I’ve been a regular churchgoer for just about the whole of my life and over the years, I’ve developed some opinions about what happens in church services. However, I’ve never worked in a church and I have no first hand knowledge of the joys and pains of church leadership. I have lots of friends in that line of work, so I’ve heard a good bit about it, but I would never claim to be an expert in Church leadership.
So why is it that some Church leaders feel that their experience makes them experts in my field; cross cultural mission? I’m sorry, but making occasional trips overseas doesn’t qualify you to speak about the nature of mission any more than sitting in a pew gives me the background to talk about church leadership. Sadly, I have been in large Christian gatherings and conferences where well meaning and enthusiastic church leaders have given talks on mission that have made my toes curl in embarrassment. The passion was there, the zeal was there, but they weren’t matched with an understanding of contemporary mission situations or thinking. Welcome to the 1950s!
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I love it when church leaders are enthusiastic about overseas mission; nothing makes my job more enjoyable. I also deeply value the faithful work of church leaders who expound the Scriptures week by week and shepherd the flock God has placed under their care; I wouldn’t be where I am as Christian without them. I need Godly church leaders to do what God calls them to.
I also love it that some big conferences and conventions have a ‘mission slot’ during their programme. But can I gently suggest to the organisers of these events, that they might like to involve people with a serious overseas mission background to take these slots rather than asking a big name church leader or speaker? I can give you a list of names if you want!
I realise that Christian events need the big name speakers to pull in the punters, but I also believe that we need to invest in people who are able to motivate a new generation of people to be involved in cross-cultural mission today.
31 replies on “Who Speaks About Mission?”
Where, generally, is the ignorance? What are the top 5 misunderstandings that they (and therefore the rest of us) have?
@kouya Absolutely agree! Same re church planting. Suspect it’s because ‘missionaries’ still viewed as those who ‘couldn’t get a church’!
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Were these conferences specifically trying to run sessions on *cross-cultural* mission? Given a better and growing understanding of the mission of God and the missional nature of the Church, I would actually hope that we see people talking more about mission without necessarily being cross-cultural workers.
I agree that people with no cross-cultural experience shouldn’t be talking about cross-cultural mission, but I can think of a lot of *very* big-name Christian leaders who would be guilty of pontificating on that score. But as you say, they need to pull in the punters, and he who pays the Piper calls the tune.
I’m thinking more of the main stage things rather than focused seminars. In my experience, they do tend to get experienced people to lead seminars but these attract a tiny number of people compared to the mission evenings on main stage.
Occasionally they do get it right – the last big conference I went to had Jackie Pullinger. But I think the problem is that there are a very limited number of “big” enough speakers, of the Jackie Pullinger calibre, that people will have heard of and that will pull in an audience. And of course it’s a chicken-and-egg problem: because missionary speakers, even the really good ones, are relegated to the specialist spots, they don’t get to be well-known enough to pull in an audience. We also start at a disadvantage because the stereotype of the missionary talk is… well, not very good, and that’s probably the only kind of missionary talk these organisers have heard.
Building a “platform” in the Evangelical world is very difficult, and very hit and miss. Writing books helps!
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There are more subtle ways to try and get a gig as a conference speaker Eddie.
I have to agree with you here, Eddie. I rejoice at all those who are contributing to the “missional conversation” but it has meant that “mission” doesn’t mean the same as it did. Why invite a “missionary” to talk about something that some big name speaker has now written about? And the result is that we don’t hear teaching on the very skills we need to reach our increasingly multi-cultural Western societies…the skills of cross-cultural mission.
I wondered who would be the first to suggest that, John. But in my mid fifties, I don’t think I’m the right one to be mobilising a new generation.
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Yeah, you keep repeating yourself…..
I wondered who would be the first to suggest that, Ian.
Absolutely agree!
It’s the same with pioneering ‘home’ mission, which some call church planting.
I suspect this is because ‘missionaries’ or ‘church planters’ are still viewed as those who ‘couldn’t get a church’!
When you do occasionally happen to go to a conference and hear a genuine reflective practitioner, it soon becomes obvious that he knows that of which he speaks.
Hi, Eddie – I think I need some actual examples to understand what you’re criticising them for. I’m predisposed to thinking they’re unlikely to understand the complexities of inculturation, post-colonialism and partnership and still think Lausanne was pretty dangerously radical. But that’s just my prejudice. I’d be glad to see some kind of specifics illustrating from your experience what the problems are that need addressing.
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Thanks for your comments folks. Sue and I are having a break in the hills for the weekend. I’ll reply properly when I get home – probably by doing a new post. Meanwhile, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!
RT @kouya: Who Speaks About Mission?: Some controversial thoughts about mission talks at conferences… http://t.co/wpG5SHfV0a
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I followed this up with another post:
https://www.kouya.net/?p=5968