Evangelical missions developed at a time when it was possible to conceive of the world as being divided between a Christian West and the non-Christian rest. The distinction between the worlds was clear and mission could be distinguished from other forms of Christian service because it involved travelling out of the Christian world into the non-Christian one.
The political world in which the mission agencies developed was one dominated by Empire. The places to which British agencies were sending missionaries were also very often the same places that became colonies of the British Empire. Over time, the two movements became closely entwined, with the government seeing missionaries as part of the strategy for expanding colonial reach. From the point of view of those receiving the missionaries, it could be very difficult to separate out the religious agenda of the missionaries from the political agenda of their colonial overseers. There was also an inevitable power gap; the missionaries being seen to be backed by the vast wealth and military power of the empire.
Mission agencies developed in an intellectual climate dominated by the enlightenment and a period of rapid technological development. This allowed for new advances in mission, as practices from the business and commercial world were adapted in order to further the missionary cause. Over the succeeding 200 years, mission agencies have been quick to adopt new technologies such as radio, computers and the Internet for the spread of their work. At the same time the enlightenment separation of the sacred and secular tended to distance missionaries from the people they were serving, as missionaries failed to appreciate the complex spiritual worldviews of many societies worldwide.
Each of these three dimensions of the world that mission agencies developed in; religious, political and intellectual, has changed dramatically in the last fifty years and this cannot fail to have an impact on their future.
This is part of the first draft of something that I am writing in order to get my own thoughts straight on these issues. It isn’t the whole story, but I thought you might find it interesting.
10 replies on “Some Musings on Mission Agencies”
RT @kouya: Some Musings on Mission Agencies; their past and their future: http://t.co/of6X59g9kb
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Helpful as always. The relationship between the colonial power and church / mission can be *very* complex though. The Belfast born founder of the Qua Iboe Mission, Samuel Bill, enjoyed a fairly close relationship with the colonial authorities in Nigeria, but resisted their efforts to recruit him into the colonial service as he did not want to have the mission associated with the colonial power. In Kenya, the Church of Scotland Mission came in at the invitation of the Imperial British East Africa Company around 1890, but by the 1920s was often in trouble with the colonial government for not toeing the official line on various issues, ranging from farm labour to FGM. During the Mau Mau period the relationship is massively complex, with some missionaries serving in the Kenya police reserve whilst others campaigned for the rights of Mau Mau detainees. It was Dr Arthur of the CSM who campaigned ceaselessly for high school education for Kenyans at a time when the settlers and government reckoned that 4 years of primary school was quite enough. So although examples of missionaries having colonial tendencies can be easily given, it was not invariably the case and the other side of the coin has to be examined.
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Great pic, eddie (esp the branding) – but not quite Usain Bolt… That said, the post is a v good read, as ever!
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Eddie, have you seen Woodberry’s article, ‘The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy’? (Download here: https://www.academia.edu/2128659/The_Missionary_Roots_of_Liberal_Democracy ); it does not deny any of your argument, but perhaps nuances the point about empire – and is a really excellent piece of data analysis.
Thanks for the comments folks. I agree that the issue of colonialism is more complex than I have presented it. My problem is that a document which has to be a maximum of 1,000 words is currently around 5,000 and I can’t include everything. That being said, I think that the two central points that I raised; the way in which the colonial movement facilitated the work of mission and the power/financial gap between the missionaries and those they serve(d) are key issues.
Thanks for the link to Woodberry’s piece Steve. I read it a while ago, but it’s good to be reminded and I’ll add it to my ‘must read again’ pile.
Both Nevius and Roland Allen wrote about this very isssue at the end of nineteenth and start of twentieth century. Henry Venn was a minister in Huddersfield at St Peter’s. There was a powerful move of God and thousands were converted. His son John was chaplain of the Clapham group involving Wilberforce and was involved in eastablishing CMS. Venn’s grandson, also called Henry Venn was general secretary of CMS for many years. Due to the problems over the mix with colonialism, he and USA person Rufus Alexander produced the ‘three self’ principles, that mission churches had to be governed by national believers, had to be financed by national believers and national believers were responsible for evangelism. Yes, politicised in China by the Three Self Patriotic Movement down to today. That is life. But the principles are good. It led to Dr John Nevius, missionary to China taking it up and using it. Other missionaries in China opposed it. However, at one time in Korea, missionaries had to pass an exam on Nevius. It had a great impact on Korea. Roland Allen, also at first a missionary to China wrote books on the same subject. In Korea, unity on the 3 self pinciples and on the term to be used for God, Hananim, predated the Wonsun revival of 1903 and then the Pyongyand revival of 1907-1910. That was part of my PhD study in missiology. These matters are crucial.