EMQ

When the theme for the eighth ecumenical World Mission Conference “Salvation Today” was announced shortly after the Uppsala Assembly in 1968, many evangelical minds all over the world rejoiced.

The experience of revisiting an area of the world after an absence of over twenty years is both exciting and frustrating. This latter is especially true when one is expected to submit his impressions to the scrutiny of the public.

Over fifty years ago several U.S.A. based younger churches established missionary churches in the Caribbean. Others did so since then; and over the years, almost all have sent many missionaries and given much money for the growth and development of these overseas churches.

Eventually someone will pick a name, but so far no one has proposed one. How do you adequately define and identify a small but significant group of evangelical churches in Japan that are rapidly adding a new hue to the already colorful church history of their country?

The purpose of this article about the recent “Salvation Today” conference is to attempt to react to it in the perspective of its own particular history. The brochure describing the conference program, and at least three other things written in anticipation of Bangkok, have sought to establish a continuity and development from Edinburgh, 1910 to Bangkok, 1972-73.

Much more conscious effort needs to be dedicated to clarifying today’s missionary objectives than missionary strategists have been willing to invest in the past. To consider the church as an end in itself rather than an instrument for making disciples in the “fourth world,” is to adopt a stunted objective.

Differences of opinion on the subject of evangelism vs. social action are of long standing — so old, in fact, that the roots go back to pre-Christian paganism.

It has been frequently observed that the Bible does not prescribe specific patterns of relationship between mission agencies and national churches. Such relationships seem to be open to history, circumstances, and human wisdom. However, such statements must be accepted with caution.

Back in 1929 Robert E. Speer wrote a small book, Are Foreign Missions Done For? Students today probe campus missionary speakers with the same questions Speer raised: Are foreign missions on the wane?

In working with hundreds of missionary candidates in pre-field orientation programs and several score in field situations, I have come to question whether the linguistic and sociolinguistic dimensions of missionary service are fully considered in the allocation of personnel.