Category Archives: Global trends

Have we been invited?

Cross-cultural partnership, Global Christian mission, Global trends, Quotes, articles & books related to cross-cultural partnership, Short-term missions, Uncategorized

I recently read this in Lesslie Newbigin’s The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission.

All thinking about the world mission of the church today must thankfully and joyfully take into account of the fact that the “home base” of missions is now nothing less than the worldwide community, and every proposed expression of the church’s missionary outreach must be tested by asking whether it can be accepted by the whole ecumenical family as an authentic expression of the gospel.

I wonder what would happen if all short-term mission efforts began with some simple questions? Do you want us to come? Will you accept our mission efforts? What a grand idea—to be asked to be accepted by the church community in a host country—instead of assuming that we are needed, we must go, and they must accommodate us. So many short-term mission efforts are done more for the experience of the goers, than for those who are supposedly being served. When one considers the billions being spent on just the jet fuel for short-term missions, we need to seriously ask, What are the strategic long term benefits?

There is a huge need for training in short-term missions and partnership with indigenous ministries. This is why Mission ONE has developed The Beauty of Partnership learning journey. Would you like to join the journey with us?

A post-American world—for cross-cultural partnership?

Cross-cultural partnership, Global Christian mission, Global trends, Uncategorized
The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria
The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria

CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria came out with a book in 2008 entitled The Post-American World. I just ordered it, believing that he may have something to contribute to our understanding of Christian mission in our world today.

“This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.” So begins Fareed Zakaria’s important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the “rise of the rest”—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.

“… a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures.” Hmm. Sounds like part of the argument for cross-cultural ministry partnerships in the global church. A parallel statement relative to Christian world missions is that … we live in a world in which the Western church will no longer dominate the world Christian movement, be the primary leader of international mission consultations, or overwhelm cultures.

Because of the growth of the world Christian movement, the center of gravity of Christianity has shifted from the west to the “global south”—also referred to as the “majority world.” One of the leading authorities on the history of the church and the world Christian movement is Scottish missiologist Andrew Walls. In 2000, Walls wrote:

andrew_wallsThe twentieth century has been the most remarkable of all the Christian centuries since the first. Within this century, the composition of the Christian church, ethnically and culturally, has changed out of recognition. On the one hand, there has been a great retreat from Christianity. That retreat has been centered in the west, and especially in western Europe, where active Christian profession has dramatically receded. At the same time, there has been a massive accession to Christian faith. One has to go back many centuries for any parallel to the number of new Christians and new Christian communities. This accession has taken place outside the west, in southern continents, including many areas where, before the present century, Christians were few in number.

At the beginning of this century, some 83% of those who professed the Christian faith lived in Europe and North America. Now, some 60% (probably) live in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Pacific Islands, and that proportion is rising every year. The center of gravity of the Christian church has moved sharply southwards. The representative Christianity of the twenty-first century seems set to be that of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific region. These areas look destined to be the launch pad for the mission of the church in the twenty-first century.

(To download the full article by Andrew Walls, click here.)

The implications for global Christian mission could not be more profound. Many mission leaders and mission organizations in the West have recognized the need to shift our approach to world evangelization from leadership to partnership.

Could it be that a “post-American world” is one in which the visible unity in the global church will be demonstrated by millions of examples of healthy cross-cultural partnership? We believe that many within the church are watching—along with many who are outside of the church—to see how well the exceedingly diverse communities of the global church can effectively work together.

Could it be that in the 21st century, God’s people will work in a cooperative rather than antagonistic way—
so Christ’s hope and vision of unity from John 17:21 can be more fully realized? Could it be that “a post-American world” will help create an environment for the global church so that this hope will become a reality?

Three trends that point to partnership with indigenous ministries as a vital missions movement

Cross-cultural partnership, Global Christian mission, Global trends, Indigenous ministries, Training, Uncategorized

The three trends are: 1) Globalization, 2) Non-Western missionary movement, and 3) Short-term missions movement (STM).

1) Globalization: Globalization has had 
a huge impact on the practice of world missions. [1] It is marked by the widespread use of digital technology and the Internet, low-cost international travel, dramatically lower cost for global communications, the growth of global markets, and financial interdependence. While globalization offers many benefits that have accrued to Christian world missions, there are also aspects of globalization, which, when used uncritically, can undermine the growth and mission of the church. [2]

Non-Western and Western Evangelicals2) Non-Western missionary movement: The chart at right [3] compares and projects 
the growth of the number of non-Western evangelicals relative to Western evangelicals from 1960 to 2020. This growth is in part a testimony to the success of missionaries sent from Western nations to Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as to the receptivity of the gospel among harvest nations. It also gives witness to the transforming power of the Word of God when translated into the heart language of any people group. [4] The Lord has raised up countless new churches and Christian mission structures in hidden or obscure communities all over the world.

3) Short-term missions (STM): The dramatic growth of short-term missions in recent years represents both amplified opportunity and amplified threat. It is estimated that some 1.5 to 
2 million laypersons from North America visit the mission field every year. Whether the human and financial resources being expended are making a long-term difference is questioned by many. One non-Western Christian leader speaks of such mission trips as the “elephant dancing with the mouse.” [5] More often than not, “the mouse gets hurt.” Others point to the many accomplishments of STMs on the field and renewed enthusiasm for missions for the Western returnees. Care must be taken that STMs and cross-cultural partnerships do not foster another form of colonialism. [6]

So the movement of partnership with indigenous ministries—or partnership with nationals—is concurrent with these major global trends. It is one reason that cross-cultural partnership is not just a missions fad, but a vital mission strategy for the church in the world today. Furthermore, we believe at Mission ONE that training is essential in order to realize the full potential for accomplishing global Christian mission through cross-cultural partnership … and this is the purpose of The Beauty of Partnership learning journey.

Can you think of other trends that contribute to—or challenge—the movement of partnership with nationals?

FOOTNOTES

1. See Friedman, Thomas: The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)
2. See Guinness, Os: “Mission modernity: seven checkpoints on mission in the modern world,” from Sampson, Samuel, Sugden, eds: Faith and Modernity (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 1992), p. 322-325. This article was originally presented at Lausanne II in Manilla (1989) and remains an incisive commentary on this issue. While Guinness does not use the word ’globalization,’ his article on modernity is completely suitable and appropriate to this subject.
3. Myers, Bryant: Exploring World Mission: Context & Challenges (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2003) p. 53. Based on information from Operation World by Johnstone & Mandryk (Paternoster, 2001).
4. See Sanneh, Lamin: Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003) 
p. 10–11
5.See Adeney, Miriam: “When the Elephant Dances, the Mouse May Die” (Short-Term Missions Today, 2003-2004 Issue) p. 86–89
6.See Livermore, David: Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 2006