This article is contained in a 238K Adobe Acrobat PDF
Click here to view the article in PDF Format (30 seconds at 56.2k)
If you need the free Adobe Acrobat reader, download it here
NSM editor's note: for all images, photos, diagrams, tables and charts, view the .pdf version.

In Summary Editor’s note: This article is an expanded version of a paper that appeared in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly, January 2006.

At first thought, such a question begs an obvious answer, but in reality, there is a growing divide among evangelicals today regarding the fundamental meaning, role, and purpose of Christian mission.

Historical Repetition

Evangelicals committed to the primacy of proclamation in Christian mission have been accused of “reductionism” by their counterparts, whereas the latter have been charged with “expansionism” by the former. Be that as it may, the evangelical missions movement is presently undergoing a metamorphosis of monumental proportions as it contemplates and pursues its missional obligation to the world. Moreover, this transformation in many ways is paralleling the events of the WCC in the last century.

Such an assertion, of course, must be supported by hard evidence. There is room to only touch on the following points. First, evangelical theologians of mission are currently advocating that the missionary task involves securing justice for the poor, overcoming violence and building peace, caring for the environment, and sharing in partnership (Kirk 1999). Second, evangelicals are now being told that mission entails launching businesses which bring in the kingdom of God (Borthwick 2003; Rundle and Steffen 2003; Yamamori and Eldred 2003).2 Third, the recent edition of the Mission Handbook records that for the registered organizations there was a decrease of 11.9% for evangelism/discipleship ministries, an increase of 65.8% for educational programs, and an increase of 14.6% in relief and development activities from 1998 to 2000. In addition, relief and development projects comprised 35.1% of the total income given for overseas ministries (Welliver and Northcutt 2004:23ff.).

And last, 160 leaders from 53 countries under the World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission met in Iguassu, Brazil (1999), and crafted the Iguassu Affirmation. They hoped it would

be received as a working document to stimulate serious discussion around the world. [They desired] that it will become a point of dialogue that will help shape both missiology and strategy in the next century/millennium (Taylor 2000:16).

Thus, it should not be overlooked quickly nor taken lightly. Embedded in the Affirmation is a desire to emphasize “the holistic nature of the gospel”; an interest in pursuing appropriate responses “to political and economic systems”; an invitation to study the “operation of the Trinity in the redemption of the human race and the whole of creation”; a pledge to “address the realities of world poverty”; a call “to all Christians to commit themselves to reflect God’s concern for justice”; and a challenge to engage “in environmental care and protection initiatives.” It must be promptly added, however, that the Affirmation also upholds the commitment to proclaim “the gospel of Jesus Christ in faithfulness and loving humility” (Taylor 2000:17ff.).

But there is something conspicuously absent here—any mention of priority in the mission of the church.3 This appears purposive since those at Iguassu made a concerted effort to not “repeat the errors” of

the last decades of the 20thcentury[in which] an unfortunate over-emphasis on pragmatic and reductionist thinking came to pervade the international Evangelical missionary movement (Taylor 2000:4, 7).4

Evidently, they were attempting to empower evangelicals to reach a consensus on that which has beleaguered them for decades. If this is the case, some evangelicals will find reason to applaud but others will wonder if McGavran had been present whether he would have again raised the thorny matter of the now 4.2 billion non- Christians in the world (Barrett and Johnson 2004:24).

Page 1 of 7 Next



Christopher R. Little (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) has over twenty years of cross-cultural missionary experience on four different continents with five different mission organizations (Campus Crusade, Operation Mobilization, African Inland Mission, World Mission Associates and the Baptist General Conference). He is the author of The Revelation of God Among the Unevangelized (William Carey Library, 2000) and Mission in the Way of Paul: Biblical Mission for the Church in the Twenty-First Century (Peter Lang Publishing, 2005), as wellas numerous articles on mission in various journals. He holds a M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is presently a Professor of Intercultural Studies at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC.


COMMENTS