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2010-07-17 |
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| Editorial Comment… |
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| What kind of initiatives do Asians need to take for the remaining task? |
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Asian mission leaders will gather together in an Asian country on October 27-30 this year, to continue the discussion on Asian initiatives for frontier mission. In this year, there are a number of world mission conferences to commemorate the Edinburgh 1910. As long as you are the members of His Body, you are responsible for the Great Commission. This derives you to be involved in mission, whatever the understanding is. Our gathering in October will be differentiated among others in the sense that we desire to deal with Asian’s frontier mission initiatives where a mission paradigm shift will be a crucial issue.
We seem to have a paradigm in mission as the paradigm means “what members of a mission community, and they alone, share”. An epistemological paradigm shift was called a scientific revolution by epistemologist and historian of science. (Thomas Kuhn in his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.”) According to Kuhn, it occurs when scientists encounter anomalies which cannot be explained by the universally accepted paradigm within which scientific progress has thereto been made. He saw a paradigm not as a current theory, but as the entire worldview in which it exists and all of the implications which come with it. It is based on features of landscape of knowledge that scientists can identify around them. There must be similarity in mission as we may now agree.
Ralph Winter mentioned two books we have; nature as the creation of God and the Bible as His special revelation, through which we can grow up in knowing more about who He is. However, in understanding those too books, the lenses we take are our own choices. The lenses through which we see those books look like depending very much on what we call “paradigm”.
For most Asians in mission, there seem to be two
giants influencing mission paradigm established among current mission communities. They are Euro-Christendom influence and American Puritanism leading what we call post-Christendom. Even at a glance, the frontier spirit seems to be sustained in American Puritanism even though there surely is deviance at individual level.
What kind of initiatives do we Asians need to take as we face so many challenges in the remaining task among the UPGs on the earth? There seem to be three different views based on certain mission paradigms, in taking initiatives to play certain role in world mission as Asians.
Since we Asians observe the decrement of Western missionaries in Christendom structures that they have established, Asian cross-cultural missionaries need to replace the positions that the Western missionaries left behind.
Furthermore, we should send more missionaries to Western Christian countries (especially European Countries) as we experienced the latest Christian revival in our home countries, and can help European churches now undergoing dramatic declining of Christianity, for their revival again.
As the remaining task is greatly challenging us even in such a long mission history which was dominated by Western mission forces over centuries, we Asians, as the 11th hour workers in God’s vine yard, should practice the spirit of pioneering the cutting edge in God’s Kingdom development.
Whatever the reason is to choose one of those different priorities that Asian workers can consider, it surely depends on what kind of mission stance one has in mind.
In the world where different paradigms are competing, one paradigm continues to reinforce its own legitimacy to take over others. However, we all need to march side by side in trying to obey what Jesus commissioned to us as we share the same ultimate vision (Rev 5:9; 7:9 etc). The only thing we should bear in mind is the fact that Jesus has called us to be One Body to develop the Kingdom of God even in different paradigms, since we all try to talk about the Biblical paradigm.
Kevin Higgins talked about “the place of the Bible and the Body of Christ in new movements to Jesus” at Tokyo 2010 conference that was originally called by Ralph Winter to commemorate the Edinburgh 1910. He proposed two things: “In sum, I am proposing two things: meeting face to face as members of the Body, and agreeing to an “ethic of discourse” for our conversations.” Even though the world paradigms are competing to take winning positions against each other, we as the members of His Body should make our genuine efforts to understand different views in mission so that we can result in convergence in sharing the same vision. So, Kevin Higgins will continue something special relating to his proposal as a post-Tokyo activity when we meet again at AMLF (Asian Mission Leader’s Forum) on October 27-30, 2010.
John Kim gave a presentation at “CTFC 2” consultation held in London on Feb 2010, dealing with group dynamics as a continuation of the Anatoc story that was published in David Greenlee’s book (“From the Straight Path to Narrow Way”, Authentic, 2005).
The following story, presented at CTFC 2, was published in IJFM (Summer, 2010). Here he also mentions the paradigm issue according to his own field experience, as something causing the various conflicts in the field.
In this bulletin, you will find some information on ASFM (Asia Society for Frontier Mission) that will be featured by discussions and presentations focusing on “Insider perspectives”, “Asian initiatives” and “Global cooperation” for the frontier mission. This is an open consultation and workshop. The purpose of ASFM is to promote cutting edge thinking and sharing on an international level with a specific focus on Asia and/or Asians in the area of frontier missiology. (See the pages 18 and 21 for more details) David Lim will facilitate developing a Strategic Plan for multiplying "Insider Movements" in all the major UPGs in Asia. You will be invited to inspirational talk and introduction to strategic planning and SWOT analysis in groups for the "Remaining Mission to reach the unreached” and setting up integrated strategic actions and task forces. I would encourage both Asian and Western field practitioners, mission eaders/mobilizers and thinkers to join this strategic gathering taken at Asian’s initiatives.
You will also see a couple of promotion pieces in this issue like “The 5th Annual Conference of the Filipino House Church Movement”(p. 8) and “Annual Conference of ISFM”(p. 17). I am sure that those Asian and Western mission gatherings will be greatly helpful as you think about and pray for His Kingdom development in this challenging mission era.
Finally, I would like to share what one of my dear Western colleagues passed me just now: “Yet in the midst of all the pressures that Paul was facing in Ephesus (Asia) and in Corinth, he makes this AMAZING CONCLUSION: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14).”
Whatever the situation we face is, the only thing we can do is to give all the thanks to God as He spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him through us all.
John Kim
Coordinator, AFMI
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