ConnectionsThe Journal of the WEA Mission Commission

Tentmaking in Today's Global Environment

PROVIDING A GLOBAL WRITERS’ ROUNDTABLE TO SPEAK INTO THE CHALLENGES OF WORLD MISSION TODAY

Vol. 5, No. 1

PROVIDING A GLOBAL WRITERS’ ROUNDTABLE TO SPEAK INTO THE CHALLENGES OF WORLD MISSION TODAY

Vol. 5, No. 1 April 2006April 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS3 Bill Taylor

From the Heart and Mind of the Editor

4 Managing EditorMCA websites

5 K RajendranReflections towards South Africa 2006

6 Derek ChristensenTentmaking in today’s mission environment

10 Derek ChristensenChallenge and Response, A look at the state of theglobal Tentmaking movement

13 TIE International TeamGlimpses of a movement

15 Bob LopezThe Unfolding Story of the Filipino Tentmaking Movement

17 Stan NussbaumProverbs - Sesotho language of South Africa and Lesotho

18 TIESome useful resources on Tentmaking

18 Jonathan Lewis and Koe PahlkaWorking Your Way to the Nations: A Guide to EffectiveTentmaking

19 Mark Orr and Josias ConradieResource sharing in globalized mission

20 Bill TaylorWEA Mission Commission: “MC Global Issues Summit”

22 Todd M. JohnsonSeven Signposts of Hope and Challenge in GlobalChristianity

26 Bertil Ekström A response to Todd Johnson

28 David LeeAnother response to Todd Johnson, a Reflection onStatistics from the Two-Thirds World

Reports:pages 29,30,33, 34 and 40

31 Jonathan LewisTowards South Africa 2006: An Agenda for the IMTN

35 Bertil EkströmNorth and South Americans around the table

36 Tan Kang SanThe Uniqueness of Jesus Christ in the Missional Heartof God

Reviews:Pages 41 and 42

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I conclude this editorial surround-ed by creative, committed, globalservants in the cause of theKingdom of God in Christ. Why so?Well, because from March 6-11,2006, some 370 women and menfrom 50 nations have quietly, bold-ly and prayerfully gathered atEthnê06 in Bali to consider thehistoric challenge of the least-reached peoples of the world.Hosted by the network calledSEALINK out of South East Asia.

Many of our MC Associates arehere, including some of our leader-ship: K Rajendran, our chair, andKelly O’Donnell, MemCa networkcoordinator. Two of the key conven-ers are Kent Parks and BeramKumar, representing SEALINK andEthnê06. Some of the other MCAssociates (from 16 nations) I havespotted include Todd Poulter, DavidPackiam, Bob Lopez,Michael Abel, StanleyOw, Bangbang Widjaja,Timothy Olonade, GregParsons, John Amalraj, MatsTunehag, Kang Seungsan, SusantaPatra and Augustine Jebakumar.

Both SEALINK and Ethnê are mis-sional networks currently “docked”with the Mission Commission(MC), and it is a win-win relation-ship. Their heartbeat, vision and

gifting pour into the ongoing glob-al alliance/network that makes theMC what it is. We provide to thema broader forum and platform intowhich and from which they canspeak. I am impressed with thedepth of this programme (strongerthan some previous similar events,rooted in the church and missio-logically driven), the diversity ofvoices—older and younger, womenand men, representing the fullspectrum of outreach to the least-reached peoples.

MANI in Kenya

Some 500 leaders from acrossAfrica and around the world justmet in Nairobi, Kenya for the MANI2006 Continental Consultation onAfrican National Initiatives (26February to 4 March). The dele-gates from 48 African nations and

18 countries abroadexert combined leader-ship influence over

hundreds of denomina-tions and organizations, thousandsof churches, tens of thousands ofChristian workers and many mil-lions of believers.

And MC Associates were presentthere also, through our staff, Keesvan der Wilden, MemCa coordina-tor, Kelly O’Donnell. The new MANI

leader is Reuben Ezemadu ofNigeria, and an MC Associate. Hewas joined by MC AssociatesYounoussa Djao from Ivory Coast,Timothy Olonade of Nigeria, PeterTarantal of South Africa and othersfrom Africa.

Back to Ethnê. Our small role in it,as one of the convening bodies,gives us additional integrity whenwe re-affirm our own high callingas the WEA Mission Commission tofocus on the ever-expanding exten-sion of the Kingdom of God. Wewant to respond to cutting-edgeconcerns of the missional peopleof God—the church on the move inall of its forms and empowering bythe Spirit; serving within culturesand cross-culturally; near and far;local and global; evangelizing anddiscipling; proclaiming and serving;praying and missiologizing; weep-ing and sowing.

A future issue of Connections willgive us a more complete report ofboth Ethnê and MANI.

The Bi-Vocational Challenge—tentmaking in a changingworld

Second, as you read this issue,you will discover two primary chal-lenging content packages. Our fea-ture theme is “Tentmaking intoday’s global environment”. Youwill appreciate the diversity ofvoices, primarily from the TIE—Tentmakers InternationalExchange—network. We areindebted to Derek Christensenand Bob Lopez for gathering thematerial and writing with suchclarity. The least-reached peoplesof the world are simply hard toreach, due to historical, cultural,religious factors as well as ancientspiritual strongholds. Thus we willneed enormous streams of newcross-cultural workers who knowhow to “get in and stay in” withinthese nations for longer rather thanshorter terms. We must continue tore-visit our theology of vocation

and work, of ecclesiology and mis-sion. And yet to be developed inConnections will be the newerfocus on “Business as Mission”.

Towards South Africa thisJune 18-24, 2006—SA06

The MC convenes a global consul-tation every three years for mutualencouragement, growth in ourunderstanding of the missionalenterprise around the globe, dealingwith global issues and challenges,planning our joint work and strate-gies, and to become betterequipped for our work. These con-sultations are issues-centeredevents with a strong training andplanning component. While plenarysessions will focus on diverse globalissues, all of our networks and taskforces will intentionally engage inequipping and planning activities.

The Programme Narrative presentsthe flow of the program and theemphases we pray will shape usfor the future. And a number of ourtask force and network leaderswrite with expectation for theirteams at SA06.

You will be stretched as you readTodd Johnson’s singular global sum-maries in “Seven Signposts of Hopeand Challenge in Global Christianity”,followed by two responses, by BertilEkström of Brazil and David Tai-Woong Lee of Korea.

Do join with us in prayer as weseek the mind of God for the MCand its ongoing working teams atSA06. The next issue will report infull to our readers.

Drawing to a close

As you come to the end of thisissue, you will be challenged withthe missiological reflections, newsand reviews.

We invite your input on these topicsand issues, and you can do this bywriting to:connections@globalmission.org.Good and global friends, read, profit,grow, reflect, serve and pray! <<

3

EDITORIALVOL. 5 • NO.1

By William D. Taylor

From the Heart and Mind of the Editor

A word from Bali, Indonesia

William Taylor is theExecutive Director

of the WEA MissionCommission.

Born in Latin America,he and his wife,

Yvonne, served for 17years before a move

to the USA.He is the father of

three adult GenXers born in Guatemala.

CONNECTIONS

3P Ministries3pministries.orgInformation about prayer and giving

Africa Christian Mission (ACM)africachristianmission.comto inform and to invite prayerful partic-ipation in the work of mission

AC4techmission.orgresources related to ChristianCommunity Centers, plarform for mis-sion and community development

Antioch Missionmissaoantioquia.org.brorganizational info

ArbeitsgemeinschaftEvangelischer Missionenaem.ch or mission.chorganizational and missions info

Areopagosareopagos.orgorganizational info; theological & missi-ological issues; book reviews

Asian Center for TheologicalStudies and Missionacts.ac.krorganizational info

Baptist Theological Seminary,Porugalseminariobaptista.blogspot.comorganizational info

Centro de Capitación MisioneraTransculturalccmt-online.orgorganizational info

Christian Vocations christianvocations.orgprovides information and resources forChristians seeking opportunities in ChristianMinistry e.g. short/long term, agencies

Church Mission Society (CMS)cms-uk.orginfo of CMS ministries; support to inter-national community for mission service

Church Resource Ministriescrmnet.orgorganizational info; ministries

Comhinacomhina.orgorganizational info

Comibammm-comibam.netTool to help the Iberoamerican churchin its missional task

Comibam Internationalcomibam.orginformation tool for the Latin American

National Mission Movements(NMM)

Conference of European Churches(CEC)cec-kek.orgorganizational info

Deutsche Missions Gesellschaft(DMG)DMGint.deTo support churches in Germany inthe sending and support of their mis-sionaries

Dev Corps InternationalDevCorps.orgorganizational info

EFC Global Mission Roundtableglobalmission.cacommunicate the collaborative natureof mission in Canada

Etihiopian Kale Heywet Churchekhc.org.etCoordinating evangelism & missionsdiscipleship & churchplanting

Ethne and Sealinkethne.netfor global UPG meeting

European Christian Mission (ECM)ecmbritain.orgorganizational info; recruitment issues

Evangelical Association of theCaribbeancaribevangelical.orginfo on events and church projects

Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI)efionline.orgorganizational info; aid to the churches

Evangelical Fellowship of MissionAgencies (EFMA)EFMAMissions.orgorganizational info

Federacion Misionera EvangelicaCostarricense (FEDEMEC)fedemec.orgmission under UPG’s, tool for churches

Finnish Missionary Councillahetysneuvosto.fisharing information and news

Fresh Anointing Revival Ministriesfreshanointingrevival.orgorganizational info, activities and doctrine

Geneva Globalgenevaglobal.comorganizational info and objectives

Global Connectionsglobalconnections.co.ukinfo for members of UK NMM

Global Careersglobalcareers.orgorganizational info

Global Mapping Internationalgmi.orgsale of products, links to sites for mis-sion research

Global Missionary Fellowshipgmf.or.krorganizational info

Global Missionary Training Centergmtc.or.krinfo of world & Korean mission; introto GMTC training center

Global Opportunitiesglobalopps.orgTo inform, educate and mobilize tent-makers

Gospel Echoing Missionary Societygemsbihar.comactivities of the ministry and prayersupport

Horasishorasis.nlservices for Organization andLeadership development

IFMAifmamissions.orgorganizational info

India Missions Association (IMA)imaindia.orgorganizational info

Instituto Ibero-Americano deEstudios Transculturales (IIBET)iibet.orgministry activities and goals

Interdev Partnership Associatesinterdev.orgIPA info; partnership resource material

Interserve Fellowship Berhadinterserve.orgministry; job opportunities

Interserveinterserve.orginformation about Interserve’s ministry

JUVEPjuvep.com.br

Info over departments, ministries andpeople involved in this organization

King of kings Baptist Centrekingofkings.org.zainformation about this South Africanchurch

Korea World Missions Associationkwma.orgorganizational info; mission informa-tion and articles, posting of meetings

Living Hope Community Centrelivinghope.co.zaInfo about HIV/AIDS actions of this church

Member Caremembercare.orgresources; updates

MEVIC, Evangelical InterculturalMissionconceptus.net/mevicorganizational info

MF Norwegian School of Theologymf.noorganizational info

Missions Interlink (Austr.)ea.org.auhistory & introduction to its activities,services and members

Missions Interlink (NZ)missions.org.nzProvide information for people enquiringabout mission to, from and in NewZealand

Missions Mobilization Networkmissionsmobilisation.orginfo & resource on missions mobiliza-tion in 5 languages

Mosaiek Churchmosaiek.comorganizational info

NEMANigeriaMissions.orgministries to missions movements inNigeria

OMF Internationalomf.netorganizational info, mobilisation

OM Indiaomindia.orgonline brochure for ministry in India

OM UKuk.om.orgorganizational info and Global Focus, aresource programme for the Church

MCA’S: WEBSITES OF THEIR ORGANIZATIONSEDITORIAL

Fusioning the Overall LeadershipChange in the WEA MC:

Dr. William Taylor, a veteran missionary,a thinker, and a networker, is passing leader-ship of the MC to Bertil Ekström. Transitionis quite a challenge for all around—incomingleader, outgoing leader and the MC con-stituency. Moving forward will affect all,mostly in good ways, always with some tryingto find their spots. New relationships have tobe built to take the MC forward, yet leader-ship will need to continue to persevere onissues like the inclusion of the new two-thirds world leadership and the building ofmomentum in fulfilling the GreatCommission of Christ.

Fusioning Networks Leadership andContemporary Challenges:

WEA MC has, over the years, created andallowed structured and non-structured net-works to affect the Christian missions’ worldand movements, touching topics such asmember care of missionaries, tentmakers, mis-sion mobilizers, unreached/least peoplegroups, national mission movements, and oth-ers. The continuity of these networks is cru-cial for ongoing Great Commission endeavorsaround the world. These networks will contin-ue to give direction, momentum, and will

work to change “old” mindsets to the newinnovative ways of world missions. They movewith the heartfelt passion for which the Lordhas called their leaders to serve.

Fusioning the Identified GlobalLeadership:

In the newer, global Christianworld, there is a constant challengeof finding competent new national and inter-national leaders. Most of the newer develop-ing world became independent from theircolonialists in the recent past, having fol-lowed and worked under the previous colo-nial regimes. As consequence, there was avery little indigenous leadership developed,including among Christians.1 Fusioning thesenew leaders with the older world and theirconstituencies, without offending, is a trickymatter. It will take time, greater efforts, andconscious decisions.

Fusioning the Economically DominantWorld in a True, Trusting Partnershipwith the Newer Christian World:

Fusioning and bridging the trust gapbetween the “have” world and the “have-lessworld” is another challenge that we will have toface. Often, the economic powers drive eventsand strategies in the developing world, regard-less of good or bad results, usually without evenconsidering the local context or the suitability.

The newer developing-world Christianleadership has to form truly genuine partner-

ships with the “older Christian” colonies.Often, the party needing funds forms somekind of partnership with a middleman, or“dalal,”2 trusted by the economically strongernations. The recipients bear with the middle-men because there is no other way to move

forward as the donors and thechurches do not yet trust theemerging partners of the newerworld. Therefore, there has to be a

forum like the MC where the right kind ofpartnerships are nurtured and built withoutmuch of the meddling of the “middlemen.”

Fusioning the Gender Balance:

Another challenge is finding an equalvoice from the other gender. Often, macho-ism is reinforced with biased theological fac-tors to keep the gender out of the leadershipand decision making process. This takesmuch energy and bridging and networking tochange mindsets.

Fusioning to Each Other in the Lord:

Above all, the need for connecting witheach other in Christ has to be the main agen-da of our time together. Trust and under-standing have to grow as we sit shoulder toshoulder, learn, and vouch to work together.

Let us join and work together in some ofthe above issues as we meet in South Africa.May the Lord Jesus continue to work in ourlives and keep us open for His ways.

Blessings. <<

Challenges and changes discomfort us, even if they are good! But without them, life becomes dull and boring.This is true as followers of Christ. The following are some of the challenges as we approach SA06

—the MC Global Mission Issues Summit:

WEA Mission Commission ChallengesAs We Approach South Africa

June 18 - 24 2006

K. Rajendran is theGeneral Secretary of the

India Missions Associationand the Chair of World

Evangelical AllianceMission CommissionGlobal Leadership

Council.

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 EDITORIAL

K. Rajendran

1 This is very similar to the lower-caste Indians who were dominated by the upper-castes and suddenly findnew freedom, but lacked competency as they were under suppression for about 3000 years. Developingcompetent leadership takes time and efforts to produce such leadership as Dr. Ambedkar and others.

2 “Dalals” is a strong Hindi word used in the world of stockbrokers and a few others for the middle-men or agents.

FEATURE

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CONNECTIONS

Origins

Tentmaking is now a well establishedpart of the current world mission scene.Estimates by Barrett and Johnson in WorldChristian Trends suggest there are more than150,000 people who would fit the standarddefinitions of tentmaker, and recent develop-ments out of Asia suggest this number maywell be conservative. It is not a new phenom-enon however, as throughout the history ofChristianity much of the spread of the gospelhas been through the movement across andthrough cultures of lay people, many of themin their workplace environment. Paul joinedwith Priscilla and Aquila to make tents inCorinth (Acts 18:1-4) and since then, manyof God’s people have operated out of work-shops, businesses, professions, in their mili-tary service and through their travel as mer-chants and sailors. The Moravians establishedtheir early work within such a model andWilliam Carey, out of necessity, supportedmuch of his work and that of his colleaguesthrough his university teaching and his busi-ness ventures.

Controversies

The fact that this model of spreading thegospel has such a long history does not saveit however from considerable controversy inthe modern mission world. Tentmaking iscontroversial for a number of reasons.

One is that the term itself is often misun-derstood. It does not fit easily into a modernenvironment, especially a western one wheretents which were once ‘portable living units’are now ‘temporary shelters used for recre-ational purposes’ in the words of PeteHammond. The term itself is used only oncein Scripture (Acts 18:4) and so creates confu-sion by its very use. However the manyattempts to replace it have failed to gainagreement. Many terms have been usedincluding kingdom professional, bivocationalwitness, bivocational missionary, non-profes-sional missionary, lay missionary, God’s spe-cial envoys, self-supporting witness and layapostolate. None has gained wide acceptanceand so by default we have returned to‘Tentmaking.’ The term has only been used in

mission circles again in the past half century,the first appearance known to this authorbeing in a document from the World Councilof Churches in 1962.

A second area of controversy surroundsdefinitions of the term.

In the earlier days of the movement, theemphasis was on self support, the capacity toengage in work cross culturally at no cost tothe home base. Today definitions are muchbroader, referring more to those whoseinvolvement in work across cultures for thesake of the Kingdom is on the basis of a secu-lar visa and not a missionary one. Some ofthese people are supported fully from homewhile others earn high salaries or run produc-tive businesses. More important than thedegree or means of support however is theelement of intentionality. Is this personengaging in this activity for the sake of theKingdom or there simply because their workhas taken them to another culture and theyalso happen to be Christian?

A third area of controversy relates to ethi-cal questions. Greg Livingstone aptlydescribed tentmakers as ‘job takers, job mak-ers and job fakers.’ Some are employed byothers. Some set up businesses. And somepretend to do one or other of these but infact are covertly working as missionaries,doing something other than that shown ontheir entry visa. The famous article in Timemagazine of June 2003 raised questions espe-cially about those whose operations arecovert. Is it right for Christians to lie or mis-lead in their desire to serve the gospel? Thedebate rages between those who see the

Tentmaking in today’s mission

environment

Derek Christensen is a New Zealander who spent much of hisworking life as a Baptist pastor in both New Zealand and Papua

New Guinea. He now teaches at Carey Baptist College, a theologi-cal seminary in Auckland, New Zealand where his subjects includecross cultural missions, tentmaking and marketplace theology. Hismajor interest of the past two decades has been in the tentmakingmovement, with particular focus on training. He is currently actingas International Director of TIE International, the global movementthat coordinates world tentmaking. He is married to Isa and they

have four adult children and five grandchildren, one of the familiesliving in China where Derek and Isa visit regularly.

needs of the Kingdom as superior to allhuman law and those who consider that dis-honesty or deception in the pursuit of thegospel undercut the value of the witnessitself.

Despite the controversies, the Tentmakingmovement is clearly here to stay. In the earlierdays (1970’s and ‘80’s), many traditional mis-sion agencies viewed the movement with greatsuspicion, at times well justified as some ofthose who went out were highly entrepreneur-ial, very independent and often untrained incurrent mission or cross cultural understand-ings. The ‘lone ranger’ syndromedeveloped, and the missionsmovement was hard pressed tounderstand the new breed ofpeople who saw themselves as partof world missions but certainly had notentered by any of the usual doors. If the tent-makers were connected to an agency at all,then it was generally a very small group thatplaced few requirements on its associates.

During the nineties though, many largertraditional agencies have recognized the needto develop new strategies for work in restrict-ed access countries. Something like seventyfive nations today do not issue visas toChristian missionaries, most of these beingamongst the least evangelized areas. Somemissions began to recycle traditional careermissionaries as business people, with someinteresting results! Most have begun to recog-nize however that people entering for employ-ment or business need competence in theirchosen occupation and there is starting toemerge a wiser use of both resources and pre-departure preparation time.

It is still true to say though, that thetentmaking movement worldwide is young,raw and often uncoordinated. It has minimalliterature, little recognition in many mission

training programs and faces significant chal-lenges, many of which will be dealt with in alater article.

The emergence of the contemporarymovement

So why did this movement emergealmost unannounced in the second half ofthe twentieth century?

It pays to repeat that it was in fact alwaysthere, unnamed, often unnoticed but presentde facto wherever keen Christians worked

across cultures and tried to join inwith the work of God’s Spirit in thatplace. It has always been so, some-times accidentally and sometimes

more intentionally. It was, however,the emergence of a number of fresh factorsthat led to the present state and self aware-ness of the Tentmaking movement.

Five factors dominate.

1. Restriction of access

The first is quite simply the fact thatmany countries are no longer accessible to tra-ditional missions. As mentioned above, someseventy-five countries will not issue visas forthose wanting to do mission work as theirstated purpose of entry. Some are more tightlyclosed than others but all seventy-five makeentry by traditional means either difficult orimpossible. The reasons for this are multiple.Post-colonialism is clearly a factor as nationsemerge from a colonial era into independenceand rediscovery of identity. Religious factorsalso play a part. For example, in a number ofnations, Islamic faith is part of that journey ofnational identity and political independence.

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 EDITORIAL

Derek Christensen

Overlake Christian Churchocc.orgChurch information

Paraclete Inc.paraclete.net/eagleorganizational info & ministry of Van Meters

Partners Internationalpartnersintl.orgorganizational info

Philippine Missions Associationphilippinemissions.netorganizational info and people groups

PMIpminternacional.orgpotential long term role of Latin Americans in thisspecific people group

Portuguese Evangelical Alliance,Missions Commissionportalevangelico.ptorganizational info

Redcliffe Collegeredcliffe.orgResearch and innovation in Mission

Generating Changegeneratingchange.co.uktraining for international mission –including theonline journal- ‘Encounters’

Samaritan Strategy Africasamaritan-strategy-africa.orgvision & info about holistic ministry

Seoul Theological Universitystu.ac.krorganizational info

Sepalsepal.org.br / brasil2010.orgTool help pastors in research and biblical studies

Serving in Mission (SIM)sim.orggeneral info; ministries; services

Singapore Center for Evangelism and Mission(SCEM)scem.infoorganizational info

Stanway Institute for World Mission andEvangelismstanwayinstitute.orginfo on mission and ministry of institute

Sydney Missionary and Bible Collegesmbc.com.auInformation on training programmes and resourcesof the school cross cultural mission

The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM)teamworld.orgvision update, opportunities, prayer

In other nations, the faith system has beenpolitical rather than religious, as in someCommunist areas. In today’s world, nationsdo have the right to determine who crossestheir borders and it is hardly surprising thatmany have chosen not to allow in thosewhose primary intention is to change the faithof its citizens to a religion seen rightly orwrongly as predominantly western. It is help-ful to reflect on our own reactions within ourown nations to entry applications by thosewhose occupation is listed as ‘missionary forIslam’ or ‘missionary for Buddhism’.

2. Globalization

The world, at the same time, has bothmore and less restricted borders. Nationalboundaries have been redefined to reflect selfawareness and identity. Meanwhile, economicand technological changes have meant hugechanges in the way we relate to each other. Itis possible to fly almost anywhere in theworld within one or two days. It is possible tocommunicate to people almost anywhere onthe face of the globe within a microsecond bye-mail or satellite phone. It is possible to getinformation on the web about almost anyplace or any product. And the world’s mar-kets are shifting at an amazing pace and wehave come to accept different trading patternsto those of the past. On a recent visit toChina, I walked through open air markets

selling exactly the same goods as I can buy atthe $2 shop down the road from my home.

This all affects the job market as skills goglobal. It is estimated that one millionAmericans are working abroad at any one timeand similar percentages are true for other coun-tries as well. In my own district, I chat dailywith an Indian computer expert, ride in taxiswith an Afghani driver, buy ginger tea fromChinese merchants and have coffee with aTaiwanese colleague. Friends teach English as asecond language in Thailand, run an electronicsbusiness in South Asia… you know the storyand that is the world we live in. The end resultis that there is an international demand for par-ticular skills and people with these skills canmove easily into almost any nation, includingthose we described above as restricted in access.

3. The cost of missions

In the early days of the current move-ment, there was great hope that Tentmakingmay solve some of the financial problemsfaced by traditional missions. The cost ofmuch mission work was rising, especially aslength of term shortened, educational costsincreased, urbanization pushed up accommo-dation costs and so on. Now there was achance for people to engage missionally inother cultures while they were being paid forby someone else. ‘Self supporting’ was theterm being used very freely.

CONNECTIONS

Tiplady Consultingtiplady.org.ukarticles and information on issues in world mission

Trans World Radiotwr.orgorganizational info

Urban India Ministriesurbanindia.orgInform, promote and network

Velemegna Societyvelemegna.orgFounders details and history

WEA – MCglobalmission.orgorganizational info; links

wearesources.org(downloadable) articles on missiological issues

missionarytraining.cominfo about missiological training issues

West Africa Theological Seminarywatsonline.orgorganizational info

World Mission Centerworldmissioncenter.cominfo of ministry activities

Worldview Resource Groupwrg3.organswers interrogatives about form and Function &portal for seminar registration

Wycliffe (Asian Diaspora Initiative)wycliffe.netinfo of the organization and its branches

xGlobal Mission Innovationxgmi.netministry profile of the organization

Additional helpful links:

Emercyemercy.org/index.htminfo about member care services <<

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EDITORIAL

9

That was a rather naïve hope. Much ofthe work done by tentmakers is costly.Language learning, business start ups, the gapbetween local wages and living costs – all ofthese are factors in much Tentmaking work.

However there is still a major cost factorthat assists many tentmakers. For example,people become involved in intentional mission-al witness who would not have been involvedbefore, people who are committed as Christiansand who wake up to the opportunities affordedwithin their secular job location. The Filipinoevangelical church has seen with remarkableclarity the opportunities that arise through theFilipino Diaspora, over a million Filipinosworking offshore at any one time, many indomestic positions in the Middle East.

It is possible to multiply the workforcecost efficiently by wise strategies, but it isnaïve to believe that Tentmaking will instantlysolve all the financial challenges faced by cur-rent mission work.

4. Compatible mission strategies

Tentmaking, in its modern form, coin-cides with the rise of a number of missiolog-

ical strategies that together form what wesometimes call the frontier mission move-ment. Focus on people groups, emphasis onthe 10-40 window, realignment of resources,urbanization, all of these are compatiblewith a Tentmaking approach. As many of thepeople groups are in restricted access areas,Tentmaking is the only option. And many ofthose areas are in the 10-40 window.

5. Fresh awareness of theologies sur-rounding laity and marketplace

During exactly the same period, therehas been a renewed focus on the place andnature of the laity. This has run alongsidetheologies of work and an interest inChristian influence within the secular mar-ketplace. Where does mission take placeand who engages in mission? If churcheswake up to the fact that biblically, missiontakes place where the people are (the peo-ple outside of faith) and that the whole peo-ple of God (Laos) is the workforce of mis-sion, then it prepares the way for aTentmaking approach.

There is significant evidence in westernChristian circles of such a renewed interest,

accompanied by a great flood of literatureboth informed and hasty. In the end, thefuture of Tentmaking depends in part onthe recovery of a true Laos perspective thatlines up with the Lausanne goal of ‘thewhole church taking the whole gospel tothe whole world.’

These five factors, accompanied by thebreakthrough examples of pioneer tentmak-ers, assisted by a long history and supportedby biblical models, have led to the emergenceof the current Tentmaking movement.

Conclusion

Yet the situation is fragile, loosely coor-dinated, missiologically raw and organiza-tionally scattered. The next decade will becrucial as the movement faces major chal-lenges on its way to maturity. In the next edi-tion of Connect ions, we will outline someof those challenges. <<

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CONNECTIONS

T he Tentmaking movement is at a vitalstage in its contemporary history, astage of crisis and challenge and also

great opportunity. It is a movement onlyhalf a century old in its current form, andlike a hormone loaded teenager, faces manyrisks as it explores its place in the sur-rounding world.

This article aims to identify some of themajor challenges that face the movementtoday and then begins to sketch in some ofthe responses that are being made, particular-ly by the international agency that aims tocoordinate Tentmaking, TIE International.

Hey, won’t somebody notice me please?

One challenge is simply that of recogni-tion. Few people even seem to know we arehere. The famous Perspectives reader has justone nine page article tucked away in 782pages.2 Until recently, many agencies eitherhad no place for tentmakers in their tradition-al workforce or else were confused about howto handle them.

The literature is sparse, a mere handful ofbooks being written since the seminal work ofChristy Wilson in 1979.3 Most of that literatureis also about practice more than theory, for apopular audience and not an academic one.Therefore, our seminaries, Bible colleges and

mission training agencies have very few coursesspecifically designed for tentmakers, they rarelymention them in advertising, and academicmissiologists often write as though tentmakersdo not exist. A browse through major recenttexts will confirm this. So too will a glance atthe list of theses completed at majorinstitutions, although recently therehave been a few theses completedand one or two published.

So, the normal means by which a move-ment becomes recognized have not been uti-lized by the fledgling movement. Althoughthere is a long and honorable history, it hasnot been translated into eye catching format.Tentmakers are people of action more thanwords, work more than books and doingmore than thinking.

But if you do recognize me, careful withthe publicity!

But there’s a catch! The very nature ofTentmaking often means that too much pub-licity creates a security risk. The other day,the editor of this article saw a Christian TV

broadcast in our totally open access nation,celebrating the 150th anniversary of one ofour major churches. During an interview, thesenior pastor sat in front of a large missionsphoto board with a section labeled ‘Creativeaccess nations,’ and the photos of people

working in these nations werehighly visible. That is the sort ofrecognition and publicity thatmany tentmakers do not want,

especially listed as ‘missionaries.’ How do weincrease the Tentmaking profile in the send-ing Christian community without risking thework and networks in the host nation withlegal restrictions on the spread of the gospel?

Our much loved Bill Taylor asked forphotos to brighten up our articles, but photoscan be a problem. Stories are often told withidentities disguised.

This is not because the tentmakers arelaw breakers, deceivers and frauds, a religiousCIA penetrating deep into enemy territory ina religious cold war. No, it is simply a matterof being wise in some very delicate settings,maintaining integrity of purpose within a

If Barrett and Johnson1 are right, there are something like 150,000 tentmakers in the world today, but whereare they? Why do we hear so little about them? Where are the agencies to handle them on the scale of the

great mission agencies circling our globe? Where are the books, the courses in mission schools andseminaries, the news and the heroes and the stories?

And why do so few people even understand the term ‘Tentmaking’?

Challenge and responseA look at the state of the global Tentmaking movement:

FEATURE

Derek Christensen

1 D. Barrett and T. M. Johnson, eds. World Christian Trends. (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2001) p.61. 2 R.D. Winter and S. C. Hawthorne, eds. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader. (Pasadena:

William Carey Library, 1999).3 J. Christy Wilson Jr., Today’s Tentmakers: Self-support: An Alternative Model for Worldwide Witness (Wheaton:

Tyndale House, 1979).

zone of discretion. To identify openly with theterm ‘missionary’ or link directly with wellknown mission agencies would mean that thecountries where many serve would no longerwelcome them.

And that raises the other side of the secu-rity challenge. Discretion is one side. Honestyis the other. How far do I go in identifyingwith what God is doing in a nation not opento the gospel while maintaining integrity withmy visa? Can I truly bless a nation with mywork of itself without compromising mydesire to be Christ’s ambassador there as well?

Working through the issues of securityand integrity are part of the upcoming chal-lenges, yet too often tentmakers flounderthrough lack of guidance and example. Beingas harmless as doves and wise as serpents istougher than it looks.

How do we keep us all together?

The Tentmaking movement is made up ofdiverse elements. Greg Livingston’s descrip-tion of tentmakers as job makers, job takersand job fakers is an indication of this.Recently, the job makers division has begunto gain momentum, helped by some fine writ-ings and a track at the 2004 Lausanne meet-ings in Pattaya. Some are suggesting this“Business as Mission” track is entirely sepa-rate from the Tentmaking movement andshould work on its own. Others would seethis separation as a backward move.

Many people engaged in Relief andDevelopment operate in fact as tentmakers,but rarely have much to do with the main-stream movement as such.

In some areas of the world there are twoor more separate groups representing thetentmakers of the region. And in other places,major tentmaker placement groups neitheruse the term nor recognize any links withothers of a similar intention.

Christian mission will always be made upof those of diverse style, background andstrategy. That is inevitable. But forTentmaking, the fragility of the entire opera-tion is highlighted when we become competi-tive or fragmented. The only internationalbody is TIE International, a totally voluntarygroup made up of people already holdingother jobs and struggling to bring about somesort of common direction. It is a challengeindeed and we shall spend some of our timeat SA06 working on this issue.

If we are working in secular jobs, thenwhy do we need Christian training?

Training is one of the interesting chal-lenges of the future. Do tentmakers need tobe trained in Christian mission as well as intheir secular field? If so, how much trainingdo they need and how does it differ fromordinary mission training?

The broad picture is that training haslargely been neglected or underdone for tent-makers, partly because people alreadyengaged in high level secular roles have notbeen able to take time out for dedicatedtraining, and partly because traditional train-ing providers have not put in place trainingthat suits the specific needs of tentmakers inboth curriculum and delivery systems.

Tentmaker agencies generally providesome practical orientation prior to fieldplacement, assuming candidates alreadyhave a sound foundation of Bible, theologyand mission practice, an assumption shakyat best.

Recently, considerable work has beendone on training both by individuals and bya training group within TIE. Something ofthe outcome of the research is described inthe succeeding article, ‘Glimpses of aMovement.’

Linked to training is the question ofresources. Where do people get hold of goodmaterials about Tentmaking? As mentionedbefore, there are very few books (probablyless than 20 in print). There are more articlesin magazines and journals, but these arescattered and often hard to get. In someplaces, there are few people who have experi-ence in the Tentmaking area, able to operateas mentors. Gathering resources and givingaccess to them is another challenge andsomething in which Tentmaking is so farbehind the world missions movement whichis a resource rich in so many ways.

So what do we believe anyway?

The final challenge lies at the very deep-est level of theological basis. What is theunderlying theology that drives the wholemovement? In many cases, theology is mini-mal in a highly pragmatic climate.

At the deepest level however, tremen-dous potential lies in a fresh look at our the-ology of the church, especially the westernchurch. Who does mission? This is a criticalquestion for both the west and the rest ofthe world. The western trend, especiallydriven by a high focus on leadership strate-gies, constantly marginalizes the non profes-sional and turns laos into laity, a highlyunbiblical shift. Related to this is the ques-tion of where mission is done—where theChristians gather or where the pagans gath-er? The default option so often is to centeractivity in the physical church site and with-in its programs and organizations. The mar-ketplace movement, with its thrust back intothe workplace, challenges that and seems tobe making some headway at last, especiallyin the United States.

For some within the Tentmaking move-ment there has been considerable interactionwith marketplace thinkers and writers.Tentmaking is seen, not as an isolated phe-nomenon arising out of restrictions on tradi-tional mission but as the natural cross cul-tural form of a revised theology of the mis-sional church that engages the whole churchin the whole mission of God. People firstbecome genuine marketplace Christians, mis-sional in their familiar weekday settings,before they transfer that experience into across cultural one.

All of this challenges the way we thinkabout mission. Evangelical missions in thewest began partly as a lay reaction to theneeds of the world and the structures of theChurch. In subtle fashion, it became profes-sionalized until ‘missionaries’ became a sepa-

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 FEATURE

Derek Christensen is a New Zealander who spent much of hisworking life as a Baptist pastor in both New Zealand and Papua

New Guinea. He now teaches at Carey Baptist College, a theologi-cal seminary in Auckland, New Zealand where his subjects includecross cultural missions, tentmaking and marketplace theology. Hismajor interest of the past two decades has been in the tentmakingmovement, with particular focus on training. He is currently actingas International Director of TIE International, the global movementthat coordinates world tentmaking. He is married to Isa and they

have four adult children and five grandchildren, one of the familiesliving in China where Derek and Isa visit regularly.

rated and elevated category alongside pastoror priest. A call was needed different fromthat of the Christian engineer or plumber,and few seemed to receive it.

That is beginning to change again. Thework of God is being given back to thewhole people of God. The example of theFilipino Church is a powerful reminder, andother reminders are coming out of east andsouth to awaken thinking in the Church ofthe west.

It is good to remember as we face strate-gic, organizational, ethical and directionalchallenges as a Tentmaking movement, thatunderneath are massive theological questionsas well, and facing them will impact not onlyour cross cultural journeys, but our homefaith journeys as well.

A TIE response

What is TIE International, the globalbody of the Tentmaking movement, doing tomeet these challenges?

Much of SA06 (the MC consultation inSouth Africa) for us will be about these chal-lenges. We are a small and scattered group ofvolunteers with little opportunity to gettogether. But amongst our dreams and ouractions are the following:

Recognition

We are aiming at a higher profile, simplyby working on our networks and alliances.Our linking with the Mission Commission isa most valuable part of this and we plan toshare common concerns with leaders in other

tracks of theMissionCommission.

Recognition is also about building a pro-file in circles where written work is impor-tant. A new web site will gather many of theresources we have developed. Some of ourpeople are producing significant writing andwe aim to both publish and distribute what isavailable.

Security

Whenever we meet in regional or globalgroups, we talk about security concerns andshare strategies and experiences. This is anever ending process and it happens also inparticular agencies, interest groups andregional alliances. Security concerns varyfrom country to country, even from profes-sion to profession. And the security questionconstantly raises ethical questions too. Thereis a need for more significant writing in theseareas and we are keen to promote that. Thearticle, ‘Glimpses of a Movement,’refers toPatrick Lai’s recent book4 which has helpfulmaterial in this area.

Unity and cooperation

We need to be organized ourselvesbefore we can expect others to cooperatewith us. We are certainly working on that.We also have a real concern to developregional groupings that are closer togetherand can work more consistently together.

The latest and truly exciting development isthe TIE grouping in the northern part ofAfrica; this too is outlined in the ‘Glimpses ofa Movement’ article.

Alongside organization is talking and net-working. When we know each other andspend time with each other, it is easier to

appreciate our commonconcerns.

Training

This area has felt likea desert for many years,too daunting to navigate.Suddenly, by the grace ofGod, many things havecome together in train-ing. The desert is begin-ning to bloom and

training is available this year thathas never been there before. Again, we talkabout this more extensively in ‘Glimpses of aMovement,’ but the part played by theMission Commission has been highly signifi-cant. The book, Too Valuable to Lose5 spokealmost despairingly of great gaps in tentmak-er training and offered no specific solutions.Now some half decade later, the report is farmore positive. TIE International is wellplaced to coordinate and encourage what isbeginning to happen.

Developing a theology

Ah, here’s a challenge for a scatteredglobal volunteer body! However, we are cer-tainly very much aware of it. We decidedthree years ago in Vancouver to officiallyexplore links with marketplace thinkers andorganizations. That has been fruitful. Someof our writers and thinkers have also begunto produce significant work on the synergiesbetween the two movements.

There is nothing like a challenge to growa fledgling movement. And when your con-stituency may well include Middle Easterndomestic servants from the Philippines, EastAsian hydrologists from Australasia, Englishlanguage teachers in Central Asia fromCanada, exporters in Indonesia from Europe,an electronics factory in South Asia staffedfrom South America…then that becomes achallenge worth facing. <<

4 Patrick Lai, Tentmaking: Business as Mission (Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Books, 2005).5 William Taylor, ed, Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition (Pasadena:

William Carey Library, 1997), e.g. pp. 346-7.

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CONNECTIONS

The following glimpses offer someinsight into fresh developments, not acomprehensive description. We trust

they will be helpful for your own reflectionson the movement.

Training

Training is an area the young movement hasstruggled with for some time. Too manypeople rushed off half formed, unevenlytrained, and too many trainers were con-fused about what was needed anyway.

As the movement is now producing morepeople with clear, long term service in mindand more cohesive strategies, training isemerging to match. Here are some insightsinto three new ventures in training.

Working your way to the nations

At the beginning of the 1990’s, theMission Commission produced the book,Working Your Way to the Nations, aimed togive tentmakers some insight into theirfuture role. Jonathan Lewis was editor anddrew on an international team for content.The book has been useful in many settingsand half a dozen languages and has beenrevised and reprinted since. Last year, thewhole project entered a new phase. Jonand Ari Rocklin of Global Opportunitiescontributed to put ‘Working’ on the inter-net as an online training course. The pilotproject worked well and now enters themarket as a regular offering. The followingcomment comes from Jonathan Lewisregarding the course

Working Your Way to the Nations, theonline course, is sponsored by WEA’sInternational Missionary TrainingNetwork and directed by its author, Dr.Jonathan Lewis. The course uses read-ings and self-assessment tools to iden-tify key issues, help measure readinessfor Tentmaking, and create plans thatlead to effective deployment.Encouragement and accountability isprovided by the course facilitator, fellowtrainees, and a church-based mentor ofthe participant’s own choosing. Theend product is a thorough understand-ing of the process involved in becom-ing a successful tentmaker and aPersonal Action Plan leading to this end,to be executed over time under localchurch supervision.

A major thesis on training

Derek Christensen has been gatheringinformation on tentmaker training world-wide for many years. This information waseventually worked into a thesis donethrough Melbourne College of Divinity,titled simply The Training of Tentmakers,and it examines in-depth what is happen-ing in the arena, how this relates to theo-logical and missiological training world-wide, and then suggests a template forassessing and designing training.

It is an academic thesis, rather than apopular writing, but Derek suggests that inany development, there needs to be rigorousexamination that can be held alongside prac-tical developments. A book arising out of

the thesis is planned in the near future, butthe whole thesis has now been put on to theMission Commission resource website andis available for any to read. The website is:www.wearesources.org/publications.aspx.

A combined project to provide a semi-nary level course

The Australian tentmaker group,AZTEM, is working with Carey BaptistCollege in New Zealand to provide a onesemester course on Tentmaking, suitable forpeople at degree level. The course is basedon one taught for several years at Carey, butthe current project aims to put it on CD-rom, partly for easy carriage and partly toallow for multiple features. It is hoped thiswill be ready in the middle of this year andavailable to agencies, teaching institutions,and individuals preparing for Tentmaking.

Death of a pioneer

One of the great pioneers of the mod-ern movement was Ruth Siemens, whosecontribution stands alongside of people likeJ. Christy Wilson and Don Hamilton. Thefollowing brief note was supplied by GlobalOpportunities, the organization she found-ed. Many fine articles by Ruth are availableon the GO website.

On December 20, 2005, Ruth Siemenswent home to the Lord she loved andserved so long. The Church has lostone of her most remarkable tentmakersand missionaries. From her youth,Ruth was greatly used in evangelism,

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Tentmaking is as old as Scripture, but as young as the last half century. For this reason, it has many raw edges,half formed strategies, diverse peoples and the enthusiasm of a teenager, which can be both engaging and

irritating. Its literature is minimal, its chief exponents are people of action rather than words, and so it is hard to geta clear picture of the movement, far more difficult than it is to gain insight into many aspects of traditional mission.

Glimpses of a movementFragments of insight into the Tentmaking movement worldwide,

as it struggles towards maturity

TIE International Team

discipling, leading Bible studies, andmobilizing for missions.

While preparing to be a missionary,life-threatening illness moved her intoTentmaking. In Peru and Brazil, Ruthintegrated work and witness in full-time secular teaching jobs. She ledmany teachers, staff members and stu-dents to Christ. Over 21 years, shestarted four Christian university stu-dent movements—Peru, Brazil, Spainand Portugal.

When she returned to the U.S., Ruthitinerated around the country mobiliz-ing for Tentmaking. She wrote, coun-seled, mentored, and researched inter-national jobs. Her work grew intoGlobal Opportunities and facilitatedhundreds of tentmakers going over-seas—many to the hardest, neediestcountries on earth. For Ruth’s story,see globalopps.org/ruths_story.htm.

Ruth possessed an untiring passion tosend more tentmakers to tell more peopleof Jesus. She saw Tentmaking as vital tothe world and the Church and championedit till the end, even as health declined. Godhas now brought her home to rest and leftthe work to us.

Business as mission

Part of the phenomenal growth ofTentmaking over recent years has beenthrough job making, business ventures cat-alyzed by the collapse of the Iron Curtainbut now becoming much more intentional,better equipped and more strategic.Known by several different names over theyears, “business as mission” seems to bethe final title of choice. It had a very enthu-siastic track at Lausanne in Pattaya 2004,and their fine report is available at: community.gospelcom.net/Brix?pageID=12890

Three major books give real insightinto the nature of the business side ofTentmaking and are all worth exploring.

• Steve Rundle and Tom Steffen of Biolahave written Great CommissionCompanies, exploring some key principleswhich are then illustrated with case stud-ies (Intervarsity Press, 2003).

• On Kingdom Business is edited by TedYamamori and Kenneth Eldred. It hascontributions from people engaged in

business as mission and many usefulprinciples emerge from their stories(Crossway Books, 2003).

• Patrick Lai, a long-term and highlyrespected practitioner, has recently pub-lished Tentmaking: Business as Mission,arising out of a doctoral research thesis onwhat makes tentmakers effective(Authentic, 2005). This is a major contri-bution to literature in the field, oftenprovocative, strongly advocating some keyprinciples, and packed with great insightand highly practical advice. Patrick is cur-rently working on a companion volume.

New regional development

One of the long term goals of TIE is todevelop strong regional groupings aroundthe world. A new and exciting developmentover the past year has been the formationof a group in the north of Africa, under theleadership of Rev.Tiowa Diarra of Mali.Advisor to the group has been Derek Greenof England, the European regional director.Tiowa has worked extremely hard on avision for the entire region and now has ateam of country representatives for almostthe whole region. The first regional trainingevent has taken place, led by SteinarOpheim of Norway and the first All AfricaCongress is planned for August of 2007.

A couple of glimpses of tentmakers inaction to close…

Nothing in my history prepared me formissionary service and yet everythingdid. My physical handicap left fromyouthful polio surely would say “unqual-ified.” The usual qualifications of Bibleschool or seminary training were com-pletely lacking, as was any personalinvolvement in a missions committee orother missions related organization ofefforts. Yet HIS passion to share HIS lovewith the ABC people was waiting for me.That first short-term trip …stirred me asnothing ever had. Returning to my wifeand three home schooled children webegan to talk about how to be of serviceto the ABC people. We researched lotsof alternatives and realized that we hadalmost no qualifications other than ourability to speak English. Was thatenough? I had been a research scientistafter graduate school and then workedin a hospital laboratory for many yearsbefore spending more than a dozenyears in sales. My wife was a home-

schooling mom with some communityinvolvement. Not exactly what youwould think of as sufficient preparationfor life as a missionary. We did havesome experience teaching Sundayschool, but was that enough to qualifyfor Kingdom service as …missionaries?Those ….. marks are to tell you thateven as we were being sent out from ourhome church as missionaries through amissionary agency, our personal sense ofwho we were could not grasp what wefelt was the “high calling” of being calledmissionaries. We had accepted a posi-tion at an ABC university to teach spo-ken English. Because of our intentionsto learn how to share our faith in JesusChrist in culturally appropriate ways,this meant we would be tentmakers—earning at least some of our cost of livingby the work of our hands. We could saywe were English teachers, but the idea ofbeing missionaries was still beyond ourability to grasp. That has since changed.

After five years at our first uni-versity, having been part of planting astill reproducing and functioningchurch among the national students(now pastored by one of the earlybelievers who we continue to mentor),we moved to another university andthen into the city to establish anEnglish training center that now hasover 200 students, ten national full-time workers and an additional part-time ABC staff of another thirty youngpeople being trained to be teachers...Who would have thought all this wasin our future ten years ago?Certainly not one agency we appliedto, who told us that with three chil-dren it was too difficult; certainly notthose that pointed out the need forevangelizing “right here at home”;surely not anyone who matched our“qualifications” against previous mis-sionary criteria. Certainly not thoseworried that our children would sufferthe “loss” of the American benefitsand socialization they saw as foolish togive up. But there is ONE who callsand ONE whose call qualified andONE who equips and trains. HEthought we were able and HE enabledand we have learned what it really islike to become missionaries, thedescription of ourselves that we nowidentify with completely and are com-fortable with because we now knowwhat that really means…

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CONNECTIONSFEATURE

Overview:

The Philippines is the only country inAsia whose majority population adheres toChristian beliefs and tenets. A majority ofFilipinos are highly literate and have a goodgrasp of the English language.

Due to four decades of weak economicconditions in the country, about 8 millionFilipinos have either migrated or are nowworking abroad as expatriatecontract workers in over 190countries in the world.According to official government statistics, ona daily basis over 3,000 individuals leave forforeign destinations to seek employment. Allover the world, Filipinos are now positionedin residences, offices, schools, hospitals,hotels, pubs, restaurants, malls, constructionsites, factories, orphanages and senior citizenshomes. You will find Filipinos in technical,domestic, executive, IT, medical, musical, edu-cational, development and commercial fieldsin mega-cities as well as remote rural areas.

Protestant and Evangelical churches num-ber 60,000 congregations in the Philippineswith thousands more abroad. Because ofdivine placement, Filipino believers are instrategic positions to impact the spiritual land-scape of many of the least evangelized cities

and communities in the world. Approximately50,000 believers go abroad annually.

Filipinos have traits that make them natu-ral missionaries. Filipinos are able to easilyadapt to new cultures and have an extraordi-nary ability to learn new languages. ThePhilippines is the third largest English speakingcountry in the world, giving Filipinos the abilityto enter the global marketplace with ease. Theirnatural ability with music also makes forFilipino believers to be worshipful messengers

of the gospel. Friendly and win-some, Filipinos are able to estab-lish relationships without difficulty.

In fact, Filipinos excel in jobs that require per-sonal interaction and service such as nurses,teachers, care givers, nannies, hotel and restau-rant workers. Many Filipinos are also able topersevere under adverse conditions.

The Movement:

Last March 2005, forty mission leadersfrom all over the Philippines gathered for threedays to plot out how the Philippine churchmay be used further as a vehicle of the gospelacross cultures. On March 19, 2005, thePhilippine Missions Mobilization Movement(PM3) was formed. The PM3 is envisioned tobe a global movement of the Filipino Churchand partners committed to glorify God bymobilizing, equipping and deploying 200,000tentmakers and career missionaries to discipleunevangelized peoples by 2010.

This Movement endeavors to mobilizethe Filipino Church to work together in obe-dience to the Great Commission of the LordJesus Christ. The focus of the PM3 will be onfour key tasks: MOBILIZATION, TRAINING,DEPLOYMENT and ADMINISTRATION.

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 FEATURE

And another…

Have you ever wondered how our livesfit into God’s ultimate plan for theworld? Each of us has a strong desireto do something significant. God putthat desire into us! Recently, I foundmyself asking God what was the realpurpose of our marketplace ministry inChina and how that purpose fits intoHis overall plan for history.

Before moving to China, I spent 15years in the American corporate world.In that world, I learned a very un-Biblical perspective of business. Ilearned that people were just tools to useto help accomplish our businessobjectives. And, unfortunately, I exhibit-ed this attitude countless times in theway I went about my work. I maynever know how many times I missedopportunities for ministry because ofmy focus on just accomplishing thebusiness goals at hand.

Since starting our Kingdom-focusedoutsourcing business in China,though, I’ve learned that God’s way iscompletely opposite. He wants us touse the business of the company to helpdisciple the people. Isn’t this much bet-ter? In our China business, we go towork every day and work on the busi-ness at hand. But, every decision wemake is made with the ministry as theprimary objective. In fact just yester-day, one of our employees prayed toaccept Christ in a business meeting inour office. How often does that happenin Corporate America?Two weeks ago, we experienced a stringof mistakes made by several differentemployees. Some of the people in theoffice were very upset at the mistakes.But, I felt God was saying this was agreat opportunity for discipling! At ournext staff meeting, we laid the mistakeson the table and had a very encourag-ing discussion on things like effectivecommunication, serving clients, andcaring about people enough to do ourbest for them. Many came into themeeting fearing humiliation. Butinstead, everyone was lifted up andencouraged and left the meeting withnew determination to press on. At XYZ,we are finding that just going throughour daily work creates many opportuni-ties to make disciples… <<

The Unfolding Story of the

Filipino TentmakingMovement

Robert “Bob” F. K. Lopez is theNational Director of the

Philippine Missions Association,the missions commission of thePhilippine Council of Evangelical

Churches. He also is a boardmember of TentmakerInternational Exchange.

Robert “Bob” F. K. Lopez

Mobilization:

Mission agencies that are engaged in mis-sions mobilization are now starting to worktogether. Consultations have been undertakenwherein the key leaders of these organizationshave agreed on a unifying approach of mobi-lizing through both denominational lines andthrough geographical ministerial associations.The main objective of this partnership effort isto establish grassroots missions movementscomposed of churches, mission agencies, andother organizations in every region of thePhilippines and in every country whereFilipino churches have been organized.Mobilizer’s kits that contain presentationmaterials (print and CD) will be provided toevery church that goes through the PM3 ori-entation and subscribes/commits to thevision. These regional movements will coordi-nate with the Missionary Trainers Networkand the Deployment Network to ensure thatthe tentmakers and career missionaries beingsent are properly motivated, equipped, caredfor and accountable for effective ministry.

Training:

A Missionary Trainers Network has beenformed to meet the need of equipping thevast army of missionaries, both in thePhilippines and in the various countrieswhere overseas Filipino Christians are sta-tioned as contract workers. The first achieve-ment of the network was the formulation ofThe Profile of a Filipino Missionary and aRecommended List of Subjects that becomesthe basis of a core missionary training cur-riculum that will be adopted by all thoseengaged in training future missionaries andtentmakers. The training network also aimsto achieve the following: a) to put together adirectory of all available training resources inthe country and beyond; b) to develop repro-ducible and transferable training modules

and other tools for contextualized cross-cul-tural witnessing; c) to multiply missionarytrainers through Training of Trainers courses;and d) to conduct missionary training ofFilipino believers in every country.

Deployment:

Along with Mobilization and Training,PM3 is creating a national network of missionorganizations, local churches and manpowerrecruitment agencies that deploy Filipinotentmakers and missionaries. Multi-agencypartnerships are being formed to avoid dupli-cation and to leverage the combinedresources of these organizations to make amore meaningful impact in the field.Another critical area that is being addressedin deploying new tentmakers is MissionaryCare. PM3 is ensuring that each persondeployed is accountable to the sending bodyand becomes part of an existing missionsteam or church engaged in cross-cultural wit-ness in the field where supervision and care isgiven to the individual. Continuing consulta-tions related to best practices and identifyingpriority field areas will be done in order todeploy well-equipped cross-cultural workersin the most strategic fields.

Administration:

Given the scope of the Movement, asecure communications infrastructure is a keycomponent to help facilitate the three majortasks mentioned above to be carried out effec-tively. A well-equipped communications cen-ter will be put in place in every one of thefive major regions in the country to serve theobjectives of PM3. This also entails the set-ting up of a national and global database ofFilipino churches, mission agencies, tentmak-ers, career missionaries and mission resources(books, missions education and missionarytraining programs, pool of trainers, etc.).

Structure:

A National Facilitation Team (NFT), com-posed of the executives of 18 major missionbodies and organizations from all over thePhilippines, is committed to meet regularlyand work closely together to ensure that thePM3 is meeting its goals as envisioned. TheNFT is tasked with seeing to it that the vari-ous networks are empowered to functioneffectively and that the coordination betweeneach is smooth.

Outside of the country, the NFT will beworking closely with the FilipinoInternational Network, a network of Filipinochurch leaders in various Asiancountries/regions such as Hong Kong, SouthKorea, and the Persian Gulf. These churcheswill become themselves both receiving agen-cies for PM3 tentmakers as well as organiza-tional agencies to field their teams to theunreached people groups they work among.The NFT will continue to establish relation-ships with Filipino churches based outsideof the Philippines and encourage PM3 par-ticipation.

Conclusion:

We acknowledge that it is the Lord of theHarvest that has been thrusting out Filipinolaborers into the many mission fields of theworld. It is the belief that the Filipino Churchis accountable to God to be a witness amongthose who have never heard the gospel ofJesus Christ that the vision of PM3 is hinged.We are under no illusions—the road aheadwill be tough as the concerns of churches andmission agencies are multi-faceted. But webelieve that with the grace and favor of theLord, a genuinely global missions movementby Filipinos will be able to raise hundreds ofthousands of cross-cultural witnesses and dis-ciplers in the coming years. <<

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 MISSIONAL PROVERBS

Wisdom is not found in only oneperson’s home.

We need to get together to arrive at wisedecisions. The Spirit gives different gifts todifferent people so they grow into healthyinterdependence, benefiting from each otherand appreciating each other. (See 1 Cor. 12:7,gifts given “for the common good”).

The hare said, “I am swift”; the plateau replied, “I am vast.”

Like rabbits on a plateau, we can onlyever become familiar with a small part of it.We need to talk to other “rabbits” about theirparts of the plateau so we can see how ourpart fits into the bigger picture. (See Acts 1:8,“to the ends of the earth.”)

New (fresh) water pushes out theold (stagnant) water.

As a spring is forever cleaning itself, sothe church on its mission is forever lettingGod’s Spirit renew it. Strategies that workedin yesterday’s world may be toxic to thespread of the good news in today’s world.New life and new ideas are always bubblingup among God’s messengers. (See Jn. 7:38,“springs of living water.”)

A crooked road cannot preventpeople from completing their

intended journey.Twists and turns are not roadblocks. The

longest road may actually be the safest and“shortest” way home. Perseverance pays off aslong as the traveler knows the final destina-tion and the general direction. South Africa’06 is a chance to remind ourselves of thefinal destination again. That vision will inspireus to continue on the road of mission, unde-terred by the twists and turns we encounter.In fact, as we go along, we bulldoze the twistsand turns out of the road, preparing it for thearrival of the Messiah. (See Is. 40:4-5, “Everyvalley shall be raised up” and all humanitywill see the glory of the Lord.)

Those who go to Mahlatsi’splace have to be very clever.

As the story goes, a man went toMahlatsi’s place to kidnap his wife but hewas discovered and killed. His planning didnot measure up to his mission. Our missionis good, not evil, but good mission can alsofail if the planning is poor. (See Lk. 14:29,the project that could not be finished becausethe builder did not plan well.)

It is a calf still in the belly.

We do not yet know what the calf willlook like or what it will grow into. The futureof mission and the future of the world are likethat. All we know for sure about them is thatthey are coming. The best thing we can do forthem is to take good care of their “mothercow,” the present. A healthy cow produces ahealthy calf. This pattern is evident in Paul’smissionary journeys (see Acts 13-20). Heplanned his trips but he did not over-planthem before setting out. He was obedient inthe present, and God’s future opened upbefore him as he went along.

Proverbs on MissionMobilization

Proverbs from the Sesotho language of South Africa and Lesotho

Stan Nussbaum

Stan Nussbaum is thestaff missiologist for

Global MappingInternational in

Colorado Springs, USA,and a member of theGlobal Missiology TaskForce of the Mission

Commission.

Proverbs with South Africa ’06 in view

17

CONNECTIONS

World Evangelical Alliance and Interna-tional Missionary Training Network (IMTN)have recently adapted the book, Working YourWay to the Nations1, into an on-line course tohelp address the need for training those whogo out as tentmakers into the mar-ket places of the world.Tentmakers are world Christianswho are a part of Christ’s GreatCommission. The term “tentmaker”comes from Acts 18, as cross-cultural mission-aries Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla were tentmak-ers by trade. Paul was a highly trained minis-ter who made tents. Aquila and Priscilla weretrades-people who led a ministry in theirhome. All three were “tentmakers.”

Tentmakers are effective witnesses in andthrough their occupations in the various mar-ketplaces of the world. Tentmakers can beemployees, business people, students, or bein any occupation that allows legitimateaccess, in a cross-cultural setting, to serve aswitnesses for Christ and in building Hischurch. Yet, tentmakers should be trainedand qualified if they are to be effective forKingdom ends.

Course highlights:

• 12-week course format (fits easily into aquarterly educational program throughchurch or school)

• Weekly on-line meetings (with small groupof course participants and course facilitator)

• Self-instructional materials • Independent study combined with “men-

tored” review, accountability and guidance • An Action Plan is custom created by each

participant to provide structure in workingtoward developing the character qualitiesand skills needed to become an effectivetentmaker

• Course utilizes authors from 11 differentcountries and was created using researchinvolving over 40 international agencies

• Participants already enrolled in college cancheck with advisors to see if the course canqualify as independent study

The Action Plan is the key

• Helps set goals• Establishes specific plans• Becomes a personal map to the nations

Built-in accountability structure

• An Internet Cohort—a small groupof course participants, linked through

the Internet• A course Facilitator who helps keep partici-

pants on track• A mentor of the participant’s own choosing

Who should take the course?

• Anyone desiring to serve God in theworkplace

• Any Christian wanting to work overseas• Any of the thousands of Christians already

employed overseas• Church leaders—particularly those who

serve on missions committees—who need tounderstand Tentmaking and what it involves

• Members of a tentmaker’s “support team”• Occupational “partners” (business owners

and employers), potential “job makers”• Occupational and ministerial mentors

How much does it cost?

• US $75 for a single applicant• US $99 for a married couple

How do I start?

Begin by filling out the application formfrom www.missionarytraining.org (click on the“hat”). Courses are scheduled to start at thebeginning of every month—but space is limited.

Get there, stay there, be effective!

1 Jonathan Lewis, Working Your Way to the Nations:A Guide to Effective Tentmaking (Downers Grove,IL; Intervarsity Press, 1996).

Working Your Way to the Nations:

A Guide to Effective TentmakingThe Online Course

Some useful resourceson Tentmaking:

a) Books

There is only a limited range of booksavailable and some are now quite old.The following all offer some insight intothe subject:

Wilson, J.Christy. Today’s Tentmakers: Self-Support: An alternative model for worldwidewitness. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1979.

Hamilton, Don. Tentmakers Speak. Ventura,California: Regal Books, 1987.

Yamamori, Ted. Penetrating Mission’s FinalFrontier: A New Strategy for Unreached People.Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1993.

Gibson, Dan. Avoiding the Tentmaker Trap.Hamilton, Ontario: WEC International. 1997

Yamamori, Ted and Eldred, Kenneth, eds. On Kingdom Business: Transforming MissionsThrough Entrepreneurial Strategies. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003.

Rundle, Steve and Steffen, Tom. Great Commission Companies: The EmergingRole of Business in Missions. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

Lai, Patrick. Tentmaking: Business as Mission.Waynesboro, GA: Authentic, 2005.

b) Journals

Two issues of the International Journal of FrontierMissions (see www.ijfm.org) were dedicated to arange of articles on Tentmaking:

International Journal of Frontier Missions 14(3)

International Journal of Frontier Missions 15(1)

c) Web sites:

Two of the most helpful are:

www.tentmakernet.com

www.globalopps.org

Jonathan Lewisand Koe Pahlka

18

CONNECTIONSFEATURE

With the globalization of missioncomes a new challenge for the fund-ing of mission globally. It is no longer

a case of Western organizations resourcingWestern projects. Mission “from everywhere toeverywhere” also calls for “funding and partici-pation from everywhere to everywhere.” Ibelieve much of the challenge lies, not in lack ofresources, but in how we enable resources thatalready exist (or are available to be invested) toget to the projects and people, whether small orlarge, that can use the resources most effectively.

In other words, the challenge has twosides: Information-sharing and distributionsystems.

Information-Sharing

Accurate information about projectsshould be readily available to all funders andstake-holders, whether that funder is a largefoundation, a small business, or a local church,anywhere in the world. Further, the informationsharing system needs to incorporate accounta-bility, authentication, and reporting.

The sharing system does two things: itfacilitates new emerging ministries around theworld to tell their story in a format that willattract resources and involvement, and it facil-itates the due-diligence that people withresources should do before making an invest-ment or getting involved. Funding systems

I’ve seen in North Americatended to be designed forlarge funders, and out of reachof the average donor. We envision a systemthat gives tools to emerging mission commu-nities. We also envision a system that allowslarge donors to pinpoint smaller portions tosmaller projects, and to direct people to theprecise opportunities best for them. In thepast it has not been viable to do this. But withthe emergence of innovative ideas for “projectverification systems,” it could become viable.

Distribution

We are interested in exploring peer-to-peer models of resource distribution. Howcan a small church in England have an intel-ligent and efficient resource sharing relation-ship with a small project in Sri Lanka? Howcan a Korean businessman initiate a fulfillingministry relationship with a project in theUkraine? We are interested in models ofinfrastructure that enable average Christiansand donors to get involved, and yet do sowithin a globally integrated environment. Weare interested in the challenge of creating aglobal infrastructure to facilitate resourcelinking, as opposed to using a few multi-national superstructures. The Global ShareSystem is one such infrastructure systembeing designed today.

The Joint InformationManagement Initiative:South Africa ‘06

The Joint Information ManagementInitiative, a task force of the WEA MissionCommission has been set up as a globalforum on mission information sharing andmedia collaboration. JIMI has a mandate toinvestigate the role of five information-sharingchallenges that together are part of building aresource sharing environment for global mis-sion. These five areas are community drivenmission objectives; diverse media integration;content administration; standards agree-ments; and technical considerations.

As a starting point, the JIMI will meet inSouth Africa in June for the first time, with adiscussion focusing on new resource sharingsystems. The idea is to explore specificationsand requirements for such a system, possiblyculminating in a proposal for a ProjectVerification System.

JIMI leadership is selecting about eightparticipants for South Africa, limited by localaccommodation restraints. However, we wel-come your contributions, suggestions andarticles on this topic. Please email them toMark Orr (mark@xgmi.net) or to JosiasConradie (jhcgenevag@yahoo.co.uk). <<

Resource sharing in globalized mission:

The role of information sharingand distribution systems

Mark Orr serves as theAssociate for

Information Sharing forthe WEA Mission

Commission. He also isworking on a collabora-

tion model for theRefugee Highway

Project.

Dr. Sas Conradie has been born and raised in South Africa where he was involved in mobilisingstudents for mission. After finishing his Doctorate in Missiology under Prof Dons Kritzinger at theUniversity of Pretoria, he served as a missionary to an unreached people group in Ukraine. Sasand his family moved in 1999 to the UK to become the Assistant International Director of a UK

based mission agency. Although still living in the UK, he is now Central Asia team leader forGeneva Global, a grantmaking foundation based in Philadelphia, USA. He also assists as facili-tator for the Joint Information Management Initiative of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission

Commission and is involved in the Association for Christian Community Computer Centers as vol-unteer regional area director for Europe and Africa. Sas is an ordained minister in the DutchReformed Church in South Africa where he is still an official minister in the Dutch Reformed

Church Pretoria-Oosterlig congregation with mission calling.

Mark Orr and Josias Conradie

19

JIMI TAKES FEET WITH SOUTH AFRICA ‘06 DISCUSSION

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

20

CONNECTIONS

International Consultation. WEA Mission Commission:

“MC Global Issues Summit”Goudini Centre, Western Cape, South Africa. June 18-24, 2006

There are many issues confronting the global mission endeavour at the dawn of the 21st Century. At South Africa ‘06 we will devotetime to a number of these, with a special focus on the continent of Africa. We will also have our ongoing networks and task forces whowill meet to continue their long term strategic initiatives. This document fleshes out the programme allowing you to see what fits withyour interests and where you might serve most effectively. As we get closer some new workshops may appear, so be flexible.

Regular ProgrammeThe journey from Seoul to Cape Town[Plenary 1]

Understanding and celebrating the story of theMission Commission from its inception in 1985in Korea through to 2006 in South Africa. This isBertil Ekström’s challenge, particularly as helooks to the future and asks some of the ques-tions that confront us.

Just what is good practice in global mis-sion? [Plenary 2]

Here Rob Hay and team share the well researchedsecrets of mission retention – key building blockswhich have the potential to become culturallyappropriate local frameworks for good practice.(See Stream Sessions 3-6 for more details)

HIV/AIDS – Facing the Challenge[Plenary 4]

Dr. Elijah and Eunice Mahlangu will share fromtheir firsthand experiences in Africa on theresponse that HIV/AIDs sets before the national,continental and global mission movement.Report of the regional mission movements inthe Caribbean and Europe.

Part 1:Wholistic Mission & Part 2: China[Plenary 5]

Part 1: Valdir Steuernagel from World Vision,Brazil reflects missiologically on the role andnature of wholistic mission.Part 2: Sam Chiang from Hong Kong reports onvital developments in China—in the nation, thechurch and the mission movement.Report of the national mission movements IMAand the regional mission movement in Oceania.

Miss. structures: reg. nat. movements:[Plenary 6]

Jon Lewis and three colleagues help us explorethe nature and contribution of different missionstructures with case studies of COMIBAM (LA),Indian Missions Association (IMA) and GlobalConnections (UK)

African miss. models, [Plenary 7]

Nigerian Reuben Ezemadu will take us on a tourof African mission models exploring their differ-ent roles and contributions. Report from Ethnéand the mission movements in North America.

Religious Encounter; Religious Freedom; [Plenary 8]

Grappling with issues of religious pluralism isone of the greatest challenges of our time. KangSan Tan leads us through some of these. Theother challenge we explore is the issue of reli-gious freedom and persecution of Christians,with expert help from Reg Reimer.

Younoussa Djao: Islam from an Africanperspective; [Plenary 9]

After Younoussa speaks, we hear two responsesto Islam Marcos Amado from Europe and FayezIshak from the Middle East.

Leadership Transition [Plenary 11]

We will celebrate with music and then David Tai-Woong Lee, Rose Dowsett and K Rajendran pre-side over the MC’s leadership change from BillTaylor to Bertil Ekström

Key issues in global mission [Plenary 12]

Bill Taylor and younger voices help us together

engage on critical mission issues we mustgrapple with.

Closing Session: Challenge into the Future

The challenge will be led by KC Rajendran andRichard Tiplady and will be followed by celebrat-ing Holy Communion together as Bertil Ekströmconcludes our time together.

Joint Venture for Africa (JV4A)

This overarching theme will help shape plenarysessions and streams throughout our gathering.The Mission Commission is committing to focusconsiderable resources for the next three yearsas it responds to requests from the continent ofAfrica to assist them in building a vital and viableregional and national mission movement.

Opening session [Plenary 3]

Here the agenda, scale of commitment, andprocess of the Joint Venture for Africa will beoutlined and the vision shared jointly by MCleadership alongside African national missionmovement leaders.

The task force on national mission move-ments, sessions 1-7

The networks and task forces spend a significantamount of time on their specific focus areas andeach will explore their role in the JV4A.

Concluding session [Plenary 10]

In this concluding session the individual compo-nents from the networks and taskforces will bebrought together, a draft programme presentedand a project team appointed.

TributeBill TayloràÉ

I think it was 9 April 1996 when we met the firsttime. It happened at a MC consultation in England. Iwas a newly appointed leader still searching for my rolein the international mission arena and exploring myniche in this large gathering of honourees. The openingevening included a time of personal sharing and thelarge gathering split up in pairs to pray for each other. Iwas uncertain whom to turn to in this large group,when Bill approached me to get to know and sharewith me - so that I found myself together with thefamous Executive Director and being showered with hiscare for people, personal touch and humble spirit.

Dear Bill, I really thank you for your compassionateheart, your personal interest in emerging leaders,your passion for Christ, your reminder on finishing-well and care for our families, ... among many otherthings I should mention. Many thanks for your per-sonal example. It has left a lasting impact in my life.Many thanks for your personal interest in me as aperson and for your investment in us. Our graciousLord may continue to bless you and set you as ablessing for many.

With warm greetings

WxàÄxy UÄ≠v{xÜ

Executive Director of German Missionary Fellowship(DMG) and Chairman of German Mission Alliance

Uniquely Carved Out for WEA Mission CommissionMy first encounter with Dr. Bill Taylor’s family was in 1982. I was doing my doctoral studies

at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois. He and his family just moved fromGuatemala and for one year lived with the students in the Gunderson apartment where wealso had been living for some time. He had occasionally attended early morning prayer mee-tings that we were having on every Saturday mornings. Then to our disappointment, theywent back to Guatemala after one year to attend to “unfinished business” in regard to pullingtheir roots from the land where they had lived so long.

Dr. Taylor then literally popped up in front of me one day at All Nations Christian College inUK where I was on teaching assignment for a quarter in 1987. My life never have been the sameever since. He asked me to join WEA Mission Commission and I hesitantly complied not knowingwhat was lying ahead. I have enjoyed every moment that I have been a part of the WEA MissionCommission. I believe it was mainly due to the leadership of Dr. Bill Taylor that I felt that way.

Dr. Bill Taylor had been someone whom people could approach easily and became friendswith. He did not wear façade like many of the big shots. He was not afraid to expose himself,his weaknesses and strengths. He showed forth a strong spirituality often lacking among thosewho are in international politicking. This became evident in many of the consultations that wehad over the two decades. Inevitably there was a strong presence of the Lord in each of thosemeetings. I could never forget, for an example, the consultation on partnership in Manilaattended by well over one hundred mission leaders, including CEOs of the large internationalmissionary organizations; we felt that we have had a mini revival. People, including westernersand non-westerners were in tears as they expressed their gratitude towards the Lord and conf-essed their inadequacies. Without Dr. Bill Taylor’s leadership something like this could nothave happened is my conviction up till today.

Wtä|w gt| jÉÉÇz _xx , Global Missionary Training Center, Seoul Korea

Bill TaylorTribute

TRIBUTE àÉ BILL

From the very first moment itwas clear to me: Here is a man,loving and honouring the Lord -and loving people, investing intoand for them.

Your passion for the kingdom of God - “to fill heavens with worshippers” -and your compassion for people as well as your desire in helping them tounfold their gifts and giving them space to act and to create ideas, plans andprojects has become a strong stimulation and encouragement to me.

You marked the movement of evangelical Missiology - on its theological aswell as on its strategic development - always keen in building bridges andcommunicating globally and yet very personally. A real “Alliance-Man”.

God bless you and your dear Yvonne - for more years to come, serving ourgreat Lord - until we’ll meet and see him “as he really is”!

Who would know that Bill has a secret love, which he pursues whereverhe goes? I shared accommodation with Bill in Singapore. He gets up earlyin the morning – probably to pray, but also to pursue his secret love. . .

I woke up triggered by the wonderful aroma of high quality coffee,which had been meticulously prepared in a French press coffee pot, whichhe carries along on this journeys around the world together with a bag offreshly ground high quality coffee and proper coffee mugs. He had prepareda perfect cup of magnificent coffee for both of us. I also highly appreciategood coffee that both smells and tastes according to God’s good creationrather than the depravity of the fallen world (indeed, coffee quality at mostconferences is not exactly giving glory to the Lord!)

This act of providence and mercy is not all about coffee. But it tells astory about a person, who has kept all his senses intact, and who under-stands to create sacred space in the midst of an ordinary day. The atmos-phere and the conversation going on when drinking the heavenly stuffturned Bill from being an ordinary human being to a real soul mate.

`tÜà|Ç iÉxzxÄ|Ç?? fã|àéxÜÄtÇw

It would be difficult to summarize the way in whichBill Taylor has been a blessing to all the “women andmen” his life has touched over the past twenty years,but a few things can be said in this short page and ahalf I have been allotted.

I first met Bill in Manila at a MissionsCommission meeting in 1989, when he was elec-ted General Secretary. Our next meetings were inGuatemala, for a two-week stint at the Seminaryand in churches there. After that were regularMissions Commission meetings back in Manila,in Pasadena, Brazil, Canada, Thailand andHolland. Each meeting was a personal encourage-ment and growth experience for me, and certainly

for others who were present.

One amazing characteristic Billhas is to listen intently to people.One of the mottos of the MissionsCommission has been to “listen tothe grass roots.” I suspect that notjust the grass roots, but just aboutanyone talking to Bill goes away fee-ling valued and encouraged to conti-nue growing into new ideas and con-cepts. His enthusiasm is contagious.

In my view one of the major contri-butions Bill’s 20 years has made to theMissions Commission and to missionsworldwide, is a stack of literary resour-ces to enrich any teacher’s or missiona-

ry’s library. After some very good consultations, the books Bill edited aboutthem were even better. Global Missiology for the Twenty-First Century,Internationalizing Missionary Training and the Journal Connections have beenespecially important for missionary trainers like myself.

Another vital accomplishment under Bill’s leadership was the ReMap I andII studies. The statistics and discoveries have aided churches, schools andsending agencies to understand positive and negative factors for missionaryperseverance on the field. I have personally shown transparencies of thesestudies to all my students and in innumerable churches. The Association ofMissions Teachers in Brazil (APMB) has often utilized the ReMap informationfor helping new missions teachers.

These tools will not soon grow old or outdated. I feel that Bill’s workthese twenty years will last for many more years as these relevant and essen-tial tools are passed on. His foresight in knowing what would be lasting,what would make a difference, will perhaps produce more fruit than he cannow know.

Bill is intelligent, a gifted writer and speaker, a motivating leader and atthe same time a personal and caring friend to his colleagues and, I am sure,to many other people around our planet. We will miss him, but at the sametime, know that he will still be around doing something valuable. We won’tlose sight of him!

The Lord bless you Bill Taylor, and your family. Thank you for these goodyears of being involved together in this wonderful move of God in raising uppeople and organizations around the world for mission.

Bill Taylor has been the most influential person in shaping mymissions thinking and work. For over twenty years now he hasencouraged me, believed in me, and created opportunities for meto speak and write on global mission topics. His support andconfidence in me has been consistent and continuous, and hasencouraged me in times of discouragement, cheered my everyattempt at new thinking and work. Bill has been willing to link myname with his in public places, thus taking the risk of being hurtby my failures. God has given me many friends and encouragersthrough the years. I hold Bill as one of the dearest to my heart.

With thanks to God.TÄxå TÜtâ}É

CONNECTIONSCONNECTIONSTRIBUTE àÉ BILL

U|ÜzxÜ açzttÜw, Evangelical Alliance in Denmark UtÜutÜt UâÜÇá

Dear Bill

I clearly recall the week that I met Bill for the first time. Weboth were attending the WEF Missions Commission meetingsin Singapore and were assigned to share a room together. Itwasn’t long before we were sharing how the Lord had led usso far in our individual and family lives. Although our min-istries had been in different continents we felt a bond of fel-lowship from that time.

At this time the Missions Commission was a loose associa-tion of individuals who represented the major western mis-sionary sending nations. It met occasionally and was led byTheodore Williams of India who traveled regularly to speak atmission conferences in different parts of the world. It had noactive program of its own.

During the meetings in Singapore I became aware that Billhad been invited by David Howard, the WEF InternationalDirector, to attend with the possibility of him becominginvolved as its Executive Officer. This was news to me andother representatives attending the meetings. Bill quicklybegan to realize while we were in the meetings that such aninvitation was extremely challenging with little indication ofany structure or guidance as to what was expected. After hisname was proposed to the meeting and he had accepted theinvitation the size of the task began to dawn upon him.

In the next few months and years we regularly communi-cated with one another as Bill developed the vision and activi-ty of the MC. It has been a real privilege on my part to beinvolved in supporting him and seeing how the Lord hasenabled him to develop the MC into an effective network ofmission leaders that now has global significance for thechurch and for the Kingdom of God.

Bill’s ability to inspire, encourage and involve new peoplein the MC network has been a tremendous asset to the MC.His unusual sense of vulnerability and humility at a personallevel has enabled many mission leaders to identify with himand his work in the MC. He has contributed immensely in ahost of ways to the global missionary movement through hisscholarship, speaking ability, incisive writing with insight intothe challenges and changes taking place in the missionarymovements around the world.

The Missions Commission he has developed is very differ-ent to the one he joined in 1986 It now includes leaders ofmany of the key non-western missionary sending nations andis truly global in its spread. Its publications have beenextremely important and its task forces vital for the advance ofglobal mission.

Alongside Bill throughout his ministry has been Yvonne,who has supported and stood by Bill through the many chal-lenges he has faced. They have faced tough times and goodtimes together and I thank the Lord that He has kept themover these years.

I look back with gratitude to Bill as a friend, brother andfellow servant of the Lord in His Great Commission.

fàtÇÄxç Wtä|xáA Honorary President, Global Connections, U.K.

TRIBUTE àÉ BILL

Honouring dr. William TaylorThe middle pages of this issue of Connections are dedicated to Dr William D. Taylor,

the Executive Director of the Mission Commission of WEA (MC) for the last 20 years.Dr Taylor is stepping down from the executive position during the MC Consultation inCape Town in June this year and will continue as a senior staff member, becomingMC’s Ambassador at Large.

The Mission Commission of World Evangelical Alliance was quietly established in 1974,an important year for the Evangelical mission movement worldwide. During the firstdecade of its existence, the MC played an important role in encouraging the emergence ofmission movements in Asia and Latin America. Countries that had been traditional mis-sionary receiving nations, such as India, Nigeria and Brazil, began sending missionaries.

The first director of the MC was the Korean mission leader, Dr Chun Chae Ok, whoheld the position until 1979 when the Indian mission leader Dr Theodore Williamsassumed leadership. The period from 1975 to 1990 was marked by numerous initia-tives for cross-cultural mission in the so-called Majority World, changing the paradigmof world evangelization. The combination of factors—including the active participationof the MC, the emphasis on Integral Mission as stated in the Lausanne Covenant, plusthe strong winds of the Holy Spirit of God—resulted in a new mission force from theSouth, and in a revolution of the dominant missiological theories.

Since 1986, William Taylor, born in Costa Rica of American missionary parents, hasserved as the third Executive Director of the Mission Commission. Bill, as we all know himin the MC, was appointed to the position during the General Assembly of WEA inSingapore. He has presided over the development of the commission into iys present formand strength and formed a team of staff and collaborators known today as “reflective prac-titioners.” Dr Jonathan Lewis, also with a Latin American background from Argentina,came on board in 1992, taking responsibility for the missionary training program and forMC publications. In 2000, I had the privilege of being integrated into the staff team and in2004 a new colleague joined the staff, Kees van der Wilden from the Netherlands.

The MC has grown during these 20 years from a few committed people to a world-wide community of mission leaders, representing both old and new sending countries.The diversity of global mission movements is reflected in the Global LeadershipCouncil (GLC), a consultative board that establishes important links to regional andnational movements, chaired by Dr K. Rajendran from India.

As colleagues in the staff, members of the GLC, leaders of Task Forces and Networksand MC Associates, we would like to express our gratitude to Bill and our profoundadmiration and respect for his leadership and ministerial example. Our thanks also tothe Taylor family, particularly to Yvonne, Bill’s wife, for her important role in the min-istry of Bill.

UxÜà|Ä X~áàÜ≠Å

Risktaker and friend of younger generationsWilling to take a risk on new, untried people. That was my first impression

of Bill Taylor. It was during the Mission Commission conference at All NationsChristian College in England in April 1996 that I first formed this view. I hadjust joined Global Connections UK (then still called the EvangelicalMissionary Alliance) as its Associate Director. In fact, it was my first week inthe post. I was expecting to drift around at the back of the event, watching,learning, and being ignored as a new kid (I was, after all, only 29, so whatwould I know?). So when Bill asked me to facilitate one of the small groupsthat met throughout the consultation, and then when I found out this wouldinclude Paul McKaughan of EFMA and JohnOrme of IFMA, then, yes, I freaked. But I sur-vived, the group worked, and they even said afew nice things about me.

Bill did it again at the next MC consultation,this time in 1999 in Iguassu. As well as leadingthe inevitable small group again, and giving ashort talk at the start of one day on the spiritu-ality, community and missiology of theMoravians, it was a conversation with Bill at theIguassu Falls themselves that really had animpact. I was lamenting that, for a consultationon the future of world mission, younger voices had not been takeninto account much, and that many of us were feeling a significantdisconnect between our passion for Christ and his mission on theone hand, and the mission agencies in which we were serving onthe other. The outcome of this conversation was the Holy IslandRoundtable, held in March 2001, at which 17 younger leaders in their 20s and30s, working in Western mission agencies, met together for 5 days, along withBill and Yvonne Taylor, to share our stories and to try to find ways of making itwork (staying in mission agencies and helping them to change, that is). One ofthe outcomes of that meeting was the book Postmission, which became a topseller and which has helped to change the discussion in mission agencies from“how can we help younger generations to fit in to what we do?” to “how canwe (the mission agencies) change to suit younger generations better?”.

Bill’s input into my life didn’t stop there. Privileged to be invited to attendthe first meeting of the MC Global Missiology Taskforce in January 2001, Ioffered to create and lead a small working group on the subject of globalisa-tion and its impact on mission. At a March 2002 meeting of this workinggroup in Chicago, I learned that Bill wanted to make globalisation the maintheme of the next major MC gathering, near Vancouver, Canada in June 2003.And that our planned book on globalisation should be ready in time for thisconsultation. And that my working group should provide most of the plenaryspeakers on the theme. Speaking at the opening session on the conferencetheme, to 300 gathered mission leaders from around the world, was up therein nervewrackingness with the first time I ever preached. But thanks, Bill, fortaking risk with me and my team. I hope we didn’t let you down.

The example of Bill Taylor and the risks he took with me have shaped theway that I act, now that I am the chief executive of a mission agency myself.Two of my three senior staff, whom I have appointed, are in their 20s. Whatthey may lack in wisdom and experience, they make up for in energy andcreativity (and the wisdom will come). We need more Bill Taylors in the glo-bal missionary movement. My prayer is that one day I might be one of them.

Thanks, Bill.

e|v{tÜw g|ÑÄtwçBritish Director, European Christian, Mission. www.ecmbritain.org

His keen mind, accumulated missiological knowledge, a gift for commu-nication combined with melancholic mood suited for contemplation havegiven him inspiration after inspiration; discerning what just are the keyissues confronting the global evangelical mission community and translatethat into manageable projects and consultations. The need for emphasizingthe missionary training, a partnership in mission, member care, missiologi-cal explorations and the issue of globalization were some of the themes thathe led the global mission community to grapple with. Needless to say thathe was not alone in all these. He was fortunate to have such exceptionallygifted coworkers as Dr. Jon Lewis and a wider range of coworkers more

recently to form a high impact team.

Dr. Bill Taylor and Yvonne, you haveinvested the golden period of your livesfor the cause of the global mission for thepast twenty years. You have done well.We are convinced that the Lord has beenglorified through all you have done anddreamt. May the rest of your lives beeven more fruitful as you continue towitness the afterglow of your days andyears in the WEA Mission Commission,often lonely and “tear-full.” May God

alone be glorified. We were both young men back then. I first met Bill Taylor

at a small meeting I was invited to attend by David Howard.I didn’t know why I was there but Bill was being interviewedto become the successor to Dr. Theo Williams who had ledan entity I wasn’t very familiar with. I knew that WorldEvangelical Fellowship existed and that Theo Williams direc-

ted something called the Missions Commission but that was the full extentof my knowledge. That day every thing started to change because of BillTaylor. As the director he took a relatively unknown entity and shaped itinto the dominant expression of the new world wide mission movement.

Taylor is a unique amalgam of talents and gifts. Bill is an intellectual withadvanced degrees who can communicate to the un-schooled person commit-ted to mission. He is a passionate Latin Spirit who can make sense to a hardheaded business type from North America or Europe. Bill is at home with theemerging Pentecostal missional majority and yet senses the need for the bedrock of Biblical theological traditions that have been passed down from ourforefathers. Taylor was absolutely the right choice to head up the world widemission movement at a time when the two thirds world Church was awake-ning to it’s global missional responsibilities and becoming the dominant glo-bal missional presence.

I have worked closely with Bill now for many years. We have collabora-ted as he has been used of the Lord to build what has become the relation-al, financial and intellectual foundation for today’s Mission Commission.Sometimes during those years the parent organization of the MC hasfloundered yet because of Bill the Missions Commission has always remai-ned a growing and focused entity.

Bill Taylor and I are chronologically about the same age, we have over theyears passed through some of the various stages of life together. Bill hasbeen a true friend. He is also an honored colleague who has been a leader Ihave been proud to follow. The world of cross cultural missions todayworks together more closely and is a far more globally representative bodybecause of the life and ministry of Dr. Bill Taylor. Bill as we both move intothis next phase of life and ministry, I trust you will continue to challengeme with you love for our Lord and his work of discipling the nations.

Your friend and colleague …

ctâÄ `v^tâz{tÇ? EFMA Ambassador at Large

CONNECTIONSCONNECTIONSTRIBUTE àÉ BILL

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

StreamsSeminars and Sessions

These seminars and sessions are open toeveryone and are either individual sessionsor comprise two sessions. With 9 sessionsall together you can mix and matchconnecting with the issues and subjects thatare most relevant to you and your ministry.

Building healthy mission movements

Sessions 1-7Building healthy national and regional missionmovements: Bertil Ekström, Kees van der Wildenand team. There will be a Francophone teamand an Anglophone one.

Worth Learning-Worth Keeping

Sessions 3 & 4 or 5 & 6Developing good practice in your organisationmeans you are much more likely to keep yourmission partners – here we look practically athow to do that, using the materials from the offi-cial consultation book Worth Keeping.

Ministry in a context of HIV/AIDS

Sessions 2, 3 & 4 or 5, 6 & 7Dr. Elijah and Eunice Mahlangu

South African Pastors Mission Seminar

Sessions 2, 3 & 4 or 5, 6 & 7Under the leadership of Willie Crew and PeterTarantal of South Africa, this focused groupworks toward becoming a viable and visiblenational mission movement in SA.

Networks and Taskforces

At the heart of the Mission Commission are a num-ber of Networks and Taskforces whose work contin-ues between the triennial gatherings but during theconsultation extensive time is dedicated to theirteams meeting and progressing their ongoing work.

Some of the teams are working in “closed ses-sions” (by invitation-only) during the first part ofthe week and then open up for broader partici-pation. The times for “open” sessions will beposted in your delegate pack that you willreceive on arrival. These include:

International Missionary Training Network

Sessions 1-7The IMTN works through a specific focus on how

to equip missionary trainers, andgives final shape to a new bookon the subject.

Global Missiology

Sessions 1-7The international team of missiol-ogists are working on a selectionof missiological initiatives includ-ing books on missional ecclesiol-ogy, religious pluralism, and con-textualization.

Global Member CareNetworks

Sessions 1-7With 5 regional member care movements thisfocuses on the pooling of ideas and works for thefurther development of this new and vital area.

Refugee Highway Partnership

Sessions 5, 6 & 7The RHP draws together the many mission ini-tiatives who are working with refugees aroundthe world.

Missions Mobilisation Task Force

Sessions 5, 6 & 7The MMTF continues their intense work on theinternational research project on issues relatedto mission mobilisation.

Joint Information Management InitiateSharing (JIMI)

Sessions 5, 6 & 7The JIMI team works with issues related to min-istry project viability and funding matters.

BAM—Business as Mission

Sessions 1,2,3,4; and 5,6,7This seminar will be given twice during the weekwith a focus on business as a callingand as a ministry in its own right. BAM is to dobusiness with excellence, professionalism andintegrity. BAM is manifesting the Kingdom ofGod in the Market Place and people being trans-formed spiritually, economically and socially

Ethné—Towards the Least Reached Peoples

Sessions 5, 6 & 7This team reports on their global work, particular-ly following their recent international consultationin May 2006 held in Bali, Indonesia. The focuswill be on “next steps”.

TIE—Tentmaking International Exchange

Sessions 5, 6 & 7

The TIE leadership team will meet in businessmeetings at the start of the week, and thenopen the agenda for all interested in bi-vocation-al/tent-making ministries. Come prepared forsome creative access case studies.

Mingling and Networking

Connecting with old friends, making new ones andhaving the opportunity to discover others workingin your field or with your focus are important partsof SA06. We have allowed over 25 hours (includ-ing coffee and meals) within the programme toensure that we can all network with colleaguesaround the world and encourage one another.

And Thursday afternoon is dedicated to opentime for a wide variety of groups to meet and forsome of the working teams to give reports.Some of these new items include:

• The options on starting an MC global networkfor mission agency leaders

• The options on starting an MC global networkof Business as Mission

• The opportunities of “Business as Mission”(BAM),

• Deeper reports on religious persecution,China, Russia, Reg Reimer

• Trauma realities/healing for the church inAfrica and beyond

• Creative and mobile models of missionarytraining, Jon Lewis and Omar Gava

• Other task force and network reports• Business as Mission summary presentation,

BAM team• World Evangelical Alliance report by

Geoff Tunnicliffe• Lausanne update • “Live School” report by Willie Crew and team• Others as they emerge

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Two contrasting views of church statistics

Nonetheless, two contrasting views ofchurch membership censuses have emerged.The first view is the so-called objec-tive view. In the 1960s, scholars inwestern universities were fond ofpredicting the complete demise oforganized religion, including Christianity. In1968, renowned sociologist Peter Berger toldthe New York Times that by AD 2000, “reli-gious believers are likely to be found only insmall sects, huddled together to resist a world-wide secular culture.”1 At the same time, a sec-ond view was emerging as missionaries aroundthe world were noticing the rapid expansion ofChristianity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.Anglican missionary David Barrett publishedan article in the International Review of Missionin 1970, projecting that by AD 2000 therewould be “350 million Christians in Africa.”2

In 2006, it is more than obvious that thesecond of these views was a more accuratedepiction of what Christianity and religionlook like around the world. Nonetheless,there is still a latent tendency to consider

church statistics as “exaggerated” and “noto-riously unreliable.” Fortunately, the enormousannual documentation of church membersaround the world provides strong evidence

that counting Christians is a thor-ough and reliable discipline.3

Bookkeeping vs. accounting

If the churches collect so much valuableinformation, what is the role of researchersdedicated to collecting and analyzing church

statistics? One parallel can be found in thefinancial world with the distinction betweenbookkeeping and accounting. Bookkeeping is“recording financial transactions,” whereasaccounting is defined as “the system of classi-fying and summarizing financial transactionsand analyzing, verifying and reporting theresults.” In the financial world, no one wouldsay that only bookkeeping is necessary.Accounting is essential to make sense of finan-cial transactions. In the same way, researchersin global Christianity are needed to make

Seven Signposts of Hope and Challenge in

Global Christianity

Todd M. Johnson

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

Floor Area, Human Male Female Grosssq. m. per Development Literacy % Literacy % National Product

Religion person Index per capita

Christians 23 73 88 81 $8,224

Evangelicals 22 64 82 72 $8,038

Atheists 15 67 92 79 $3,544

Buddhists 17 69 92 82 $8,951

Hindus 12 45 65 38 $441

Muslims 11 54 68 48 $1,655

Nonreligious 16 68 91 78 $4,176

Tribal religionists 11 48 75 56 $998

Non-Christians 13 58 78 60 $2,907

Table 1. Global Religious Demographics

1 “A Bleak Outlook is Seen for Religion” in New YorkTimes, April 25, 1968, p.3.

2 “AD 2000: 350 million Christians in Africa” inInternational Review of Mission, Vol. LIX, No. 233,January 1970, p. 39-54.

What is the status of the gospel in the world? The starting point for a clear assessment is to make sense of theenormous amount of information collected by Christian churches on their members. Every year, churches of all

kinds initiate a census costing $1.1 billion, sending out 10 million questionnaires in 3,000 languages,covering 180 religious subjects. This “mega-census” includes massive church surveys, such as the Roman

Catholic’s Annuario Pontificio, and also detailed country studies done by evangelical alliances and others. Inaddition, over half of the world’s governments include a question on religion in their decennial censuses.

These two major sources, and dozens of others, produce more than adequate information for Christians toevaluate the status of the gospel in the world today.

sense of the information collected by church-es. For example, a web article recently statedthat, “there are 2.3 million Episcopalians inthe United States, compared to 62 millionRoman Catholics and 16 million SouthernBaptists. (Note: the numbers game is a diceyone in religion reporting because churcheshave different standards for membership, butyou get the idea).”4 Notwithstanding thehumor in the note, one quickly finds that thethree numbers quoted above are not compara-ble. Roman Catholics and Episcopalians countbaptized infants and children, whereasSouthern Baptists do not. Therefore, withoutadjustments, the numbers are not comparable.

Global religious demographics

Once data on global Christianity andworld religions is collected and adjusted, itcan be directly related to demographic data ofall kinds. Examples of the intersection ofdemographic data with religious affiliation areshown in Table 1.5 Note that Christians (orEvangelicals) take up twice as much floor areaper person6 as tribal religionists or Muslims.Another trend is that Christians andBuddhists are approximately 40 times wealthi-er than Hindus.

The mega-census of churches and religionsintersects with other data to reveal at leastseven signposts or trends in global Christianity.

Signpost #1: Christians are found amongthousands of peoples, languages, anddenominations

Christians now form 38,000 denomina-tions ranging in size from millions to lessthan 100 members. These are listed for eachof the world’s 238 countries in the WorldChristian Database. These can be groupedinto six major ecclesiastical mega-blocs andcan be further divided into 350 ChristianWorld Communions.7 The six mega-blocs,classified by us but based on their own mem-bership figures, are:Roman Catholics 1,129 millionIndependents 433 millionProtestants 381 millionOrthodox 220 millionAnglicans 81 millionMarginal8 35 million

The fastest growing mega-bloc is theIndependents, which includes 20% of allChristians. Today, we are witnessing some ofthe fastest Christian expansion in China with10,000 new converts (babies born to Christiansas well as adult conversions) every day.9

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

Graph 1. Christians, North and South, AD 1900-2050.

2005 Christians 2025 Christians 2050 Christians(millions) (millions) (millions)

1 USA 252 USA 295 USA 329

2 Brazil 167 Brazil 193 China 218

3 China 111 China 173 Brazil 202

4 Mexico 102 Mexico 123 DR Congo 145

5 Russia 85 India 107 India 137

6 Philippines 74 Philippines 97 Mexico 131

7 India 68 Nigeria 95 Nigeria 130

8 Germany 62 DR Congo 91 Philippines 112

9 Nigeria 61 Russia 85 Ethiopia 104

10 DR Congo 53 Ethiopia 67 Uganda 95

Table 2. Top 10 countries with the most Christians, 2005, 2025, 2050

3 Evidence for this is the popular series Operation World, which under the authorship of Patrick Johnstone (andnow Jason Mandryk) has informed millions of users about the status of Christianity since 1974. (PatrickJohnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World, Paternoster Press, 1974)

4 University of Southern California Online, Kelly McBride,(www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/soin/poynteronline.html) accessed March 2004.

5 Most of the statistics in this report can be found in one of four places: (1) Barrett, Kurian, and Johnson, WorldChristian Encyclopedia, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2001), (2) Barrett and Johnson, World ChristianTrends, AD 30-AD 2200 (William Carey Library, 2001), (3) Barrett, Johnson, and Crossing, “Missiometrics2006: Goals, Resources, Doctrines of the 350 Christian World Communions,” International Bulletin ofMissionary Research, (Vol. 30, No. 1, January, 2006), pages 27-30, (4) World Christian Database, online sub-scription service found at www.worldchristiandatabase.org.

6 “Floor area in square meters per person” is a United Nations designation defined as the sum of the area ofeach floor of all buildings in square meters divided by the number of individuals residing in the country.

7 See Barrett, Johnson, and Crossing, “Missiometrics 2006.”8 Marginal Christians are defined as “members of denominations who define themselves as Christians but who

are on the margins of organized mainstream Christianity (e.g. Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,Christian Science and Religious Science).”

9 Recent documentation on the house churches includes D. Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity IsTransforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power (Regnery, 2003), Brother Yun with P. or Hattaway,The Heavenly Man (Monarch Books, 2002), and T. Lambert, China’s Christian Millions (Monarch Books, 1999).

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24

At the same time, Christianity is growing out-side of its own cultural and ecclesiastical bor-ders in the form of non-baptized believers inChrist (NBBCs).10 In 2006 this movementinvolves approximately 14 million people (themajority counted as both Hindus andChristians).11

At the same time, Philip Jenkins hashighlighted the consequences of the south-ern shift of gravity of Christianity.12 In 1900,81% of all Christians were living in theNorth, but by 2006, this dropped below40%. Graph 1 (see previous page) illustratesthis phenomenon.13

Though it may be fashionable to speak ofSouthern Christianity or non-WesternChristianity, it is important to realize that thisis by no means a monolithic, homogeneouscategory. In fact, Christians in the South14 arecomprised of 22,500 denominations, 6,000peoples and 10,000 languages. In a similarfashion, Christians of the North15 represent11,300 denominations, 3,000 peoples, and3,500 languages. Table 2 (see previous page)illustrates that although the largest Christiancountries are shifting to the South, by 2050the largest Christian country in the world willstill be the USA.

In light of this reality, there are stillunique roles for Northern Christians in thefuture of global Christianity. The following area few examples:

1. Engaging culture on a missiological, philo-sophical, theological, and ecclesiastical level

2. Bioethics and genetics3. Financial accountability4. Reaching postmodern youth5. Radical contextualization beyond Christianity6. As members of multinational churches and

missions

7. Science and theology8. Pilgrimage sites9. Scholarship on pre-modern Christianity

Another reality is that Christianity hasyet to be represented among the unreachedpeoples: 13,000 cultures not yet penetratedwith the gospel and are therefore not repre-sented among the “ethne” of Matthew 28.

Signpost #2: Christians are sharing theirfaith in numerous ways

Every year, Christians expend enormousamounts of time and energy in global evange-lization. For example, regular listeners toChristian programs over secular or religiousradio/TV stations rose from 22% of the worldin 1980 to 30% in 2000. At the same time,Scripture distribution has grown dramatically.Non-Christian countries have been found tohave 227 million Bibles in place in theirmidst, more than needed to serve allChristians, but poorly distributed.

Christian martyrdom also plays a uniquerole in world evangelization; 70 millionChristians have been martyred since Christand over half of these were in the 20th centu-ry.16 Today, the 5 most dangerous vocations(greatest likelihood of being martyred) arebishops, evangelists, catechists, colporteurs,and foreign missionaries.

However, the most significant finding inour survey of evangelization is that with1.27 trillion hours of evangelism producedby Christians in 2006, there is enoughevangelism for every person to hear a onehour presentation of the gospel every otherday, all year long. The irony cannot be lostthat over 1.7 billion people still have noopportunity to hear of Christ, Christianity,or the gospel.

Signpost #3: Christians have enormousresources for evangelization

The personal income of Christians glob-ally is approaching 16 trillion US dollars. 78countries each have Great CommissionChristians whose personal incomes exceedUS$1 billion a year. Nonetheless, embold-ened by lax procedures, trusted church treas-urers are embezzling $22 billion each yearout of church funds, but only 5% ever getfound out. Annual church embezzlements bytop custodians exceed the entire cost of allforeign missions worldwide ($21 billion).17

Signpost #4: Christians are still planningto evangelize the world

All throughout the 20th century,Christians of various traditions were puttingforth books (in italics), conferences (C), andcampaigns (M) on how the world could beevangelized in a relatively short period oftime. We call these “global plans.” A short listappears here.18

1900 The Evangelization of the World in ThisGeneration

1908 The Modern Crusade1910 The Whole Church Taking the Whole

Gospel to the Whole World (C)1912 Reaching Every Home (M)1914 Inauguration of the Kingdom of God

on Earth (M)1929 Each One Teach One (M)1930 Bringing Christ to the Nations (M)1934 Evangelize to a Finish to Bring Back

the King (M)1943 Into All the World1946 Complete Christ’s Commission (C)1950 Help Open Paths to Evangelize (M)1956 The Gospel to Every Creature1957 Global Conquest (M)1959 Two Thousand Tongues to Go1963 The Master Plan of Evangelism1967 Crusade for World Revival (M)1974 Let the Earth Hear His Voice (C)1976 Bold Mission Thrust (M)1980 A Church for Every People by the Year

2000 (C)1984 Strategy to Every People (M)1986 One Million Native Missionaries (M)1990 Decade of Universal Evangelization (M)

One can instantly spot a strong tendencyto recreate plans without reference to previ-ous plans. The most significant problem withthis list of plans is the passage of time. Onecan see this in Samuel Zwemer’s UnoccupiedMission Fields of Africa and Asia (1911). Hewrote this book in response to a request for a

10 Defined as members of non-Christian religions who become converted to faith in Christ as Lord but choosenot to join Christian denominations but to remain in their religions as witnesses there to Christ.

11 See H. Hoefer, Churchless Christianity (William Carey Library, 2001) and D. Bharati, Living Water and IndianBow, (ISPCK, 1997).

12 Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford University Press 2002).13 For a more detailed analysis of the center of gravity of Christianity throughout its entire history, see Johnson

and Chung, “Tracking Global Christianity’s Statistical Centre of Gravity, AD 33- AD 2100,” in InternationalReview of Mission (Vol. 93, No. 369, April 2004), pages 166-181.

14 South is defined as 16 current United Nations regions (185 countries): Eastern Africa, Middle Africa, NorthernAfrica, Southern Africa, Western Africa, Eastern Asia, South-central Asia, South-eastern Asia, Western Asia,Caribbean, Central America, South America, Australia/New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

15 North is defined here in a geopolitical sense by 5 current United Nations regions (53 countries): EasternEurope (including Russia), Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern America.

16 See Part 4 “Martyrology” in World Christian Trends (Barrett and Johnson) for complete documentation.17 See Part 20 “Finance” in World Christian Trends (Barrett and Johnson).18 For a more complete list see Part 27 “Geostrategies” in World Christian Trends (Barrett and Johnson).

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

pithy survey on the unfinished task from theWorld Missionary Conference in Edinburghin 1910. Reading this book today one canimmediately see that little of what Zwemerwrote has changed in nearly 100 years. Inother words, his description of the unfinishedtask in 1911 stretching from Morocco toIndonesia is largely true today.

There is one simple explanation for theultimate failure of all of these global plans.Over 90% of all Christian evangelism isaimed at other Christians and does not reachnon-Christians. As long as this is the case,the world will not be evangelized and theunreached peoples will not be reached.19

At the same time, two other develop-ments should be noted. The first is that globalplans continue to be launched at an alarmingrate. Some recent examples include RickWarren’s PEACE plan, the Global PastorsNetwork Billion Soul Campaign, and YWAM’s4K plan. The second is that Christians stillremain largely out of touch with non-Christians. Recent research seems to suggestthat nearly 90% of all Buddhists, Hindus, andMuslims do not personally know a Christian.20

Signpost #5: The least reached peoplesare the most responsive to the gospel

At the same time, research has uncovereda remarkable fact. A study of the responsive-ness of the world’s peoples (baptism ratedivided by hours of evangelism) has revealedthat the most responsive are the least reached!For peoples over 1 million in population, thetop five are the Khandeshi of India, theAwadhi of India, the Magadhi of India, the Baiof China, and the Berar Marathi of India.21

Signpost #6: Postmodern youth areuniquely situated for world mission

Converging with these trends is thechanging nature of today’s global postmodernyouth. Many church and mission observers seethis solely in a negative light (e.g., encroachingrelativism). But a positive side of postmoderni-ty is found in the conference, “Out of theChristian Ghetto: French Roast Tall LatteEvangelism in a Decaffeinated, Nonfat, Post-Christian World,” or in Steve Taylor’s recentbook, The Out of Bounds Church: Learning toCreate a Community of Faith in a Culture ofChange.22 These and many other resources23

illustrate how Christian youth around theworld are making missiological adjustments totheir evangelism to more effectively reach peo-ple in their cultures and in other cultures.

From the evangelical context, this must bedone, as David Wells writes24, in an “ambassa-dorial” fashion, where the Word of God isproperly represented and communicatedamong the peoples of the world.

As a result of this focus on faithfully engag-ing culture in a postmodern context, a newvocabulary is emerging in missiology and phi-losophy: critical realism, epistemological humil-ity, generous orthodoxy, chastened rationality,faithful uncertainty, and non-modern metanar-rative.25 This vocabulary does not promote rela-tivism, but rather is an admission that even in avibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ,there is a great deal that one does not know.Millard Erickson clarifies this by stating, “It isone thing to have absolute truth; quite anotherto understand it absolutely.”26 Global youthtoday are developing some perspectives suchas, (1) learning to operate in the context ofglobal Christianity, (2) partnering with youngChristians with post-colonial perspectives, (3)celebrating the world’s cultures, (4) an open-ness to dialogue with and learning from othercultures and religions, (5) a desire for commu-nity, (6) a comfort with uncertainty and doubt,and (7) a strong faith without the need to haveall the answers. These seven characteristicscould make today’s youth some of the mosteffective missionaries in Christian history.

Two other trends need to be consideredin light of these opportunities in a postmod-ern world. The first is globalization, which

can have a negative top down effect. At thesame time, tribalism is pushing local cultureup to the global level. In both cases, missionis impacted.27

Signpost #7: The face of Jesus is emerg-ing among the peoples of the world

Books about Jesus in today’s librariesnumber 175,000 different titles in 500 lan-guages, increasing by 4 newly publishedbooks every day. At the same time, one cantalk about the changing face of Christianity,both in the changing ethnicity of Christiansaround the world referred to earlier, and inthe way that each culture offers a differingcultural perspective of Jesus. No culture hasas an unhindered view of Jesus. Only whenall peoples worship Jesus will we see hisface clearly.28 In this way, one can speak ofthe “missing faces of Jesus” belonging tothose peoples not yet reached with thegospel. Nonetheless, we can conclude withthe strong assurance that we have from theScripture (Rev. 5:9) that as every tongue,tribe, nation, and language is represented atthe throne of God, our worship of Jesus willreach new heights. It is towards this thatthe church and its mission inevitably move:the glory of God revealed among all thepeoples of the world. <<

25

Todd M. Johnson is Director of the Center for the Study of GlobalChristianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is co-

author of the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia (OxfordUniversity Press, 2001) and World Christian Trends (William Carey Library,2001). He is editor of the World Christian Database located at www.world-christiandatabase.org. This article is adapted from a plenary talk given at

the 2004 joint meeting of the Interdenominational Foreign MissionAssociation (IFMA) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies

(EFMA) in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

19 For encouraging signs of change in missionary deployment see D. Bloecher, “How Shall They Believe?Evangelical Missionary Deployment vis-à-vis the Least Reached Peoples,” in International Journal of FrontierMissions, (Vol. 22, No. 4, October-December 2005), pages 147-152.

20 Johnson and Tieszen, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, forthcoming.21 See Part 26 “Georesponse” in World Christian Trends.22 Youth Specialties, 2005.23 One of the most substantial is P. Hiebert, Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth

in a Modern/Postmodern World (Trinity Press International, 1997).24 See David F. Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World (Eerdmans, 2005), p. 10.25 These are discussed in S. Grenz and J. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern

Context (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001).26 Millard J. Erickson, Postmodernizing the Faith: Evangelical Responses to the Challenge of Postmodernism

(Baker Books, 1998), page 39.27 One of the most entertaining and insightful books on this subject is Franklin Foer’s, How Soccer Explains the

World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization (HarperCollins, 2004).28 See Andrew Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History (Orbis, 2002), pages 77-81.

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

26

The statistics presented show how wide-spread Christendom is, being the mostglobal of world religions. Although the

term ‘Christendom’ is old-fashioned and per-haps does not mean much anymore, itdenotes an important distinction between theofficial religion attributed to a particularcountry and the Christian believers withinthis country. The statistical material works onthe assumption that all people belonging to aspecific group called Christians declare them-selves as Christians, and since they do that,they should be considered as such. This isbased on the available data from censusesdone through representative samples in eachcountry and the estimates given by the reli-gious groups. There is, as I see it, a problemwhen applying those numbers to mission.

Let me illustrate this dilemma with Brazil,the second largest Christian country in theworld. Any Brazilian you meet on the streetwill say that he or she is a Catholic, exceptaround 16% that will declare themselves‘Evangelicos’ (Evangelicals and otherProtestants) and 10% or so that will confirmthat they belong to Spiritism or to anotherworld religion, or that they are non-religious.

In the official statistics of the national census(IBGE), Catholics plus ‘Evangelicos’ will com-prise something like 85-90% of the popula-tion. In reality, only 15-20% of the Catholicsare loyal to the Roman traditions, which hasbeen a major concern for the Catholic leader-ship in the Vatican for some time. Around 35-40% of the Brazilian population are syncretists,blending Christian and animistbeliefs, attending Spiritist centers ofdifferent kinds. The African andIndian (of the Brazilian Indigenoustribes) religions are growing faster than theChristian faith. The growth of the Pentecostaland Charismatic groups in Brazil is real but, inmany ways, a circular moving from one move-ment to another. Churches tend to not revisetheir statistics, keeping in their records thosewho have moved to other churches, wherethese people are counted once again. It wouldbe difficult for any committed Christian inBrazil, Catholic or Protestant, to accept that167 million Brazilians (98.2% of the popula-tion) are Christians.

One of the critiques against theEdinburgh Conference in 1910, coming

mainly from the church leaders in Africa,Asia and Latin America who were not invit-ed, was the way the challenge of missionwas defined and how countries were chosenfor missionary work. Excluded were thenations that were not colonies to ‘ChristianEuropean Empires’ or that had already beendeclared ‘Catholic.’ In the case of Latin

America, a conference was held byEvangelicals in Panama six yearslater, affirming the need for evan-

gelizing the continent. The consen-sus among the participants in the conferenceof 1916 was that Latin America should notbe considered evangelized in spite of the factthat Christendom was the official religion. Itseems that the old idea of CorpusChristianum continued to divide the differ-ent Christian traditions at the beginning ofthe 20th century. Johnson touches this prob-lem with statistics and their interpretation,and I think it is good to be aware of that.

The reason for these remarks on thedistinction between Christendom andChristianity is that we easily draw conclu-sions that appear to be statistically correct

Todd Johnson’s interesting article is both comforting and disturbing. It is comforting—because it gives signs ofhope, and affirms the potential within the worldwide Christian community for reaching out to those who have still

not heard about Jesus as the only way to salvation. It is disturbing—because in spite of all the resources andefforts of evangelizing the whole world, we have not achieved more. The seven signposts on the road to the

fulfillment of the Great Commission are only seen by those who walk along that path; therefore, the contributionof Johnson is important and challenging for those of us who walk along that path, in order that we may act onthe information we have been given. The article is based on reliable data, collected and analyzed by the team

of researchers that includes Johnson and David Barrett and published in the World Christian Encyclopedia(Oxford University Press, 2001) and World Christian Trends (William Carey Library, 2001).

How to Read Signposts

Bertil Ekström

a response to Todd Johnson

Some Reflections on SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

27

but that do not consider the complexitybehind them. This is particularly true whenwe are dealing with the potential for worldmission. If it is just a comparison withother world religions, the generic under-standing of Christians is acceptable sincethe other religious groups are treated in thesame way. However, it is important to berealistic and see both the potential, asJohnson does, as well as the limitation ofresources linked to the people who are real-ly committed to the Great Commission. Iam not suggesting that we should considerCatholics as less Christian, but that in thecountries and regions where a state religionhas dominated, or where one ecclesiasticaltradition has had monopoly on Christianfaith, the tendency has been towards nomi-nal Christianity.

Without any claim of being an experton bookkeeping and accounting, I wouldlike to take Johnson’s analogy further, andpropose the need for an external revision ofthe accounting. It would not be neutral andexternal if people involved in mission dothe revision, but a good analysis of the waywe use our accounting categories could beachieved through a South-North dialogue,in order to establish relevant parameters forevaluating the mission movements in ourdays. Perhaps, a century after the EdinburghConference, it is time to revisit the stereo-typical categories we have been using. Thefinal revision of our bookkeeping andaccounting will be made by God and surelywe are all glad for that!

One of the signposts mentioned byJohnson is that Christians have enormousresources for evangelism, and this alsohelps illustrate the interpretation I wouldlike to make. The richness of Christians is

in many ways their weakness. From myexperience in Europe and Latin America,the main contributions to cross-culturalmission do not come from rich churches orrich Christians. In many places, it is the lessrich, elderly people and the smaller church-es that are supporting missionary work. Therich middle class is, by and large, so busy inaugmenting their wealth and their con-sumerist potential that they have very littleto offer for God’s work. Although the poten-tial exists, the fact does not say much aboutthe real possibility of using these resourcesfor evangelizing the world.

The list of global plans is intriguing andrevealing at the same time. I agree it is agood sign that we still are planning to evan-gelize the world. However, another reasonthat there are so many plans is that we allknow that slogans do not change the worldand that they can be at best important ped-agogic tools to encourage people to getinvolved. I believe that we need a muchmore mature approach to the whole issue ofglobal evangelization. Johnson picturessomething of this maturity in the seventhsignpost when he describes the ‘changingface of Christianity’ and the different “facesof Jesus.” A paradigm shift needs to takeplace, giving space to new forms of missionwork and to new categories of missionaries.Could the post-modern youth take part inthat? Yes, if they become committedChristians, and some are. Perhaps thestrongest missionary force is still to comefrom those who have not yet reached apost-modern stage and are willing to volun-teer as long-term missionaries.

In the Amazon region in northernBrazil, it is common to find road signs withthe distance to other parts of the country.

The signs are really impressive, marking thethousands of kilometers to Rio de Janeiroand Sao Paulo in the southeast, or to PortoAlegre in the south. The Amazonian sign-posts give the traveller the hope that therewill be ways of getting to these places ontrafficable roads. The challenge is to findthe roads because large parts of these routesdo only exist on maps. <<

along the Mission Road

Bertil Ekström is the past president of theBrazilian Association of Cross Cultural

Agencies and COMIBAM, the Latin AmericanContinental Missions Network. He serves the

WEA Mission Commission as ExecutiveDirector Designate. He is a staff member of

Interact, a Swedish Baptist Mission, and is alsowith the Convention of the Independent

Baptist Churches of Brazil.During the consultation in South Africa, June18 – 23, he will take over the leadership of

the Mission Commission from Bill Taylor.

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

28

Engaging the Issues

Globalization is no longer a mere catchphrase that we hang on our doorposts. It hasaffected almost every area of our lives today,whether one resides in the West or non-Western World. The presence of the globalchurch in the twenty-first century has a dif-ferent meaning altogether than in the mid-twentieth century when the first Lausannemovement was born. Christian presence,however meager it may be, can be found inalmost all nations today, although there isstill much ground to be plowed when onelooks at the present world from the perspec-tive of people groups.

Moreover, the once held mission equa-tion of the Western church going to thenon-Western world is no longer valid. Thereare approximately equal numbers of mis-sionaries sent from the Two-Thirds worldchurches as Western missionaries when oneconsiders doing missionary work both with-in and without the national borders. Themajority of the Two-Thirds world missionar-ies are ministering to unreached peoplegroups within their own national bound-aries, often not reachable by outsiders.India is a good example of this. There arevast pockets of unreached people groupsand unreached areas scattered through outthe globe that need both mobility and

financial backing. Both the Western mis-sionaries and some of the Two-Thirds worldmissionaries often reach these with neededfinancial support from their constituents.The West is no longer “Christendom.”Mission is from virtually everywhere toeverywhere, including the West.

These are some of thechanges that are taking placeamong churches in the Two-Thirds world. Some Asians (suchas Koreans) have had unprece-dented breakthroughs in missionary work insuch areas and countries as in parts ofCentral Asia, Mongolia and China. They aregradually beginning to expand their sphere ofmissionary activity to the West.

There are a number of ways to communi-cate this phenomenon. One is to approach itas a statistical viewpoint. This has no doubtbeen helpful to the global church at large.The Two-Thirds world church has been therecipient of the benefits of the research, cost-ing enormous amount of resources, bothhuman and monetary. At the same time, onemust raise a flag of caution as statistics canreduce the facts to a single phase. This can attimes portray quite a different picture of thecomplex scene by reducing the factors to theminimum.

Local perspectives expanding to theglobal scene

Another way to look at global Christianityis to begin from a local standpoint. There is aneed for localization of research projects togive more a complete picture of the localscene without disregarding the global aspects.“Glocalization” of the research could reducesome of the unnecessary reductionism in theresearch currently done by the majorresearchers of mission by portraying a localpicture of what the global statistics say.

At times, Mega research results seem togive an overly optimistic view of the currentmission progress. Let us take, for example,the Southern superiority in terms of numbersof all Christians. Supposedly more than 60percent of all Christians reside in the

Southern Hemisphere. Included inthe top ten countries that havethe largest number of Christiansare China, the Philippines andIndia from the Asian continent.But the perception of most of the

Asian evangelical churches is thatthese are some of the areas where the mostactive missionary work has been taking placein the past decade or so. Except for thePhilippines, these countries still are in needof active missionary work. In China, it hasbeen said that there were two windows thatwork counter to each other. The window offree marketing will continue to open up asthe time progresses, especially with the com-ing of 2008 Olympic games scheduled to beheld in China. The other window of thehearts of the people, which are expected toclose as China modernizes herself. Now is thewindow of opportunity for helping theChinese church to be strong enough to evan-gelize its own nation of more than 1.3 billionand to self-nurture its own church. We areaware that more and more missionary work isdirected towards the training of missionariesand pastors who are pastoring the housechurches. There is still great demand forthese kinds of ministry.

Hands-on research by the missionariesand mission executives on the field, withmuch prayer and a feel for the people of theland, will fill-in the final analysis of the statis-tics and determine the direction the mission-ary organization will take. When these localattempts are matched with global researchresults, there will inevitably occur a “glocal-ization process” of the mega mission scene,which is closer to the real picture.

Global Christianity:

A Reflection on Statisticsfrom the Two-Thirds World

David Tai – Woong Leeis the director of theGlobal Missionary

Training Center in Seoul,Korea, Chairman of the

board of directors for theGlobal Missionary

Fellowship, and a mem-ber of the WEA Mission

Commission GlobalLeadership Council.

David Tai Woong LeeGlobal MissionaryTraining Center

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

The Scripture neither allows us to sitback and passively leave everything to God, asif we had no responsibility, nor does it allowus to believe that if only we could hit on theright scheme or strategy then the world wouldall be won in no time for Christ. The chal-lenge for us is the same as it has been in everygeneration: how can we engage in mission insuch a way as to recognize in practice, notjust in theory, that God alone can build hisKingdom and his Church, and bring men andwomen, boys and girls, to new lifeby his Spirit; while at the sametime be visual aids for the gospel inall its fullness, explaining and livingthe truth clearly and compellingly, contextual-ly and compassionately? This is the calling,not just of a few individuals, but of the wholepeople of God, living out in community aflesh-and-blood reality of the marriage of graceand truth, of faith and hope and love.

‘Global Missiology’ probably sounds a bitgrandiose, and if it offends I apologize. Whatwe are trying to do, in this extraordinaryworld church setting in which we are so privi-leged to live, is to bring together groups of‘reflective practitioners’—those who are pas-sionate about mission praxis, but also aboutwrestling with the Word and every kind ofstudy to inform us, to keep us in step withGod, to provide the yardstick by which weassess whether what we do is on target ornot. As never before, we all need one anoth-er, with all the rich colors of brothers and sis-ters from many cultures and people groups,to help us evaluate what we are doing, andeven more importantly to try to discern whatGod is doing in our day. In the twentiethcentury, most of the missiological voices

which shaped what happened were western.Now we need—and have the opportunity—for a far richer chorus.

In our Global Missiology working groups,we try to provide a safe forum where honestreflection can take place, where east andwest, north and south, can all listen to oneanother and seek together to make our mis-sion praxis more biblical, more contextual,more faithful, more fruitful—for the glory of

God and for the good of thechurch. The Task Force exists toserve the church, not to set its own

agenda. So in response to requestsfrom around the world, we will be working ingroups on topics as diverse as Encounter withOther Faiths, Missional Ecclesiology, MissionSpirituality, Contextualization Revisited,Suffering and Persecution. The first two ofthose groups have already made significantprogress towards publishable books. By theend of SA06, we aim that the remaininggroups will have identified the key areas toexplore and have begun to bring valuablefresh material together. And SA06 may wellitself identify further topics for workinggroups to wrestle with. If you are interestedin contributing to any of these projects, eachwith a life of 2 to 3 years, in person at SA06or by email before or afterwards, please con-tact Bill Taylor or Rose Dowsett. <<

The twentieth century saw amazing growth in the world church—its extentgeographically as well as numerically. For that we should give thanks to

God daily! On the one hand we rightly long for more and more, becausewe want the Lord to receive the worship and honor that are his by right.On the other, we accept that there are mysteries in the work of the Spirit,

and that sometimes we are puzzled when the much prayed-for breakthroughdoes not appear to come. We do well to remember that in many placeswhere the church is now thriving, a few generations back our forebearswept and labored for many years without seeing the fruit of that faith-fullministry. In many cases, today’s generation reap where others sowed.

Rose Dowsett serves asInternational Chairman of

Interserve International, is amember of the WEA TheologicalCommission and a WEA Mission

Commission associate.

Global Missiology Report

Missiological/theological valuesshould take precedence over cultural/contextual necessity

No church, whether it is a church of theWest or a church of the Two-Thirds world,should excuse herself from active evangelismand church planting. As we discus globalChristianity on a grand scale, we often hearthat the role of the Western missionariesshould be different because the Two-Thirdsworld missionaries are actively doing evan-gelism and church planting (although theseare not the only ministries that they areengaged in). It may be true that the Westernmissionaries are better acquainted withmodernity and post-modernity, as often theyhave been reared in those environments.One must not forget that some of the Two-Thirds world missionaries have also experi-enced the cultures of the modern world,with all of its implications. Yet, they shouldnot confine their missional ministries towhat is compatible with their contemporarycultural milieu, any more than the Westernmissionaries. We must not forget that 1.7billion will never get to hear the Gospelunless someone dares to go to them and tellthem the Good News. Even with the opti-mistic figure of the current statistics, thereare still at least 2.7 billion plus additionalpeople who are without Christ that belongto the so-called evangelized world. So no oneis exempt from doing evangelism along withother integral missionary work.

In closing, let me mention several otherbrief points. Japan and Thailand are some ofthe least reached mega-people groups thatare extremely unresponsive to the Gospel. Weneed to continue to pray and persevere inour missionary work among these people.One day, God may open their hearts andthey suddenly could become ripe for the har-vest.

Further, although the global statisticsshow that there are plenty financialresources, without deepening of the com-mitment to the Lord and His vision, theresponsibility of funding the global missionwill always lay on the shoulders of sacrifi-cial minority, both from the West and theTwo-Thirds world. These points show that“global” and “local” need to be kept in bal-ance in order to give a better picture of theglobal reality of the mission at large. Maythese dialogical communications continueso that we can get a more focused view ofthe global reality of the mission for thetwenty-first century. <<

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

Rose Dowsett

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

This growth has been possible in largepart because of our association structure,which has nearly al l members beingself- funded and aff i l iated with anoth-er agency. At present, we have only one IPAmember who still depends partially on a cen-tral funding source through IPA, but we hopeto find a permanent solution forhim as well.

How have we been able toachieve these things?

1 . Sol id v is ion: The initial v is ion wasso l id, and your investment of manyyears led it to maturity and the innerstrength that allowed it to transition froma standard-form organization to a volun-tary association, without losing its power.

2.Covenant: We have formed a seriouscovenant with one another for mutu-al support, mutual learning, and faithful-ness to the vision of functional unity inthe church and in missions to the stillunreached.

3 .Flexibil ity of operations, which allowsour members to work in a variety of wayswith different partnerships and networksat different stages of development.

4 . Speedy communicat ion: Extensiveuse of email and internet voice com-municat ion technology to keep us in

contact on a regular basis.5. The ability to meet as a whole team

annually over the past two years fora week of fellowship, mutual encourage-ment, accountability and planning.

6 . Sustainabil i ty: We are confident thatthis model is solid, worth maintaining and

expanding. We hope it can be sus-tained on a very small operationalbudget.

Vision for the coming year:

1. Provide pastoral support, where needed,and coordination to the growing IPA teamthrough field visits by the IPACoordinator.

2. Enable team members to travel to eachother’s region to help with specific projectsand needs. Some regions are well servedwhile in others our members struggle alone.

3. Come together for our annual summit, tobe held from 3 to 7 April 2006, for plan-ning, mutual learning, and accountability.

4. Continue to edit, produce and distributetraining material.

There are many forces threatening topull us apart and dilute our strength, andthese four things are essential to hold ustogether and enable us to grow. <<

Interdev PartnershipAssociates

Update on IPA

30

Alex Araujo

• Our numbers have increased from14 to 23 members. With this increase,the following teams have been strength-ened: Southeast Asia mainland, SoutheastAsia Islands, Sub-Saharan Africa, CentralAsia and theme-specific partnerships acrossregions. In addition, we now have directrepresentation in the Turkic region. Ourmembers are currently serving 89 partner-ships and networks.

• New partnerships have been startedand ail ing ones revived: [People groupnames withheld for security]. Our Asiateam is helping lead the partnership calledEthne 06, to bring together those workingtoward the remaining unreached peoples.

• Several IPAs have been asked to, and haveassisted in coordination of disasterresponse by Christian agencies in all themajor world disasters from the Asian tsuna-mi to, amazingly enough, the US Gulfregion. Even as I write, some of our mem-bers are directly involved in coordinatingrelief efforts to victims of the Pakistan earth-quake. Though this is not our primary focus,our combined skills and experience are use-ful and in demand in this special need.

• We have also been able to publish abook, by Ernie Addicott, “Body Matters,”that collects in practical form the many les-sons learned through the Interdev team.We printed 1000 copies earlier this year,and nearly half of then have been soldalready. It seems we will need to print asecond edition. Requests are coming infrom individuals and organizations. Oneof the latter has already purchased 62, andintends to use 30-plus copies per year intheir training program. Income from thesesales will be used for publication of neweditions and possibly other material.

Alex Araujo coordinates the field team of INTERDEV under the new struc-ture, Interdev Partnership Associates (IPA). Interdev, and now IPA, promote

strategic mission partnerships among the last reached peoples of theworld. Alex, born and raised in Brazil, has served with IFES in Portugal,

Comibam in Brazil and Partners International in the USA. Married to Katy,Alex has three adult children and one grandchild.

To address this challenge, a foundationalcourse has been developed since theLangley meetings, entitled “Integral

Ministry Training Design and Evaluation”(IMTDE), and has been offered to nationalgroups of trainers in Argentina, Nigeria andIndia. The course builds on the earlier MCwork, Establishing Ministry Training (Ferris,1995), by adding three additional compo-nents: Philosophical Foundations, IntegralMinistry Training Theory, and Adult EducationPrinciples and Practices. The initial responseto this course has been very positive. It is verypractical, enabling those who take it to devel-op outcomes-based integral training curricu-lum through a step-by-step process.

On the agenda for the South Africa meet-ings will be the presentation of the key con-cepts of this course and discussion focused onpractical implementation of guiding principles.

Structural Issues

Recommendations coming out of theLangley meetings also addressed structuralquestions, including leadership and member-ship. In January 2005, MC leadershipreleased Jonathan Lewis from some responsi-bilities in order to pursue the development ofthe IMTN. The appointment as director wasmade until the next international convocation(South Africa 2006). Two other colleaguesjoined him almost immediately in expressingtheir desire to provide some level of “staff”support. Rob Brynjolfson, founder and cur-

rent program director for theGateway Missionary Training Centrein Langley, and Omar Gava, current interna-tional coordinator for training for COMIBAM,the Latin American missions movement, anddirector of a regional training center inCordoba, Argentina.

During 2005, this team has pursued thedevelopment and offering of the IMTDEcourse on three continents, created a skillsand understanding profile for a missionarytrainer to use in developing an M.A. for train-ers in Latin America, and developed a website from which to offer training in multiplelanguages.1 They have also been involved inconsulting activities, ranging from regionalconsultations in Guatemala and Argentina,national consultations in Honduras, Cuba,Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and helpinga group establish an integral missionary train-ing program in Mexico. A fuller report onthese activities and the strategy behind themwill be presented in South Africa.

The question of IMTN staffing will alsobe discussed in South Africa. Rob Brynjolfsonhas worked concertedly to disengage himselffrom other ministry responsibilities in orderto offer his services full time. Jonathan Lewisand Omar Gava will continue to provide staffsupport as well. But it is clear that achieving

the goals of the IMTN will take much morethan the efforts of two or three individuals.

Networking Is Not an End in Itself

Although the Langley recommendationsenvisioned a network of individual membersled by a central director who promotes mem-ber interaction, the structure does not repre-sent much of an advance over the loose knit“fellowship” concept of the past. The poten-tial of the IMTN lies in the fact that it is partof the broad, WEA MC platform. Its weak-ness is that it has been cast in the mold of a

fellowship of individuals with little orno implicit institutional commit-ment towards achievement of com-

mon goals. If the IMTN is to be effec-tive, it must structure itself in ways that pro-duces synergy through institutional commit-ments to a mutual agenda. In essence, thatmeans organizations releasing people andresources to work with the IMTN. Otherwise,we will come together again in South Africato discuss the difficulties inherent in pushingalong a wet noodle.

While missionary trainers do sometimesexpress a need for greater levels of connected-ness, the fact is that our networking followspersonal lines of contact rather than a general“forum” approach. Attempts to create commonaccess through an IMTN Yahoo group has notevoked a significant response. Likewise, charg-ing a single person with the responsibility ofcollecting names in a database in order to gen-erate and coordinate a global program will notbe effective. IMTN must meet real needs. Andif the IMTN’s agenda is going to meaningfullyaddress needs, it has to generate common com-mitment at an institutional level. This impliesthe release by organizations of people andresources around a common strategy and plan.

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Jonathan Lewis has been onstaff of the Mission Commissionsince 1991. As from 2005 hehas a consultant /advisory roleto the MC staff. He also is leads

the International MissionaryTraining Network.

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

During the last meeting of the International Missionary Training Network(IMTN) in Langley, Canada, June, 2003, participants agreed that the

IMTN should be about promoting “holistic” or “integral” ministry trainingthat addresses the needs of the whole person. Part of our mission is to helpmissionary training institutions and programs throughout the world adopt this

integral approach to training through contextually appropriate trainingpractices. In essence, this means helping training programs shift from

heavily cognitive or knowledge centered training to that which also focusesvery intentionally on character and skill development. This represents a

major paradigm shift with significant challenges to implementation.

Towards South Africa 2006:

An Agenda for the IMTN

1 The www.theIMTN.org is now offering a basic, churchbased course for those with a calling to serve astentmakers. Having developed this platform, it isenvisioned that other courses will soon follow.

Jonathan Lewis

The need to further explore IMTN stake-holder relationships and commitments led to anIMTN “Resource Partners” meeting in ColoradoSprings, USA, February 9-10, 2006. Participantsincluded representatives of organizations provid-ing on an international scale, specific trainingfor missionary trainers, and organization devel-opment consulting to missionary training pro-grams. Attending the meeting were representa-tives of Bethany Fellowship’s GO 100 program,Worldview Resource Group, and InternationalTraining Partners, as well as the representative ofa major foundation and the three IMTN “staff”previously identified. The following representsdiscussion and conclusions of this group, whichwill be brought forward in South Africa.

Functional Elements of the IMTN

The meetings clarified the following rolesand relationships within the IMTN:

1. Organizational membership/clients:Missionary training institutions and pro-grams in regionally and nationally definedareas of the world.

2. Key centers or “hubs”: Training institu-tions within a given region that have thecapacity to equip these clients by trainingtheir trainers and equipping their programs.

3. Organizational Resource Partners:Missionary training resources providersincluding course packages, training materials,infrastructure development, scholarships, etc.

4. Regional & National Directors:Persons fully responsible for fostering theIMTN values and goals in their region. Theyare usually closely associated with a key cen-ter. They facilitate networking & resourcesharing, and coordinate consultations andmodular course offerings to equip trainers.

5. IMTN Associates: Select individ-uals whose organizations releasesthem for a portion of their time tocarrying out the goals and objectivesof the IMTN nationally, regionally orinternationally as directors, consult-ants, staff and resource persons.

6. IMTN Staf f : International person-nel whose primary work is theIMTN and the pursuit of its goals.

IMTN Clients, Resource Partnersand Strategy

The IMTN “clients” are our“members.” But these are not trainers as envi-sioned in Langley. They are the hundreds ofinstitutions and programs around the globe thatoffer, or want to offer quality, missionary spe-cific training. In order to be strategic, we mustfocus our resources on centers that haveregional or national influence and are willingto serve these IMTN clients/members in theirown spheres of influence. These regional cen-ters are referred to as “key centers” or “hubs.”

In order to be strategic, the IMTNResource Partners must jointly design andimplement plans that are “high leverage” andoffer easily transferable products and servicesin a coordinated and synergistic way, follow-ing “process” guidelines. During the meet-ings, the following graph was produced toillustrate this strategy (see table 1)

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Existing and suggested Key Center locations

The IMTN values… Therefore, the IMTN envisions…

A process vs. product approach to Missionary training centers that are learner and learning centeredmissionary training

Intentionality That missionary training be outcome-based (understandings and skill sets), with all aspects of curricula

2derived from competency models

(local missionary profiles describing knowing, becoming, and doing)

Integral whole person training Training that equips the whole person – understandings, character development, and ministry capabilities

A triad of training methods Missionary training that incorporates formal, nonformal, and informal – formal, nonformal, and informal training methods as necessities for whole person training

Training that is transformational Training that transforms both the trainers and trainees into the image of Christ

Training design and delivery that The sharing of best practices among 15 key networked global training are reproducible and easily “hubs” for the purpose of equipping missionary trainers for increased transferable effectiveness

Authentic ministry internships The incorporation of authentic ministry internships, which will take place in a ministry setting, for the development of ministry skill-sets.

Contextualization Missionary training centers adapting and applying globally accepted principles of whole person training

Knowledge as an instrument Global training centers understanding knowledge as instrumental for rather than an end in itself the development of understandings and skill sets

Training that is derived and driven Training that is developed, revised, and evaluated on the basis of byeffectiveness in real world ministry effectiveness in field situationssettings

Ongoing evaluation criteria Curricula, trainers, and program effectiveness evaluated on the basis of training objectives and field effectiveness

Effectiveness Training and ministry that are truly effective in glorifying God, advancing Kingdom principles, equipping missionaries, and reconciling man to God

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

Table 1: IMTN Values

2 All aspects of curricula would include the followingten components: selection criteria, training objec-tives, curriculum content, delivery systems, trainingenvironment, designed learning experiences, trainerqualifications, evaluation standards, on-field consul-tation objectives, and life-long learning goals.

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VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

Much of the consultation is focused on Consul-tative Groups. These groups will develop strategicplans together by gathering people from differentnationalities, giftings and vocations. Thus, ratherthan dividing into a pastors’ group, a churchplanter group, a member care group, a translatorsgroup, a “funders” group, etc., all of these differentgiftings will be in the same group working together. All groups suggest steps toward developingthe global prayer initiative on the UPGs/LRPs(which are found in every continent) and theensuing strategy initiatives. This prayer andstrategy initiative will be mutually launched inJune 2006. Global Prayer Digest (www.glob-al-prayer-digest.org/ ) will provide daily prayerrequests, and Joshua Project is offering spe-cific links to data by region (www.joshuapro-ject.net/ ethne_globalregion.php).

The Consultative Groups include 4 StrategyGroups (9 hrs—each participant canchoose only one) which will developstrategic plans. The Workshops (5 hrs) willbe more specialized, but also seek todevelop some specific strategy commit-ments. Seminars (2

1/2 hours) will be more

informational. Each participant will chooseeither one Workshop or two Seminars.

Strategy Groups include:

Wholistic Gospel Movements (WGM)will develop integrated efforts among UPGsto see the Body of Christ started/reproduc-ing/ serving/transforming their own com-munities and other unreached peoples,cities, and nations.

Frontier Crisis Response Network (FCRN) willexplore ways to cooperate in crisis situationsincluding, but not limited to, natural disasters,war, economic disasters, and terrorist attacks,in a way that will ultimately lead to Gospelmovements in transforming societies, espe-cially through increased cooperation of crisisresponders around the world.

Harvest-Linked Prayer Strategies will launchand facilitate the first year of an ongoingprayer and harvest initiative by (1) increas-ing awareness of the remaining 6,900+Least-Reached Peoples (LRP); (2) connect-ing prayer movements to specific strategicinitiatives; and (3) developing models,resources and training globally.

LRP/UPG Workers in a Changing World willidentify and offer solutions to some chal-lenges and issues related to placing, train-ing, and caring for laborers in various send-ing and receiving contexts, among theLRPs/UPGs.

Workshops include (1) Raising up the NextGeneration of Mission Leaders; (2)People on the Move (e.g., nomads,immigrants, students, generations);

(3) Communication Strategies forMissions (“low tech,” such as chronologicalstorying, and “high tech”); (4) MemberCare among the LRPs; (5) MissionMobilization Processes and Models (global-ly, locally regionally); (6)Information/Resources (opportunities, gaps& joint projects).

Seminars include (1-4) Strategy GroupReports; (5) Assess and Inform (KeyResearch, Gaps, Future Trends); (6)Maximizing Church-Centered Initiatives; (7)New Generation Leadership Transition inLRP Missions; (8) Partnership Principles;(9) Ethne: Shaping a LRP/UPG GlobalNetwork – Steps Forward. <<

Relationships Based on Shared Values

Because a common commitment to corevalues is foundational to IMTN relationships, asignificant portion of the meeting was spentidentifying and discussing common values(Table 1). Bob Strauss of Worldview ResourceGroup refined these further and suggested howthe IMTN might envision them in practice.

While not a comprehensive list, it is agood start towards articulating the values

that these IMTN resource partners are com-mitted to. These values define what we doand how we do it.

Conclusion

Unless the IMTN can begin to functionwith institutional support and persons fullydedicated to a common agenda, it is unlikelythat we can foster the development of pro-grams around the globe that share our com-mon commitment to integral missionary train-

ing. We have found an eager and receptiveaudience to these concepts and continue topress for the implementation of transforma-tional principles that are needed to equipeffective people for effective cross-culturalministry. We must bring these critical issuesto the table during the South African consulta-tion and plan for a way forward. <<

Ethnê06:

Strategic Planning Trans-Nationally

Kent Parks

The Ethne06 Consultation on Unreached / Least Reached People Groups(UPGs/LRPs) is focused on developing strategic actions across regional lines. In the plenary sessions, church and network leaders will emphasize the crucialnature and reality of local, regional and global collaboration and strategies.These leaders are from SEAsia (6), Africa (2), S. Asia (4), C. Asia (1); LatinAmerican (3), N. Asia (2); Middle East (1) and N. America (1).

Kent Parks, and his wife Erika has served in SEAsia for 17 years, working mainlyamong Unreached People Groups and in helping develop UPG ministry net-works, as well as nation-wide and region-wide UPG-focused networks. He

served seven years as a Baptist pastor in the US before serving in SEAsia as aseminary professor (Ph.D. in missiology), and as a Strategy Coordinator

focused on stimulating trans-denominational and trans-national efforts amongUPGs. He is currently serving as SEAsia Regional Facilitator for the Network forStrategic Missions and as the Facilitator for SEALINK, and emerging SEAsia UPG

network. He also serves as Co-Facilitator (along with Beram Kumar) for theEthne06 Global UPG meeting which will be held March 7-10, 2006 in SEAsia.

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MemCa is a partnership of member carenetworks that develops resources to help sup-port mission/aid workers. Our special focus ison workers/sending groups from the A4regions (Africa, Asia, Arabic-Turkic, America-Latina) and those working among UPGs(unreached people groups). Currently we area group of about 20 people. The different net-works (geographic and speciality) connect toMemCa via their “links” who are part ofMemCa. Many examples of what we do canbe found in the Global Briefings archives onour web site (www.membercare.org).

Let’s meet at SA06! Here’s our MemCamembers:

• Links for Geographic NetworksMarina Prins (Africa)Rachel Kull (Africa)Anke Tissingh (Africa)David Allen (Mediterranean)Annemie Grosshauser (Asia)Judi Chow (Asia)Pramila Rajendran (India)Grace Alag (The Philippines)Moon-Gap Doh (Korea)Marion Knell (Europe)Carlos España (Iberoamérica)Macia Tostes (Brazil)Laura Mae Gardner (North America)Brent Lindquist (North America)Don Smith (Oceania)Other geographic networks: TBA

• Links for Special ity NetworksMarion Dicke (Africa; Crisis Care)Harry Hoffmann (Asia; Member Care Hubs)Siny Widmer (Europe; Radio/Media)Debbie Lovell (Europe; Humanitarian Aid)Kelly O’Donnell (WEA-Mission Commission)Other speciality networks: TBA

What are we doing at SA06?- Come to a special session!

In addition to actively participating in theoverall conference program, we are meetingeach day as a MemCa “consultation/col-legium.” As a consultation, we will exchangeupdates from our respective regions/ministriesin member care, share resources, discusstrends and issues, review current/future goals,and spend time together to strengthen ourpersonal relationships. As a collegium, three

MemCa members will offer “masterstraining sessions” on a topic of theirexpertise. The topics are presented

in the context of proveloping (provid-ing/developing) member care in difficult set-tings, and possibilities include: doing spiritualwarfare as member care, helping survivors andrelief workers in mass disasters, building mul-ticultural capacity in the member care field,and forming quality standards for membercare workers. Finally, the SA06 conferenceparticipants are warmly invited to an openMemCa session in which we will share someupdates from around the world, and discuss

any concerns/issues that our guest-colleaguesmight have.

Quality people and quality projects

In MemCa we build ongoing relation-ships in order to support quality peoplewith strategic inf luence who are doingquality projects with strategic impact.We prioritize four “clusters of projects” whichwe call our “Four Directions”:

• Strategic Gatherings (Connections via con-ferences and consultations)

• Strategic Information (Communication viatelecommunications and internet)

• Strategic Training (Development via coursesand workshops)

Global Member Care Resources (MemCa) was officially launched in 1998 as part of the WEA MissionCommission. Key to our formation was the commitment to apply the learning from the ReMAP project on

missionary attrition and to intentionally connect together as member care leaders/practitioners.

Doing InternationalMember Care Well

MemCa at SA06

Kelly O’Donnell

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

• Strategic Materials (Publications via booksand articles).

Core distinctives for MemCa

We embrace 10 distinctives (a mentality)which guide our work in international mem-ber care: • Identifying member care gaps and new

directions (commitment to help shape/support mem-ber care)

• Considering international issues/needs inaddition to our own ministry areas (commitment to a globe-all focus)

• Developing resources intentionally in addi-tion to providing resources (commitment to provelop resources)

• Contextualizing knowledge/practices inlight of the diversity of the mission/aidcommunity (commitment to multicultural diversity:national, linguistic, disciplinary, generational)

• Working together and building relation-ships in Christian mission/aid (commitment to proactive/ongoing connections)

• Connecting with sectors/resources outsideof mainstream Evangelical missions(commitment to multi-sectoral connections)

• Establishing good communicationlinks/updates globally and regionally (commitment to knitting the net of practi-tioners

• Focusing on mission/aid workers from A4regions and UPGs. (commitment to the underserved/at-riskgroups)

• Maintaining a passionate and visionaryvoice on behalf of mission/aid personnel

(commitment to member care advocacy)• Seeking the Lord together in prayer and

humility in all that we do(commitment to Jesus Christ, the BestPractitioner).

What can we expect from SA06?

In general, at SA06 we expect to reconnectas MemCa both personally and professionallyand become more cohesive. The last time wemet was in Vancouver in June 2003. We alsoare really looking forward to actively mingling

with our fellow Mission Commission friendsand colleagues. Finally, we expect to increaseour contributions to the mission/aid communi-ty as we review and expand our “FourDirections” which are overviewed below.

Direction One: Strategic Gatherings(Connections)

Global Faces. Connect influentialmember care workers (MCWs) from the A4regions with international MCWs at specificconsultations around the world, includingUPG partnerships.

Field Faces. Send small member careteams to service A4 field workers among UPGs.

Direction Two: Strategic Information(Communication)

MemCa Web Site. Resource the globalmission/aid community with quality membercare materials and help member care workersto stay current and connected as a field.

Member Care Video. Produce a DVDto overview the essential components ofmember care, with translation in five lan-guages and available by the end of 2006.

Direction Three: Strategic Training(Development)

Trauma Training Course. Providetrauma training courses for pastors/Christianworkers (two locations/year); and membercare overview courses (two locations/year).

On-line Member Care Course. Offeran overview course with 10 topic areas and athree person “virtual faculty”, offeredtwice/year, and on going via independent study.

Direction Four: Strategic Materials(Publications)

Translation and Distribution.Translate/write and distribute member carematerials (written and audio) in two interna-tional languages used by many UPGs.

Books and Articles. Compile a multi-edited book of international case studies andnew articles in member care (Global Voices:Case Studies from the A4 Regions). <<

35

VOL. 5 • NO.1 SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION

NORTH AND SOUTHAMERICANS AROUNDTHE TABLEA roundtable of church and mission leadersfrom Brazil and the United States ofAmerica was organized in São Paulo inNovember 2005, gathering representativesfrom the Evangelical Fellowship of MissionAgencies (EFMA), one of the main missionassociations in the United States, and theBrazilian Association of Cross-CulturalMissions (AMTB). The initiative was takenby Rev. Paul McKaughan, executive directorof EFMA, and the idea was strongly support-ed by the leadership of AMTB. The sessionswere led by Rev. Marcos Agripino, vice-chairof AMTB and Brazilian representative ofCOMIBAM. The group, comprised of 12North Americans and 23 Brazilians, metwith an open agenda and with an emphasison fellowship and mutual sharing. A briefpresentation was given on the history anddevelopment of the mission movements inNorth America and Brazil. Each participantgave also a short presentation of the organi-zation represented. With a mixture of smallgroup dynamics and discussions in the larg-er group, both Brazilians and NorthAmericans had the opportunity to bring tothe table key issues related to mission.Everything was bilingual, with translation toPortuguese and English.

The main outcomes of the three daystogether were:

1. A better understanding of the reality of themissionary context in the US and in Brazil;

2. The discovery of common issues relatedto the practical sides of the missionarywork; and,

3. The initial steps of a deeper relationshipbetween leaders from the two countriesthat will certainly continue through per-sonal contacts and collaborative efforts

A roundtable such as this between EFMAand AMTB requires investments in time andfinancial resources. However, the assess-ment by the participants was that it wasworth the effort and that the meeting gavean important opportunity to broaden per-spectives and to build new relationshipswith peers from another cultural context. <<

Bertil Ekström

Kelly O’Donnell is a psychologist based in Europe. Kelly studied clinicalpsychology and theology at Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola

University. His emphases are in the member care / research field: crisiscare, team development and member care affiliations. He chairs the

Global Member Care Resources (MemCa) of WEA-MC..

36

The Need for Christian-BuddhistEncounters

Christianity’s relationship with non-Christian religions is a key missiologicalinquiry for Evangelicals concerned with theGreat Commission. Traditionally, Evangelicalmissions have concentrated on proclamationof the gospel and avoided interfaith approach-es (John Stott, 1975). Increasingly, most mis-sionaries in Asia work within restrictive envi-ronments which prohibit direct evangelism.Do we have a theology of witness for genuineencounter with Buddhists? In the West, theprivatization of religious faith is increasinglymaking direct evangelism socially unaccept-able. Globally, rising ethnic-religious tensionsthreaten peace and racial harmony in manycountries in Africa, India, Indonesia and theMiddle East, to name a few places. Even inseemingly “peaceful” Buddhist countries,Christian proselytization efforts are problemat-ic. Another concern is the partial conversionof people groups in Asia, where Churchgrowth is not accompanied by worldviewtransformation. From a variety of perspectivesthen, wherever the gospel is preached, there isa need for deeper encounter with traditionalBuddhist worldviews. The purpose is not tocompromise the gospel but to confront under-

lying belief systems at their deepest level. Some key questions for this study are:

What theological implications does the king-dom of God have for the interfaith encounterwith Buddhists? In particular, can conservativeEvangelical theology provide an adequate andcreative foundation for a genuine interfaithencounter with other truth claims such asBuddhism? How will a distinctive Evangelicalencounter be different from pluralist models?

I define interfaith encounter as an inter-religious conversation whereby both theChristian and the Buddhists desire to witnessto their faiths as well as listen andlearn from the neighbour’s faith.Worldview can be said to be “a setof shared framework of ideas of aparticular society concerning how they per-ceive the world” (Burnett 1990, 13)

The article begins by outlining a briefsurvey of the Buddhist scriptures which influ-enced East Asian worldviews, followed by anoutline of a distinctive Evangelical theology ofthe kingdom of God that places Jesus as theunique King over the nations. My goal is toillustrate the theological framework of anAsian Evangelical living in multifaith commu-nity who by nature of his or her commitmentto Christ, is required to live out his faithwithout ‘ghetooism’. However, interfaith con-

versations in the context of friendship, andliving multi-culturally need not require areductionism of other religions nor of one’spersonal faith in Christ. Instead, one is chal-lenged to live out the authentic Christian lifein the context of full religious pluralism.

Scriptures in Buddhist Traditions

Although we do not have good historicalevidence on the life of Buddha, Christians mustbe willing to engage with the Buddhist scrip-tures because these are the sources of their reli-

gious beliefs. While it is true that theextant versions of Buddha’s life werecreated long after his death by hisfollowers, our purpose in religious

encounters is to understand what Buddhistsbelieve and how the Christian gospel addressesthose belief systems.

The words of the Buddha, which becamethe Buddhist scriptures, are stories of how heseeks after truth and finally achieves Nirvana.The words he spoke were intended to exhortothers to enter into the same experience of

Tan Kang San

1 Part of this paper is adapted from a lecture given atBible and Nations Conference at Regent College,June 2003.

The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ in the Missional Heart of God

A Kingdom-OrientedFramework for Encountering

Buddhist Worldviews1

MISSIOLOGICAL REFLECTION CONNECTIONS

release. These words were new and differentfrom the handed down Hindu Vedas:

That this was the noble truth concerningsorrow, was not, O Bhikkhus, among the doc-trines handed down (i.e., the Vedas), but therearose within me the eye (to perceive it), therearose the knowledge (of its nature), therearose the understanding (of its cause), therearose wisdom (to guide in the path of tran-quility), there arose the light (to dispel dark-ness from it). (Harold Coward 2000, 140)

Buddhists hold that the authority ofBuddhist scriptures arose out of Buddha’senlightenment experience. Unlike theChristian position on the Bible as divinelyrevealed and inspired, Buddhists are open tosubsequent scriptures from “other Buddhas.”Tradition records that within the year thatBuddha died (c483 BC), 500 monks gatheredand agreed to codify the Rule of the MonasticOrder. Ananda, Buddha’s closest follower andrelative, was reported to recite all the “remem-bered words” which were then approved bythe world community (Sangha). Ananda issaid to have recited the original five Nikayas(also called Agama) in the Sutra Pitaka, or theBasket of Discourses.” Centuries later, thesewere compiled into Sutras (Buddha’s teach-ings) as part of the Buddhist canon. In addi-tion, the School of Elders (Theravada) expand-ed texts (Abhidharma) were judged necessarypart of the Dharma. Consequently, we havethe tripitaka or “three baskets of scripture”:sutra (Buddha’s teachings), vinaya (monasticrules) and Abhidharma (philosophic treatise).Many Theravada Buddhists felt that only thesetransmitted sayings of the Buddha could bepart of the scriptures while others take a moreopen view of the Buddhist canon. These moreopen groups accepted the same general sutrasand vinayas but developed their ownAbhidharma or sastra (philosophic literatures).The Mahayanas also add many new sutrassuch as Prajnaparamita Sutras and the LotusSutras. Later, other devotional texts such asTantras (inspired words of Buddhas) andJatakas (popular stories or fables aboutBuddha) were developed.

Although folk Buddhists may not be liter-ate in Buddhist scriptures, it is arguable thatthe teachings of Buddha shape the world-views of Asian societies. There is certainlymore to Buddhist religious life than their doc-trines, but with the revivals of Buddhist intel-lectualism and the complexities of variousstreams of Buddhism, it will be very difficultfor the Christian missionary to gain an appre-ciation of what Buddhists really believe with-out a good grounding of Buddhist doctrinesas found in these scriptures.

God’s Kingship as the Basis For the Christian-Buddhist Encounter

Central to the above Buddhist scripturesrequires that genuine Buddhists will ultimate-ly negate the existence of a Creator God or asupreme personal Being, although in somestreams of Buddhism, they do believe in theexistences of divine beings and deities (PaulWilliams 2002, 25). In this regard, theChristian who holds to the divinity of Jesusneeds to address the atheistic viewpoint of hisBuddhist friends. At some point, it will benecessary to introduce the ontological argu-ment for God. Buddha is an ordinary humanbeing who discovered the true way that bringsrelease from an infinite series of sufferings andrebirths. The remedy to our sufferings lies inletting go of our attachments to things orbeliefs (including God). While Christianscannot prove that God exists beyond reason-able doubt, we can begin with the humbleconfession that we believe in a creator God, asrevealed in the Christian scriptures.

Three theological implications from God’ssovereign kingship may be highlighted as pro-viding foundations for a kingdom-oriented the-ology of religious Encounters. First, God’s char-acter and his sovereign dealings withhumankind provide the basis for engagementwith humans. As a righteous and holy God,Yahweh cannot tolerate sin. Because humanityhas sinned and continually rebels against God’skingship, God intervenes in history as judge.Interfaith relations cannot ignore humanity’spersistent rebellion against God’s kingship.

Second, in the midst of judgement, Godprovides salvation due to his mercy. Yahwehis not only a God of wrath, but also a God ofmercy and boundless grace. This pattern of“sin-judgement-salvation” provides a paradig-matic approach to all religions. The emphasisis on salvation as the goal of the kingdom,although judgement is also clearly communi-

cated as an inevitable consequence on thosewho continually reject God’s kingship.

Third, an encounter that is firmly rootedin God’s sovereign character must hold bothaspects of God’s righteous judgement and lov-ing kindness in creative tension. Without such“biblical realism,” Christianity’s approach toother religions is bound to fall into reduction-ism. Christopher Wright comments:

The fallen duplicity of man is that hesimultaneously seeks after God hisMaker and flees from God his Judge.Man’s religions, therefore, simultane-ously manifest both these human ten-dencies. This is what makes a simplis-tic verdict on other religions—whether blandly positive or nega-tive— so unsatisfactory and indeed,unbiblical. (1984, 5)

Thus Christians who are the recipients ofGod’s mercy and who are worshippers of therighteous and holy God, have an epistemicand ethical duty to engage in dialogue withBuddhist people, even if they are atheistic oragnostic. In a stimulating and intensely per-sonal book, ‘The Unexpected Way: OnConverting from Buddhism to Catholicism’,Professor Paul William, Professor of Indianand Tibetan Philosophy at University ofBristol, among other things, presented thearguments for the existence of a God. Afterover 20 years as a Buddhist, William was pro-foundly challenged by Thomas Aquinas writ-ings in seeking after the question: “Why isthere something rather than nothing?” Hestruggled over two viable alternatives:

The Buddhist position: The fact thatthere is something rather than nothing, andthe way things are, in terms of causal process-es and so on, as discovered by the Buddha,just is how it is. End of the matter.

The Christian position: The reason whythere is something rather than nothing, and

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38

things are the way they are, is because they aregrounded on a necessary being who has in somesense brought it about. (William 2002, 33)

Beyond William’s philosophical argu-ments, a kingdom-oriented theology of reli-gion moves on to the affirmation that God’skingship is universal. God’s universal king-ship in the Old Testament is reflected in therepeated accounts of God’s ruling activitiesover Israel and the nations. In particular, Godis often depicted as exercising his power overforeign nations in the following examples: hisconcern for Nineveh in the book of Jonah, hisuse of the Assyrians and Babylonians asinstruments of judgment on Israel, his sover-eign rule over Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1-4),his use of Cyrus as agent of restoring hiskingdom (Isa 44:28, 45:1, 13), and his provi-dential use of Xerxes as agent of preservationof Israel in the book of Esther. Believing thatGod is actively at work among unbelievers,Christians can approach non-Christians look-ing for evidences of his work.

God’s kingship is not only universal, butalso covenantal. This is where the uniquenessof Jesus as the Kingdom bearer of God’sredemptive plan for the nations becomes cen-tral in any religious conversation that isauthentically Christian. God’s redemptiveaction is expressed and exercised throughsuccessive covenants: Noahic, Abrahamic,Mosaic, Davidic, and culminating in the NewCovenant (Dumbrell 1984). In the OldTestament, God’s kingship is associated mostclosely with Israel, a particular people withwhom God has chosen to establish acovenantal relationship. In the NewTestament, God’s covenant people are identi-fied with the Church of Jesus Christ.Membership in the kingdom is predicatedupon the “new birth” (John 3) which is pos-sible today only through faith in Jesus Christ.The theological implication for interfaith rela-tions is that, at some point in the dialogicalprocess, kingdom-oriented dialogue will issuethe call for a covenant relationship with Godthrough faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

In summary, God’s sovereignty asexpressed in his kingship provides the basisfor a missionary encounter with Buddhists.God, who is already the Heavenly King, mustbecome king in the hearts of people.Therefore, those who are already subjected toGod are obligated to persuade others to sub-mit themselves to God. This is the philosoph-ical basis for interfaith relations. It is basedon the fact that there are others who do notacknowledge God’s kingship and that theirsearch for truth has something to teach usabout God and His Kingdom.

Yet, why should the interfaith encounter be

utilized instead of simply relying on proclama-tion as the means of propagating the gospel?The primary reason is that God’s rulershipmust be brought to bear on the existing faith-commitments, presuppositions and worldviewsof our Buddhist friends. However, in order tobe genuine, their submission to God cannot becoerced or manipulated. Therefore, Christiansneed to enter into dialogue in order to witnesseffectively and persuade others regarding thechallenge of God’s kingship.

The Kingdom-Oriented Encounter isChrist-Centred

Salvation is accomplished through theunique person and work of Christ.Commitment to Christ is the precondition forthe kingdom-oriented encounter, after whichChrist becomes the model for approachingBuddhists. Although God’s salvation planbegins with the call of Abraham and the nationIsrael, it ultimately looks forward to Christ, theseed of Abraham. Due to Israel’s failure to be afaithful instrument of the kingdom, God hasinvaded human history through the work andperson of Jesus. In contrast to Israel’s misguid-ed ethnocentrism, Jesus makes it clear that allpeople are welcome into God’s kingdom, withspecial attention being shown to the poor, theoppressed and the marginalized. Not only isJesus the embodiment of the kingdom, healone ushers in the kingdom of God. No oneenters into a relationship with the Fatherexcept through Jesus Christ.

What are the implications of a Kingdom-oriented Encounter where Jesus is confessedas Lord? First, Jesus is both the ultimatejudge of all truth and the criterion againstwhich conflicting truth-claims are evaluated.

“Jesus is for the believer the sourcefrom whom his understanding of thetotality of experience is drawn andtherefore the criterion by which otherways of understanding are judged”(Newbigin 1981, 4).

More specifically, a distinctive Evangelicaltheology of religion (in contrast to an Ecume-nical perspective) holds a high Christologythat does not compromise the truth of thesupremacy of Christ over all the world’s reli-gions. Christ is the only way to the Father,and without him as King there is no kingdomof God. Evangelical encounters with other reli-gions, therefore, reject any form of relativismthat undermines the unique person and workof Christ in bringing salvation to the world.

High Christology need not mean rejectionof the truth of other religions such as Buddha’steaching on morality, or that Christians cannotlearn anything new from Buddhists, truthswhich the philosophical riches of MahayanaBuddhism may bring to Christian views of life,purity, disciplines and meaning of sufferings.Buddhist background Evangelicals have a ten-dency to degrade everything about Buddhismas idolatry and pagan. I think it is possible toretain a high level of sympathy and even admi-ration for Buddha’s compassion and his teach-ings, if only one ventures with love for Christand the Buddhists He so loved.

2

In a Christ-centred encounter, Jesusbecomes the model for approaching unbeliev-ers. His preaching and teaching methods,lifestyle and his commitments are the waythat Christians should approach unbelievers.In particular, Christ’s incarnational modelprovides the key toward meaningful dialogue.Jesus radicalized the law of love, “that welove God by loving our neighbour as we loveourselves, with neighbour unlimited, as theonly measure of membership in God’s reign”(Groome 1991, 16). Such an approach toBuddhists needs to be shaped by Jesus’ totalmission. And his total mission encompassesthe challenge of discipleship, the confronta-tion with demonic powers and religiousauthorities, a compassion for the broken andthe lost, and the creation of a new society.The implications for interfaith encounters areprofound. In particular, Christians are notmerely to be interested in sharing the gospel,but also to be seeking the total transforma-tion of the person and society.

Finally, Jesus is the message. In interfaithencounters, the Christian makes accessible thegospel story about the Christ who brings salva-tion to the world. However, our message mustbe presented with humility and grace. “Thecross is not merely the centre of the message

MISSIOLOGICAL REFLECTION CONNECTIONS

2 While I may not fully agree with the views of indi-vidual writers, I commend Rita Gross and TerryMuck’s Buddhists talk about Jesus, Christians talkabout Buddha (New York: Continuum, 2000) asone attempt toward deeper exploration ofChristian-Buddhist dialogues.

of salvation; it is crucial for Christian livingand ministry” (Ralph Covell 1993, 169).Therefore, commitment to Christ is both a pre-requisite and a goal for an Evangelical engage-ment with Buddhists. With a deep commit-ment to Christ, Christians will naturally andlogically enter into missionary encounters forthe purpose of persuading their dialogical part-ners about the truth of the gospel.

The Trinity and the Interfaith Encounter

Johannes Verkuyl proposes that a king-dom-centred theology of our faith must bethoroughly Trinitarian in nature, “It is a theol-ogy that has God the Creator, the Redeemerand the Comforter at its very heart” (Verkuyl1993, 72).

Within a Trinitarian perspective ofInterfaith Encounters, one needs to take intoaccount the role of the Holy Spirit in the worldand in the Church. George Peters insightfullydistinguishes a pre-Pentecost ministry and anextra-Pentecost ministry of the Holy Spirit,

The pre-Pentecost ministry is fully exposedin the Old Testament and in the gospels, whilethe extra-Pentecost ministry relates to worldmissions. We may speak of it as the general oruniversal ministry of the Holy Spirit, keeping inmind that the Holy Spirit is the presence ofGod and is omnipresence. (1972, 76)

A more recent attempt was made byAmos Yong in his article, “Discerning theSpirit(s) in the World of Religions” (ed. JohnStackhouse, 2001). Yong sought to make amethodological claim that “a pneumatologicaltheology of religions not only commits butalso enables Christians to engage empiricallythe world’s religions in a truly substantivemanner with theological questions and con-cerns” (Yong 2001, 38).

What implications can we draw from theuniversal work of the Holy Spirit for ChristianEncounters with Buddhists? First, Christian-Buddhist encounters are possible because theHoly Spirit is the one who reveals the mysteryof the kingdom, and has been active beforeChrist’s earthly ministry and continues toreveal God’s truths to all people, Thais andJapanese included. Evidences of the hiddenwork of the Spirit include revealing truthsabout Christ in dreams to unbelievers, plant-ing in the minds of unbelievers an irresistibledesire to worship the Creator and convictingunbelievers of their sins through their con-science that was created in the image of God.

Second, the active work of the Holy Spiritassures Christians that despite the rebellion ofhumanity and the depravity of certain prac-tices within other religions, humanity has not

been totally left alone (John 16:7-8). “Therewas total depravity but not total destitute anddeprivation” (Peters 1972, 79). The element ofmystery coupled with the ongoing role of theHoly Spirit points to the place of prayer andspiritual discernment in Christian engage-ments. Recognizing the hiddenness of God’sworking in people’s minds and hearts, therole of the Christian in interfaith encounters isto explain truth in an intelligible fashion andto help unbelievers discern God’s work intheir lives. God’s part is to make that trutheffective. In the process of encounter, God canopen the spiritual eyes of unbelievers. Godcan also open the spiritual perceptions of hischildren. Therefore, the interfaith encounter isa discovery process about God for Christiansand Buddhists alike.

Third, a pneumatological engagementalso reminds the Christian of the spiritualbattle of the kingdom (Eph 6:10-18). The realenemy is Satan, who blinds the eyes of unbe-lievers, and not unbelievers themselves (2 Cor4:4). The interfaith encounter proceeds witha combined attitude of prayer and spiritualwarfare against the powers of darkness as wellas reconciliation and compassion towardunbelievers. Prayer that centres on the realenemy will generate within believers an atti-tude of dependence upon the Lord as well asan attitude of humility and compassion inrelation to people of other faiths.

Drawing to a Close

In conclusion, the ultimate uniqueness ofJesus Christ in the heart of God began sincethe salvation history of Israel of God establish-ing His kingship over the nations throughIsrael. The Asian church today is a pilgrimcommunity that continues in this continuingstory of redemption. At the heart of God’skingdom is a King named Jesus. Withoutnaming the King as Jesus, no community ofthe King can claim to usher in the biblicalkingdom! Therefore, real encounter can onlybe undertaken when the Christian is commit-ted to the Lord Jesus but then seeks to allowGod to teach and reveal Himself within apenultimate framework of understanding. Heis open for Buddhists to teach Him aboutGod. This is possible due to his willingness tosubmit to the Lordship of Christ, who is big-ger than his traditions and his church, andthen to allow the Holy Spirit of the inspiredscriptures to be his guide. In encounteringBuddhists, the Christian must belong to a realrather than fictitious community of faith.Therefore, syncretism will eventually be guard-ed by scriptures, the Holy Spirit and a localEvangelical community of faith. Ultimately,the Christian needs to possess a theologicalframework that places Jesus Christ as theSaviour and Lord, a framework that the theol-ogy of Jesus’ total kingship demands. <<

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Kang San Tan worked several years for OMF International as the Director for MissionsResearch in Malaysia. At present he teaches at Redcliffe College, UK. He is also amember of the Global Missiology Taskforce of the WEA-Mission Commission. His

interests are on Asian Theology and Christian Encounter with Muslims and Buddhists.

VOL. 5 • NO.1 MISSIOLOGICAL REFLECTION

REFERENCESCovell, Ralph. 1993. “Jesus Christ and world religions”. ‘The good news of the kingdom: Mission theology for the third millennium,’ ed. Charles Van Engen, Dean S. Gilliland, and Paul Pierson, 162-171. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Coward, Harold. 2000. ‘Scripture in the world religions’. Oxford: Oneworld.

Dumbrell, William J. 1984. ‘Covenant and creation: An Old Testament covenantal theology’. Exeter: Paternoster Press.

Groome, Thomas. 1991. ‘Sharing faith: A comprehensive approach to religious education and pastoral ministry’. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

Gross, Rita M. and Terry C. Muck. eds. 2000. ‘Buddhists talk about Jesus, Christians talk about Buddha’. New York: Continuum.

Newbigin, Lesslie. 1981. “The gospel among the religions”. ‘Faith meets faith’, ed. Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky, 3-19. GrandRapids: Eerdmans.

Peters, George W. 1972. ‘A biblical theology of missions’. Chicago: Moody Press.

Stott, John. 1975. ‘Christian mission in the modern world’. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Verkuyl, Johannes. 1993. “The kingdom of God: Test of validity for theology of religions”. ‘The good news of the kingdom: Mission theologyfor the third millennium’, ed. Charles Van Engen, Dean S. Gilliland, and Paul Pierson, 71-81. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Williams, Paul. 1989. ‘Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations’. London:

Routledge. 2002. ‘The Unexpected Way: On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism’. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.

Wright, Christopher. 1984. The Christian and other religions: The biblical evidence. ‘Themelios’ 9 (2): 4-14.

Yong, Amos. 2001. “Discerning the Spirit(s) in the World of Religions: Toward a Pneumatological Theology of Religions”. ‘No other Gods before me? Evangelicals and the challenge of religions’, ed. John G. Stackhouse, 37-61.

Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

News from Comibam

Under the motto “The whole gospelfrom the South to all the nations” fromDecember 7th to the 10th delegations of thenational movements of Argentina, Chile,Paraguay and Uruguay were summoned.Each one of the assistants made significant

efforts to participate and together look forchallenges, forces and resources with thepurpose of achieving an advance in thecooperation and missionary action. The fol-lowing challenges arose, which we make ourown and we commit to face:

We find that this congress was a state-ment for the whole South Cone movement,and that COMIBAM is going in the rightdirection, since it emphasizes a mission basedon the local church. Almost in a systematicway, its centrality in the mission was empha-sized in most of the plenary ones and on theother hand, the studies were directed tostrengthen and help it to articulate itsinvolvement.

We have been called to understand thechurch’s mission as an act of obedience. Thechurch has an unavoidable responsibility, toput the gospel within the reach of all. If thechurch doesn’t make it, it not only disobeysJesus Christ but it also deprives etnolingüisticsgroups of hearing the good news of salvation.

We heard a clear call to evaluate ourchurch, our own lives, the kind of Christianswe are, and of the sources of our theologyand missiology. Also, a call came forth totransform the church through its members,taking them to become unconditionalChristians—active instruments in the globalevangelization.

In all plenary sessions we were systemati-cally challenged to contextualize our missionprocesses, not only to transplant the churchbut also to establish it among those who areunreached. In that way we give answers tothose in need of salvation and to those thatdemand our involvement and service for theirpersonal, social well-being and for their future.

We declare that:

•In spite of some difficult experiences and ofsome disagreements, the cooperation contin-ues to be possible, and that is the desire ofGod’s heart for his church. The cooperation isthe alternative for making viable the executionof the enormous missionary task of the churchfrom the South Cone to all the nations.

•We recognized with enthusiasm that if thechurch, agencies, and training centers listedhere took our mission seriously, the dreamof a missionary force from the South wouldbe possible to reach.

Declaration of SantiagoCOMIBAM South Cone - Santiago de Chile - December 10th, 2005

One of the lessons we learned as Ibero-American Missions Movement during COMIBAM’97 was that we needed to develop a renewal and training process for our leadership.

During our first International Assembly, COMIBAM took a step forward by handing themovement’s control to the base leadership of each national missionary movement. This tran-sition experience has been a challeging,one, but also satisfactory. Being aware of the dynam-ics and the new challenges the third Ibero-American Missionary Congress will bring to the

movement, COMIBAM’s boardof directors decided to estab-lish a transition process in thechairmanship. During the firstInternacional Assembly in year2000, David D. Ruiz M.,guatemalan, was elected aspresident. Later, during thesecond International Assemblyin 2003, he was re-elected fora new term which will end inNovember 2006.

During their last ordinarymeeting, COMIBAM’s board of

directors elected Mr. CarlosScott, regional director for the South Cone, as president-elect. It is expected that Mr. Scottworks alongside with Mr. Ruiz in a transition process during the next year. Carlos Scott isa business administrator, has been a pastor in Argentina and now works full time forCOMIBAM in his country, as well as in the South Cone region. He is committed with themissionary movement and has done excellent work all over his region. As president-elect,he will assume COMIBAM’s chairmanship in November 2006, at the closing of the thirdIbero-American Missionary Congress.

We would appreciate your prayers and your support for Carlos Scott, his wife Alicia andhis children during this transition and learning process.

Press ReleaseLeadership Transition in COMIBAM International

40

Mr. Carlos ScottDavid Ruiz

SOUTH AFRICA 2006 CONSULTATION CONNECTIONS

•The cross-cultural mission is relevant when itis biblical, following the example of Christ’sincarnation; when it depends on the impulseof the Spirit, and on the power of God; butnot on the plans, neither the administrativegifts, nor somebody’s resources.

•This congress has allowed us, so much forthe wealth of its proposals as for the cultur-al diversity of the companies, to grow in amore global thought of the mission and toleave the regional neutrality and by doingso to take the initiative with a learningemphasis for other geographical regions,especially those that compose the majorityof the world.

•Aware of this, we make a call to the churchesin Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguayso that they may restore the primordial pur-pose of the church which is to recover thepreaching of the whole gospel that allows thesinner to know not only his distressing situa-tion but also salvation’s hope, to be consti-tuted of a community that acts by directingthe lost ones of the ends of the earth with acall of “come,” to recognize that the time isshort, that the coming of the Lord is immi-nent, and that our duty is to make a boldeffort to contribute to the inclusion of allethnicities, tribes, towns, and nations in theglorious adoration of the Lamb, just as it isshown in John’s vision in Revelation.

Santiago de Chile, December 10th of 2005 <<

VOL. 5 • NO.1 MOVIE REVIEW

“I am tired of all the mess you create and I have decided to take a vacation, because nobody is of iron, so I needa rested saint who can take care of things during my absence.” (God, in God is Brazilian)

The Brazilians are probably not the only ones that claim that God identifies himself with their nationality. But, dueto the richness of the country, the enormous variety of species in the flora and the fauna, the beautiful blend ofraces, and the peaceful behavior of the population, one can wonder if God is not Brazilian after all.

In 2002, a movie called God is Brazilian premiered and has enjoyed great success in the country. The film is avail-able with English subtitles, but has not been sold outside of Brazil—perhaps because only Brazilians believe in thetitle. The movie, based on a novel by João Ubaldo Ribeiro, tells the story of God coming to Northeast Brazil lookingfor a saint that could replace him for a month. God is played by Antonio Fagundes, one of the most famous actorsof TV novels in the country. God, tired of trying to bring order into the mess human beings always create, needs aholiday. Being Brazilian, he tries to find a “countryman” to take over His burden for a while.

The first person God meets is Taoca, a fisherman and tire repairman with big debts. Taoca soon realizes that guid-ing God during his search for the “saint” can help him fix his financial problems. Taoca is played by Wagner Moura,known for his ability to play regional characters with local colloquialism. On their first stop in the Northeast of Brazil,God and Taoca find Mada, a young lady played by Paloma Duarte, who follows them in their journey through theinterior of the states of Alagoas, Pernambuco and Tocantins.

Quinca das Mulas is the man God is looking for. God has heard about the generosity and the abnegation of thisman, and believes that he is the one who could replace him. Eventually, they find him in the Amazon, living with anIndian tribe. The problem is that the “Saint” Quinca das Mulas is an atheist and does not want to take God’s place.

Taoca has other suggestions of people who could take the job, including himself, but God decides to go back toheaven and wait on the vacation for another occasion.

Most significantly, apart from the beautiful landscapes and the humoristic way of telling the story, the film portraysmany beliefs and prejudices that people have about God. The expectation of divine miracles, the idea of someonewho fixes everything in the end (the famous Brazilian “jeitinhos”), the spiritual masks that people use believing thatthey can deceive God… these are some of the themes the film deals with. The only person that receives praisesfrom God is a humble protestant pastor celebrating a wedding in a poor village, who is talking more about the great-ness of the Lord than following a traditional wedding liturgy.

In a syncretistic context like Brazil, with an official church that has incorporated a lot of superstition, animistic beliefsand spiritualistic rites, the film presents an unexpected realism and self-criticism of Brazilian society. It shows also thata nation permeated by Christian traditions has enormous difficulties in the cohesion of faith and practice. Certainly,that is as true for the Evangelicals as for other Christians in our country. Thankfully, our hope is based on the graceand the mercy of God. After all, He is Brazilian.

Title: God is Brazilian (Deus é Brasileiro) - Director: Carlos Diegues - With: Antonio Fagundes, PalomaDuarte and Wagner Moura - Based on a novel by João Ubaldo Ribeiro. 2002

GOD IS BRAZILIAN Film Review by Bertil Ekstrom

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Next issue of Connections will report on the Global Mission Summitand will be published in September 2006.

The book is interesting for the rangeof material it covers – from historicalquestions of evangelical identity inthe West to the rapid expansion ofevangelicalism including the rise ofPentecostalism and indigenouschurches which gives evangeli-calism a very different lookfrom its expression in theWest. The first background chap-ters do set the scene for the rest ofthe book, discussing the many ambi-guities inherent within evangelical-ism – its association with colonialismand yet how the new emergingchurches are often found among theleast powerful in society. Theunseemly scramble for Africa isthere, the understanding of missionas modernization as well as transla-tion into the vernacular which nur-tured a growing ethnic conscious-ness and an evangelicalism thatcould flourish within their own cul-tures and contexts.

The chapters from the various coun-tries provide some fascinating

insights – Daneel argues fromZimbabwe that the AIC’s are essen-tially grassroots liberation move-ments, very different from LatinAmerican liberation theology ofwhich they have never heard, but

rather liberation as “an intu-itively lived reality” (194).And so their liberation is lived

out at a variety of levels includ-ing political and environmental.Davidson argues that in the SouthPacific the missionaries did notunderstand the new indigenousmovements, treating them as aberra-tions and so contributing to theircontinuance. A fascinating chapter onChina looks at the reasons for dis-content in the Chinese church with aplea by the author to focus on inclu-sion and cooperation rather thanexclusion and confrontation. He con-cludes that China’s need for “culturallegitimacy and a strict, unbendingorthodoxy” (107) is a fundamentalcultural problem that needs to beovercome. The chapter on India iswide-ranging mainly considering the

evangelical rhetoric of conversionwithin the Indian context and howthis has led to misunderstandingsand violence.

The chapter on Latin AmericanPentecostalism attempts to survey themain characteristics of Latin AmericanPentecostalism including its recentand rapid growth. Freston warns usto be cautious with statistics ofPentecostalism and he investigatesthe reasons for the segmentation ofLatin American Pentecostalism. Heargues that Pentecostals are doingbetter than the Roman Catholicsbecause they are closer to popularculture, they accommodate the poorin general, there is a clear breakbetween the old and the new astransformation of lifestyle is empha-sized and there is less racism asPentecostals are darker in leadershipand membership. He also exploresthe growth of female membershipand how Pentecostalism has beengood for women.

Hanciles offers a thought provokingchapter on the growth of Christianityand the nature of conversion inWest Africa. He clearly points outthat much of West Africa is notChristian, that it has to contend withIslam and that primal religion is stillstrong. He makes a plea for balan-cing a positive global perspective onChristian growth in Africa with localand regional realities and effectivelyillustrates this from West Africa.The final chapter by David Martinprovides a kind of synthesis wherehe briefly considers the influence ofevangelicalism on global society, pick-ing up some of the book’s themesand providing a helpful globaloverview. Overall, the book providesan in-depth, balanced and carefulassessment of the impact of evangel-icalism during the last century. Bookssuch as this force us to acknowledgethat evangelicalism really is a globalmovement which requires seriousstudy, analysis and assessment. Thiscollection of essays certainly helps usto do just that. <<

Christianity Reborn, The Great Expansionof Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century

42

This is the most recent volume in the “Studies in the History ofChristian Missions” series. Written mainly by historians of religion itanalyzes and explores the expansion of evangelicalism (includingcharismatic Christianity) in the Majority world. The book is divided intofive sections. The first section looks at the historical background of therise of evangelicalism. The second section discusses the growth ofevangelicalism in parts of Asia and Oceania in the twentieth century.The third section has two chapters on Africa, the continent whereevangelicalism has been growing most rapidly. Section four surveysthe recent scholarship on Latin American Pentecostalism in a singlechapter and the final section gives a sociological analysis on theglobal spread of Christianity by David Martin

Cathy Ross

Vol. 5. No.1

WEA Mission Commission

Vijverlaan 33062 HH RotterdamThe Netherlands

Dr. William D. TaylorEditor

Mr. Kees van der WildenManaging Editor

Mr. K. Rajendran, chair MissionCommissionconsulting editor

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Connections is published in theNetherlands by Initialmedia onbehalf of the WEA MissionCommission.

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ISSN 1872-1974

Cathy Ross completed an MA in French andGerman from Auckland University before studying

with her husband at All Nations Christian College inthe UK. They spent time in Rwanda and Belgium

prior to working with the Anglican Church for threeyears in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From

1991 – 1998 she worked for the ChurchMissionary Society. She is married to Steve and theyhave three children. Cathy completed her doctoratein 2003 and spent the latter half of 2003 lecturing

at Uganda Christian University with her family.

Donald M Lewis (ed), (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2004) 324pp.

COLOPHON BOOK REVIEW

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