Welcome to “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined.” You get a glimpse here of the kind of work that I do both at Church Mission Society and Missio Africanus where I help students of all levels (from unaccredited courses to PhD) explore the theological (and missiological) implications of the rise of World Christianity. In the newsletter, I focus on the subject of global witness in the context of the twenty-first century. Every Thursday, I share a thought that has spoken to me in the week, one or two resources that I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission to give you something to think about as you go through your day. I pray one of these will energise you.
NB: Please note that I will soon start tailoring most of my content towards paid subscribers. There will still be occasional posts open to everyone, but most will be for paid subscribers. If you appreciate the newsletter and are able to pay for a subscription, please consider doing so.
1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off
I have written before about the culture shock I experienced when I arrived in St Gallen in Switzerland a long time ago. I was extremely shocked to “discover” a people who had walked away from Christianity en masse — many of whom proudly identified as non-religious (which, of course, to me sounded like “heathen” or “pagan”). Some of them were not only indifferent to religion. I was not prepared for how antagonistic to the gospel many of them were. I would later read Lesslie Newbigin saying something similar about his shock when he, in 1974, returned to England from 30 years of missionary work in India, “[The ministry] is much harder than anything I met in India. There is a cold contempt for the Gospel (in England), which is harder to face than opposition … England is a pagan society, and the development of a truly missionary encounter with this very tough form of paganism is the greatest and practical task facing the church.”1
Immediately, I wrestled with two sets of questions. The first set concerned what I thought of as the European Situation of mass secularisation and how the emergence of Christianity worldwide could be the answer to this new reality of a post-Christian Europe. Again, I would later read Grace Davie’s Europe: The Exceptional Case, which helped me understand the shaping of the European religious landscape in the second half of the twentieth century. I began to understand some of the factors behind the general European exodus from the Christian faith. Informed by other resources, I began to suspect that secularism had prevailed because it makes economic sense to the European mind. Of course, this is pointing in the opposite direction to Max Weber’s “Protestant Work Ethic”, which says that ascetic Protestant Christian life led to the accumulation of wealth. I wondered whether Europeans had used religion to accumulate capital and then deployed the capital to dismiss religion. Just a thought. (Of course, I am not unaware of the fact that a substantial portion of Europe’s wealth comes from the lands they colonised not too long ago and that this era of European expansionism was also shaped and driven by religious convictions, above everything else).
Anyways, this is a sidetrack.
I am more interested in the second set of questions that had to do with the European worldview. Like many Africans, I grew up understanding Christianity to be a spirit-centred religion that cannot be “lived” otherwise. (When one of my Professors asked me to propose a systematic biblical theology of the Spirit, I suggested we start at Isaiah 10:27 — the anointing breaks yokes — and connect it with Isaiah 61:1-4 and Luke 4:16-18 — the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me …). This, to me, was central to the catching on of Christianity around the world. For various reasons, numerous religious peoples around the world are converting to Christianity. This is the story of the explosion of Christianity in 20th-century Africa, and it makes sense to me. People are simply shifting religious adherence from other religions (including traditional religions) to Christianity. What I cannot fathom is how to share the gospel with people who are not religious at all. How do you tell someone who does not believe in God or spirits to follow Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit? How do you disciple people who do not believe in the Holy Spirit?
To some extent, this is the kind of shock that never really gets resolved. I am still processing mine while teaching a class full of people currently experiencing theirs and I do not have answers. Please send me your thoughts. If any of you have time, we can have a roundtable or even a book club.
2. Resources I am Enjoying
Video: Usha Reifsnider, “Cross-cultural Mission in Relation to Migrants”
Migration has brought the world to the doorsteps of many nations. As such, one would expect that cross-cultural missions should happen now more readily and productively, beginning with those around us and then, to distant dwellers. Yet, this seems not to be the case. In this conversation, Usha Reifsnider addresses some of the assumptions that hinder effective cross-cultural missions and those practices that may enhance them, especially among migrants. Of course, Usha’s insights are applicable beyond cross-cultural missions among migrants. They are equally helpful in other contexts where God’s mission is crossing cultural barriers.
3. Quotes I am Pondering
The quintessence of an incarnational Christology is that God's self-revelation continually unfolds within a people's lived experience as God guides and leads them to full humanity and dignity. — Francisca Hildegardis Chimhanda
A closed society is not missionary; its message of hope can become extinct out of lack of openness to others. — Mary Jerome Obiorah
As servants of God, and participants in the mission of the Creator God, caring for the creation is our sacred mission. — Kapya Kaoma
I pray that you will be faithful to the mission God has for you this week.
Lesslie Newbigin, Unfinished Agenda: An Autobiography (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1985), 249.
https://www.eem.org/ don't know if these folks would have any thoughts...
also, what about the migrant communities?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/hmong-new-year-traditions-in-the-u-s-recall-ancestral-spirits-while-teaching-new-generations
Dear Harvey,
You asked in this post, "How do you disciple people who do not believe in the Holy Spirit?"
Next Tuesday, Tamie Davis is giving a public lecture exploring similar territory in Australia — with reference to Tanzanian prosperity theology no less!
It is a free event and can be watched online. If you can't be there at the time, there will be recordings. I'm told that those who book a ticket will be notified about the recordings.
https://www.ridley.edu.au/public-lectures/the-alf-stanway-lecture/