My Mind is Spinning!

July 31, 2010

I’m reflecting on the study for tomorrow morning - The Church as the Missionary. Today, in a fitting exercise of this truth, a group of 25 from KCBT began the long flight to China for a potentially life-transforming experience of teaching English as a second language (ESL).

Over the past few weeks I have intentionally made statements and shared statistics designed to awaken complacent American believers to the realities of today’s world. We are no longer the leaders in world missions and have not been for some time. But, there has never been a better time for the church to grasp its true biblical role as a missionary church.

For centuries Christendom (in the sense of those predominately Western countries where Christianity has dominated in a formal or informal cultural hegemony) has seen itself as the heart of culture and everything in its periphery as the mission field. With the decline of Christianity and its influence in the West, those of us in the United States are now standing on the periphery of the world Christian movement and smack in the middle of an emerging mission field. Such a situation demands a radically new understanding of how we view the world around us.

If all you understand from this is that the church is no longer growing here but is in the rest of the world, you miss the most significant point of all. Peruvian missiologist Samuel Escobar expresses the point well by the title of his book The New Global Mission: the Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone.

In a massive, landmark new volume called Invitation to World Missions, Timothy C. Tennent says,

The major point to recognize, however, is that never before has the church had so many dramatic and simultaneous advances into multiple new cultural centers. It is not as if the story of our time were the withering away of Christianity in the West and the dramatic growth of Christianity in Africa, which will become the new standard-bearer of Christian vitality. Instead, we are now experiencing what John Mbiti calls multiple new “centers of universality.” Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Latinos, and Africans, among others, can all legitimately claim that they are at the center of the world Christian movement. … The new reality of the church is that it can only be fully appreciated from a global perspective. (p. 37)

Amidst all the talk of doom and gloom, God is orchestrating amazing advances of the Gospel on multiple fronts. What a fantastic time to be alive!

http://hindsey.com Andy Hinds

“Over the past few weeks I have intentionally made statements and shared statistics designed to awaken complacent American believers to the realities of today’s world. We are no longer the leaders in world missions and have not been for some time.”

Dr. Adams, I will be listening to your recent messages online to hear some of your messages on the Mission, but do you know of any good sources that documents some of those statistics? I’m wondering in which way those statistics are being measured, that the U.S. is not the leader in world missions. Or, are the two that you reference here good places to start?

Thanks for writing these things. They have been challenging and encouraging to me.

http://www.kcbt.org Jeff Adams

Great question, Andy. The problem is knowing where to start. The two books I mention are fine, but the statement that the US no longer is the sole leader in global missions is simply common knowledge among those actively involved in the world of mission and not dependent upon a single study or set of statistics, but rather multiple studies and statistics dating back decades. This is not to say that the US is not involved in mission leadership; they most definitely are. But consider that South Korea now sends out over 1100 cross cultural missionaries per year – more than all Western nations combined. The number of cross-cultural missionaries from Latin America now exceeds 9,000 and some suspect the figure could be as high as 12,000. In 1973, there were 3411 non-Western cross-cultural missionaries. Now there are 103,000. This compares to about 60,00 from all the agencies in the US combined. Today, there are more Spanish-speaking Christians than those who speak English as their native language. By mid century, if not sooner, the average Christian will be non-white and live in the Southern hemisphere. In Africa an average of 40 new churches are started each day, or 1200 a month. In the US each year, three times as many churches close as open.

In addition to the two books I already mentioned, some that come immediately to mind and are not too heavily academic are Borderless Church: Shaping the Church for the 21st Century by David Lundy; Changing Face of World Missions, The by Michael Pocock, Gailyn van Rheehen and Douglas McConnell; or, We are the World: Globalizaton and the Changing Face of Missions by David Lundy. A heavier book, but one that is of great influence and heavy on research is Philip Jenkins The Next Christendom. As always, book are outdated as soon as they come off the press. Much of the best research and information is published in scholarly journals and appears online.

If you are truly interested in coming up to speed about what is really happening in the world of missions, the very best recommendation I could make to you is to enroll in the Perspectives Course that comes out of the US Center for World Missions in Pasadena, Ca. This course is probably the most powerful tool today for changing the world-view, or perspective of Christians when it comes to the mission. This is a serious 15 week college level course that is offered in many different places around the country. In fact, one can even get credit from Trinity International University if desired. The is less to just go for the certificate. We are excited to offer an intensive version of this course in connection with our Summit next year. This intensive course is intended for pastors and ministry professionals who are not free to attend a 15 week version. The reading and research projects required for Perspectives would answer your question in short order. Blessings!

JLC

La misión como nunca antes…? o mas bien como al principio, ya que si vemos el resultado de la influencia de los primeros discipulos fue llenar todo con el evangelio, transformando su mundo ..These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.. definitivamente creo que este es nuestro tiempo de hacer lo mismo.

Jeff Adams

My Mind is Spinning!