Mission Studies and World Christianity

The church has always been challenged to fulfill its calling to be a local community and to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Robert, 2022, p. 384). The cultural diversity that existed at the church’s inception was a key reason they sought “organizational and theological unity” (Robert, 2022, p. 384). Classic texts by saints Augustine, saint Patrick, Gregory the Great, and John Chrisostom were “missiological reflections” on the relationship of churches with the universal scope of the faith (Robert, 2022, p. 384). It was during the Era of Exploration that followed the Protestant Reformation that Catholic mission first developed. Then with the rise of mercantile capitalism in the 1700s, Evangelical Protestants who believed religion was an individual choice began to seriously engage a world that was more connected than ever (Robert, 2022, p. 385). Thus, at its core mission studies is Christian reflection on how the gospel becomes incarnate in the diverse cultures. 

Unfortunately, the church’s relationship with political power has distorted understanding of Christian mission within and outside the church. Voices critical of Christian mission’s connection to Western colonialism soon arose. Voices of Spanish Catholic missionaries began to be heard in the 16th century rebuking the barbaric treatment of Indigenous peoples (Robert, 2022, p. 385). Eventually voices in Protestantism also began to denounce racism and to recognize that the West was not Christian. The church came to be seen as a universal fraternal network that transcended political entities (Robert, 2022, p. 387). And in the postcolonial era that followed World War II “anti-colonial movements, nationalism, and the Cold War challenged the westernizing foundations of the missionary enterprise” (Robert, 2022, p. 388). These dissonant Catholic and Protestant voices show that missions studies must address the relationship between Christ’s kingdom and political power. 

Thankfully, Christianity would be freed from Western captivity. A new era of massive Christian growth began in what would become known as the Global South (Robert, 2022, p. 389). Catholic and Protestant scholars foresaw the emergence of a largely non-Western Christianity. Thus, a vision of the church as a “worldwide community that would transcend denominational divisions” gained influence (Robert, 2022, p. 390). The globalization of the church resulted in missions scholars stepping into a role as “the brokers of broader discussions” regarding the worldwide growth of Christianity (Roberts, 2022, p. 391). Towards the end of the 20th century, missions were reimagined as “the starting point of indigenous Christianity and social transformation” (Robert, 2022, p. 391). This new perspective contradicted the reductive critique of missions as handmaiden to Western imperialism. And so, the concept of world Christianity came into its own (Robert, 2022, p. 391), engaging the secular academic fields of “religious studies, area studies, social sciences, and history” (Robert, 2022, p. 391,4). This integration with social concern allows missions studies to be seen as advocating for the fulfillment of a biblical vision of human dignity (Robert, 2022, p. 396). 

Women in Mission

The prevalence of mission studies on the lack of gender perspective (Cruz, 2022, p. 652) is a positive sign that the underrepresentation of women is being addressed. But more awareness is needed of the historic contribution of women in Christian mission. One compelling account is that of indigenous bible women in the 19th century who became “cultural, linguistic, and social ‘brokers’ of evangelism” (Cruz, 2022, p. 654). Another significant phenomenon was the holiness movement in the 20th century whose female missionaries set out on their own founding and leading migrant communities (Cruz, 2022, p. 655). The most dominant category of women’s work in mission is social service, with education and health being primary (Cruz, 2022, p. 655). Missions studies should raise awareness that despite paternalism, women missionaries made women-related social issues central (Cruz, 2022, p. 656). Women missionaries have contributed significantly to research and study on “gender sensitivity, inclusivity, and female leadership” (Cruz, 2022, p. 656-7). This example of successful advocacy for change from subjugated groups should serve as a model for others who seek change “from below”. Women have slowly but surely made their way into higher levels of leadership across many denominations, although ordination in the Catholic Church remains prohibited (Cruz, 2022, p. 657). Opinions vary across denominations and cultures regarding these subjects, and missions studies will be challenged to address both progressive and conservative streams with humility and comprehension.

For better or worse, women’s experience of mission has been connected to cultural concepts of gender. In the 19th century, women missionaries were generally expected to do “women’s work”, consisting mainly of evangelizing women. The underlying thinking was that “non-Christian religions degraded women while Christianity provided social liberation” (Cruz, 2022, p. 658). Feminist studies of mission emerged in the 20th century highlighting women’s missionary work. This approach identified women’s missions as characterized by “strong roots in the community, bold ideas, and bold action, (…) the ability to connect across lines that divide”, and “relationality” (Cruz, 2022, p. 663). Some have declared World Christianity to be “a women’s movement”, estimating that “around two-thirds of Christians worldwide were female” at the turn of the millennium (Robert, 2006, p. 180-8).

Some feminists attribute the subordination of women in society to “the traditional Christian image of God as male” (Wong, 2022, p. 39). Second-wave feminists affirm that “If God is male, then the male is God” (Daly, 1973, p. 19). Unfortunately for the image of Christian mission, these arguments can be persuasive. In the West, women’s issues in the church center on moral teachings related to abortion and inclusive ordination, while in the Global South Christian women suffer even greater gender inequalities (Wong, 2022, p. 39). One point of potential conflict related to women’s missions work exists with Christian ecumenical organizations and NGOs on one side. On the other side are Pentecostals and Charismatics who make up most of the African church. Here, male leadership is promoted in the congregation and in the home (Wong, 2022, p. 40). Missions studies must be aware that Christianity is not generally seen in the world as offering an egalitarian, individualistic vision to a modern audience (Martin, 2001, p. 55). Rather, the Christian witness is abundant in “dualities of subordination and liberation, equality and difference, sacrifice and virtue, creation and redemption” (Green, 2010, p. 313-317)

World Christianity and Religions  

Missions studies must address the fact that although we live in an increasingly religious and religiously diverse world, most Christians have too little contact with people of other faiths (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 71). Of key importance is “improving global and local Christian-Muslim relations” as both faiths growth towards a projected 63% of world population by 2050 (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 72). Asia has historically had the most religious diversity but some of the most intense growth in religious diversity from 1900 to 2022 has been in Germany and the United States (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 73). Some level of religious diversity is present almost everywhere on the planet, but some the experience of some Christians and churches will be as majority, others minority, and some as one among equals. Missions studies must adjust their research and prescriptions according to these social power dynamics. 

The problem of inadequate contact between Christians and people of other religions is most acute in Asia, contributing to the fact that 87% of Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims don’t know a Christian (Zurlo et al. 2022, p. 73). Singapore is an exceptional example of harmony in the most religiously diverse country on the planet, where research found that 90% believed it was “unacceptable or very unacceptable for religious leaders to hinder religious harmony” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). The fact that Christians are isolated from the religious other can be attributed to ignorance and fear which leads to a “ghettoization of religious and ethnic communities” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). To remedy this situation, Christians must grow in ecumenical and interfaith relations, as well as learning to prioritize the common good of “our global human family” (Zurlo et al., 2022, p. 74). The type of solidarity the church must embrace does not require renunciation of the gospel, but an approach to others that demonstrates “love, respect, friendship, and hospitality” (Zurlo et al, 2022, p. 74). 

References

Cruz, Gemma T. (2022). Women in Mission. In Cruz, Gemma T. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Daly, Mary. (1973). Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation. Beacon.

Martin, Bernice. (2001). “The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for the Sociology of Religion,” in The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion, ed. Richard K. Fenn. Blackwell, 2001). 

Dana L. Robert, “World Christianity as a Women’s Movement,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research30, no. 4 (2006): 180–88.

Green, M. Christian. (2010). “Christianity and the Rights of Women,” in Christianity and Human Rights: An Introduction, ed. John Witte and Frank S. Alexander. Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Robert, Dana L. (2022). Mission Studies and World Christianity. In Robert, Dana L. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Mission Studies. OUP Oxford.

Wong, Wai-Yin C. (2022). Women Worldwide: Interplay between Church and Society and the Gender Paradox. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46

Zurlo, et al. (2022). World Christianity and Religions 2022: A Complicated Relationship. International Bulletin of Mission Research, Vol. 46