Pioneer missions

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

On the evening of December 1st, Dr. Dana L. Robert treated us to one of the three lectures she recently delivered for the Henry Martyn lecture series in Cambridge. She traced the concept of “frontier” in mission theology from 1910-2010. In an incredible display of her command of mission literature, Dr. Robert laid before us a bountiful feast of “frontiers.” She explained how the term emerged in the United States, and then followed its various reconfigurations throughout the world up to the present. So much information came at us so fast that we had to take time to unpack what we heard.

A significant part of the time was spent filling in the gaps. We asked one another, “What did she say, again, about…” But, we also settled into some deeper reflections. One student made a great observation. “Dr. Robert mentioned that Ralph Winter’s idea of ‘frontier’ significantly shrunk the meaning of ‘frontier’ in mission discourse. He applied it in one way – to unreached people groups. I had the impression that she felt that was a loss, but I think that strict definitions can be more helpful than elastic and multi-layered ones.” He went on to point out that when a term like “frontier” or “mission” becomes too broad, it becomes either meaningless or a mockery. “How can helping my unbelieving neighbor carry in groceries,” one student asked, “be compared with moving to a different place, learning a different language, and proclaiming the gospel to a people who have never heard of Jesus?” Frontiers may be crossed in both cases, but can they truly be considered the same frontier?

Another student probed a subsidiary idea, in Dr. Robert’s lecture, regarding “pioneers.” The language of frontiers and pioneers are bound together. Yet, the student asked, “Has there been adequate theological reflection on that term?” Pioneers, the group conceded, popularly evokes images of individual heroics, conquest, and the subjugation of the earth. The pioneer may not be an adequate metaphor for this time.

The discussion ended around the discussion of missionary pioneers, and the attitude of superiority that sometimes accompanied them into a new culture. A student spoke gratefully for the work of pioneer missionaries in Korea, but regretted that some of their feeling of cultural superiority had seeped into their ministry and the church. “How,” he asked, “can we avoid sending missionaries with those kinds of attitudes today? What do they need to be taught?” One student suggested that the expansion of Christianity in the Global South, and its reduction in the North has convincingly demonstrated that Christianity is not a captive of Western culture. In fact, Western culture may be corrosive to the gospel. Therefore, she suggested, Western missionaries are less likely now to tie Christianity to their civilization. Another student added that history could be a great place to teach humility. Western missionaries should be familiar with the implosion of Western “Christian” culture during the World Wars, and remember the criticisms of the colonized peoples. Those historical lessons, he offered, could be a training ground for cultural humility. As our time ended, another student added that Christian humility may not be a matter of “information” taught in a classroom, but of “formation” acquired through discipleship. And with that, our time was over, leaving us to consider what practices might foster mission humility without subverting missionary boldness.

Daryl Ireland, discussion moderator