Abstract
The title of Consuming Mission points to an irony revealed by Haynes’s research: while Christians should become consumed by the mission of God, the contemporary practice of short-term missions (STM) leads to Christians pursuing self-growth experiences. More specifically, the practice of United Methodists in the southeastern United States deviates from theological norms and is more accurately interpreted through the lens of pilgrimage. Haynes summarizes: “My data indicated that experience is a strong motivator for STM participants, at times even more so than biblical mandates for service, evangelism, or the proclamation of the Kingdom of God” (179).
In part 1 Haynes reviews some big-picture perspectives on mission, including the biblical mandate, a history of missions, a Wesleyan perspective, and how STM relate to a larger theology of mission. To cover this much territory, he relies a great deal on other thinkers such as Bosch and thus does not add much original material. Part 2 has Haynes reporting on his findings on the motivations of STM participants. This is the meat and strength of the book. Besides running into logistical problems (through no fault of his own, he could not do his follow-up interviews and had to rely on an online survey tool), there are some tricky methodological issues with this form of research. Motivations are a black box to researchers and individuals alike, which is why social scientists rely on observable behaviors. Haynes nevertheless does a good job at presenting the voices of his subjects and gives a realistic picture of self-reported motivations. Finally, in part 3 Haynes interprets his description, using secondary literature on small groups (Wuthnow), pilgrimage (the Turners), and tourism. The connections between small groups, Methodist class meetings, and STM are an interesting and helpful interpretive framework that makes sense of the data collected. Likewise, the analysis using pilgrimage and tourism studies illuminates the phenomena of STM in new ways.
Haynes has strong opinions about theological and practical norms. “These are issues that a robust theology of mission should address and thus influence the shaping of motivations and subsequent practices” (129). Such comments demonstrate that Haynes believes that an “appropriate” or “robust” theology should shape behavior. Strangely, the Emerging Church movement serves as a straw man in pointing out what happens when an appropriate mission theology doesn’t shape practice. In general, Haynes does not do enough theoretical work to connect the theory of his theological norms (as broadly sketched in part 1) to the changed behavior he desires, which would make this part of the book convincing. However, his descriptive and interpretative analysis (centering on small groups, pilgrimage, tourism, and the role of experience in contemporary American society) is valuable and makes an innovative contribution to understanding a widespread mission phenomenon.