1. Evangelism/Witness. 2. Discipleship. 3. Church Planting. 4. Community Transformation (Justice / Development / Peace Making / Relief / Etc.). The “big four.”
These four are often isolated from each other when we approach ministry or discuss Kingdom mission. So, are “movements” just another ministry to add to the list? Part of the “big five?”
Perhaps the staying power of movements missiology will be in our ability to integrate these ministries together, instead of seeing “movements” as its own distinct program.
For instance, the line between evangelism and discipleship/disciple-making is already fuzzy, and rightly so. And we know how problematic it is to make disciples without seeing people become part of a local church or involved in the forming of local churches. And far be it from us if we don’t see this entire process as wholistic in nature with lives and communities being transformed – the people of God must impact society.
Consider for example what is sometimes called a “discovery Bible study.” A group of people meet to discuss God’s Word. With the presence of a gifted leader, this process provides space for the Holy Spirit to work, leading to both (1) evangelism and (2) discipleship. In a movements ethos, many (not all) of these groups multiply and become churches, or lead to (3) local churches, eventually. And as they holistically obey/practice/embody all that Jesus has commanded, they are both transformed and (4) transforming others and communities in the process.
I propose that an emerging movements missiology integrates these various aspects of Kingdom mission together. But I also think it is important to root this discussion in an understanding of motus Dei that sees life-giving movement as part of God himself. In other words, the motus Dei is something that we participate in as it flows from God’s character.
One further thought, we can talk about movements in places where there is already a local (legacy) church, where people have access to the gospel (to varying degrees), and where kingdom ministry is already happening (to varying degrees). In comparison, apostolic movements would then be a way to distinguish Kingdom initiatives in least-reached places and peoples.
Thoughts?
3 comments:
I appreciate this way of getting the "fullness" and transformation stuff in...."And as they holistically obey/practice/embody all that Jesus has commanded, they are both transformed and (4) transforming others and communities in the process." Great!!!!
I think the thing that would help strengthen that even more perhaps is to add something that screams to evangelicals that disciple making is the great commission, and disciple making includes the holistic stuff. Otherwise people will keep separating the holistic stuff out by saying it is not part of frontier mission but belongs to AFTER. But if we don't do discipleship "right" it won't work. So, maybe something like:
And as they take seriously that to make disciples who do all that Jesus has commanded, they will make disciples who are holistically transformed (as they obey/practice/embody) and (4) transforming others and communities in the process.
Kevin Higgins
Thank you Kevin. Wonderful edit. Yes disciple-making is holistic!
Warrick, I also deeply appreciate and resonate with this post. I agree that movements are inherently integrative, especially when we understand them (as you do) as works of God, expressive of his character, in which we are privileged to participate by his grace. Building on what Kevin said, I would say that each of the "big four" or "big five" are, like discipleship, holistic in nature and are connected organically to the other aspects of God mission/work. Without denying the legitimate semantic focus of something like evangelism/witness (i.e., we don't want to make it mean anything or everything, anymore than we want that for "mission"--as Newbigin and others have pointed out), we can note that biblical evangelism/witness is multifaceted, with some aspects connecting naturally to discipleship or transformation (like evangelism that emphasizes Jesus' Lordship/kingship over all of life, or that calls people to repent of sin, including sins of social injustice or oppression). For example, Howard Snyder, in his book SALVATION MEANS CREATION HEALED, speaks helpfully of how Kingdom evangelism ("announcing and embodying God's reign") involves "conversion evangelism," "discipling evangelism," "justice evangelism" and "culture evangelism" (140-144).
Accordingly, I want to offer a long quote from Harvie Conn shared by one of my colleagues: "The western bifurcation of the sacred from the secular, combined with a pietistic hostility to the cultural side of the missionary task, has not helped us in seeing the totalitarian, radical demands of conversion as a sign of the Kingdom of God come in Christ and the Lordship of Christ over the whole of life. As a result, our gospel for Islam frequently does not make the total claim for all of life that Islam itself makes. The fruits of this are displayed in a Christian community where Kingdom lifestyle is narrowed to the confines of an ecclesiasticized subculture and there is little interest in the larger questions of culture and society. Turning to Christ is not always seen as also a turning to culture, where the believer rediscovers his human origins and identity, and a turning to the world in acceptance of the mission on which Christ sends the believer in eschatological pilgrimage. In this process conversion does not remake, it unmakes. The results of this are tragic for Muslim listeners. The radical nature of conversion involves a recreation, through union with the resurrected Christ, a resurrection from spiritual death, a “putting off” of the old and a “putting on” of the new. But too often for the Muslim, that rupture with the spiritual “past” is interpreted as discontinuity with his culture, treachery to his or her own cultural origins. (“The Muslim Convert and His Culture.” In Don M. McCurry (ed), The Gospel and Islam: A 1978 Compendium. Monrovia: MARC,1978, pp. 97-113, quoted from pp. 105-106).
And what these "holistic" perspectives say about evangelism and conversion here could also be said about the holistic and integrative nature of church and church planting or about how transformation has to point back to and include personal evangelism. The general point you make, Warrick, about the connection between "movement dynamics" (with a people movement emphasis) and broader transformation (holistic mission and development) is well made in the recent book called UNDIVIDED WITNESS: JESUS FOLLOWERS, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND LEAST REACHED COMMUNITIES, edited by David Greenlee, Mark Galpin, and Paul Bendor-Samuel (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2020). See my own recent reflections on how to integrate, and yet distinguish, different aspects of our mission--our participation in God's mission/kingdom--from evangelism to holistic development in my article here: https://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/37_2_PDFs/IJFM_37_2-Pokrifka.pdf.
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