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PARTNERS IN THE GOSPEL

Tracing the history of missionary strategies from 1850 to present restructuring for effective partnerships in evangelism, stewardship, and bible training. Learn from past mistakes and strategize for urban outreach.

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PARTNERS IN THE GOSPEL

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  1. PARTNERS IN THE GOSPEL

  2. From the “Three Selves” to “Partnership” 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 “Three Selves” “Partner-ship”

  3. “Three Selves” of Venn and Anderson (1850) 1850 1875 Churches should be • Self-supporting • Self-propagating • Self-governing

  4. “Euthanasia of Mission” The mission is the scaffolding; the church is the building.

  5. “The Nevius Plan” John Nevius (1890) 1850 1875 1900 Emphasized: • Self-support from the very beginning • Aggressive Sunday school program for training unpaid leaders

  6. “Nevius plan” was applied by first Presbyterian missionaries to Korea in 1890s.

  7. Roland Allen (1912) 1850 1875 1900 1925

  8. “By supplying what they cannot supply, we check them in the proper impulse to supply what they can supply.”

  9. Allen’s Proposal: 1. simple organization 2. reproducible teaching methods 3. local funding 4. mutual responsibility in the churches from the start 5. full authorization of local churches at their inception to use the gifts of the Spirit had distributed within body.

  10. World War II (1939-1945) 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950

  11. Church Growth Movement (1960-1980) 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975

  12. Founded by Donald McGavran who endorsed the “three selves”

  13. “Moratorium” on missionaries from the West (1975) 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000

  14. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) 1. How can missionaries, local churches and sending churches work together organizationally? 2. How can they partner in evangelism? 3. How can they partner financially? 4. How can they partner in Bible training?

  15. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) • How can missionaries, local churches and sending churches work together organizationally? • Shepherding

  16. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) 2. How can they partner in evangelism? Evangelism

  17. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) 3. How can they partner financially? Stewardship

  18. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) 4. How can they partner in Bible training? Bible training

  19. Restructuring for “partnership” (1980s-1990s) Shepherding Evangelism Stewardship Bible training

  20. Learning from our Mistakes in East Africa

  21. Shepherding

  22. Shepherding 1. At the local level, some common hindrances to appointing elders: a. Polygamy b. Commitment to “plurality of elders” prevented them from considering cluster elders

  23. Shepherding c. Missionaries too involved in process, rather than setting up a mechanism that would function without them. d. Missionaries too content with defacto, assumed leaders.

  24. Shepherding 2. At the association level a. Missionary centered organization b. “Clusters”

  25. Evangelism

  26. Evangelism 1. Near-church evangelism (by unpaid evangelists). 2. Far-flung evangelism (by missionaries). 3. Few urban churches.

  27. Urban Evangelism in Africa 1. Shouldn’t we target major cities assuming that influence flows from the city to rural areas, not vice versa?

  28. Urban Evangelism in Africa a. Questioning the assumption b. Resolving the debate between urban or rural: we need both

  29. Strategizing for cities Urban strategy must take into account five problems that complicate urban ministry in the “South.” 1) The fast pace of urbanization

  30. 2) Over-urbanization 3) Urban “schizophrenia” 4) Transient populations 5) Urban poverty

  31. Stewardship

  32. Stewardship 1. Missionaries adhered to strict self-support in beginning to avoid dependency problem where: a. The local agenda is set by outsiders b. Progress locally is dependent upon outside funds.

  33. Stewardship c. Foreign-salaried preachers are not free to innovate. d. Self-image and community image is diminished. e. Local value systems suffer long-term damage. f. What may have been intended as short-term assistance becomes long-term addiction.

  34. Stewardship 1. Subsidized church buildings (under pressure from government)

  35. 2. Some built “training centers” with American funds. 3. Most did little or no teaching on giving

  36. Bible Training

  37. Bible Training The debate: how large a base of churches is needed before systematic, formal Bible training begins? a. Establish large base: do on-the-job training. b. Establish small base: do formal leadership training (LTE) early on.

  38. Time has exposed the weaknesses on both sides: a. Large base = poorly educated leaders b. Small base = stunted growth?

  39. Missionaries’ recommendations: 1. Involve nationals in decision-making from the start. 2. Introduce more formal modes of education sooner.

  40. Missionaries’ recommendations: 3. Don’t cling to rigid phase-out time tables. 4. Plant urban churches, too.

  41. Where Do We Go from Here?

  42. 1. Give attention to infrastructure development from the beginning. a. Local level 1) Teach on church organization early 2) Advise on mechanism for appointing elders 3) Get out of the way

  43. b. Association level 1) Need to replace “local church autonomy” with healthier understanding of cooperation 2) Need to encourage some means of cooperation 3) Need to encourage church-to-church relationships between national churches and missionaries’ sponsors

  44. 2. Clarify the role of missionaries. a. Missionary roles change as churches mature: 1) Initial stage: pioneer 2) Established stage: parent 3) Independent stage: partner 4) Mature stage: participant

  45. b. Be clear about missionaries’ authority.

  46. c. Build relationships between sponsors and national churches in order to: 1) Reinforce the church-centered organizational model to replace the missionary-centered model 2) Reduce the nationals’ feeling of isolation 3) Minimize the loss of trust between missionaries and nationals

  47. 3. Prepare for transition. a. Missionaries need to plan all along for their departure, even if they never intend to leave. b. Need forums for joint decision-making with nationals early on c. Need to develop “structures of continuity” in cooperation with national leaders. • Elders meetings (Americans and Africans) • “Parachurch” projects

  48. 4. Think “ownership,” not just indigeneity. Missionaries often locked into “either/or” thinking on “indigeneity.” Indigenous = nationalized? Indigenous = traditional? Indigenous = ownership!

  49. “Ownership” • Ownership and partnership not mutually exclusive. • Ownership does not preclude financial partnership as long as sound principles are applied and dependency avoided.

  50. “Ownership”: How to help without hurting 1) Funds should only be given for projects that can be maintained locally. 2) Aid given by foreign partners should be tied to what locals have already given.

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