Millennials and the Mission of God: A Prophetic Dialogue

By Andrew F. Bush, Carolyn C. Wason and Eloise Meneses

As mainstream media cries out that the millennial generation has killed everything from cereal to office jobs, it must also be asked: have millennials killed Christian missions? With the rise of new technologies, social and political movements, and increasing numbers of religious nones, the church as we know it is facing serious turmoil at the hands of this new generation of adults. Here, a millennial and a baby boomer invite the reader into a dialogue about the future of missions and the future of the Western church. From a missiological reading of the Bible to the contemporary debate over Christian social justice and the ethical dilemmas of evangelism, this book plays out the intergenerational tensions within the church, and provides a platform from which to view the present and future of an institution that is so rapidly changing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Oct 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532633430

Andrew F. Bush

Andrew F. Bush divides his time between teaching and active mission service internationally. He is Professor of Missions and Anthropology at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He has served since 1998 with a Christian organization in the Palestinian West Bank. He previously worked as a church planter in Manila, the Philippines (1987-98). He speaks widely in churches and conferences in the United States.

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Millennials and the Mission of God

A Prophetic Dialogue

Andrew F. Bush and Carolyn C. Wason

Foreword by Eloise Meneses

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Millennials and the Mission of God

A Prophetic Dialogue

Copyright © 2017 Andrew F. Bush and Carolyn C. Wason. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Conversation Begins

Chapter 2: A Boomer’s Spiritual Wanderings

Chapter 3: A Millennial’s Spiritual Journey

Chapter 4: A Wide Mission in a Small Space—Part One

Chapter 5: A Wide Mission in a Small Space—Part Two

Chapter 6: A Millennial Takes Stock of the Importance of Social Justice and Sabbath Rest

Chapter 7: Is There Still Good News?

Chapter 8: In Search of a Spirituality for Renewal

Chapter 9: Finding Our Way Forward

Bibliography

For all my peers who move and shake even when they tell us to stand still and stay in line. You’re the change-makers. Keep it up.

—CCW

For those who went before and helped me in the way.

—AFB

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8

Foreword

By Eloise Meneses

This is a time and a place in which Christians, especially younger ones, are hesitant to speak of their faith with proper confidence (Lesslie Newbigin’s term). They have good reason to hesitate. It is not just that in past centuries Christians crusaded to defend the faith by capturing the Holy Land. Some Christians now seem to have the same mentality, especially in America. To quote from a news magazine about Hindus living in India, The majority has a minority complex.¹ Fearful of being overwhelmed by other positions, a part of the church has taken a militant stance expressed in political terms. Such a mentality should concern all of us who wish to represent Christ in a way that Jesus himself would approve.

In this book, a member of the millennial generation (Carolyn Wason) interacts with a baby boomer (Andrew Bush) over the matter of how best to represent the gospel to a culture that believes it already knows all about Christianity, and judges Christians as ignorant and intolerant. Baby boomers, who came of age in the 1960s, remember a time of confidence, when radical social change was not only valued but thought to be genuinely possible. Millennials, who have just now come of age, are much more reserved in their approach and limited in their expectations. Most of all, they do not want to make the mistake of coercing others to faith in any way. They bear a load of real or imagined responsibility for the failures of the church and its evangelistic strategies, and hope somehow to be witnesses for Christ by showing themselves to be different than the perceptions and stereotypes commonly held of Christians.

The book is written in dialogue form. As Bush and Wason converse about matters of mission, evangelism, and the church, a difference emerges. Baby boomers wrestled, like Pilate, with the matter of truth; millennials wrestle instead with the matter of relevance. According to Wason, the question is not Is it true? but Does it matter? What difference does—or should—Christianity make to American politics, to ecological concerns, to globalization, to human rights, to the work-a-day world, or to life on the internet? Millennials are more aware than previous generations of the complicated nature of problems of social justice, the need for community, and the impact of technology. Christianity may be true, but how does it affect how we live in the (post-) modern world? Wason knows her circumstance well, and expresses it with rich articulate questions, comments, and stories.

As Wason asks the questions, Bush responds and asks questions of his own. With the depth of a lifetime lived as a Christian fully convinced of the gospel, a pastor and missionary to the Philippines and Palestine, and an experienced professor of missiology, he digs into Scripture to find overlooked treasures. Bush reminds us that the world is in real need, that the message should not be confused with the messenger, that the Christian faith is one of humility and the cross, that actually it is God who is the missionary, and that it is our joy to share in the mystery of God’s work in the world.

This book is one of the most powerful I have ever read on the circumstances for the contemporary American church. I am privileged to know both of the writers well. Andrew Bush is my office neighbor and my colleague in training college students for Christian work and ministry. Carolyn Wason was a student in our department (the Department of Missiology and Anthropology at Eastern University) and is now a friend and colleague to both of us. The reader of this book will be able to see the depth of character of each of these authors, along with the ability to write courageously and cogently about difficult issues. There are no platitudes or easy answers here! But the reality of the Christian faith, its ability to change the questions and to provide a way forward that has integrity, comes through in the depth of the conversation, the beauty of the writing, and the power of the experiences reflected upon by the authors.

The authors tell many stories, so I will conclude with one as well. A baby boomer and a millennial walked into a . . . restaurant. The baby boomer said to the millennial, Why are you so hesitant to share your faith? The millennial responded, Why are you so sure it makes a difference? Because I know it is true, and have seen what it has done in my own life, responded the baby boomer. I’m not quite so sure as you are, responded the millennial, but I do want to find a way to bring Jesus to the world that I live in. Then they both sat down to eat together, as Jesus had done with his disciples.

1. Hindus and Muslims, para. 13.

Preface

A Word from Andrew

This book is an in-depth dialogue between two Christians of different generations—a baby boomer and a millennial—and with divergent spiritual journeys and convictions that explores the validity of Western Christian missions. In an age of short attention spans and communication parsed out in ever-shorter messages on social media, this discussion which began in October 2014 has been a surprising journey.

It began as a response to a call for papers in October 2014 by the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS), an association of scholars and practitioners who study issues related to Christian missions. The papers for this conference were to explore problems in contemporary missions. I felt that one of the most urgent challenges facing Western missions is the widening gulf between the conviction that missions is the beating heart of Christianity and the skepticism of millennials—at times even Christian millennials—who are not only wary of Christianity but repelled by Christian missions.

When the call for papers was issued in 2014, I was fortunate to have had Carolyn Wason as one of my students in the Missiology and Anthropology department at Eastern University. Carolyn was—and is—an outstanding scholar, as well as a Christian millennial with an astutely observant critical perspective on Western Christianity and its missions. She is also brave. Not only did she plunge into writing the paper with me—in spite of the fact that her views were a sharp challenge to mine—she also defended herself in the presentation of our paper when it was first delivered in a regional conference of the EMS in New York City, and then at the EMS national conference in Dallas, Texas in September 2015.

The response at the national conference was surprisingly strong. I had warned Carolyn not to expect many to attend our presentation. We had the unfortunate time slot of eight o’clock Sunday morning on the last day of the conference! I thought we would be fortunate if ten people attended. In the last minutes before our presentation was to begin, to my surprise our assigned room quickly filled—with more standing in the hallway! After our presentation, rousing debate broke out, especially between the millennials and the older baby boomers present. Every hard copy of our paper, entitled A Cross-Generational Conversation Concerning the Future of Western Missions, was snatched up. Many requested a digital copy. Our paper was obviously timely, and very relevant. Carolyn and I decided to continue our conversation—and this book was born!

We do not intend to speak for our respective generations, whether millennial or baby boomer, but we both are in touch with our respective generations enough to be able to speak confidently about them. We acknowledge that there are many Christians who will not recognize themselves in our discussion, but judging from our initial responses there are many more that will.

This project would not have been possible without Carolyn’s heart-felt, witty, persistent criticism—both of her generation and of mine. She has helped me hear the millennial voice, as well as provided insight into how deeply Western missions needs renewal if it will remain relevant in the twenty-first century. For Western missions to be renewed in Christ, it will need to listen to Carolyn, and her fellow millennials.

I also want to thank Betsy Morgan, long-time member of the English department at Eastern University, and a frontline activist herself. Betsy has served as our critical reader from the first rough drafts to the final form, helping us sharpen our ideas and our presentation. My wife, Karen, is deserving of credit as she patiently endured the countless hours—days! months!—during which my thoughts were lost in the formation of this project. Credit is also due to Matthew Wimer and the editorial staff of Wipf & Stock whose confidence in this project encouraged us, and whose critical comments helped us sharpen the final text. Needless to say, all remaining shortcomings are my own.

Andrew F. Bush

April 28, 2017 / Royersford, Pennsylvania

A Word from Carolyn

October 2014: I was sitting outside a classroom reading when Andrew (or Dr. Bush, as I referred to him then) walked past, saw me, and turned around. He sat down next to me and said rather abruptly, Carolyn, I’ve noticed how often you disagree with other people in our missiology class. At that moment, overachieving teacher’s pet that I am, I was 110 percent sure that I was about to be in serious trouble for arguing so much. As it turns out, it wasn’t a scolding, but an invitation to cowrite a paper: A Cross-Generational Conversation Concerning the Future of Western Missions. That piece eventually became this book.

It must be noted that I happened upon missiology by accident; for me it was just an offshoot of the anthropology in which I was already knee-deep. At first I found Andrew’s missiology classes incredibly frustrating; there was so much I didn’t know, so much that didn’t make sense, so much that stirred my heart and head and gut into battles with each other. Reading the Bible through a missiological light was like reading it for the first time again. I couldn’t wrap my head around it all, and it drove me nuts. But it was the kind of frustration that kept me coming back—a conversation that, once started, I couldn’t leave unfinished.

So, we wrote the paper. As it turns out, writing a thoughtful critique of another author’s work is considerably more difficult when that author critiques you right back. But that was the point of our paper, and it’s the point of this book. This is a dialogue. Not the kind of conversation that any of us normally have—the kind where I’m only silent because I’m waiting for my turn to reply, and not because I’m actually listening; where I talk over you and you talk over me; and we all end up further affirming our own beliefs and denouncing that of the other. I can say with certainty that my views on Western missions (and my views on baby boomers) have changed since we began this, and I suspect Andrew could say the same. I hope, Reader, that whatever your own views, you will enter this dialogue willing to stand up for what you believe as well as being willing to change your mind.

We enter this dialogue as friends and with a shared goal. We are ever striving to further the Kingdom, to make earth as it is in heaven. We know that our missional efforts are a part of that, and now we are asking how we get there. I hope, when this discussion produces frustration or anger on either side, that we can always call ourselves back to this truth: we are sisters and brothers in Christ, trying to accomplish the same goal.

In all of this, Andrew has been a phenomenal writing partner: a guide and a voice of wisdom, full of patience, humor, and grace. I have produced half a book, but it is his half that makes this something full and real, and arguably something worth reading. For older generations reading this, know that you have found yourselves a powerful representative in Andrew. Millennials, read Andrew’s passages slowly and with care. We deserve to lend our ear to older generations, even when—or perhaps precisely because—we can’t fathom why they do what they do.

My thanks are likewise extended to Betsy, a reader with an eye like a hawk who wields the editing pen precisely as a sharp knife. This book would be much less of a book without her. Thanks to family and friends who read my drafts, listened to me process and ponder, suggested books and articles to read, and put up with all the times when I bragged a bit too much. Particular thanks to my parents and dog, who put up with more of all that than everyone else. And of course, to the teachers and professors that taught me how to think, not what to think, and (to quote Mark Twain) never let schooling interfere with my education, but rather made space for me to ask questions.

In Christ,

Carolyn C. Wason

July 1, 2017 / Belfast, Maine

Abbreviations

Scripture Abbreviations

Hebrew Bible / Old Testament:

New Testament:

Introduction

Andrew: Shaken to the Foundations

I’ve only experienced a major earthquake once, and once is enough for it to leave a permanent impression of the terror that strikes when the most stable thing we earth dwellers know—the ground itself—begins to move beneath our feet. I was driving in the province of Laguna, south of Manila, the Philippines. Packed in an old car with kids and friends from out of town, I was apprehensive when our car began to sway. My first thought was that an axle or U-bolt was broken, so I slowed to a complete stop. But the car continued swaying left and right even more! Then I noticed terrified families running from their nearby homes. With her face a mask of pure panic, one lady wrapped her arms around a tree, trying to secure herself by anything that wasn’t moving. Someone shouted in Tagalog: Lindol! Earthquake! We all began to scream at that point: Earthquake! We had no idea what to do. Stay in the car? Run? But where? It was a long minute.

A thoroughly disorienting shaking is occurring today. It is not a geological shifting of our most sure axis of orientation. Rather, it is the tectonic plates of culture, and the plates of religion—especially Christianity—that are shifting around us. The shift is profoundly confusing to many, even terrifying. If this cultural shift now casts Christianity as an enemy of personal growth and a meaningful life, where will we turn? What can we wrap our arms around?

Just as geologist can map the edges of the plates in the earth’s crust and predict where earthquakes will likely occur, there are obvious tension points in America’s cultural and social geography. These include attitudes about gender, sexual orientation and same-sex marriage; the wealth gap between the average worker and the immensely wealthy class; and the gap between educated tech-savvy individuals and those left behind with increasingly obsolete job skills. Another most significant tension point is between generational perspectives on religion. As Christianity is the majority faith in the United States, the ever-widening chasm in attitudes toward faith between those tagged as millennials and the large American demographic known as baby boomers is most concerning.

This book is a no-holds-barred dialogue about contemporary American Christianity between myself, an acknowledged evangelical baby boomer born in 1950, and a former student (but now colleague), Carolyn Wason, most definitely a millennial. More specifically, our dialogue focuses on some of Western Christianity’s most problematic traditions: missions and evangelism—though the discussion ripples out to other related issues.² Because of who we are this discussion crosses perspectival fault lines of age, gender, spiritual journeys, and professor versus student.

Why is this discussion important? First, because we are in a day of increasing division, the hard work of hearing the other is critical if our society is not to be ripped to shreds. Second, both Carolyn and I value Christianity. We both are concerned for its abuse at the hands of an evangelicalism which molds Christianity into its own image, or of millennials who would render it useless by relativizing its claims until Christian faith has no more significance than a greeting card’s platitudes. We are both concerned for—though from divergent perspectives—the condition of Christian missions including evangelism, social justice, and Christian spirituality.

Speaking personally, this dialogue is important because, if the king has no clothes, it is really doing him a favor to point that out before his folly deepens. Evangelical Christianity has been so very sure of itself, always willing to tell people what they need—a Christianity that looks like theirs—and so defensive when people question its assumed rightness. As an evangelical—believing in the authority of the Bible and the importance of sharing the good news of Jesus as Savior—I can say we need to get out of the echo chamber and learn to listen both to the respectful and even to our harsh detractors. We need to listen, because our engagement with society will be less and less effective if we continue to rely on yesterday’s social acceptance (quickly evaporating), theologies, and strategies while turning a deaf ear to those on the margins who can easily see how power has corrupted what should be beautiful: the message of Jesus.

Speaking of listening, a comment about our title is in order. The term the mission of God, or its Latin version, "the missio Dei,"³ refers to the full-orbed way in which God intends to redeem the world and restore it to wholeness and life. This recalls the apostle Paul’s statement concerning the breadth of God’s redeeming work:

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col

1

:

19–20

)⁴

Because of the holistic nature of the mission of God, our dialogue is wide-ranging.

Our discussion is also a prophetic dialogue; we intend to listen closely to each other, but also speak forth what we each regard as important truth to the other. Further, as our dialogue develops, it is clear that we tend to agree on the fact that missions needs to move toward thoughtful dialogue rather than blunt proclamation, while at the same time including in such dialogue convictions concerning the gospel.

The term prophetic dialogue was developed within a Roman Catholic community, the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), that sought a term for missions that was not colonial in nature.⁵ This term was further developed and clarified by missiologists Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, both members of the SVD.⁶ We hope that our dialogue further illuminates and does justice to this dynamic concept.

Carolyn:

Sometimes when I get really frustrated by the latest hot-button religious issue—someone complaining about Christians complaining about the state of society—I stop and think about Martin Luther. The dude was just trying to make a few suggestions (well, ninety-five of them), and he ended up with a full-out religious revolution on his coattails. We have a tendency to assume that Christianity in the West is in a greater state of peril than ever before. Maybe it is, or maybe we’re just louder about it. At any rate, Luther didn’t just sit around and take a papal reprimand; he rose to the challenge of a reformation. Are we facing a Reformation 2.0? Probably not. But Andrew is right—something is shifting, the tides are changing. The church is on the brink of something new.

A few days ago, a young man responding to a passing comment I made about theology, said "Religion is fine and all, but Christians are all just so