EMQ » April–June 2018 » Volume 54 Issue 2
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder”]by Marvin J. Newell
This month marks 40 years since my wife and I, along with our 18-month-old son, boarded a plane for the south Pacific to launch our missionary career. That “career” has subsequently taken me from being a long-term field missionary on an undeveloped island, to being a regional director for East Asia, then on to becoming a professor of missions, and finally to be on staff with Missio Nexus. Meanwhile, the world dramatically changed over the course of these 40 years.
Eldon Porter’s article in this edition alerts us to the fact that we are living in a new global reality. Looking at the big picture over the course of the past 40 years, the Church is now found in every country on earth, technology makes this Church highly interconnected, and as never before, there is an unprecedented number of people migrating in all directions. According to Porter, these mega changes dictate the need to do missions differently than in past years—like in 1978 when my family arrived on the island of Papua.
There are additional trends that need consideration as well if we are to fully comprehend today’s mission environment. Other notable global shifts are: the de-stabilization of the Middle East, paired with the diminished number of Christians there through genocide; the de-Christianization of Europe; the accelerated evangelization of sub-Sahara Africa and China; the rising affluence of Asia with its corresponding flourishing mission movement; and the swelling Charismatic movement, especially across Latin America.
Considered together, these new realities bring reflection as well on corresponding mission transitions that have taken place over the past 40 years. The following are some of the notable shifts.
From Geographical Focus, To People Group Focus
Cross-cultural evangelism is no longer confined to sending message bearers “over there.” The unbounded mobility of the world’s peoples has brought about a fluidity of humanity as in no other time in history. Geography is an increasingly inconsequential barrier to reaching the lost. They are showing up right on our doorsteps. Unreached people groups can be accessed with the Gospel not only in their traditional homelands, but in other locations well as.
From Remote Hither-Lands Focus, To Urban-Centers Focus
Human migration is also from rural and remote locations to thriving metropolises. The densification of civilization continues at an astonishing and unabated rate. Forty years ago, one third of the earth’s population lived in urban centers. That has swelled to 55%. The total world urban population stands at 4.1 billion. There are now 522 cities with populations of over 1 million people. Clearly the need today is for more pioneer missionaries to urban centers.
From Long-Term Missions, To a Mixture of Delivery Methods
From the beginning of the modern mission movement until the mid-1960’s, cross-cultural missions was almost exclusively the work of long-term missionaries. I call them the “residents,” for that is what they did; they settled into a foreign country, learned the language, culture and worldview, while building long-term relationships. However today we add to this category two others (not to mention BAM). One is the “transients.” The commercial jet age, beginning in the 1960’s, has allowed this group of short-term workers to fly in and out of focus ministry areas to do short stints of ministry. The other, which is newest to the mix, is the “digitals.” From the mid-1990’s till present, the virtual age of missions has become accessible by anyone who can get “online” and thereby touches people in any part of the globe.
From Western Mission Dominance, To Majority World Dominance
Forty years ago ninety percent of long-term foreign missionaries could be described as white, west, and rich in resources. They were primarily from the North Atlantic region of the world. Thus, missions was considered “mono-centric.” With the explosion of non-Western missions today, the majority of missionaries are coming from anywhere and going to everywhere. Missions is now polycentric, with the majority of today’s missionaries (70 percent!) being sent from the majority, or non-western world. In contrast to their predecessors, they can be described as primarily south, of color, and poorer in resources.
From Missions Being Well Defined in Task, To Ill Defined
This transition primarily relates to the North American church. Forty years ago, evangelicals clearly considered the work of missions to primarily consist of evangelism, discipleship, and planting the church. The Church’s worldwide mission was based on Jesus’s mandate to “make disciples of the nations.” Over time other notions have emerged that have brought ambiguity to the western Church’s global outreach. Most notably are the twin concepts that missions consists of not just following Jesus’ mandate, but also, and at times primarily, his model of doing good works. Thus, the Church has become “missional,” meaning anything and everything it does either inside or outside of a local church’s Sunday service is promoted as missions. Consequently, the singular task of world evangelism has become diluted by subordinate, ill-defined competing agendas. The Church has become “distracted,” as Michael Cooper points out in our lead article, “Not On Our Watch.”
Unquestionably, we are ministering in different world realities compared to forty years ago. Management guru Peter Drucker famously posited that, “the first task of a leader is to define reality.” That being the case, in light of these realities, it follows that the next task should be that we initiate necessary adjustments in global outreach. That’s the reality of these realities.
Marvin J. Newell
Editor
