Below are two articles from the August 2009 edition of St. Francis On-Line Magazine. This issue focuses wholly on the discussion about the concepts of the Insider Movement (IM).
I am aware of Jay Smith's confrontational approach to Muslim ministry and have heard him lecture before, so I could easily guess his take on IM. But I was surprised find how fair and rational he was in his assessment of the Common Ground (CG) conference in Atlanta January 2009 (I have several friends who were there too). I don't agree with everything he says, but Jay makes several profound points concerning the extremist elements of CG. I myself am going to CG in a couple months and am looking forward it after hearing so much about it.
An Assessment of the Insider Movement Principle Paradigms
Jay Smith, known for his discussions with Muslims in Hyde Park (London) went to Common Ground (Atlanta 2009). He discusses the terminology that is used by proponents of the theology of the Insider Movement. Download the article (32 pages)
The conclusion of Adbul Asad's (an acquaintance) article is a great summary of "Syncretistic C5" and "Appropriate C5" contextualization. I was privileged to read this article in 2008. His mediating position argues that C5 is good only as a transitional form of church and that IM is potentially dangerous. I really like that two page chart in his conclusion!
Rethinking the Insider Movement Debate: Global Historical Insights Toward an Appropriate Transition
Abdul Asad explains the meaning of the C1-C6 Spectrum. He uses examples from Africa and Indonesia to show that Insider Movements should be lauded, but only if they move converts to what is called 'C3' or 'C4'. Download this article (27 pages)
There are several other articles that I only skimmed. The majority of the articles are very, very critical of IM and CG. Here is the complete set of all ten articles in one pdf file. Download St Francis Magazine 5:4 (August 2009) (166 pages)
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