Yes - Lent 2009

Mission spirituality Good for all of us...

Speak only if you can improve on silence...

If we only have the will to walk,

Prayer does not fit us for the

then God is pleased with our

greater work; prayer is the

stumbles.

greater work.

CS Lewis

Oswald Chambers

It seems what is required

If my private world is in order,

of us is not new ideas, but

chosen to press sabbath peace

given us already.

into the rush and routine of my

John V Taylor

daily life in order to find the rest God prescribed for himself

Jesus did not leave an organised host of followers, for he knew that a handful of salt

and all of humanity.

The spiritual life does not

would gradually work its way

remove us from the world but

through the mightiest empire in

leads us deeper into it.

the world.

Henri JM Nouwen

There is not a place to which

warfare as we battle against

the Christian can withdraw

‘the principalities and powers’

from the world, whether it be

that uphold the systems of

outwardly or in the sphere of

social evil.

James Pender

sooner or later be paid for with a sinful surrender to the world.

David Smith

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most

It is not in our choice to spread

I am no fool to give up what cannot earn.

Social development is spiritual

escape from the world must

Gordon MacDonald

I cannot keep to gain what I

Philip Yancey

the inner life. Any attempt to

it will be because I have

obedience to those God has

daring thing is to create stable communities in which the

the gospel or not. It is our

terrible disease of loneliness

death if we do not.

can be cured.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Kurt Vonnegut Jr

Jim Elliott

Mission spirituality: yesterday, today and everyday “We are being made to expect too much. We are taking and compelling others to pay, far too high a price.”

The writer of these words could have been analysing the causes of the current economic crisis. In fact they were penned nearly 40 years ago by John V Taylor in his groundbreaking book Enough is Enough (SCM Press, 1975). One of Taylor’s ideas was to encourage Christian people to explore life in community. He wrote: “I believe that the small, purposeful commune, dedicated to a particular kind of witness, has immense potential today as a new form of missionary presence in many situations that are impervious to more traditional forms of mission.”

CONTENTS

too much. We are scrapping too much. We are paying,

This issue of yes goes to press at a point where CMS has committed itself rediscovering life as a spread-out community, living out the kinds of principles that Taylor foreshadowed more than a generation ago. These things have always been at the heart of Christian discipleship.

In the new CMS Daily resource, members of the community are invited to regularly consider how the following key points of mission spirituality are being worked out in their lives:

04 From our correspondents

How have I recently explored boundaries?

How have I recently met the stranger?

How have I given hospitality?

05/6 CMS news

How have I received hospitality?

07 Interview: Jenny McIntosh

by Naomi Rose

How have I been missional?

What am I doing about living simply?

What has been a recent source of spiritual nurture?

Mission spirituality is for everyone. In this issue we pick up on some of its dimensions. Chris Wright takes us to the biblical roots. Susan Hope shares examples of mission spirituality in practice. Mark Oxbrow shows how it’s not merely the preserve of the Western world. And Keith White shows it’s for children too.

10 Unlocking the Bible’s grand narrative

by Christopher Wright 12 10 habits of mission spirituality

by Sue Hope 14 Mission spirituality for kids

by Dr Keith J White 16 The view from the road

by Dr Cathy Ross 18 Returning mission to the majority

by Mark Oxbrow

John Martin

Editor john.martin@cms-uk.org

yes Lent edition. Published by CMS. General Secretary: Canon Tim Dakin Editor: John Martin Designer: Seth Crewe Printers: CPO Printed on a sustainable paper that is elementary chlorine free and can be traced to bona fide sources.

20 Crowther Centre news CMS: Sharing Jesus, changing lives Views expressed in yes are not necessarily those of CMS.

22 Recommended Daily dosage

by Tim Dakin 23 Notebook

by John Martin

Church Mission Society, Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ Registered Charity Number 220297

3 yes Lent 2009

..from our correspondents...

Jean and Paul Dobbing write from Nepal

Tescoisation and happiness “Credit crunch”, “economic slow down”, “global downturn” and “financial crisis” are all terms we’ve been hearing recently in the international news. Then, just the other day, a fellow Scot used the term “Tescoisation” to describe what appears to be happening in many parts of Asia.

People here in Nepal mostly have never heard of – and are not much impacted by – these terms. Most don’t have mortgages, pensions, insurances, stocks, shares or investments. That isn’t to say that Nepalis aren’t becoming more global, and some more prosperous. Many have mobile phones, surf the net and go abroad for work and study (especially to labour in Gulf countries). This seems to happen in tandem with what is essentially a premodern type of existence, where most live from the land without much education or good health facilities. Life is more “hand to mouth” for many living around us. One of the main changes to impact people this past year has been the price hike of staple foods such as lentils and rice, and many still cook with wood.

Some friends have commented to me about Nepali people that “they seem happier and more content than many at home are. They’ve got less to worry about.” How to compare or judge the happiness of another, especially from such a different world? We know that many here suffer from grinding poverty, ill health and have had little or no opportunity to be educated, yet perhaps do not suffer from the pressures of time and money that many in the West do.

Are they happier than someone in the UK hit hard by the current credit crunch? We don’t know. We suppose that there is some kind of a middle ground that some have achieved – whether it’s in Nepal or the UK, but is elusive to most. It does strike us, however, that the more simple your lifestyle is, the less affected you are by outside factors. Perhaps many people here are less anxious about tomorrow because they are too busy managing for today.

A mission partner (name withheld) writes from a top-secret location

Bible translation: finding the right word As the Bible is written in three languages, when translating it into one it is important to connect the key ideas by translating them consistently. Ideas that appear in one place in Hebrew, another in Aramaic and a third in Greek, may not look connected. But they can and should be translated in the same way in the local language wherever possible. This helps the reader recognise themes in the Bible and lay the basis for biblical reference books that may be developed in the future. Since a new translation of the New Testament is planned for 2009, we need to make sure that it won’t be too different from the Old when that finally comes out. The key themes that are shared between them need to be recognisable as such.

One example of this is the idea of the Redeemer. The Book of Ruth contains a vivid picture of the role of the Kinsman Redeemer – Boaz – who buys back into the clan the property that the widow Naomi was forced to sell, and marries her bereaved daughter-in-law into the bargain.

So far we have a verb meaning to ‘buy back’, which can be used as a ‘key term’ for redeem. But we have no noun for Redeemer, so recently we visited the local university in search of one. In the end they came up with a rare word that meant ‘buyer backer’. Will it catch on? We will find out very soon when a group of widows meet to hear the story. To them, the way God worked in the lives of Naomi and Ruth could speak volumes. If only it could be expressed in terms they could understand.

4 yes Lent 2009

To find out more and keep in touch with all our mission partners, log on to www.cms-uk.org/linkletters for the latest reports

Making ends meet in Pakistan So how is it in Pakistan at the minute? According to the newspapers we are trembling on the brink of possible war with India. During Christmas lunch in the gardens of the local Christian hospital, the air was hideous with the screeching of fighter jets, apparently patrolling the skies over Lahore. There have been

Jane Shaw writes from Lahore

one or two small bombs going off in Lahore, in government areas. But otherwise all seems calm here at present, unlike the Tribal Areas and Frontier Province. The anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination passed off peacefully; the next potentially difficult time is the Muslim commemoration of Ashura, next week, when Shias take out mourning processions and it can be an occasion of sectarian violence.

The Christian celebrations of Christmas have been noted with interest and respect by the media, both newspapers and television, with many pictures of candlelit services, worshippers outside churches, decorated Christmas trees and so on. I was greatly encouraged by this evidence of religious tolerance and mutual respect, but one friend suggested that since the news from India is all of Christians being massacred, tortured and forcibly converted, Pakistan’s leaders wish to emphasise to the world that Pakistan is different – that here Christians are respected and can worship freely. Whatever the motivation, I pray that this freedom and respect will be maintained in all parts of the country.

The greatest affliction for most people currently is “load-shedding” – frequent and unpredictable power cuts because not enough electricity is being generated to meet demand. Low water levels in dams constrain hydro-electricity generation, and non-payment for fuel imports has led to shortage of fuel for thermal power stations. For many people no power means also no water, as it is either pumped direct from tube wells or has to be pumped up to roof tanks from ground level supply.

Now there is also a shortage of fuel for transport, with long queues at filling stations. Without power or water people can’t wash or cook, can’t iron clothes to wear, and without fuel cannot travel – so getting to work is difficult and church attendance also suffers. In the current cold weather Lahore is also experiencing thick fog, which has led to many throat and chest infections as well as travel difficulties.

And with the price of food continuing to rise, many Pakistanis find it very difficult to make ends meet;

..and all the latest news Tea and empathy From Phil Simpson, CMS Asia director In addition to developing a creche for the children of sex workers in Pune, India’s red light district, CMS co-mission partner Dr Lalita Edwards also has a special ministry to the local hijra or kinnar (eunuchs), whom she calls “my special people.”

She befriends them and serves them however she can. They call her uma (mum or aunty).

On a recent visit, I met Penna, Koelli and Keralla; all three have come out of the sex trade. In her small one room flat over a cuppa chai, Penna showed me pictures of her dancing days. With all her make

up, she looked like Greta Garbo. Then, she earned 10,000 rupees a night dancing. But she wouldn’t go back. Now she has a sense of peace and purpose.

At one point she sang me a song: Koi bhi chore mujhe, Jesus kebhi nehin chorega (‘Even if others leave me, Jesus will never leave me’).

Keep up with Phil Simpson’s wanderings and musings on his blog: wandering4loveofgod.blogspot.com

Dr Lalita Edwards 5 yes Lent 2009

S NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS

according to one report, 40 per cent of Pakistanis live below the poverty line.

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS

All in the family

CMS special general meeting

On 20 January, at a special general meeting held at CMS in Oxford, CMS members voted overwhelmingly – 99 per cent – in favour of CMS integrating with SAMS (South American Mission Society).

Sisters Virginia Patterson and Caroline Baynes were particularly happy with the result. Virginia and her husband Michael were SAMS mission partners in Argentina from 1963–80 and from 1995–2002.

Caroline and her husband Simon were CMS mission partners from 1963–80 in Japan.

Buddhist encouragement

Mark Berry

IT support: new skills for prisoners

Maurice & Laura Connor 6 yes Lent 2009

Mark Berry’s pioneering work in Telford was recently the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme presented

by Jolyon Jenkins. Among the feedback Mark received was this email from a Buddhist: “I have just listened to the BBC programme The Most Godless Town in Britain and found your views very refreshing. I was attracted to the programme on the BBC’s Listen Again service, mainly because I was brought up in Telford, rather than out of any spiritual curiosity. Though I do not share your Christian beliefs, I found myself agreeing with a lot of what you said.

I thought your openness and willingness to discuss spiritual issues was very a refreshing change from the more established Christian churches. As a Buddhist I was interested that you also used meditation in your practice. Despite Jolyon Jenkins’ implicit scepticism, and his attempt to conflate your ideas with the things like crystal healing, I thought you gave a very positive message. I very rarely comment on radio or television programmes, but thought I would like to wish you well for the future of your project.”

Mark comments: “for me [this] embodies some of the generosity we try to engender in our encounters with others... the author clearly acknowledges our different beliefs but is generous in spirit...”

Keep in touch with Mark and the Safespace community: www.markjberry.blogs.com

Prison breakthrough On Prisons Sunday in November 2008, the Bishop of Liverpool, said, “The fundamental question facing our society is whether we see prisons as warehouses to store the incorrigible or greenhouses to restore the redeemable.”

CMS partners with a charity called Zarebi, in the Republic of Georgia, which is developing constructive training activity in a prison in Rustavi, about 30 miles south of the capital, Tblisi.

The prison holds nearly 2,000 men. However, apart from Zarebi’s computer training programme, there are no opportunities for education, work or vocational training for prisoners. This is the case in most Georgian prisons.

Recently, Prebendary Bob Payne, a prison chaplain with 37 years’ experience, visited the Rustavi prison as a consultant for CMS. He was challenged by the sight of so

many men with nothing creative to do – circumstances so far from what God would have them be.

Bob was very impressed by Merab Bolkvadze, the founder of Zarebi, and his commitment to improving the situation. He works 30 hours a week as a minibus driver to support his family so that he can lead Zarebi.

It was also encouraging to discover others who wanted to follow Merab’s example, particularly within the Georgian Orthodox Church, including Bishop Anthoni Bulukhia, a former prisoner who is now an Orthodox church leader in western Georgia.

As the church in Georgia has flourished in the years since independence from the Soviet Union, so too, it is hoped, will the work of Zarebi in bringing dignity and purpose to prisoners. CMS is glad to be part of this effort to convert warehouses into greenhouses.

The greening of Rattanabad From CMS mission partner Maurice Connor Both the threat of environmental degradation and the splendour of God’s creation are vivid in Rattanabad, the village in the Sindh, south of Pakistan, which was our home for nearly seven years. Though birds, reptiles and insects adorn the irrigated, densely farmed areas, their numbers and variety are rapidly diminishing. People even dig up roots of trees for fuel.

Rattanabad serves as base for several Christian-led development organisations. We invited the leaders of these organisations to form a committee to establish and run the Rattanabad Environmental Project.

The leaders of these well-respected development projects have felt challenged by God to do something to restore people’s relationship with the environment. As Christians, they look to Jesus for inspiration – he being the ultimate Creator, Restorer and Sustainer. I feel that finding out what he is doing, and then joining in, is vital to this area of God’s mission.

All five organizations are now running rural development initiatives. Two of the five have a specifically environmental element.

One leader, Padre Shamoon, was inspired to protect a mature tree by building the conference centre he runs around it. The trunk is the centre-piece of the entrance hall and the branches provide shade for the roof. More significantly, it stimulates positive conversations among visitors.

Another development expert, Zahid, is pioneering organic farming on his land, which adjoins his organisation’s compounds.

The Rattanabad Environmental Protection Project committee has chosen to officially protect the area within which the five organisations’ compounds lie. Land will be used for organic farming, experimenting with coppicing the local trees, increasing biodiversity and a class-room will be built as a field-study centre.

“Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty.

When you are lost, you are not alone.”

Jenny McIntosh interviewed by Naomi Rose

This line, spoken by Catholic priest Father

of open-endedness that Jenny says sometimes makes

Flynn in John Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt, runs

churches uneasy. “Many want to know what results

through my head as I sit down to have a conversation

they can expect; they want to know people will come

with Jenny McIntosh, one of the founders of Spirited

back and I have to be honest: Spirited Exchanges

Exchanges — an umbrella name for a variety of

doesn’t say that people will return to the same church,

initiatives designed to support people grappling with

or that they will come back to church at all. What does

faith and/or church.

happen for people is that they grow into something

Spirited Exchanges first began in Jenny’s homeland of New Zealand. She recently moved to the UK to help

new and will look for places which allow for a more diverse faith expression.

foster the network here. When asked how it’s going so

“We hope that people will find life in faith again but

far she says with a smile, “Well, pioneering is always

we realise that some won’t. We don’t have an agenda;

slower than you’d like.”

we allow people space to make those decisions

Despite the Damaclesian statistics indicating that

themselves.”

traditional church isn’t working for many, Jenny says

According to Jenny, Spirited Exchanges is organic in

that often, churches don’t see a need to get on board

that it’s identifying and working with an existing reality:

with what she’s doing.

“The more we try to control people they more we will

“There’s this perception that I’m taking people away

lose them.”

from church,” she says. “Which I’m not.” But nor is she

Unfortunately, some people’s experience with

trying to convince people to return, and it’s that kind

church has been akin to a child-parent relationship.

7 yes Lent 2009

Spirited Exchanges is about accompanying people

inside. The understandings I had needed to be

on a journey to spiritual adulthood “that can be quite

expanded. God was surely bigger than all this.”

painful.”

Jenny speaks from experience. She started following

to leave her church and also read an early article

Jesus in her mid-teens and became active in her local

on church leavers and faith stage transition by Alan

church, noticing early on that sometimes systems

Jamieson who later authored A Churchless Faith.

and keeping the rules seemed more important than people’s actual needs. Still, she tried to work within the system, volunteering where she could and helping

“There’s this perception that I’m taking people away from church.

Which I’m not”

8 yes Lent 2009

Around this time, Jenny made the difficult decision

“Talking to Alan and reading a new stream of books I was gradually able to process some of my faith issues.

her husband, who was in full-time Christian work. “It

“Up until then I’d never heard about the idea of faith

was very much a doing phase of my life. That’s what

development. But it became an extremely helpful

I understood being a Christian was. It always seemed

language for me to deal with what I was going

about activity and striving.”

through.”

She and her husband’s eagerness to serve took them

Alan Jamieson had done considerable research into

and their four children to India, where they continued

faith development theories, such as those proposed

working with young people. And it was during her

by James Fowler, as a way of perhaps explaining why

eight years as an overseas missionary that certain

people left church.

issues became impossible to ignore.

According to Fowler, there are six stages of faith

“I started facing questions about pluralism, about my

development, a la Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive

culture and attitude. I found I didn’t want to go to

development or Erik Erikson’s theory of social

church. I wanted to spend time with God, yes, but

development. These stages relate to how an individual

I didn’t find it the least bit helpful to be in church. It

experiences his or her faith holistically.

seemed boring and irrelevant.” Jenny remembers

The first stage Fowler calls Intuitive-Projective faith.

what it was like being home on leave during that time and struggling with deputation. “People put missionaries on a pedestal so you needed to be wise

This is when the imagination runs wild and the “child” or “new believer” begins to absorb strong taboos.

Stage two is called Mythic-Literal faith, where symbol

about what you said publicly.”

and ritual begin to be integrated. The world becomes

Jenny and her family returned to New Zealand in

linear. People in stage two can have a strong sense

1994, and her husband became minister of a church

of fairness and cause-and-effect, which can drive the

they’d been involved with before moving to India. But

person into a strict, controlling perfectionism

Jenny felt like she didn’t fit there anymore.

or legalism.

Eighteen months after returning to New Zealand,

The third stage is Synthetic-Conventional faith.

Jenny’s husband died suddenly, catapulting her into

The majority of people stay in this stage, which is

grief and disorientation. “When life gets difficult or

characterised by conformity. A person finds his or her

traumatic, people start asking questions. And a lot

identity in a certain viewpoint and is reluctant to think

of churches don’t have a developed theology of

critically about it. There is an adherence to hierarchy

suffering. They want you to keep a stiff upper lip.

and majority opinion, which somehow becomes

They may be good at offering practical support, but

inseparable from “goodness.” If a person’s life situation

they often aren’t equipped to help you emotionally or

becomes difficult, it can drive them to despair, or to

spiritually with real grief or despair.”

the next stage, which is Individuative-Reflective.

Her husband’s death wasn’t the only thing that

This fourth stage consists primarily of angst and

challenged Jenny’s faith paradigms. Around the same

struggle, in which one must face difficult questions

time a couple in the church made the agonising

regarding identity and belief, as an individual. People in

decision to have an abortion because the child would

this stage are prone to disillusionment and bitterness.

be born with cystic fibrosis. Their first child, only

But most will allow for increasing complexity and

seven months old, also had the disease. The way

enter stage five – Conjunctive faith. People in this

they were treated by some in the church was terrible;

stage acknowledge paradox and transcendence. They

they were ostracised. “It wasn’t the issues themselves

allow for mystery, though it may scare them. They

that challenged me. Difficult stuff happens. It was

move from deconstruction to reconstruction and

the deeper assumptions and culture that I started

begin to see a bigger picture of justice beyond their

to question and that left me feeling like I was dying

own culture. It is a stage involving new possibilities

and a sense of wonder. Stage six is what Fowler calls

spiritual adulthood rather than depend on the church

Universalizing faith. This is where people not only see

like a parent. Where diversity and questioning and

a bigger picture, but live their lives – or often risk their

realising our full potential are encouraged, and where

lives – for the sake of others.

doubt is an acknowledged part of a growing and life-

Spirited Exchanges is fuelled in part by faith-stage

giving faith.”

theory. Jenny says, “We help people process what’s

Until that time, Spirited Exchanges is here to help

happened in church, re-examine their faith paradigms

those who are struggling. “It’s exciting to see hope

and help them see what they’ve adopted as part of

come into people’s eyes as they reframe their faith.

the Christian package that they may not actually agree

God becomes bigger and faith becomes deeper

with or has even been oppressive. At the beginning,

and more integrated into all of life.” I’ve been told by

when people first become Christians they tend to take

people that they wouldn’t be in faith without Spirited

on everything, not just beliefs but certain behaviours

Exchanges.

and values. At some point many begin to say, ‘This doesn’t make sense…’” She cites an example: “Like the idea that someone became sick or died because we didn’t pray enough. We look at parts of our faith

“I’m not saying I have all the answers. But I am saying it’s ok to have questions. And if you do have questions, you’re not alone. One of the guidelines of Spirited Exchanges is that ‘We let God defend

that have become distorted and create space for

God’. If God is all encompassing, then God can cope

people to find life and faith again.”

with anything we might think or say no matter how

During a Spirited Exchanges meeting, there is no

heretical it might sound.”

leader, though there may be a facilitator to make

CMS is glad to partner with Spirited Exchanges

sure the atmosphere is safe and respectful. There

which has a newsletter, website and other resources

is no set prayer or Bible study; people are free to

for individuals or groups. For more information, see

talk about whatever issues they like. All sorts of

www.spiritedexchanges.org.uk

viewpoints are heard. Says Jenny, “There’s no tieup at the end. People come away with their own

“Up until then I’d never heard about the idea of faith development.

But it became an extremely helpful language for me to deal with what I was going through”

views and sometimes those are different from where they started. When you hear different views in conversation, it helps you decide what you think.

People draw on their knowledge of the Bible, their understanding from teaching they have had, books they have read and their life experience and they start to integrate those together. The challenge is to keep it all genuinely open-minded and to rely on the Holy Spirit to help people process. We have to bear in mind that not everyone is at the same faith stage.”

Criticisms levelled at Fowler include the fact that the faith stages are sometimes perceived as hierarchical, so one is “better” than the other. Also, people sometimes perceive that they are a step beyond where they actually are. Citing Jamieson’s image of the stages set in a circle in conversation, Jenny says, can be a more helpful way of understanding it, with one or other stage being dominant at different points in life.

Jenny points out that in these postmodern times, people are likely to hit the stages earlier in their life as believers. “That’s because the questions people used to start having around mid-life are surfacing much earlier.”

What could help mitigate the necessity of deconstruction and reconstruction? “Imagine a church setting where people are actively encouraged to reach 9 yes Lent 2009

The mission of God: unlocking the Bible’s grand narrative

By Christopher JH Wright

“Yet in my Protestant evangelical culture, the zeal for evangelism was equal only to the suspicion of any form of Christian social concern or conscience about issues of justice”

Evangelism and social involvement; chicken or

demands no radical concern for the social, political

egg? Another way the issue is sometimes framed is

ethnic and cultural implications of the whole

this: surely the best way to achieve social change and

biblical faith here and now, has led to massive and

all the good objectives we have for society on the

embarrassing dissonance between statistics and

basis of what we know God wants (justice, integrity,

reality. Some of the states in north-east India, such

compassion, care for his creation, etc.) is by vigorous

as Nagaland, are held up as outstanding examples

evangelism. The more Christians there are, the better

of the success of late-19th and early 20th-century

it will be for society. So if you want to change society,

evangelism. The state is recorded to be around 90

do evangelism. Then those who become Christians

per cent Christian. Yet it has now become one of

will do the social action part. I have often heard this

the most corrupt states in the Indian Union and is

as an argument for prioritising evangelism over social

riddled with problems of gambling and drugs among

action, and it has serious flaws.

the younger generation. Naga students at the Union

First (and I think I owe this point to John Stott), there is flawed logic that says, if you are a Christian, you should not spend time doing social action; instead give all your time to evangelism because the best way to change society is to multiply the number of Christians. The logic is flawed because (1) all those new Christians will, following the same advice, give time only to evangelism, so who will engage in social action? And (2) you ought to be engaging in social action since you are the product

tell me this is a proof of the fact that successful evangelism does not always result in lasting social transformation. Others will point to the tragic irony of Rwanda – one of the most Christianised nations on earth and birthplace of the East African Revival.

And yet whatever form of Christian piety was taken to be the fruit of evangelism there could not stand against the tide of intertribal hatred and violence that engulfed the region in 1994.

of someone’s evangelism. The argument becomes

I write as a son of Northern Ireland. As I grew up,

an infinite regress in which real social engagement

almost anybody I met could have told me the

as part of Christian mission in the world is inevitably

gospel and “how to get saved.” Yet in my Protestant

postponed.

evangelical culture, the zeal for evangelism was equal

This view also overlooks the importance of example. If someone comes to faith through the effort of a Christian or church that endorses only the evangelistic mandate and has a negative and non-engaged attitude to all things social, cultural, economic or political, then the likelihood is that the new convert will imbibe the same dichotomised attitude. We reflect the kind of mission that moved us into faith.

And tragically, this view is simply not borne out in history. Now of course there is such a thing as conversion uplift. When people become Christians, they tend to shed some harmful habits and acquire some positive ones. This can certainly benefit a community if enough people are affected in this way.

10 yesLent 2009

Biblical Seminary, where I taught in the 1980s, would

only to the suspicion of any form of Christian social concern or conscience about issues of justice. That was the domain of liberals and ecumenicals, and a betrayal of the “pure” gospel. The result was that the de facto politics of Protestantism was actually subsumed under the gospel in such a way that all the political prejudice, partisan patriotism and tribal hatred was sanctified rather than prophetically challenged (except by a very brave few who often paid a heavy price).

As James would say, “this should not be” (Jas 3:10).

But it is. And it is one reason why I beg to dissent from the notion that evangelism by itself will result in social change, unless Christians are also taught the radical demands of discipleship to the Prince of Peace, are seeking first the kingdom of God and his

However, there are other instances where rapid

justice, and understand the wholeness of what the

conversion of whole communities to a pietistic

Bible so emphatically shows to be God’s mission for

gospel that sings the songs of Zion to come, but

his people.

for the real problems of people living in

question that is often raised in the context of

the real world. On the other end of the

teaching holistic mission arises from unavoidable

spectrum, exclusive focus on transformation

personal limitations. “You are saying that Christian

and advocacy may just result in social and

mission involves all these dimensions of God’s

humanitarian activism, void of any spiritual

concern for total human need. But I am finite, with

dimension. Both approaches are unbiblical;

finite time, finite abilities and finite opportunities.

they deny the wholeness of human nature

Should I not stick to what seems most important –

of human beings created in the image of

evangelism – and try not to dissipate myself over

God. Since we are created “whole,” and

such a broad range of objectives?”

since the Fall affects our total humanity in all

The same thought doubtless occurred to God, which is why he called the church into existence.

Here is another reason why our ecclesiology must

its dimensions, then redemption, restoration, and mission can, by definition, only be “holistic.”

be rooted in missiology. The mission of God in the world is vast. So he has called and commissioned a people – originally the descendants of Abraham, now a multinational global community in Christ. And it is through the whole of that people that God is working his mission purposes out, in all their diversity.

Adapted from The Mission of God by Christopher JH Wright. Copyright©2006 by Christopher JH Wright.

Used by permission.

After William Blake. The Ancient of Days

Holistic mission needs the whole church. A final

There are different callings, different giftings, different forms of ministry (remembering that magistrates and other government officials are called “ministers of God” in Romans 13, just as much as apostles and those who organised food aid). Individuals must seek guidance from God regarding their calling.

Some are indeed called to be evangelists. All are certainly called to be witnesses, whatever their work context. The apostles in Acts recognised their own personal priority had to be the ministry of the Word and prayer. But they did not limit their ministry to such work, as Philip’s evangelistic encounter with the Ethiopian shows.

Is the church as a whole reflecting the wholeness of God’s redemption? Is the church aware of all that in which God’s mission summons them to participate?

The ringing slogan of the Lausanne movement is: “The whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.” Holistic mission cannot be the responsibility of one individual. But it is certainly the responsibility of the whole church.

I can do no better than endorse the words of JeanPaul Heldt: There is no longer a need to qualify mission as “holistic,” nor to distinguish between “mission” and “holistic mission.” Mission is, by definition “holistic,” and therefore “holistic mission” is, de facto, mission. Proclamation alone, apart from any social concern, may be perceived as a distortion, a truncated version of the true gospel, a parody and travesty of the good news, lacking relevance 11 yes Lent 2009

10 marks of mission spirituality Where does the passion to re-engage with evangelism come from? Sue Hope offers some pointers Imagine standing on a hilltop overlooking

Sometime towards the end of the last millennium,

a great plain. Below, covering a vast area of the

the tide turned for the churches’ mission in England.

ground is a camp. You know, instinctively, that it’s

There was a fresh wind blowing; parts of the Church

been there a long time. There’s the fluttering flag on

seemed to be waking up, getting ready. People

the pole. Buildings have been constructed: offices,

were talking about mission again, but in a different

storerooms, you can even see the smoke rising from

way, and right across the different traditions and

the kitchens. Some people are off-duty, playing in

denominations of the Church. It wasn’t wholesale,

the river, while others are engaged on some intense

but patchy, a bit like rock pools filling up while the

formal activity.

main tide is still some way out. And this tide of

Suddenly, the scene is interrupted. A vehicle roars in to the camp, the driver gets out and hurries off.

Time elapses, then there’s a buzz of excitement.

Groups start emerging from everywhere, things start happening. The camp is being broken up.

Decisions have to be made about what can travel and what belongs to the time of ‘settlement’. There

12 yes Lent 2009

mission has continued to make its way in. It’s been accompanied and encouraged by various initiatives on mission and evangelism, including 2004’s Mission-Shaped Church by the Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council; Fresh Expressions, the shared Anglican-Methodist initiative was also notable.

are fresh demands and requirements. Everyone and

These things are helping find new shapes and

everything is suddenly on the move.

patterns which can assist mission and evangelism in

a post-modern world. But the passion to re-engage

7. Branded with a message There is ultimately

with evangelism in our culture, where is that to

one message from which all others spring. It informs

be found? Is there such a thing as a ‘spirituality for

and shapes those who go in mission, it burns onto

mission’ that will engender and support mission

them, they are branded with it and changed by it.

– an apostolic spirituality? And if so, what are its

The message is that Jesus is alive.

characteristics? Here are 10 indicators of people living in a mission spirituality: 1. Knowing what they are for and about They

8. Robust faith The message is transmitted in word and in deed. “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” (Matt 10:8) The deeds

are called and sent. They know why they are on the

are indicative of a new order. They bring life and

planet and what they are to do while here. They are

transform communities as well as individuals. They

supremely focussed on their task.

require confident engagement with the powers of

2. Living with trust Being called to mission

darkness and are activated by a robust faith.

means leaving the safe and knowable and locating

9. Joyfully serious and seriously joyful The

your identity and security in another place. Like

mission is supremely important. And yet there is a

Jesus, whose public ministry was kick-started by an

light-heartedness about those who go in mission.

experience of being deeply and dearly loved (Luke

Apostolic spirituality means both serious intent and

3:22), mission-motivated people have to learn to

joyful detachment. Outcomes are left to God.

graft themselves deeply into the love of the Father and to minister out of that love.

10. Embracing adventure and risk Whereas a ghetto mentality shrinks people, the adventure of

3. Contemplative activists “When he saw the

mission stretches us. The risks of adventure are great,

crowds, he had compassion on them” (Matt 9:36).

but the rewards are high. And those who were first

Those who are fired with the love of God are

sent out by Jesus discovered that their lives were

those whose eyes have been opened and who

never the same again.

see brokenness and pain. They also see God’s possibilities, and God’s promise. Contemplation, true

Susan Hope’s book, Mission-Shaped Spirituality:

seeing, leads to action.

the transforming power of mission, looks at the attitude of mind required to engage in mission,

4. Travelling light ‘Take nothing for the journey’

through a combination of real-life case studies

(Matt 10). Too many possessions can inhibit speed

and observations from her own experience. It is

of response to shifts in culture. Too much money

published by Church House Publishing.

can belie our faith in God’s provision. Packaging the gospel into doctrinal formulae limits the way that people are able to receive it. We’re invited to go empty-handed, becoming less anxious and more free.

5. Two by Two Jesus sends his friends into mission ‘two by two’. Community, koinonia, participation in the Spirit, is the gospel lived. Others are invited in to it. Those first missionaries were instructed not to live in a ghetto, but to lock their community onto that of the person of peace, so that there could be what post-moderns call ‘flow’. Missional community is a key factor in apostolic spirituality.

6. Dependence: Prayer and the Holy Spirit Those who go in mission need to go in deep dependence upon the Holy Spirit. “Stay in the city,” said Jesus, “until you are filled with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

Learning dependence often happens through the wilderness experience, because in the brokenness and the emptiness of our own lives we learn to lean on the Beloved (Song of Songs 8:5).

The Rev Susan Hope 13 yes Lent 2009

As you were: what we can learn about mission spirituality from children?

By Dr Keith J White

While in India researching the life of Pandita

becomings” or “adults-in-waiting”.

Ramabai (1858–1922) one of the great Christian

Yet, throughout history, children have been agents

activists of all time, I was surprised to learn

of hope and change in movements such as the

about her daughter, Mano. Mano is invisible

abolition of slavery; the fight for civil rights and

in all accounts of Pandita’s story to date, but

spiritual revivals. The recognition of this has led to

it turns out she tirelessly shared her faith with

further study into the area that’s become known

other girls her age, so much so that they gave

as “child theology”. The Child Theology Movement

her the nickname, “Missionary Mano”.

is an international group that links creatively with

I wonder if one day it will dawn on us that babies,

other groups engaged in fields such as godly play,

toddlers and children have been some of the most

children’s spirituality and children’s ministry. Our eyes

effective mission partners. I think of the enigmatic

are continually being opened to formerly hidden

words of Psalm 8:2:

insights in the Bible regarding children and mission.

From the lips of unweaned infants

These new insights are impacting mission practice

and suckling babes you have ordained

for children and by children in all five continents.

praise (strength) to silence the foe and

In Brazil, churches are being planted through

the avenger.

children’s work. In the Philippines, CMS mission

The world has been undergoing a quiet yet seismic

partners Kate and Tim Lee, who started Jigsaw

revolution when it comes to the way we view

Kids Ministries, are involved in rethinking children’s

children and young people. A useful date to bear

ministry and evangelism. The Viva Network are

in mind is 1989, when the United Nations adopted

actively encouraging children to engage in prayer for

the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While

mission, no matter how young. In Kuala Lumpur, a

our consciousness regarding women, the poor and

church has started a new school for stateless and

ethnic minorities had shifted, it took time for children

Muslim children; now the school’s emphasis on

to be seen as fully human, rather than as “human

child theology, godly play and cultural sensitivity is

syourhtnq 14 yes Lent 2009

helping reform the church’s theology and mission.

In His Image (Tell, 1977); The Art of Faith (John

This year is also the 30th anniversary of the

Hunt, 1997); Children and Social Exclusion, ed,

International Year of the Child and it seems a fitting

(NCVCCO, 1999); The Growth of Love (BRF

time to re-discover the place and participation of

Barnabas, 2008).

children in mission. After all, when his disciples were

Marcia Bunge, The Child in Christian Thought

having a heated discussion about mission spirituality, Jesus placed a child in their midst with the injunction: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3). How we will view the children among us?

Dr Keith J White is Director of Mill Grove where, with his wife Ruth, he is responsible for the

(Eerdmans, 2001); The Child in the Bible (Eerdmans, 2008) Margaret Saunderson, Lights in the Darkness: planting churches through children’s work in Lima’s shantytowns (Zoe, 2003) The Child Theology Movement: www.childtheology.org

residential community caring for children who have

Fresh understandings of church planting and

experienced separation and loss. He is former

formation beginning with babies, children and

president of the UK Social Care Association and

toddlers (for example, PEPE projects in Brazil):

Chair of the National Council of Voluntary Child Care

www.bmsworldmission.org

Organisations, and of the Child Theology Movement

Love to Pieces: CMS Lent resource produced in

and founder of the Christian Child Care Forum.

conjunction with CMS mission partners Kate and Tim

Further resources

Lee with the Jigsaw Project in Metro Manila:

From the author: ‘Rediscovering Children at the Heart of Mission’ in G Miles and J Wright, eds, Celebrating Children (Paternoster, Carlisle 2003); The Bible,

“I was shocked to discover the vital strategic role that children played in the unfolding story of God’s saving acts. And everything since has confirmed the truth of this insight”

www.cms-uk.org/lent CMS World to Rights schools theatre project, encouraging children to lend their voices for justice:

Narrative and Illustrated (WTL, 2008); Caring for

www.worldtorights.info

Deprived Children, ed, (Palgrave Macmillan, 1979);

Children’s engagement in prayer for local, national

A Place for Us, editions 1 and 2 (Mill Grove, 1981);

and world mission: pray@viva.org

Dr Keith J White

qurhtnl mp 15 yes Lent 2009

Author David Bosch once said that we are called to live a spirituality of the road, not of the balcony.

A spirituality of the road evokes images of

The view from the road It’s as you engage in mission that your spiritual life develops, says Dr Cathy Ross

movement, change, journeys, new places, discovery, and crossing borders. It can also suggest feelings of weariness and disorientation.

But the idea is that we grow more as participants than as observers. I personally found this to be true; it was during my time in Uganda that I began to more fully understand the goodness of God. When it comes to a spirituality of the road, we must ask a couple of questions. One, at what pace should we travel? Should we rush from point A to point B, ignoring the scenery along the way? Or should we travel at the speed of love, as Kosuke Koyama suggests in Three Mile an Hour God? Koyama writes: Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It is ‘slow’ yet it is lord over all other speeds since it is the speed of love. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.

Koyama says that Jesus’ pace was not rapid; it was more like this speed of love. Think of the journey along the Emmaus road and what riches those followers of Jesus (and all of us since) would have missed out on had they rushed past Jesus and ignored him. What is our pace? Are we so busy engaging in mission that the scenery and relationships pass us by? Are we so caught up in achieving and doing that we do not pause to engage with the stranger and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? If so, we may as well be in the balcony.

A second, related, question to ask is, in our rush to do more ‘important things’, are we missing out on what Bosch calls the spirituality of the commonplace?

It’s easy to be captivated by the spectacular, by wonderful meeting and powerful ministry – we sing about “more love, more power”– but is that really what God calls us to? Is that really the experience of most people?

16 yes Lent 2009

adore. They knew that somehow Jesus changed their

rewarding, it is to discover spirituality in daily life.

lives. As followers of Jesus, we must allow people to

Yet, kingdom life is ordinary life lived in the real

see another way of living and being.

world: in things like earning a living, bringing up a family, having fun, enjoying parties, building cities, mourning loved ones, healing sickness, making music, playing sport, studying and travelling. It’s all about doing these things to the glory of our Creator and Redeemer, and resting in who we are meant to be in Christ.

As we engage in mission wherever we are, I suggest some characteristics or disciplines that we might observe in order to develop our spirituality of

This will have profound implications for our spiritual lives. We may indeed be out of synch with the world in which we live, we may be uncomfortable, and this will force us to rely on God more.

6. Sign of the end We are to live as visible signs of hope that God’s kingdom is reality, that we are living on the frontier of a new heaven and a new earth, and that will have profound implications for our spiritual life.

the road. They’re disciplines because they take

Conclusion: not “how to” but “where to”

some effort.

You may be surprised that I haven’t yet spoken of

1. Inquirer

reading the Bible and prayer. Yes, we do need God’s

Ask questions about every facet of life – the political,

word to nourish us and we need to develop a deep

the economic, the industrial, the social, the spiritual.

and ongoing life of prayer, as John Taylor explained in

2. Learner We need to learn the culture and subcultures of where we are. In learning from others, we begin to learn more about ourselves, what makes us function, how we can grow and develop. As we learn let us

The Go-Between God: “To live in prayer, therefore, is to live in the Spirit; and to live in the Spirit is to live in Christ…. Prayer is not something you do; it is a style of living.” Prayer is both our privilege and our responsibility as we engage in the missio Dei.

maintain a self-awareness and practise humility

A spirituality of the road embraces prayer as an

under God.

integral part of the journey. It is not all about living a

3. Listener We must listen to the assumptions behind the words and worldviews of others and learn to hear Jesus speaking through them. This will challenge our own understanding of how God works in the world, which will in turn deepen our spiritual life.

4. Lover As we learn to love others with patience and gentleness, we will find our hearts being opened out and softened. As we grow in Christ-like love, our spiritual life will be enhanced. Ask yourself, “How can I live at the speed of love? What will that look like in my life?”

5. Disturber

Painting by Dr. He Qi

People underestimate how challenging, yet

life of relentless activism (though this may be part of it); the end to which we strive ultimately is, as Roland Allen has expressed it so beautifully, “the unfolding of a Person” – the revelation of Christ. The heart of mission is communion with Christ – daily, constant, ongoing – through the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Further, a spirituality of the road realises that models and “how to’s” only get us so far. There is no blueprint, or map or sat nav that contains every turn, bump or unexpected circumstance. We will have our challenges and disappointments, our dark nights of the soul. We will have our feelings of betrayal, and thoughts that God has left us to struggle on this road alone. Are we willing to face that? Is our spiritual life robust enough to face the heartache and brutalities

What does it mean to be a disturber? I think it

of a broken world? As we give up our seats in the

means questioning the status quo, and engaging

balcony and step out along this road, committed to a

with people who may have very different ideas to

long obedience in the same direction, maybe some

ours. We are inviting others to see Jesus and live

of the above qualities can help us live life in all the

in relationship with him, so this will likely disturb

fullness to which Jesus has called us.

their lifestyles, relationships and futures. As TS Eliot expressed in Journey of the Magi, the three kings,

Dr Cathy Ross is the

those enigmatic wise men, returned to where they

manager of the Crowther

had come from “no longer at ease here, in the old

Centre for Mission Education

dispensation, with an alien people clutching their

and JV Taylor Fellow in

gods.” Once they had seen Jesus, they knew. They

Missiology at the University

knew this baby, this King of the Jews, was one to

of Oxford 17 yes Lent 2009

Returning mission to the majority Mark Oxbrow explains why we need to radically revise our understanding of who is a missionary

Photo: Jonathan Self/CMS

“We need to revise our mission history to take a much more realistic account of who really have been the ‘midwives of the gospel’ over the past two thousand years”

In one Arabian Peninsula city, an Ethiopian

although it does not appear in the records of

pastor trains every one of his church members

missionary activity or the databanks of specialists.

as a missionary. There are 35,000 Ethiopians working

It is the transcultural witnessing for Christ that

in that country; 96 per cent of them are young, female,

takes place as people move around as migrants

domestic workers living on a few dollars a week.

or refugees, just as in New Testament days….

The Christians among them, like every other young

They are missionaries ‘from below’ who do not

Ethiopian woman, are hoping to send home a little

have the power, the prestige, or the money from a

money to support their families. They also discover that

developed nation, and are not part of a missionary

God has placed them in a key mission context.

organisation. They are vulnerable in many ways, but

In just 11 months these young women have taken the Jesus film and Arabic New Testaments into 800 homes where they are able to share the film with

faith in Jesus Christ. (The New Global Mission, IVP, 2003)

children and read the Bible with their mothers. Sadly,

Mission from ‘below’ has always been a highly

these women, who are actively engaged in evangelism

significant aspect of Christian mission; it becomes more

in one of the most closed mission contexts in the

significant in the 21st century for three reasons.

world, will never appear in any statistics of ‘foreign missionaries’. They will attract little prayer or financial support from minority world (Western) churches so concerned to “reach the unreached.”

This is why we need to radically revise our

Most Christians today are financially poor, politically marginalised and socially restricted by their gender, age, or ethnicity.

The increasing prevalence of migration has radically

understanding of who a missionary is in the

increased the opportunities for migrant Christians to

contemporary, globalised world. In fact, we also need

be effective in cross-cultural mission.

to revise much of our mission history in order to take a much more realistic account of who really have been the ‘midwives of the gospel’ over the past 2,000 years. Samuel Escobar writes, Another missionary force is also at work today, 18 yes Lent 2009

have learnt the art of survival, supported by their

In a world where international travel and communication are becoming easier, even Christians with very modest financial resources are able to share the gospel with those without faith in different parts of the world.

The professional vs the voluntary missionary?

Although one band of actors might have predominated or been ‘historically visible’ during particular periods, five categories of missioners have all engaged in effective mission side by side. The five groups I identify (although there are obviously more) are: refugee evangelists witnessing traders and entrepreneurs monastic communities in mission imperial philanthropists professional missionaries These five groups can represent some key stages in Christian history. However, they also represent significant movements in mission that can and do coexist within the contemporary Church. My contention here is that the experience of majority world Christians in mission today could help us recover a much broader understanding of what our missionary God is doing among and through his people.

Reading the accounts of the early Church (eg, Acts 8:4), it is clear that some of the very first cross-cultural missionaries were fleeing for their lives. In each century, faith in Jesus Christ has been taught by those fleeing from persecution, war, ethnic cleansing, famine, and drought. It seems that those who have known suffering and found God to be faithful are often the best evangelists. The challenge for the global Christian community is to discover how we might best support, equip, and encourage ‘refugee evangelists’ today.

Business as mission has become a popular concept in recent decades and a way in which those with entrepreneurial skill and business acumen can discover their vocation in mission by serving the holistic needs of communities who lack employment or faith. The idea of Christian business people in mission, however, is hardly new. In the early centuries the news of salvation in Jesus was carried along the silk roads of Central Asia and into China. Nestorian

‘civilising’ programme for subject peoples. Only in the last two centuries have we seen the rise of what I call ‘professional missionaries’ who are recruited, trained, deployed, and financially-supported for a life of fulltime mission.

A new kind of dance I have rehearsed this mission history because it is not only Western Christians who forget that refugees, merchants, monks, and civil servants can be missionaries. Addressing the mission community of the World Evangelical Alliance in 2006, Duncan Olumbe, director of Kenyan-based Mission Together Africa, warned his majority world colleagues of the dangers of seeking to join the Europeanchoreographed “power dance”, “imitation dance”, and “position dance”. In other words, the professional missionary paradigm has become so pervasive that even those who have a much stronger missional rhythm in their spiritual bones feel constrained to do mission in the European style.

Many majority world churches would struggle to support one traditional, ‘professional’ missionary family, but how many of their members could be resourced as refugees, migrants, business women, overseas students, or traders in cross-cultural mission? Olumbe continues, “I long for a different dance! However, how can we allow space for the different dancers – African, Asian, European, American, etc – with all their different rhythms, beats, and paraphernalia?”

Olumbe’s question is addressed to mission leaders in North America and Europe, as well as those in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. While rejoicing in all that ‘professional’ missionaries continue to achieve for Christ’s kingdom, we need to create space for the other dancers. This will involve reallocating resources, for example, to fund the training of the 400,000 Filipino Christians currently working as migrants around the world.

Christians were especially effective at planting

This requires partnership on a global scale, where

churches while bringing communities the advantages

power relationships are renegotiated and resources are

of international trade.

pooled. My greatest hope is that as the majority world

For many centuries, religious communities carried the Christian faith from village to village, tribe to tribe, to India, China and beyond. Today, we see the

“The challenge for the global Christian community is to discover how we might best support, equip, and encourage ‘refugee evangelists’ today”

begins to control the dance tune and discover new steps and rhythms, that we in the minority world will at last escape our blinkered professionalisation of mission.

rise of a new monasticism and renewed interest

The Rev Canon Mark Oxbrow is the international

in missional communities. In the 18th and 19th

coordinator of the Faith2Share network, which brings

centuries, European empires, rising from the heart

together 16 international mission agencies from five

of Christendom, brought religiously-motivated

continents to share resources in mission. A slightly

philanthropy (as well as other things considered

longer version of this article first appeared in the

destructive and evil). Civil servants, ship owners,

January 2009 issue of Lausanne World Pulse

and school teachers saw the gospel as part of their

(www.lausanneworldpulse.com). Published with permission.

19 yes Lent 2009

Crowther Centre news

7 May, 8pm

Missiologists in Residence

Public lecture by Dr Atola Longkumer

The Crowther Centre is looking forward to

(pending visa)

hosting two missiologists in residence.

“Religious Conversion: re-thinking religious

From 17 February to 16 May Dr Parush

encounter in modern India.” A survey of

Parushev is with us. He was born in Bulgaria

discourse and events in the country

to an atheist family and became a Christian

pertaining to conversion, mission and other

in 1990. He obtained his first PhD in 1977 in

dominant religions.

Applied Mathematics at the Technical University

16 May, 10am–3.30pm “Does Faith Work?” Workshop day on the role of faith in the public space with Paul Woolley from the THEOS think-tank.

A series of four workshops on Faith in the School, Faith in the Hospital, Faith in the Prison and Faith in the Market. £10 (£8 concessions) RSVP before 2 May: cathy.ross@cms-uk.org or helen.cameron@ripon-cuddesdon.ac.uk

from Fuller Theological Seminary in California in 1996. At Fuller, he studied theology, with specialist interest in Christian ethics and moral philosophy. Currently he is the Director of the Institute of Systematic Study of Contextual Theologies at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague.

Dr Atola Longkumer will be at the Crowther Centre for two months, from 25 April (pending

28 May, 8pm

visa). She was born in north-east India, in Naga-

St Thomas Lecture by Dr Joshva Raja

land. At the moment she teaches in a school for

“Mission Challenges from Contemporary India:

theology in Jabalpur. She specialises in mission

‘that they may be one, that the world may know

studies and the interface of Christian mission

…’” Consideration will be given to such issues

with the local Naga culture and the multi-

as being a minority, conversion, internal unity

religious culture in India.

and contribution to development.

Visiting Student

11 June, 10am–1pm

Together with Wycliffe Hall, the Crowther Centre

Mission and Mediation in a Consumer

has started a programme that aims to invite

Culture Conference with Peter Ward

students in mission studies, mainly from the

hosted by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross. £5 payable at the door 16 June, 10.30am–3.30pm “Britain – a Christian Country?”

Faiths, Identity and Insecurity With Richard Sudworth and others.

majority world, to Oxford for one academic term. The goals of this programme are to give the invited student the experience of theology in a Western university context, and to receive their input for a better understanding of the global Church.

Faith to Faith, Global Connections and

Vija Herefoss is a young missiologist from

Crowther Centre.

Latvia currently living and working in Oslo,

There will be a small charge.

Look out for our forthcoming lectures in the autumn on Mission in Context, with Stephen Bevans. This will be a series of four lectures, using case studies from Oxford (both town and gown).

20 yes Lent 2009

in St Petersburg. He completed his second PhD

Norway. From 2007 she has been employed as a research fellow at the Norwegian School of Theology and is working on her doctoral thesis, which aims to analyse the challenges for mission in a post-communist context. Her interest in missiology is influenced both by her own experience of coming from a non-Christian background as well as by the need for reflection

For more information email

on the specific situation of churches in a post-

berdine.vandentoren@cms-uk.org

communist framework.

Raiding the Archives “Christianity is a religion for all mankind.”

languages. Brunton notes that “some seem to be

It may appear extraordinary to Christians today that

stead.” In response, Brunton argued strongly that “if

this statement had to be made as late as the 19th century. In fact, this quote, from Henry Brunton’s Grammar and Vocabulary of the Susoo Language (1802), caused much controversy.

This book proved groundbreaking in two ways: firstly, in its linguistic value as one of the earliest attempts to translate an African tribal language; and secondly, as a significant contributor to the re-shaping of mission strategy.

of the opinion that barbarous languages ought to be rooted out, and better ones introduced in their missionaries wish to do any good, they must either speak the languages of the heathen miraculously… or they must learn them with great labour.”

Henry Brunton’s Grammar shows the fruit of this labour and helped shape a mission strategy that worked with local cultures, languages and traditions as opposed to against them. The Crowther Centre is lucky enough to hold a first edition of Brunton’s Grammar in its archives and has done so since

Forthcoming monographs: Johan P Velema A Biblical Basis for Project Evaluation Tim Dakin Christian Mission in a Pluralist Context: on the margins and in competition

Brunton’s Grammar is the earliest grammar of

it was published by the Society for Missions to

a West African language and one of the earliest

Africa and the East – later called the Church Mission

grammars for any African language. The Susoo

Society.

language is spoken by the Susu people who live

James Donaldson is an intern in the CMS

on the Rio Pongas in modern day Guinea. Henry Brunton was a Scottish missionary who worked among the Susu people between 1798 and 1799, when he returned to Scotland due to ill-health.

Perhaps as important as the Susoo grammar itself is Brunton’s discussion of mission strategy found in the preface. At the close of the 18th century, a debate still raged within the context of

communications team. His recent contributions include articles for the Unsung Heroes section of the CMS website.

NEXT ISSUE OF yes DUE June ‘09

colonialism over the necessity of translating tribal 21 yes Lent 2009

Recommended Daily dosage

By Tim Dakin, CMS general secretary A few years back, Simon Barrington-Ward, CMS general secretary 1975–85, chaired a CMS review on mission spirituality.

It involved wide-ranging discussions where we sought to discern what was at the heart of the spirituality that’s fuelled the

is participation; for the most part,

CMS movement for over two centuries. The

people participate on a minimal, but

main outcome was a proposal to push ahead with the possibility of CMS being recognised as a mission community acknowledged by the wider Church (of England).

sustained level. At a recent meeting of CMS managers and directors, Jonny gave the example of someone who contributes a Wikipedia entry; Wikipedia relies on often-minimal, but

During an interview given when he opened the

sustained participation.

new CMS building in Oxford, the Archbishop of

The daily discipline of prayer using CMS Daily may

Canterbury was asked about what he saw as the

only take a few minutes, but it captures the heart of

most important recent developments in the life of

what it means to be a community that’s participating

the Society. He pointed to a rediscovery “that where

in God’s mission. And it’s a very good basis for doing

it all comes from is sharing a discipline of prayer, a

a lot more.

real community.” CMS, he said, “is first and foremost a community of Christians and ought to be learning to live together in a disciplined way.”

As we go forward in this journey of discovery and participation in what it means to be a community of people in mission, the trustees and senior

We’ve been developing the means to enable a

management team of CMS will need to put a

community-wide discipline of prayer, one that

number of new things in place. Some of our

reflects CMS mission spirituality. This year we’re

communications will need to be modified. We’ll

launching CMS Daily. This resource for daily prayer

learn things from fellow travellers headed in the

includes a simple liturgy, daily reflections and items

same direction, though they may be doing some

for prayer from CMS around the world. As this issue

things differently.

of Yes went to press, about 300 people had agreed to try out a pilot version on a daily basis for two months and offer us feedback on the resource. We will be taking their comments into account and hope to launch a fuller version of CMS Daily later in the year, as members of CMS re-enrol in the new combined community of CMS and the South American Mission Society (SAMS).

SAMS supporters will have an opportunity to enrol as members.

In the last edition of Yes, CMS mission leadership and communities team leader Jonny Baker reflected on the importance of networks. This is a helpful way to understand the spread-out nature of the CMS community — we work 22 yes Lent 2009

in networks. The key to networks

All in all it’s an exciting time to be putting our mission spirituality into practice in a new way. It is by participation in mission that we most keenly explore the height, depth, breadth and length of the love of God which is in Christ.

See the CMS website for the full interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury. For more information about CMS Daily, contact 01865 787400 or info@cms-uk.org

by John Martin On 20 January, CMS members recorded their overwhelming support for the plan to merge with SAMS. For the next few months CMS and SAMS will work in close cooperation, with Henry Scriven serving as mission director for South America and Tim Dakin providing overall leadership as general secretary of CMS and SAMS. The new legal entity should be in place towards the end of 2009.

Cathy Ross of the Crowther Centre for Mission The winter issue of Share, magazine of the

Education, who is helping shape the theme track on

South American Mission Society (SAMS), carries

“Mission Spirituality and Authentic Discipleship”. Full

a fascinating story about Charles Darwin, which

information from the Edinburgh 2010 website

coincides well with the 150th anniversary of the

www.edinburgh2010.org

publication of The Origin of Species. Bob Lunt, editor of Share, writes:

For a sterling example of mission spirituality and authentic discipleship in practice look no further

“Not widely known…is that from 1867 Darwin made

than the testimony of Jean Waddell. As this issue of

an annual subscription to SAMS funds in recognition

Yes went to press, we passed the 30-year anniversary

of the Society’s work in transforming the lives of the

of the release of three CMS people in mission, Jean

Fuegian Indians, the collective name of the tribes

Waddell with Dr John and Audrey Coleman, who were

of Tierra del Fuego. SAMS annual reports used to

imprisoned in the tumult of the Iranian Revolution. At

include names of donors and subscribers and tucked

one stage Jean, secretary to the bishop, was shot and

away in the long list for 1867 is that of ‘Charles

had a close encounter with death. Years later Jean

Darwin Esq., per Admiral Sulivan’.”

said, “Throughout the troubles of the Middle East,

Apparently Sir James Sulivan, a longtime friend of

especially the revolution in Iran and my wounding

Darwin, sailed as second lieutenant on the Beagle.

and imprisonment, I was sustained by the continuing

Darwin had initially expressed serious doubts as to

awareness of God’s presence with me. I hope that my

whether the Tierra del Fuego Mission would do any

response to these events helped others to seek his

good. But by 1870 he changed his mind and sought

presence in their lives.”

election as an honorary member of SAMS. Still on the subject of anniversaries, Andrew

“Darwin... changed his mind and sought election as an honorary member of SAMS”

I never cease to be amazed by the variety of ways CMS people live out their day-to-day

Walls, one of the foremost mission historians,

discipleship. Alison Blenkinsop (nee Fookes) once

has written: “The World Missionary Conference,

served in Pakistan as a nurse at Bannu Christian

Edinburgh 1910, has passed into Christian legend.

Hospital. Now in retirement, she devotes lots of

It was a landmark in the history of mission; the

energy toward campaigning to limit damage caused

starting point of the modern theology of mission;

by inappropriate infant feeding. Alison, who bills

the high point of the modern Western missionary

herself as an “International Board Certified Lactation

movement and the point from which it declined; the

Consultant”, has published Fit to Bust (Pen Press,

launch-pad of the modern ecumenical movement;

£9.99, ISBN 978-1-906206-89-5). As anyone who’s

the point at which Christians first began to glimpse

engaged with campaigns against firms promoting

something of what a world church would be like.”

baby formula as better than natural feeding will

Plans are underway for Edinburgh 2010 (2–6 June)

appreciate, it’s a serious theme. But the book takes

which will celebrate the earlier event and address

a light-hearted route with a collection of memorable

the future of mission. CMS is involved through Dr

poems, songs, cartoons and stories.

23 yes Lent 2009

As my parents planted before I was born, so do I plant for those who come after me.

A family, sharing Jesus changing lives for over 200 years. Help enable the work of the CMS family to continue beyond our lifetimes.

For more information, Mary Smith, our legacy administrator, is available on 01865 787513 or mary.smith@cms-uk.org

A legacy...

...continuing the family of CMS