Time for a Paradigm Shift?
They contend that Christ’s “call has been interpreted for
many decades, especially in North America and parts of Western Europe, as communicating a set of biblical propositions
to a maximum number of people and declaring them as ‘reached’ once this takes
place” (21, emphasis in
original).
They describe a crisis in the American missions movement
that has resulted in a huge shortfall in funds for traditional mission projects
and personnel (which is clearly also affecting many British-based missions). At
the same time, there is a growing interest in mission of a different sort –
especially one in which donors can have more of an immediate experience by, for
instance, a short trip for themselves.
Centre-Periphery Model of Mission
Engel and Dyrness contend that the present N. American
missions movement is dominated by a ‘Centre-periphery model’ that is outmoded (41). They agree with Jonathan
Bonk who points out that in the last two centuries missionaries have often been
allied with colonialism even if they were “reluctant imperialists.”[1]
The authors point out that in the book of Acts the first
mission was not from a centre of power and influence but rather from a place where something happened and that
in so being it is a parody of the modern missions project (40-43). But, “Ever since the end of
World War II, and definitively since the fall of the Berlin wall, prevailing
concepts of what represents the center
and what represents the periphery
have radically changed in political, cultural and economic terms (47)”.
They explain, “While the modern development of missions
was associated with centers of power and influence, today those places where
economic power resides are not
important centers of Christianity, and the most vital Christian communities are
found in areas of limited political and economic power”, a point since also made
by Philip Jenkins in The Next Christendom: The
Coming of Global Christianity (2002) and Mark Noll in The
New Shape of World Christianity (2009).
Because of this shift in the balance of the global church
Engel and Dyrness propose that a “better model for conceiving of missions,
consistent with the emerging postmodern consciousness, is multiplying centers
of influence making up a network of mutual exchange and support (48)”. I don’t think any
thoughtful mission leaders would explicitly have any problem with that in
principle. The authors paint a scenario, however, in which N. American missions
are deliberately blocking such a development. Are they setting up a straw man to
knock him down? Take this for example:
What is the true motivation for missions? Appearances to the contrary, it is not about selling some spectacular product, eternal life or forgiveness of sins, however wonderful these realities are. Missions flows from the heart of a people who have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and who leave all to follow Christ. (37)
The desire to control is inherent in every fallen human
being and is not confined to N. American mission agencies. There could be many
different reasons why Western mission leaders may desire to hang on to the
control of resources: perhaps they are merely seeking to honour the wishes of
the donors; perhaps there are legal reasons. But I wonder if the situation is
as bad as they paint. There may be a lot more networking with mutual exchange
and support going on than they realize.
According to Engel and Dyrness, Western Christians over
the last two centuries have been influenced by the spirit of the age in three
ways (57):
1.
by their two crucial omissions from the Great Commission;
2.
by their reducing of world missions to a
managerial enterprise;
3.
by their displacing the local church from its
rightful place at the centre of world outreach.
“Contemporary missions retain,” they suggest, “a kind of
structural hangover that continues to impede a genuine openness to the work of
God (46)”.
Engel and Dyrness’s criticism of modern missions is damning.
Too damning, in my estimation. I think they have exaggerated the problems. They
have clearly identified weaknesses in modern missions, just as Samuel Escobar
has done in A Time for Mission (2003).[2]
But Escobar is more nuanced than Engel and Dyrness. The latter dismiss so much
of evangelical ministry as corrupted by modernity. Is this a consequence of
embracing postmodernism? If modern mission is too closely wedded to modernity
then how will it improve things to create a model that is “consistent with the
emerging postmodern consciousness”? The danger of syncretism with the spirit of
the age is as great here as in the model they are so keen to throw out.
Engel and Dyrness’s ‘Kingdom Paradigm’
The authors work out their theology of mission around what
they call a ‘Kingdom Paradigm’, suggesting some “strategies that better reflect
our contemporary postmodern situation” (89):
1.
sensitive to the initiative of God;
2.
motivated by a vision of the reign of Christ
refracted through the multiple cultures of the world;
3.
characterized by mutual sharing from multiple centres
of influence;
4.
committed to partnership and collaboration.
They call for a “spirit of mutual submission and
interdependency” for there to be real collaboration between partners. Those
with funds must not drive the programme (96). I agree. This is an important point in the light of so many donor-driven
mission programmes.
Engel and Dyrness have some good things to say about the
church but it is framed in the same way as the rest of their argument,
contrasting what they see as the biblical way with the worst of superficial
evangelicalism. They assert, rightly, that, “…the church is no longer conceived
by the vast majority as the cultural space where certain critical things
happen….” because of the collapse of Christendom (111). In place of the Christendom model
they propose a ‘spiritual pilgrimage’ model of church (98-107), a point recently echoed by
Michael W. Stroope in Transcending
Mission (reviewed here).
According to Engel and Dyrness the modern ‘institutional’ model
of church encourages, by its structure the following traits (113):
1.
individuality;
2.
programme orientation;
3.
a preoccupation with numbers;
4.
passivity;
5.
resistance to change.
This model is contrasted with one which sees the church as
an organism than an organization, based on six theological
realities (117):
1.
its nature as a living temple for God;
2.
its ministry through gifts of the Spirit;
3.
its nature as a society of mutual love and
service;
4.
its servant leadership;
5.
its community;
6.
its outward focus.
Again, here, the authors are attacking the worst of
evangelicalism. For sure there are many churches that reflect their ‘modern
model’. But there are also many that do not. Engel and Dyrness set up a tale of
two models, one ‘modern’ and the other ‘theological’. Organization is modern, something
to be repented of. What do they make of Acts 6, Ephesians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 3,
and Titus 1? Their binary opposition proves to be simplistic.
Engel and Dyrness’s Model of Mission
According to Engel and Dyrness, local churches must be at
the centre of mission. Here they cite Bruce Camp’s typology of church-mission
involvement.[3]
Churches fall into three categories with respect to their commitment to world
mission:
1.
Supporting – passive;
2.
Sending – active, initiating;
3.
Proactive – synergistic, initiating, partnering.
The church, they assert, should be proactive, and take its
rightful role at the centre of mission. Sounds good in theory. But their
argument is not practicable for much of the world for the following reasons:
1.
Host churches may not exist, as in many Muslim,
Hindu, and Buddhist communities;
2.
Where they do exist, host churches may not be
capable of mature partnering;
3.
Large groups of short-termers parachuting into a
community that does not have an indigenous church may have an adverse impact through
its lack facility in the local language and its lack of cultural sensitivity;
4.
It is very difficult to avoid dependency within
this paradigm.
Engel and Dyrness seem to contradict their own hatred of
‘modern’ mission activity by insisting on accountability from mission agencies
that most likely “will be a description in numerical terms of what was done…” (126). They
then compare mission agencies to businesses which have had to go through a
painful process of change to compete in the postmodern world. Like businesses,
mission agencies “require an organizational transformation that encompasses
five essential steps”:
1.
Restoration
2.
Convergence
3.
Regeneration
4.
Adaptation
5.
Reengineering
The authors say they advocate a high degree of field
autonomy but they insist this should be only within the parameters of a
definitive mission statement and with accountability based on clearly defined
outcomes and objectives (158).
Their view of mission agencies, therefore, is very strongly oriented towards
the home base – the very view they censure. Their solution to the problem is to
bring about organizational change from
the centre. But surely cross-cultural ministry teams should be largely free
from a high-handed home ‘board’ that wants to ‘reengineer’ their identity and
ministry. Such talk of ‘reengineering’ seems to me to be as much modernistic as
the mentality they have condemned.
More solid, however, is their insistence that agencies establish a relationship of mutual respect and esteem with established indigenous churches. Furthermore, agencies, must initiate a sensitive dialogue with their supporting churches on
how they should use their resources. Should their personnel and material
resources be available to serve already-established churches while there are
people and communities still unreached by the gospel? It takes great tact and
sensitivity to discern the best way forward in such a situation. Thankfully, the
Lord has not left us alone to make such decisions as he has promised us the
resources we need at the proper time (James 1:5).
So, Were They Right?
Yes: much of what Engel and Dyrness said was surely right.
No doubt in some circles the book has had a beneficial effect. If only others had
read it and taken its criticisms on board!
And no: this book ultimately fails to satisfy for four reasons:
1.
They overstate their case, pitting their
remedies against the worst forms of Western evangelicalism;
2.
Their approach is too receptor-oriented towards
the postmodern context and not enough to the Bible;
3.
It is inconsistent, as some of their solutions
suffer from the same modernistic assumptions that they criticize;
4.
Their approach assumes that biblical and contextually-sensitive
churches are globally ubiquitous, which they are not.
I am thankful that Engel and Dyrness wrote this book. Truly
the mind needs to be changed in some important respects. But the book would have
been better had it been more rigorous and consistent in biblical theology,
hermeneutics, and global realities. David Smith’s Mission After Christendom (London: Darton, Longman & Todd,
2003) and the aforementioned Transcending
Mission by Michael W. Stroope (London:
Apollos, 2017) are more reliable guides.
[1] Jonathan Bonk, “All
Things to All Persons: Missionary as a Racist-Imperialist” Missiology 8 (1980): 285-306.
[2] Escobar
argues along the same lines in “Evangelical
Missiology: Peering into the Future at the Turn of the Century” in Global Missiology for the 21st
Century - The Iguassu Dialogue (W. D. Taylor, ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2000), 101-22.
[3] Bruce K.
Camp, “Three Ministry Paradigms for Local Church Involvement in Missions” International Journal of Frontier Missions
11 (July/August 1994), quoted in Engel and Dyrness, Changing the Mind of Missions, 121.
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