spirit. spective (Schrotenboer, 1987) uses strong This conviction was forcefully restated in language when it criticizes syncretistic 1988 by a joint group of WEF and the practices. At Lausanne II in Manila (1989), Lausanne Committee (Hong Kong Call, Canon Colin Chapman, who had been a 1992, p. 264): “Conversion means turn- missionary among Muslims, acknowl- ing from sin in repentance to Christ in edged the fact that Evangelicals had still faith. Through this faith believers are for- much to learn in their understanding of given and justified and adopted into the how the Bible deals with the issue of reli- family of God’s children and heirs. In the gion in general. The question has become 118 establishing the macro context of the major issues more urgent in recent times, in view of of the continent knows that the question the increase of religiosity in the West and of popular religiosity does not only have the tension between growing pluralism on a pastoral angle but also a political one, the one hand and fundamentalisms on the which may be the source of most serious other hand in many parts of the world. disagreements. The way ahead is being opened by the A Methodist theologian who has in- work of theologians from those parts of sisted on affirming his Evangelical stance, the world where the encounter with other José Míguez Bonino (1997, p. 120), has faiths is part of the daily life of the mis- written recently, challenging Latin Ameri- sionary and the Christian community. can Evangelicals to take seriously the is- Asian and African Evangelicals are contrib- sue of other religions. He believes that a uting to a better understanding of the trinitarian Christological focus can serve uniqueness of Jesus Christ. There is firm- as our guide. “We must not separate the ness in their Evangelical conviction, but Jesus Christ of the New Testament from there is also an awareness of the dangers the Word ‘that was from the beginning’ of Western triumphalism that may have ‘with God and was God,’” and he invites tainted Evangelical positions in the past. us to see in human experiences the pres- Thus, for instance, Vinoth Ramachandra ence of that Word and that Spirit. This is (1996, p. 275), an Evangelical from Sri not “to ‘give in’ to paganism but rather to Lanka, examines critically the missiological confess the One ‘without (whom) not one approach of three Asian Catholic theolo- thing came into being’(John 1:3).” His gians: Samartha, Pieris, and Pannikar. Evangelical warning comes then loud and Then he offers a careful development of clear: “It is no less true, however, that orthodox Christology in dialogue with Christian theology cannot disengage the religions and modernity. From his Chris- Word and the Spirit of God from the ‘flesh’ tology comes a position that avoids arro- of the son of Mary—of his teaching, his gance: “This kind of theological position, message, his life and his death, his resur- which seeks a biblical balance of confi- rection and Lordship. It is there where we dence and humility, defies classification can find the marks of the authentic Word under the customary categories of exclu- and Spirit of the God of the covenant. By sivist, pluralist, and inclusivist, where the yardstick of the presence of God in Christian views on the world religions are Jesus one measures all presumed presence concerned.” of that God in human history.” During the most recent decade in Latin The power of the Holy Spirit America, there has been much pastoral and theological work (and very little dia- Since Anglican missiologist Roland logue) in the area of popular religion Allen, former missionary in China, pub- among both Catholics and Evangelicals. lished his book The Spontaneous Expan- On the one hand, there is the effort of the sion of the Church in 1912, the question Catholic Church to understand critically of a return to New Testament patterns of the syncretistic forms of Christianity, es- mission has been pursued in Protestant pecially among the indigenous peoples, missiology. Allen started with method- what is now being called “the Indian face ological questions but soon found that he of God.” On the other hand, there is the also had to give serious consideration to existence of popular forms of Protestant- the presence and power of the Holy Spirit ism that have grown beyond all expecta- in mission. Actually, he was returning to a tions. Anyone familiar with the situation key point in the practice and theology of evangelical missiology: peering into the future 119 both Pietists and Revivalists in the history other Evangelicals. In this area we have of missions. It was an important theme for witnessed significant advance in recent Evangelical champions of missions linked years. An important section in the to the Holiness Movements, with persons ERCDOM Report (Meeking & Stott, 1986) such as A. B. Simpson, A. J. Gordon, and is given to the work of the Holy Spirit in A. T. Pierson. In the second part of the 20th mission, and it is one of the sections in century, the growth of the Pentecostal which there are also significant points of Movement, which had had a strong mis- agreement among Catholics and Evan- sionary thrust from its inception, even- gelicals. At the same time, it is surprising tually forced the question from the how very little space is given to the work missiological level into the realm of his- of the Holy Spirit in the WEF Perspective torical and biblical studies. The Pentecos- (Schrotenboer, 1987). In contrast with tal Movement in itself became a vast field this, the Summary Reports of the 1995 for research (Dempster, Klaus, & Petersen, consultation of the WEF Theological Com- 1991). mission about “Faith and Hope for the The understanding of the initiative of Future” are permeated by a trinitarian af- the Holy Spirit in relation to mission has firmation and confession of faith and hope been enriched by the contributions of in the work of the Holy Spirit (WEF Theo- several Evangelical scholars. Their works logical Commission, 1997). provide a solid foundation for a better un- At the end of my previous paper, I re- derstanding of the Evangelical practice of called the fact that Evangelical missions mission.7 In his book Pentecost and Mis- in our century were more inspired by the sions, Harry Boer (1961) reminded us that Wesleyan revivals and the Moravian pio- the use of the “Great Commission” as the neers of mission than by the 16th century imperative motto for Evangelical mission- magisterial Reformers. The dynamism that ary work was actually a relatively recent nurtured missionary Protestantism came development. The biblical pattern stresses from renewal movements that emphasized the presence and power of the Holy Spirit personal, living faith and disciplined life in the life of the church as the source of rather than confessional conformity. Not missionary dynamism—not a new legal- that intellectual understanding of ortho- ism, but the free and joyous expression dox faith was not important. Men like of a renewed experience of God’s grace. Wesley or Zinzendorf were theologically Here we have a better key to understand articulate. But it was their living experi- what may be the source that inspires the ence that enabled them to abandon old spontaneous missionary thrust in Evan- church structures that were obsolete and gelical missions and churches around the gave them creativity in developing new world. structures for mission. In this they were As has already been noted, there are open to the movement of the Spirit. After many types of Pentecostals within the Lausanne, Howard Snyder has been the Evangelical ranks of both WEF and the Lau- missiologist who has contributed more to sanne Movement. However, the acknowl- our understanding of this relationship edgment of their specific contributions as between spiritual renewal and new pat- movements inspired and empowered by terns of missionary action which is part of the Holy Spirit was not easy to accept by our Evangelical heritage.

7 I think of Harry Boer (1961), John V. Taylor (1973), several works by James D. G. Dunn, and, more recently, Gordon Fee (1994). 120 establishing the macro context of the major issues

I quote again Brazilian missiologist sis has not been in a continuity expressed Valdir Steuernagel (1993): “Mission under- by an earthly hierarchical institution, but stood in pneumatological language is one in a continuity made possible by God’s act with two steps. It is first to perceive Word revealed to human beings. In all the the blowing of the Spirit and the direc- crossing of missionary frontiers, and in all tion from which it comes. And then it is the efforts at contextualization, Evangeli- to run in the same direction to which the cal missiology has stressed a continuity of Spirit is blowing.” Some Evangelicals like faithfulness to the Word. In the contem- myself think that discernment of the blow- porary situation, we also need to pay heed ing of the Spirit requires an open attitude to what Emil Brunner (1953, p. 47) wrote and sensitivity, which acknowledge that at the middle point of the 20th century: “It behind those things that appear as some- is not merely a question of the continuity thing new and unusual, the strength and of the word—the maintenance of the origi- vigor of the Spirit may be at work. The act nal doctrine—but also of the continuity of obedience demands creativity in order of a life; that is life flowing from the Holy to shape new structures that will be ad- Ghost. The fellowship of Jesus lives un- equate instruments for missionary action der the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; that in a particular historical moment. is the secret of its life, of its communion In Pauline missionary practice we find and of its power.” this pattern. Paul’s Christology is the de- I hope and pray that this missiological velopment of pastoral, doctrinal, and ethi- conference called by the Missions Com- cal teaching that stems from the fact of mission of WEF may become one of the Christ. Paul elaborates his Christology as foci where Evangelicals looking at mission he responds to the needs and the ques- in the 21st century may experience an en- tions of churches which were born from counter of the continuity in truth and the the Spirit and which showed evidence of continuity in life, for the glory of God. new life, but which had not yet articulated their belief in a meaningful way. The re- References cipients of these letters were people who Boer, H. R. (1961). Pentecost and missions. had grasped the Lordship of Christ and Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- whose eyes had been opened by the Spirit lishing Co. to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Bonino, J. M. (1997). Faces of Latin American Christ, but they did not have yet a clear Protestantism. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Christology. What we have in the world Eerdmans Publishing Co. today are churches in which people may Bosch, D. (1993). Reflections on biblical models of mission. In J. M. Phillips & R. T. Coote repeat weekly the minutiae of a Christo- (Eds.), Toward the 21st century in Chris- logical creed but who do not have the new tian mission: Essays in honor of Gerald life in Christ that the Spirit begets. On the H. Anderson. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. other hand, we have growing churches Eerdmans Publishing Co. where there are the signs of the power of Brunner, E. (1953). The misunderstanding of the Spirit at work, but where a basic theo- the church. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster logical task is necessary, along the lines of Press. what Paul did in his ministry. Carpenter, J., & Shenk, W. (Eds.). (1990). Earthen vessels. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Evangelical theology has been an effort Eerdmans Publishing Co. to keep both a missiological thrust and faithfulness to revealed truth. Our empha- evangelical missiology: peering into the future 121

Conn, H. M. (1983). Looking for a method: World Evangelization Information Service Backgrounds and suggestions. In W. R. (Press release, p. 3). Shenk (Ed.), Exploring church growth (pp. Loewen, J. A. (1975). Culture and human val- 79-94). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerd- ues: Christian intervention in anthropo- mans Publishing Co. logical perspective. Pasadena, CA: William Coote, R. T. (1990, January). Lausanne II and Carey Library. world evangelization. International Bulle- McGavran, D. (1989). Missiology faces the lion. tin of Missionary Research, 14(1), pp. 10- Missiology, 17(3), pp. 338-340. 17. McGrath, A. (1995). Evangelicalism and the Costas, O. E. (1983). A wholistic concept of future of Christianity. Downers Grove, IL: church growth. In W. R. Shenk (Ed.), Ex- InterVarsity Press. ploring church growth (pp. 95-107). Grand Meeking, B., & Stott, J. R. W. (Eds.). (1986). Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing The Evangelical-Roman Catholic dialogue Co. on mission 1977-1984. Grand Rapids, MI: ———. (1989). Liberating news. Grand Rap- Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Mehl, R. (1970). Sociology of Protestantism. Dempster, M. A., Klaus, B. D., & Petersen, D. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press. (Eds.). (1991). Called and empowered: Nazir-Ali, M. (1991). From everywhere to ev- Global mission in Pentecostal perspective. erywhere: A world view of Christian mis- Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. sion. London: Collins. Escobar, S. (1978). Christian mission and so- Neill, S. (1966). Colonialism and Christian cial justice (ch. 3). Scottdale, PA: Herald mission. New York: McGraw Hill. Press. Padilla, C. R. (1985). Mission between the Fee, G. D. (1994). God’s empowering presence: times. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans The Holy Spirit in the letters of Paul. Pea- Publishing Co. body, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. ———. (1982). Bible studies. Missiology, 10(3), Glasser, A. F. (1986). Church growth at Fuller. pp. 319-338. Missiology, 14(4), pp. 401-420. ———. (1989, December). Mision y compro- Green, M. (1970). Evangelism in the early miso social. Misión, Buenos Aires, 8(4), pp. church. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerd- 120-121. mans Publishing Co. Padilla, C. R. (Ed.). (1976). The new face of Hiebert, P. G. (1986). Anthropological insights evangelicalism. Downers Grove, IL: Inter- for missionaries. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Varsity Press. Book House. Paredes, T. (1986). El evangelio en platos de The Hong Kong call to conversion. (1992). barro. Lima, Peru: Ed. Presencia. Evangelical Review of Theology, 16(3), pp. Ramachandra, V. (1996). The recovery of mis- 262-270. sion. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Hutchison, W. H. (1987). Errand to the world: Publishing Co. American Protestant thought and foreign Robeck, C. M., Jr. (1996, January). Mission and missions. Chicago: University of Chicago the issue of proselytism. International Press. Bulletin of Missionary Research, 20(1), p. Johnston, A. P. (1978). The battle for world 6. evangelism. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Robert, D. L. (1994). From missions to mission Publishers. to beyond mission: The historiography of Judge, E. A. (1960). The social pattern of Chris- American Protestant foreign missions since tian groups in the first century. London: World War II. International Bulletin of Tyndale Press. Missionary Research, 18(4), p. 146. Kraft, C. (1979). Christianity in culture. Mary- Rommen, E. (Ed.). (1995). Spiritual power and knoll, NY: Orbis Books. mission: Raising the issues. Pasadena, CA: Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization. William Carey Library/Evangelical Mission- (1992, August 27). Lausanne Committee ary Society. issues statement on spiritual warfare. 122 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Rupp, E. G. (1952). Principalities and pow- Tippett, A. R. (1987). Introduction to missiol- ers: Studies in the Christian conflict in his- ogy. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. tory (pp. 76-93). New York: Abingdom Van Engen, C. (1991). God’s missionary Cokesbury. people: Rethinking the purpose of the lo- Samuel, V., & Hauser, A. (1989). Proclaiming cal church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book Christ in Christ’s way: Studies in integral House. evangelism. Oxford: Regnum Books. Walls, A. F. (1996). The missionary movement Samuel, V., & Sugden, C. (Eds.). (1983). Shar- in Christian history: Studies in the trans- ing Jesus in the Two Thirds World. Grand mission of faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Books. Co. Warren, M. (1967). Social history and Chris- ———. (1987). The church in response to hu- tian missions. London: SCM Press. man need. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerd- WEF Theological Commission. (1997, Janu- mans Publishing Co. ary). Faith and hope for the future. Evan- Schrotenboer, P. G. (Ed.). (1987). Roman Ca- gelical Review of Theology, 21(1), pp. 5-40. tholicism: A contemporary Evangelical Willowbank Report. (1978). In J. R. W. Stott & perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book R. T. Coote (Eds.), Down to earth studies House. in Christianity and culture. Grand Rapids, Sinclair, M. (1988). Ripening harvest, gather- MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ing storm. London: MARC. Yoder, J. H. (1972). The politics of Jesus. Grand Stanley, B. (1990). The Bible and the flag. Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press. Steuernagel, V. (1988). The theology of mis- Samuel Escobar sions in its relation to social responsibil- and his wife Lilly ity within the Lausanne movement. are Peruvians. From Chicago: Lutheran School of Theology. 1959 to 1985, they ———. (1993). Obediencia missionária e were missionaries prática histórica: Em busca de modelos. among university São Paulo, Brazil: ABU Editora. students in Peru, Argentina, Brasil, Stott, J. R. W. (1967). The Great Commission. Spain, and Canada, In C. F. H. Henry & S. Mooneyham (Eds.), under the Interna- One race, one gospel, one task (Vol. 1). tional Fellowship of Minneapolis, MN: World Wide Publications. Evangelical Students. Samuel’s missiological ———. (1975). Christian mission in the mod- thinking developed as reflection on praxis in ern world. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity evangelism and through mission conferences Press. such as the Urbana Missionary Convention, Stott, J. R. W. (Ed.). (1996). Making Christ CLADE I Bogota (1969), and Lausanne (1974). known: Historic mission documents from Samuel was a founder of the Latin American the Lausanne Movement 1974-1989. Grand Theological Fraternity and served as its presi- Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing dent (1970–1984). He has an earned Ph.D. Co. from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Sugden, C., & Steuernagel, V. (1990, January– Spain, and an honorary D.D. from McMaster March). Transformation, 7(1). University, Canada. He is an ordained Bap- Taber, C. R. (1983). Contextualization. In W. tist minister. Presently he teaches at Eastern R. Shenk (Ed.), Exploring church growth. Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub- Pennsylvania, during the fall and serves the lishing Co. rest of the year as Consultant for Theological Taylor, J. V. (1973). The Go-between God. Phila- Education with Baptist International Minis- delphia, PA: Fortress Press. tries, based in Lima, Peru. He and Lilly have a daughter who teaches in Spain and a son Tidball, D. (1983). An introduction to the so- who works as agricultural economist with ciology of the New Testament. Exeter, UK: MEDA in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Paternoster. 8

T WAS MY FIRST TRIP ABROAD, and I was about to turn Learning I 22 years old. Catching a bus in Southern Brazil, at a city called Porto Alegre, and aiming to reach Buenos Aires, I had from 24 hours to become acquainted with some words in Span- ish. With a dictionary in hand, I tried my best. Escobar Arriving in Buenos Aires, I still had before me an over- night train journey. I spent the night sitting on the floor of a … and crowded train car. But reaching that small town called Villa beyond Maria was exciting, and I was looking forward to the month- long training program. It was there that I first met that smiling character and loaded “book man” called Samuel Escobar. As I respond to Escobar’s paper, I would like for us to keep Valdir a mental image of him before us. His ready smile would call Steuernagel us to participate in the present reflection and discussion. And his long bibliographical notes would tell us that he continues to be a loaded book-man who certainly does his homework! At his age, Escobar no longer needs to carry all those books along, throwing them on the table, as he did in Villa Maria and quite impressing a young fellow like me. And I can tell you, he did impress me! More than that, he helped to “transform” me. From that time on, my eyes and ears have been wide open to learn from him and to try to follow in some of his footsteps. A few years had passed by, and Villa Maria was a distant memory. Now I was about to turn 25. This time I was in Lima, Peru. To me, Samuel Escobar had become a more familiar figure and had grown in stature. After all, he had spo- ken at that “Mecca” event called Lausanne 1974. He had done it meaningfully, and those of us from Latin America were proud of him. And there I was, close to this “statesman.” It

123 124 establishing the macro context of the major issues was there that Samuel departed from his remember him and some of the oppor- notes for a while and did some personal tunities I had to get to know him and to sharing of life experience. Profound life be influenced by him. And this I would sharing, I would say. say is very important: By approaching the Emerging from Lausanne as a world- themes of his paper, “Evangelical Missiol- wide Evangelical figure, he was also a ogy: Peering Into the Future,” I suggest beaten human being. He had been ap- that besides sharing ideas, it is equally im- plauded and criticized, and he saw him- portant that we also tell stories and share self being evaluated and judged from here our lives. Therefore, I’d like to outline and there. Looking at those Evangelical some conclusions at the beginning of this tendencies and pressures, he was asking response. the key questions about the really impor- The important things should come tant and substantial things in life. And first. We might somehow be well known, there he was, telling us that he had known and some people at Iguassu might be quite the Evangelical machinery from within. He important. A few books might have been had seen it, so to speak. And after having translated into several languages, and seen it, he concluded that this was not someone might be a “must” author of to- what he wanted, what he was dreaming day. His/her name may be in every bibli- about! His desire, he told us, was to be ography and in the program of every known by the Lord. To have his name writ- missiological consultation. But all of this ten in God’s book, as Scripture tells us. means so little if God has difficulty know- Can you imagine the scene? Can you ing how to spell our names and if our picture our lost and puzzled faces, usu- friends don’t know our spouse’s name. ally hungry to receive yet one more bib- They might not even know if we are mar- liographical reference? But here we were ried or if we have children. witnessing a very human confession and If the truly important things come first sharing a very real moment in life. Samuel, with us, then our greatest desires will I suspect, did not imagine how much he point us in the direction of God: “Please, impacted me that day by his open and Lord, write my name into that book of vulnerable life-sharing. There I was being yours!” And if Jesus tells us that yes, our confronted with the really important name is there, let’s walk away smiling and things in life! That experience I’ve never embrace one another, sharing those things forgotten. that matter the most in life. And there is a third vignette. Not a story I have seen some of Escobar’s older really, but an observation. The fact is that friends calling him Sammy. But this is not Samuel knows my wife’s name. He recog- something for me. I cannot step in and nizes her and calls her by name. The other say something like, “Come on, Sammy.” day he sent me a picture of the three of us But I do consider him a friend. If he ever when we were together in Guatemala. It’s comes to Curitiba, I would like to host him something small, but actually quite impor- at my home. My wife and I would open tant. Do we know one another’s spouse the kitchen door for him, invite him to and children’s names? have a cup of coffee at the kitchen table, and ask the boys to clean their room for Starting With Conclusions him to sleep there. As I looked into the task of respond- Good missiology is made at the kitchen ing to Samuel Escobar’s paper, I began to table. Meaningful missiology is made in learning from escobar … and beyond 125 the context of relationship. Should we not Advancing Through confess that so much of our missiology is Storm Once More library-made, and so many of our consul- At the beginning of his paper, Escobar tations are head-encounters? Relationship- recovers Latourette’s expression “advance building is an essential part of our journey through storm” by describing the history towards tomorrow. of Christian mission in the 20th century. Have you had the opportunity to meet And by using Eric Hobsbawn’s categories, Samuel a few times? It looks as if he is al- we could say that it was mission in a short ways “humbly smiling.” First, it must be century in between the two world wars. said that it is not easy to find a good smile Escobar also recovers Ralph Winter’s ex- in some of our consultations. We might pression “unbelievable years” when he find some smiling, but so often it is a kind describes the growing presence of the of “well behaved” smiling. And what we North American missionary movement, find very often is “bibliographical serious- especially after World War II. But even ness” in an attempt to show off our intel- though Winter looked specifically at the lectual achievements. increasing impact of the North American Is it possible to look into the challeng- missionary movement, I could say the ing issues of our times with a sense of same about the Brazilian church, which is grace? Is it possible to smile while walk- my church. Especially the latter decades ing towards our gegenüber, enriching our of the 20th century were, to us, unbeliev- lives and task? And would it be possible able years that were characterized by three to do some laughing as we look into the trends. mirror, not taking ourselves too seriously? First, we saw the emergence worldwide Our aim should be to be known for “hum- of a strong evangelistic focus and advance. bly smiling” while embracing our task This movement generated, in some places, and walking together into the future. We substantial church growth. Thus, the church should be enjoying life and building up became significantly bigger and stronger. meaningful relationships. Second, we saw the church not only I still remember how excited and chal- grow in numbers but also become much lenged I was when I returned from my first more universal. The church can now be meetings of the Latin American Theologi- found on every continent and every po- cal Fraternity. And I must tell you that I litical nation. It is a global church whose was quite impressed by some of those fel- numbers are expressive, for we have cre- lows’ knowledge, by the number of books ated a worldwide movement. One of the listed in their bibliography, by the depth consequences of this development is that of their discussions, and by the size of their the church is less white and more like a “behind”—after all, it was not in vain that mosaic of colors, races, tastes, and lan- they sat for so many hours. With them, I guages. Another consequence has been learned that to be a responsible Christian, the emergence of a new and hetero- a meaningful citizen, and a somewhat geneous missionary movement. Some “good theologian” meant hard work. decades ago, according to Andrew Walls, There is no other way to do missiology every missionary was North American un- today and tomorrow. But I noticed also til identified differently. But today the that they were good friends and enjoyed missionary movement is much more in- a good meal together. ternational in its outlook, if not yet global in its philosophy. 126 establishing the macro context of the major issues

Third, there has been the emergence But it has to be said, secondly, that this of a theological trend that tries to say that tension and development cannot be un- our particular cultures and geographies derstood apart from the North-South para- will help to determine our perception and digm. And the poor South, when it saw understanding of reality and truth. There- that the rich North was calling all the shots fore, every theology must be contextual and controlling the game and playing and should reflect its own local flavor. As field, said that it also wanted to play in a consequence, the import/export busi- the game and not serve the role of the “ball ness of theology must be questioned, and boy”—the one who chases after the ball in its place we must create an open arena when it goes off the field but who never where we all share in the creation of Chris- plays on the field with the team. This ten- tian theology. sion, which could very often be seen ideo- logically along political and theological Creative Tensions lines, became quite evident in the pro- Those were unbelievable years, and so longed discussions on the tension of evan- many of us had the privilege of being ac- gelism vis-à-vis social action. A lot of tive witnesses to them. Yet this was not a people were hurt, walls were built, paper clean and straightforward process. The was used up, and adrenaline was ex- tensions and difficulties could be seen in pended in a discussion that so very often different places. I had the opportunity of impoverished the gospel itself. seeing them as I did my research on the Thirdly, we could say also that our di- Lausanne Movement. It would even be visions along ecclesiastical lines were quite possible to outline some of the tensions evident. Old churches were struggling to that were building up during that second survive, new churches were emerging, and half of the century. competition was the name of the game. First, it could be said that mission had The movement surrounding the issue of to be re-worked, as it moved away from the Holy Spirit, labeled Pentecostal or the old colonial era and point of reference. charismatic, brought such new and nec- What then emerged was a heavily domi- essary life and vitality, while at the same nated North American mission initiative. time generating too much division and Escobar will say that in later years that misunderstanding in too many places. trend could be called managerial mis- Those were, in fact, unbelievable years! siology, strongly determined by the cul- And they also became equally unbeliev- tural values of North America: practical able when viewed from the opposite side. and efficient, technical and result ori- At the latter part of the century, Lesslie ented. And the motto “let’s just do it” be- Newbigin began to ask the puzzling but came a key slogan of this initiative. legitimate and necessary question: “Can However, as the church experienced the West be converted?” The former har- growth, visibility, and activity outside of vest place for mission had become pro- the North American and European setting, foundly secular and was crying out for new new theological and missiological voices and meaningful ways to communicate the began to emerge. And, in Escobar’s words, gospel. Some stormy resistance could be “a critical missiology from the periphery” seen there, and it was “raining” heavily on began to question the system, raising its our heads. We again need to say, “Let’s hand and wanting to be a part of the mis- advance through storm!” That is, after all, sion awakening and initiative. the only way to do mission. learning from escobar … and beyond 127

As we move into a new century, I share men of Issachar as being those “who un- the conviction that we need to reposition derstood the times and knew what Israel ourselves and to work once again on the should do” (1 Chron. 12:32). From within agenda. Let’s celebrate the unbelievable the church and looking into the always- things God has done, recognize the open present, new missionary challenges, mis- doors and the heavy storm all around us, siology should be able to help us to while we search for paths of obedience in understand the times and respond with our generation. a sense of vocation and service. I return to my own story in this mo- Facing This Generation ment of my life. I had to recognize that I With Joy! had done my doctoral studies in the twi- Returning to Brazil after four years of light of that high season of the study and study in the U.S., I thought I had by then hermeneutical centrality of ideology, and filled up a good deal of my mental “stor- of the dreams of social and political revo- age room.” After all, I had been studying lutions. Coming back to Brazil in a time for four years and should have learned of significant and worldwide changes, I something! But then I noticed that while had to face a new reality: the Berlin wall I was gone the agenda had changed, and had come down; the ideological situation I was left alone with my already-filled was changing; the Enlightenment crisis mental storage room. Moving one step was overwhelming society. The younger further, I came to the conclusion that even generation was asking different questions I was getting tired of my own discourse. I and using a new language; meanwhile, the had worked on the relationship between church was becoming much more prag- evangelization and social responsibility, matic and market oriented. Doing my and I should have grasped the issue at homework again, I had to try to under- some depth. But examining the challenges stand my new times and try to spell out of my new time, with the emergence of a some of the frontiers that I saw emerging. new generation, a new environment, and It is impossible here to address fully new questions, I felt somehow empty the challenges of our times. First, because handed and realized that I had to go back they are quite complex and multiform. and do my homework. Second, because the task of doing this Samuel says in his paper that missiol- goes beyond one person’s capacity, and ogy is an “honest evaluation of mission- the job needs both a team and an inter- ary activism in light of God’s Word,” and disciplinary approach. Third, because to we would all agree with him. But he also do that goes far beyond the limits of this alludes to the fact that new models of paper. But Evangelical missiology has to missionary obedience should be a result spell out the key distinctives, characteris- of a good and necessary perception of new tics, and challenges of this emerging era. missionary challenges. Samuel himself has Therefore, by simply highlighting some of been addressing that issue as he talks those distinctives, I want to say that I am about the new missionary frontiers. impressed by their magnitude and con- I would stress that one of the tasks of cerned with the map of challenges of our missiology is to read the signs of the times. time. May I try to outline what I see emerg- When describing the “men armed for ing and, in part, what I see that is already battle who came to David at Hebron” among us? (1 Chron. 12:23), the writer describes the 128 establishing the macro context of the major issues

The map of challenges of our own culture and ecclesiastical • Is there a friend around? The search home. In prophetic terms, it is impossible for relationship in an environment of lone- to look “out there” and not look at what liness. we are as the church. • I am all alone, without “a father or The Mirror a mother.” The crisis of the state. • Democracy with disenchantment. Called Our Church The political crisis and the imposition of But the church is quite complex and chaos and disintegration. varied as well. It can be so different from • Is there any work for me, please? one cultural setting and tradition to an- The emergence of professional Darwin- other. However, I don’t want to pass over ism. The changing work market. the difficult task of looking into the mir- • The security crisis in an environ- ror and sharing a little of what I see. What ment of fear. The absence of frontiers. I want to share are some of the yellow and • Tell me what your price is! The su- red lights that I see as I look into that mir- premacy of the market. ror called “our church.” In fact, we should • Let’s buy a new one. A discarding try to build a bridge between some of the mentality. characteristics of our time and some of the • The nature of today’s conflict. The present marks of the church. We will con- fight over resources and the law of destruc- clude that the church is also a child of our tion. times, struggling with the call to be dis- • The savage urbanization process tinctly different as it faces the pressure to and the absence of sanctuary. Urbanism is conform to the surrounding culture. Let a mindset. me, once more, share a mere outline of • From communication to propa- concerns about the direction I see the ganda. Everything, after all, is a question church heading into. And I can only do of good marketing. this from my own perspective, which is • Instant poverty and the intensifica- shaped by a Christianized environment tion of vulnerability. Destitution can hap- and a growing church. pen in hours. 1. The church is being viewed through • Ethics and the new challenges. Are the lenses of progress and success. Within there any limits for bio-ethics? this view, the church must always grow and • How do you feel about it? The pre- be bigger tomorrow than it is today. dominance of the subjective and intuitive. 2. The church is understood accord- • The re-emergence of idolatry. The ing to the criteria of numbers and a politi- irruption of the religious and of mysticism. cal as well as marketing perception of • Christendom is dying. Should we “space to be occupied.” cry or laugh? 3. The church tends to be managed Just to enumerate those characteristics from a business and bureaucratic ap- and challenges is overwhelming. And I proach. The church is being run as a cor- would not even begin to comment on any poration—small or large. of them. But we cannot just stop at those 4. There is a tendency to view worship dimensions. We also have to look at the according to a “showtime” mentality. church as a part not only of our own real- 5. There is a challenge and an invita- ity but also as a cultural and even political tion to communicate the gospel as a pro- factor in so many of our societies. We paganda tool in a “war of communication.” should start first with a prophetic analysis learning from escobar … and beyond 129

6. There is an insistent presence of the At another reference to David, Paul theology of prosperity, as a by-product of mentions him as a man according to God’s the law of the market, with an emphasis heart and obedient to his will. He refers on individualism, well-being, and success. to God, saying, “I have found David, son 7. The school of spiritual warfare is of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will prominent, with its mystifying and magic do everything I want him to do” (Acts emphasis of reality and of the Christian 13:22). This is a very caring and touching faith itself. statement. It is worthwhile to seek to fol- 8. There is danger of the emergence low and aim for David’s example. of a new type of charismatic Constantin- We have transformed missiology into ianism, as well as of an Evangelical syn- a science and mission outreach into an cretism. activity. There is high value in these accomplishments. We have to have a good Finding Ways to Walk foundation, based on necessary and accu- Into the Future rate information. We also have to be prac- As we proceed with an analysis of the tical, knowing how and when to do present and some of the tendencies and mission. But let’s never forget that the challenges of tomorrow, it is important to voice of God wants to reach our heart. remember that we must resist the temp- Knowing and doing must be surrounded tation to dream nostalgically about a ro- by a spirituality of the heart whereby we mantic past that has never existed. There know to whom we belong and what God should be a sense of peace and celebra- wants us to do. The voice of God gives tion about the privilege of being called by meaning and direction to our life. By con- God to live today. We are challenged to quering our heart, God enables us to walk walk today, stretching out towards tomor- out into the world with the conviction of row, seeking to obey God’s calling, and being embraced by God and, therefore, also drinking from the fountain of service. embracing others. In his address at the synagogue in By going back to Acts 13 and encoun- Pisidian Antioch, Paul finds himself heavily tering Paul and his companions at the involved in a mission enterprise. He obvi- synagogue, it is possible to hear the rul- ously wants people to believe in Jesus. In ers of that synagogue calling to them and his contextual discourse, Paul goes meaningfully saying, “Brothers, if you have through the history of salvation and men- a message of encouragement for the tions King David on two occasions. At one people, please speak”(Acts 13:15). To be point he says that David “served God’s involved in mission is not only to speak. purpose in his own generation” (Acts It also refers to the art of positioning one- 13:36). This word has been a source of self and waiting for the right questions to challenge and encouragement to me, come. The right questions echo the search pointing to the task of serving God in one’s for meaning and a longing for salvation. own generation. In fact, every generation In our days, we certainly need a “message is called by God to serve him in his or her of encouragement for the people.” own moment of history—rejoicing in Road Signs God’s calling, understanding the times, to Look Out For and facing the challenges as they create conflicts, hardships, and opportunities. Therefore, to be continuously working on an Evangelical missiology of today and 130 establishing the macro context of the major issues tomorrow means to intentionally follow gelism is the entrance point in the open the heart of God, to willingly serve him in door of salvation. this generation, and to sensibly hear the 4. We need to rediscover the role verbal and non-verbal questions of today. of the community in the life of the In order to do these things, I would like church. It looks as if the church is becom- to try once more to outline an agenda that ing bigger in so many places. It is even will address some of the road signs of to- fashionable to be part of a megachurch. day, as I see them. And the risk of anonymity always sur- 1. We need to rescue the centrality rounds such a church; people will come of the Word of God based on a “herme- and go without being noticed (and they neutics of enchantment.” To value and sometimes don’t even want to be no- stress the centrality of the Word of God is ticed!). Some of these groups are trying part of our tradition. In the recent past, to break the cycle by talking about home we have even developed some fighting churches or by embracing other attempts skills concerning the nature and charac- to put people together in small groups. ter of the Word of God. Today, however, it These days, the word “community” is not is possible to notice that the reference to used very much, but the church has to God’s Word becomes a kind of hermeneu- help recover it. It is at the level of com- tic of cosmetics, whereby the important munity that people and situations become thing is to feel good and to have fun. We real. God always wants to know about the need to rescue the centrality of God’s real things. To experience community is, Word. This, however, has to be done based therefore, part of the nature of the church. on a hermeneutic that will take us to God’s 5. We must not avoid the path of heart and captivate our own hearts. martyrdom. “Sacrifice” is an absent word 2. We must constantly look out of in the vocabulary of our days. Well-being the window and face the missionary is a “must” category in our consumer so- task of the church. Being constantly chal- ciety and mentality. The church runs the lenged to be involved in mission is a part risk of being an extension of such a men- of the task of the church and a sign of its tality. But we need to recover the convic- health. But let’s not forget that this is the tion that there is no Christian life without task of the whole church called to serve sacrifice, and martyrdom is always a pos- Christ in the whole world. Therefore, the sibility in a witnessing context. But mar- church is called always to be involved in tyrdom is not a category in itself. It goes mission. Look out of the window; witness hand in hand with a search for meaning what is going on, hear the cry for help, that overcomes a traditional sense of be- and discern the questions of salvation in longing. order then to share Christ. 6. We must commit to relationship 3. We must always emphasize our rather than hierarchical submission commitment to evangelism and must and administration. The church needs re-invent how we do it. Isn’t there always to be relational, and mission involvement the temptation to skip over evangelism in and practice need to be born out of and the agenda? The trend of accommodation to point to relationality. Hierarchy and is always one of the church’s key tempta- even administration are being put under tions. Evangelism, therefore, must be the some level of suspicion and need to be conscious decision of each group in each understood as being instruments of ser- generation at every place, because evan- vice. We need hierarchy and we can use good administration, but the aim is to learning from escobar … and beyond 131 build relationships with God and with others who want a political system that is each other. able to hear and to respond to the claims 7. We need to relearn how to say of today, especially the claims of the poor. “NO” and how to spell out the word 9. We need to allow local initiatives “justice.” I come out of a tradition where to replace centralized activities. Not I was taught to say “NO” and to spell out only is the state dancing according to the a clear claim for justice. An indifferent and tune of another time, but the church with silent church was seen as a weak church, its structures and traditions is also. It has a compromising church. But when the not been easy for the church, including Berlin wall fell down and everything be- mission agencies, to acknowledge struc- came so monolithically capitalist and prag- tural crises and the weakening influence matic—so market, success, and image of centralized pronouncements. Some- oriented—the word “justice” seemed to times the church continues to embrace a disappear from our vocabulary. The pro- mega-discourse, issuing pronouncements cess of doing theology was affected. The here and there, without noticing that there church followed the market so much that are so few people paying attention to what it did not know how and/or did not want is being said. to say “NO.” But it is time to breathe One of the signs of our times is that deeply, to practice saying “NO” again, and this is a season of local initiative. People to search for justice intensively. There is want to own and personally participate. no other way to be the church than by They don’t want, for example, just to give serving God and people, and by doing so money to some distant agency. They want with justice. to go where their money goes and want 8. We need to be part of a reshap- to know the people they are helping. This ing process of state and politics, as a is a time of partnership and participa- step of missionary obedience. Even as tion—which should be celebrated. the word “justice” tended to disappear from our vocabulary, all of us witnessed Poetry Walking the state running out of ideological mo- Alongside Prose tifs and becoming utterly pragmatic. The I had never suspected that I could and political system fell into a deep credibility would, someday, write some poetry. This crisis. Many had the clear perception that wasn’t me, I thought. I was only trained the state and the political system were to write prose—logical and systematic sen- having a very hard time adapting to an- tences. So I studied and did theology, bor- other time and to new challenges. They rowing the framework, concepts, and even continued to dance to the melody of language from philosophy and later from yesterday. But the young people, many social sciences. But in the process we all poor communities, and part of the intelli- became too abstract, elitist, dry, and dis- gentsia were asking for another tune in cursive. order for their dance to find some rhythm However, in the recent years of my life and meaning to life. journey and accompanied by friends, I This is a dangerous time of philosophi- discovered that I could write some poetry. cal and political emptiness, where the Even if it was only poor poetry, it was very church does not have the luxury of being important. It challenged me to do theol- silent or simply following the dance of the ogy with my heart and take my soul, my marketplace. The church must be a cre- feelings, and my intuition seriously. I still ative force in society, joining efforts with 132 establishing the macro context of the major issues write prose as you can see, but not only I share the conviction that we need to prose and not only as I once did. recover the eschatological dimension of I share the awareness that we still need the gospel. We must re-visit our approach good theology written in prose. But we to hope that is shaped today mostly in need more poetry in order to become material terms. By recovering eschatology, more human, to take our soul seriously, we allow it to shape our life in such a way and to talk meaningfully in our days and that we see ourselves and are recognized to our people and cultures. In order to by others as incarnational citizens of God’s do that, we need not only to do our home- future, the first fruits of the kingdom to work in systematic ways. We need to learn come. how to do poetry and to recover the art of As I come to the end of this conversa- telling stories. tion with Samuel Escobar, I would like to Never forget the small things, because thank him for his paper and to walk with life goes on. I first dealt with the idea of him in the way he concludes it: smallness when looking into the Ana- • Missiology is inspired by the Triune baptist tradition, where purity and com- God. mitment were more important than • All Scripture is pregnant with God’s numbers and growth. Largeness was even mission. put under suspicion. Then economy came • To do mission is to focus on Christ into the picture with Schumacher’s (1975) … and to be inspired by his model. famous book Small Is Beautiful, with a • Let’s be blessed and challenged by whole new setting of possibility coming the power of the Holy Spirit. into view. But lately it was Eugene Peterson • And let’s receive God’s hug as we who brought it to my attention by once peer into the future. again pointing out that life consists so much of the small things. Small things that References make such a significant part of our every- Schumacher, E. F. (1975). Small is beautiful: day life. Washing, cooking, greeting, and economics as if people mattered. New that same meal-time table talk that occurs York: Harper & Row. everyday: “How was school today? Mom is still sick!” A good theology knows how Valdir R. Steuer- to integrate the small everyday aspects of nagel is married to Sileda Silva, and they life, and a good spirituality is for table talk. have four grown chil- The end of all things is near. Let’s not dren. A Lutheran pas- forget it. Not too long ago we were inun- tor, he is also the dated by sermons about eschatology. I was director of the Centro even running away from that issue and de Pastoral e Missão in from a tendency to be categorized in this the city of Curitiba, Brazil. He completed or that eschatological box. But today it is his doctoral studies at difficult to find someone talking about the the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, Il- end of all things. Now we are much more linois, with a concentration in missiology. Au- concerned about giving people tools for thor of a number of books in Portuguese, well-being and success in the here and Spanish, and English, he has provided leadership for many years to the Latin American now. Much of our eschatology has become Theological Fraternity. He is the current Chair materialized; one measures God’s bless- of World Vision International. ing by getting a new car.