Mission in Motion: Speaking Frankly of Mobilization

Never before has the phenomenon of mission mobilization been so broadly researched.

In a vein similar to Too Valuable To Lose and Worth Keeping, the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission commissioned a research team to investigate what motivates people into mission service from around the globe. Mobilization practitioners recorded, translated and transcribed hundreds of hours of interview dialogue that explored reasons for mission involvement from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North and South America, Oceania, East Asia, South Asia and East Africa. The data was subsequently analyzed to draw out common themes, and Mission In Motion presents the results of this research.

This book is the first definitive exploration of the recent history, ministries and methods of mission mobilization. The evangelical missions community is expending much energy and resource trying to raise up workers for the Lord’s harvest, but is it helping? Are the means, models, methods, and mechanisms being applied to this end effective? What does influence people to greater involvement in mission—whatever they understand mission to be? Furthermore, what hinders it? In addressing these questions, Mission In Motion allows the interviewed respondents to speak for themselves, in an open and frank manner. Some results confirm common beliefs, but others may surprise you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Carey Library
• Release date: Aug 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9780878085958

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The mission endeavor is a complicated process commensurate with the era in which we live.¹ The context of Jesus’ original commission to his disciples was one vastly different to the world we inhabit today. The clear and pristine call of Christ to his disciples to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) as they went into the world has undergone more than two thousand years of theological, ecclesiological, intellectual, and technological refinement as it has been interpreted afresh at various stages of Christian history. Guided by the Holy Spirit, it has been filtered, sometimes more, sometimes less, through the systems of the church, the philosophies of societies, the politics of nation states, and the mechanisms of economics. Through all this, one thing seems certain—that the process of mission for the people of God has become increasingly complex as it is redefined or at least reshaped for each new era and context. Far gone are the days in which the notion of mission was singularly apparent in the words of Jesus to his first century followers and then—by extension—all future generations of Christians.

Mission remains a hotly debated topic and it would be difficult to expect a clear consensus on a single definition across the global church today. Given the multitude of differing voices on the issue, should we try to impose an understanding of mission in a rigidly defined sense? While some would regard such divergent views as a hindrance to the overall design and work of God in the world, others may view the diversity more favorably and recognize that the one gospel has many incarnations, each valuable for its role in fulfilling the commission entrusted to Christ’s followers.

The dialogue concerning mission continues to be an ongoing process with input from established orthodoxies of the church, denominations, streams, individual churches, sectarian religious groups, parachurch agencies, mission organizations, and theological institutions. In addition (and representative of numerous Christian traditions), individual theologians, missiologists, and reflective practitioners have contributed to the many different persuasions of mission interpretation and practice. Each of these contributors brings a unique perspective to bear. Rooted in their differing realities, they show us a side of the multifaceted purpose of God that is increasingly being understood as the missio Dei.²

This study sought to examine the lived experience and motivations of people involved at the grassroots of mission activity within the context of what David Bosch called the crisis in mission (Bosch, 1991, 7). Our intention was to investigate mission promotion and recruitment activities thought to be best practices by the evangelical missions community.³ To help us achieve this, the research team created a project to gather data using qualitative open-ended interviews. That involved recording, with respondents’ permission, conversations with people involved in mission, particularly those who encourage others into mission involvement. This data was then analyzed and this book presents the results of that analysis.

A quantitative approach, such as a standardized questionnaire, could have, in some ways, offered potential for greater statistical clarity. But our research team felt that a more nuanced approach was needed to obtain a deeper understanding of the different conceptual intricacies related to why people become involved in mission service according to their lived reality. Furthermore, an emphasis on cross-cultural meaning necessitated a multifaceted description of the interactive processes apparent in helping people become involved in mission. The scope of the research included respondents from North America, South America, East Africa, Eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, and Oceania.

We have separated the book into six parts, some longer than others. Part one provides a necessary foundation to our project, establishing the rationale and contextual boundaries of this work. In chapter one we consider David Bosch’s concept of mission in crisis.⁴ For Bosch, the crisis was created by challenges resulting from sociological changes during the twentieth century. From this we developed our research premise. That is, if mission has been facing a crisis, then those activities or ministries integrally linked to mission must need to adapt to survive it. Of specific interest to us was the mobilization of resources necessary for mission to continue.

With reference to this crisis, in chapter two we briefly explore Bosch’s thesis on paradigm shifts in Christian history and consider his suggestion that a new paradigm was emerging. At the time, Bosch believed we were at a point of transition between the former enlightenment and new ecumenical/postmodern paradigms. While continuing to explore the implications of being in a transitional period, in chapter three we introduce the concept of missional anomie, recognizing that multiple understandings of mission and mission practice are now apparent within our contemporary mission context, which remains in considerable flux.

Chapter four explains our chosen methodology for the study. In research-oriented books sometimes an author will casually suggest that if readers have no particular interest in how a study was carried out they may want to skip the obligatory chapter that discusses these methods—and more importantly, the philosophy of why one method of inquiry was chosen over another—and go straight to the meat of the study. We would rather encourage you to give some attention to the methodology of this study because we believe that doing so will help you better understand the conclusions we draw from the data.

The remaining bulk of our presentation draws on multicultural narratives from our respondents to illustrate themes revealed in the data. In doing this, we have obscured specific ministry locations by referencing only very broad regional boundaries to assist with respondent anonymity. This does not mean we have interviewed people throughout those entire regions; it just differentiates the voices from one another when other points of reference are stripped away. Also, to maintain anonymity we refer to the respondents’ mission involvement in very loose terms. Respondents were involved in mission in different ways and we specifically sought to interview people with roles such as: mission leaders and missionaries, mission mobilizers (recruiters) and other mission organization staff, mission-interested church leaders, and mission-supporting church