Mission in the Midst of New Global Realities

Posted on March 3, 2010 | 0 comments

In a lecture this week, my professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr. Donna Downes gives some new global realities that we are facing today in mission. I have highlighted four of these below.

1. The Church in the Global South and East is growing far more rapidly than the Church in Western nations.

Consider the following graph from David Barrett:

*By 2005, the figure was already 60%, and some estimate that by 2010, 70% of Christians will reside in the Global South and East.

2. Because of the growing maturity of the Church in developing nations, a very healthy and vibrant missions movement has grown.

This means that all mission agencies will have to adjust their structures and organizational cultures to include and fully engage the multicultural missionary force or they will risk becoming isolated and marginalized from the growing non-Western missionary movement.

3. The new global realities dictate new approaches to mission.

Business as mission is not just a new strategy for raising support, but is a missional strategy as missionaries are no longer seen as “heroes” of the cultures they come from or by the cultures in which they are serving.

4. The global context requires more than short-term missionaries practicing Christian tourism.

We need churches who act and think like missionaries; churches who are dedicated to people, not programs; to incarnational ministry, not institutional preservation. Short-term trips should be balanced with long-term commitments.

I believe that these are realities no matter where you serve. I am always troubled how America is often referred to apart from “the world” or “the nations” like we do not all co-exist on the same globe.

For us serving in America, we have a lot to learn for the non-Western world. We must always have a global perspective for to many missional church do not do mission. Furthermore, the world is often at your door step. My son’s, pre-k class is representative of the multi-cultural reality we live in. In his class alone, you will see peoples from Latin America, India, Eastern Europe, and children of mixed heritages (I remind you that this is the South).

So what are your thoughts?

To my friends serving overseas: How are these realities played out in your context? What else would you add?