Abstract
Mission agencies birthed during the modern missionary movement, according to Ingleby, need reassessment in light of the postmodern climate. The “Domination System,” current society in opposition to God, includes fallen powers—specifically globalization and colonialism—which lead to depression, addiction, and other life destroying “monsters.” These powers, left ignored, infiltrate the church rendering its witness irrelevant. (p. 3–9)
Ingleby suggests mission agencies can help retain a relevant witness by engaging postmodern disciplines. Postcolonial studies, for example, reveal the negative consequences of colonial external control. Western missionaries frequently attempt to control churches of the “Global South,” both theologically and financially (p. 71–90). Instead, foreign workers should strive for local church stability made stronger through “hybridity,” the fragmentation and subsequent unification of two cultures resulting in a new hybrid culture and community (p. 91–108).
New mission agencies must reject “binary,” or “Us–Them,” attitudes and view mission as “from everywhere to everywhere.” Autonomous churches serving together can start local, non-hierarchical, Christ-centered communities that stand in stark contrast to the “Domination System” (p. 114–19).
The missionary experience of Ingleby in India enables him to identify colonial tendencies of local churches among the formerly colonized, and he urges the global church to erase the mistreatment of subaltern peoples, tumble hierarchical systems, and resist submission to evil political and economic powers. The missional church, he correctly asserts, must move forward with hope in the reality of Christ’s resurrection, proclaiming the Gospel and helping the weak. By emphasizing mission partnership between Western and Global South Churches, Ingleby offers practical advice for helping unified Christian mission materialize.
The book itself exemplifies hybridity. Postcolonial studies and missiology intertwine via an interchange of terminology to create a description and critique of the modern missionary movement. This mixing of disciplines by Ingleby demonstrates the benefit of the church wrestling with modern and postmodern thought, revealing the felt needs of non-Christians as well as sin within the church hampering Christian mission.
Ingleby argues for hybridity as a new mission strategy. However, the mixture of postcolonial and mission dialectic dilutes the meaning of terminology within these distinctive fields. Hybridity, within postcolonial discourse, is rooted in skeptical, anti-metanarrative ideology, not in the Christian Scripture. If hybridity is to express Biblical mission strategy and not lead to syncretism, it cannot retain its postmodern baggage. The book can spark further discussion among Christian mission agencies and academia about hybridity and contextualization.