Abstract
McGavran and his fellow theorists and practitioners have achieved unprecedented innovation in Christian mission after William Carey. There are still many scholars and missionaries who are following the respectable footsteps they have left behind. Above all, the innovations of missions that they have shown in numerous mission fields are still valid and have been working in mission fields around the world. This book is a compilation of articles published by the School of Intercultural Studies (ICS, formerly School of World Mission) of the Fuller Theological Seminary after their conference in Pasadena, USA, in 2015. The theme of this conference was “Telling Our Unfinished Story: 50 years of Innovation in Christian Mission . . . and Looking to the Next 50 Years.” This book is divided into two parts, including the assessment of missions accomplished by McGavran and ICS in modern missions and the prospect of future Christian missions. The following is a summary of the main issues in each of the chapters that make up this book. Names and numbers in parentheses refer to author and pages.
Part 1 recalls the innovative achievements of ICS. Over the 50 years, ICS has undergone radical innovation, not a subservient addition to or exclusion from the flows of modern Christian mission. Many of the innovations that McGavran proposed for modern missions, evangelism, discipleship, and church growth still play a central role in evangelical ministry (McIntosh, 19–37). This innovative approach to missions has impacted on the hermeneutic innovations of ICS, including the missiological, thematic, ethno-hermeneutic, spiritual, and scientific lenses of hermeneutics developed by Arthur Glasser and advanced by Van Engen and Shawn B. Redford. The seeds that ICS has sowed over the past 50 years are now bearing fruit all over the world (Bedford, 38–61). In particular, the vibrant indigenous church movement in Papua New Guinea is one of many examples of the realization of the church growth theory established by McGavran and Alan R. Tippett (Gallagher, 62–83). ICS has also demonstrated pioneering leadership for the development of theories and practices for missions, both locally and globally (Ma, 84–106). The field of contextual communication of Christian messages is no exception. Scholars in this book challenge us to examine contemporary missions as to how the gospel is communicated appropriately with indigenous people (Charles Kraft, Paul Hiebert, Charles Van Engen and R. Daniel Shaw) and how theology and churches can be biblically faithful and culturally appropriate (Bazzell, 107–24). Currently, the need for continual development of these innovative ways to evangelize in an effective and culturally appropriate manner is even greater. Therefore, ICS and the Fuller Theological Seminary are planning to implement a new set of initiatives (following in the footsteps of Donald McGavran) to reinvent, innovate, and transform the current theological education in order to help future Christian leaders reenvision more Christlike global Christianity (Lee, 125–39). The impact of ICS on modern missions goes beyond Protestant boundaries. Many of the innovations of SIS over the years have had significant influences on some thinkers and practitioners of Catholic missiology (Bevans, 140–61).
The second part of this book presents the future implications and prospects of ICS innovation. Further innovation in the theology of mission is required for both the church and the underprivileged who live in pain and sorrow, including the theology of power, identity, anger, Holy Spirit, and truth (Christian, 165–77). For successful mission implementation, the Christian mission community needs consilience as mission purpose, contestation as missions’ dynamics to move toward mission purpose, and confession as an ontological motive (Muck, 178–96). As far as Islam and other religions are concerned, Western missions also require new insights from local Christians. By way of example, Christians must accept and respect the fact that Muhammad is a prophet of our Muslim families, neighbors, and friends, and in return, hope that Muslim friends and relatives accept and respect Jesus Christ, whom we believe as Saviour and Lord (Azumah, 197–214). The mission in Roman Catholicism is likewise exploring new paths that are emerging after the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 (Motte, 215–30). Statistical images of European Christianity such as the Atlas of Global Christianity, which have been used as a resource for missiological studies, can make mistakes conveying a distorted image of the spirituality and revival movements of Europe and European Christianity (Kool, 231–49). The African revival and the Pentecostal/charismatic movement as a response to faith can be said to be a contribution of Africa to the study of history, mission, and theology in non-Western situations, now known as world Christianity (Asamoah-Gyadu, 250–66). Today’s Christian mission in which all send and all receive at the same time, must be multidimensional. Moreover, Christ must be at the center of this missiological model (Deiros, 267–83). Although it is dangerous to predict the future, because time belongs solely to the sovereignty of God, missiologists have a mission to encourage worship and missions among all the churches and believers of the world (Sunquist, 285–97).
This book is not only a reflection of ICS’s innovative contributions over the past 50 years, but it also provides rich and valuable resources for future mission innovation. Above all, this book is one of the best-reflecting texts of the polyphonic and polycentric minds that stand as a distinct global trend in the 21st-century missions. In particular, this book reflects the polyphonic nature of modern missions in that it presents diverse views of many theorists and practitioners, including Christian conservatism, evangelicalism, ecumenism, Pentecostalism, and Catholicism. Furthermore, this book tends to be polycentric in that it includes the diverse regional context of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. It is no exaggeration to say that this book itself is the result of the philosophy of innovation that ICS has accumulated over the years. However, the need for more careful consideration of the continuity between the chapters and the relevance to the ICS, particularly in Part 2, can be pointed out as a minor shortcoming of this book. All things taken together, every single page of this book is worth reading for anyone devoted to missions beyond the regions, denominations, and organizations.