Edited by Darren Cronshaw and Rosemary Dewerse © UNOH Publishing, 2015 Published 2015 by UNOH Publishing 2/6–12 Airlie Avenue, Dandenong Victoria 3175, Australia www.unoh.org/publishing National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry (pbk) Creator: AAMS Conference (2014: Adelaide, S Aust.) Title: We are pilgrims: mission from, in and with the margins of our diverse world / Darren Cronshaw, Rosemary Dewerse, editors. ISBN: 9780994202345 (paperback) Subjects: Missions--Congresses Evangelistic work--Congresses. Other Creators/Contributors: Cronshaw, Darren, editor. Dewerse, Rosemary, editor. Australian Association of Mission Studies. Dewey Number: 266.023 Editors: Darren Cronshaw and Rosemary Dewerse Design: Les Colston at Urban Zeal 3 Appreciation to CBM Australia We appreciate the generous sponsorship of CBM Australia of this book, and of the fourth annual Australian Association for Mission Studies conference, October 2014, which inspired and gave content for the book. Formerly known as Christian Blind Mission, over time CBM’s work has widened from serving just people with vision impairment to giving all people with disabilities access to basic healthcare services and restoring life. !ey are also involved in providing immediate aid in times of emergency, long-term support where needed, and advocacy, all in partnership with local organisations, governments and agencies. Today CBM is the world’s largest Christian organisation working in over 70 countries with people with disabilities in the most marginalised places. Committed also to working with Australian local churches and other Christian organisations interested in ministry on the margins and with people of diverse abilities, CBM’s sponsorship of this volume is a logical and welcomed partnership. Because of CBM’s sponsorship, We are Pilgrims is available for free distribution as an EBook. Go to https://www.cbm.org.au 5 Dedicated to Dr Ross Langmead Professor of Mission Studies, Whitley College, University of Divinity Convenor and Founding Secretary, Australian Association for Mission Studies Ross was married to Alison (for 40 years), proud father to Benjamin and Kia, and grandfather to Sage and Zara, those who miss him most; but those of us who appreciated his warm interest, thoughtful mind and his commitment to journeying Jesus’ way of love also miss him, and continue to be inspired by his life well lived. Contents Foreword Alison Langmead 9 Introduction Darren Cronshaw and Rosemary Dewerse 13 Margins and Mission 1. Standing Fast and Breaking !rough: Challenges and Possibilities for Marginal Ministry Anthony J. Gittins, CSSp. 27 2. Finding the Centre at the Margins: Renewing the Call to Mission Anthony J. Gittins, CSSp. 39 A. Indigenous Reconciliation 3. Finding our Soul, Finding my Soul: Walking the Long Journey of Reconciliation in Australia Rosemary Dewerse 57 B. A Multicultural Vision 4. Finding Communitas in Liminality: Invitations from the Margins in the New Testament and in Contemporary Mission George Wieland 71 5. Growing a Truly Multicultural Australian Catholic Church Noel Connolly 83 6. A Mission of the Second Generation (Australian Born Chinese) in South Australian Migrant Churches: Dealing with Unintentional Marginalisation due to Confucian Values Samuel Chan with Kim Chan 97 7. Becoming a Diverse Multicultural Church in Central Adelaide. A Case Study Elizabeth Vreugdenhil 111 C. Mission in a Post-Christian Society 8. But is it Church? Karyl Davison 127 9. Where the Margins Meet: An Exploration of the Prophetic Dimensions of a Church Willing to Embrace Jasmine Dow 139 10. Grappling for Christ: Incarnational Mission at the Margins of the Church Mick Pope 151 11. On the Journey to New Creation: Mission with People with Disabilities Immanuel Koks 165 D. Engaging the postmodern mind 12. A Mutual Understanding, Emerging Spirituality and the Christian Church Christy Capper 179 13. !ere is No Public Square, !e Secularist Myth of Neutral Ground Lewis Jones 193 14. Indie-Rock And Mission: Challenges and Possibilities of De-centred Mission in the 21st Century T. Mark McConnell 207 E. The Asian Horizon 15. Christians in the City: Challenges to Faith and Mission in the First “Urban Century” Ash Barker 225 16. A World of Peripheries Scott Litch"eld 233 17. Contextual !eologising on the Doorstep of Asia: Mission and Marginalisation among the Irupara Hula People of PNG Graeme Humble 245 18. “God called us here for a reason” Karen and Chin Baptist Churches in Victoria: Mission from the Margins of a Diaspora Community Darren Cronshaw, Stacey Wilson and Meewon Yang, with Ner Dah, Si Khia, Arohn Kuung, and Japheth Lian 263 19. A Korean Woman: A Marginal Perspective for a Multicultural Society Pauline Kim van Dalen 279 Contributors 293 Foreword Alison Langmead I am most encouraged that a book is emerging out of the 2014 AAMS Conference, “Margins, Mission and Diversity”. As I read through the amazing range of topics, approaches, reality-facing questions, issues, needs and insights-from-experience covered in the papers that were presented, now becoming chapters in this book, I was deeply moved to realise how the seed planted when Ross helped to form the Australian Association of Mission Studies so that just such interchange and encouragement could occur here in our Australian context – multi-various as it is – has been clearly watered into a fruit-bearing tree. Living with Ross for almost 40 years was a very down to earth and heart-warming way of exploring what it means to be open and thoughtful while living the life-giving challenge of the way of Jesus. I did not marry a missiologist as such, but I did meet and marry a man who was already grappling with: the nature of church (having lived and breathed 18 of his "rst 24 years in a deeply committed Salvation Army family before suddenly leaving); the nature of better communication, whatever the realm; how religious education could have greatest integrity within secondary education (he was a maths teacher thinking of training towards teaching religious education); the nature and concept of God (philosophically speaking) which brought him to a crisis of faith while doing a Master of Education in our "rst year of marriage; and, for example, how a newly-wed husband could take his turn at cooking meals, "xing what breaks and so on! My father was a Baptist minister who became a Chaplain in a Baptist school while gaining his education quali"cation. He had been grappling with many similar questions which he o#en shared at the tea-table, so I found lots of common ground for long talks with Ross and I loved that he was also writing and singing songs that echoed his journey in its di$erent stages. When Ross completed his research for the western suburban Baptist churches, culminating in the Western Suburbs Conference Report in 1978 it was clear to both of us that we should commit to living in the area so we could put into practice at least 10 WE ARE PILGRIMS: MISSION FROM, IN AND WITH THE MARGINS OF OUR DIVERSE WORLD some of the recommendations Ross had made. I can say without hesitation that this commitment deeply shaped our lives and the lives of those who moved to the area to share the journey. With the deep and o#en surprising movements of God’s Spirit, even though we were grappling with the ups and downs of working with people who are struggling most with life’s complexities and adverse circumstances, there has been a beauty in the journey which o#en produces deep wells of gratitude. Athol Gill was an in%uential mentor in Ross’s life when he was studying theology and considering its implications. Athol’s life, and then especially his sudden death in 1992, gave Ross deep pause to consider how the inspiration of Athol’s combination of theological re%ection and teaching with radical application on the ground could best be continued. When encouraged by a friend to apply for the "rst Whitley Baptist !eological College appointment of a lecturer in Missiology, Ross wondered if this could be the way to do so. But as it has so o#en been throughout the ages in the lives of God’s people, I remember witnessing in Ross that deep mix of human uncertainty as to whether he had what it would take, yet sensing the "re that he was being called to take the step anyway! Despite his feelings of inadequacy he applied and found the role to be increasingly fruitful. He was clear however that, as with so many before him, it would be God’s mission and all he could do would be to make himself available and to follow God’s lead. !at is true for all of us and it takes the rest of our lives to learn the daily rhythm of what that means in practice. Ross was no exception. !e songs he wrote through those years clearly articulate the journey into the hope of the good news of Jesus at the heart of the struggle for life and freedom that becomes apparent when the light of God’s love and grace pierces the darkness yet again. His last song was one he managed with tearful gratitude, despite wondering if he could possibly write anything that came near the feelings he was experiencing in considering it. He wrote these words for our daughter Kia’s marriage to !ierry: “Love Surround You (love from within and behind and before: love be constant like the waves breaking upon the shore” – a prayer for all of us perhaps?!) In the week before Ross’s heart attack, while having a break at our favourite Wye River (where he wrote Kia’s wedding song), he was sharing with me the inspiration of Richard Rohr’s book Falling Upward and his desire that in this “second half of life”, he looked forward to becoming more contemplative.