The Changing Face of Missions

The Global Learning Center at GRTS, led by Dave Livermore has had a great week of exploring “The Changing Face of Missions.” Wonderful people have been a part of this conversation including Paul Borthwick (Development Associates Intl; Gordon College), Don Golden (Mars Hill); Ruth Tucker (Calvin Seminary); Charlie Davis (TEAM); Tim Barnes (International Teams) and many, many more.

Yesterday was the “Fishbowl Discussion” where different people were invited to sit in a circle of discussion to dialogue over issues surrounding the future of Christian missions in our world. Space does not allow me to go into all the discussion topics, but I would like to summarize what Paul Borthwick said in his opening comments. He gave a summary of what he sees as things that are reflective of our world and important challenges to the Church to consider:

• World Crisis (AIDS, War, Poverty, etc.)- The answer may not be more preaching, but more compassion.

• Decaying Environment (Global warming, pollution, resources)- Tree planting is just as important as church planting (c.f. ECHO)

• Technology- How can we best use globalization w/o abusing it?

• Pluralism (religion, truth, tolerance, exclusiveness)- How do we be willing to cooperate with others yet hold to our theological convictions?

• Changing Role of the US- (Strategy, invitation, partnership, humility). Paul said that the best tool for American students going oversees for two weeks is tape… for their mouths. So they don’t talk but learn to listen.

• The Younger World- (growing younger generation that we don’t’ necessarily see in the west but is a global trend)

• Political Advocacy (Added by Don Golden)- How does the church interact with governments on behalf of those who need representation.

I think these are important topics that we must consider as it becomes easier to interact with the globe. I hear many critique science for running ahead of ethics (we do it because we can). I wonder if the same argument goes for short and long term missions. Just because we can go anywhere… does it mean we should take teams anywhere? What is our ethical responsibility?