Everyone engaged in God's mission wrestles with the paradox in Luther's famous comment. In universal application, it often comes out to "discovering the Image of God in all people" while "Acknowledging the sin and fallenness of all people." I wonder if the following statement is true. "The side of the paradox that dominates the mind and heart of the missionary will determine his or her ministry expectations and practices."In an interesting parallel, development theory holds a similar paradox. Development theories are increasingly popular in mission today, sometimes overtaking the science of anthropology as the default evaluative tool for mission practice. For many years, most development practices began with needs assessment and problem solving. (Perhaps similar to focusing on the "sinful and fallen" side of things) Now this approach is being challenged by "Appreciative Inquiry" (AI) based on an evaluation of local talents and resources. (Perhaps similar to "discovering the Image of God") Later on, I will include a link to AI theory, but you may have already seen it in the "...With the Poor" series by Bryant Myers and published by World Vision, Orbis and others.I wrote this as I thought about Dr Pamela Hanson's comments on the April 2 blog. I rather think that Grace is the resolution to the paradox. If so, how does that work out in your life and work in God's mission? Tell us your story!
Good thoughts from all of you - except maybe Mark Novak who thinks everything can be solved by committee (just kidding Mark). Here's what I am discovering: as you know, independent pentecostal movements are the fastest growing and biggest thing around in the rest of the world - particularly among those with less resources. So, it's no surprise that they are the primary recipients of work groups and mission teams. At first, mission groups and teams are quite taken by what they see as expressions of simple and direct faith accompanied by a freedom of emotional expression in worship that is more difficult for the US types. After a couple of years, however, they begin to become uncomfortable with 1) an allegorical or inspirational use of Scripture with little or no reflective or exegetical content,2) little or no Scripture use at all, in favor of the "prophetic word" of the local leader,3) authoritarian leadership, no democratic processes - leaders whose role focuses mainly on the giving or withholding of permission,4) the "big three" expectations of faith - a) deliverance from satanic power and oppression, b) miraculous healing and c) prosperity,5) and ecstatic worship - "slaying in the Spirit", tongues, lots of noise, obscure prophecies - all by the same people every week - which can get a bit old and raise questions about what, if anything, is really going on. In the meantime, many of these churches quickly reach a peak number, seem to stop growing and nothing much seems to change after that. Local poverty and the effects of limited resources, in particular, seem to continue unabated. So, mission groups tend to either move on to someone else, quite mission trips (been there, done that) or try to change their host church's practices and theology with little success - which is when people like me start to get the emails and phone calls. So... what is the goal of mission activity? What should work groups and mission teams seek to do?What do you think? (For more on this, you might want to read my stuff on "Working Together" in the documents section of the website and elsewhere.)
Hi folks,Here's a story that was recently told by a MERGE MINISTRYstaff person... "On any given day, I can drop by the main plaza in Reynosa, Mexico (a border town just south of Texas) and find a lost mission group. They just show up. They don't know anyone and have no idea what they might do. They hope to find someone to help. (Note: This reminded me of the Mexican day workers waiting on street corners or at a 7/11 store waiting for work all over the US) Sometimes I give them some pointers and other times I have signed them up on the spot as a MERGE work group, during slow times for us." When asked if this was rare or occasional, the MERGE person replied, "No, it's anytime and all the time."If this seems a bit too random to you, how do you think American folks interested in doing mission should make a selection? What would make sense? What factors should people consider?What do you think?
