Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about some of the issues facing international mission agencies. To be honest, these are the same issues that the church as a whole has to face, but the impact of such issues varies depending on the situation.
Here, in no particular order (some are linked to each other), is a list of some of the things we need to work on. We will discuss some of them in detail below.
The collapse of the post-World War II world order The growing influence of AI The climate emergency The widening gap between the poor and the rich The rise in immigration Loss of faith in institutions (including the church) The nature of human sexuality and gender.
And the list could go on.
There is a temptation among some evangelicals to ignore questions of this kind.
Now, there is a temptation among some evangelicals to ignore this kind of question. They are of this world and not of the church. All was well until the pastor’s son decided he wanted to change his gender to female and about a dozen Iranians started attending the church, making some people uncomfortable.
Like it or not, we have to face issues like this, and we need to do so in a way that allows pastor’s sons (and pastors) to remain involved in the life of the church.
Cross-cultural mission agencies are under pressure to address some of these issues in a much more urgent way than the British, European, or American churches. While some may think that climate change only means warmer summers (a shout out to those of us who live in the geographical north), those working in other parts of the world are already seeing the effects of flooding in some places, drought in others, sea level rise, and an increase in severe weather events.
changing world order
After World War II, world conditions encouraged the growth of multinational corporations and the free flow of goods and capital around the world. These conditions were also conducive to the growth of Christian missionary organizations.
We may find that our structures are no longer fit for purpose.
The freedom of travel and the power of certain Western passports made it relatively easy for missionaries to establish themselves in different countries. In terms of their structure, mission agencies still often reflect the way large corporations are organized internationally, with affiliates and subsidiaries in various locations. But as the world order changes, as China becomes more dominant and the United States becomes less reliable, our organization may prove no longer fit for purpose.
The question is not so much whether Christian organizations and churches will face change, but rather how they will respond to change.
Consider the problem of a changing world order. It may be tempting to think that our response to shifting political and economic sands needs to be managerial and structural, that we need to do things differently.
Our theology must shape our structures and activities.
While it’s true that organizations will likely need to come up with new systems and processes to cope with emerging realities, the big challenge we face is learning how to think differently in changing situations. Our theology must shape our structures and activities.
Consider what that means for Christians in a world where hostility between nations is increasing and conflict may not be far off. Brothers and sisters from different countries have a much closer bond than mere nationality. Our primary allegiance is to the King of Kings, and we do not pledge allegiance to any country, regime, or ideology.
Therefore, as conflicts intensify, we must demonstrate what it means to be a loving, growing, and tolerant community that extends beyond our borders by following Jesus and offering a better alternative to the world system.
This is a pressing issue for mission agencies operating in multinational settings, where team members must find ways to deal with hostilities between their affiliated nations. Simply brushing what’s under the carpet won’t do the trick.
increase in immigration
When we look at the issue of immigration, the question of nationality hits the church. In action, the church is faced with the paradox that many immigrants are coming from situations where there are few Christians, which provides an amazing opportunity for evangelism, but on the other hand there are also many Christians among the immigrants to the West, strengthening many Christian congregations.
The real challenge with immigration is the growing fear and hatred of people coming to Western countries.
But the real challenge with immigration is the growing fear and hatred of people coming to Western countries. For those of us who have pledged allegiance to something greater than the nation-state, what should we say about this situation?
How do we bring about reconciliation and peace in a situation full of conflicting pressures? Yes, we must welcome the stranger, but we must also love our neighbor. Neighbors may feel like a stark contrast to the strangers we would like to welcome.
Sexuality and gender fluidity
Let’s move on to the issue of human sexuality and gender. The evangelical environment I grew up in had a pretty black and white view of these issues. “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
Same-sex relationships and gender swapping were privately dismissed as wrong. However, in the real world, things are always a little more complicated. Same-sex relationships are not a modern phenomenon that can be dismissed as a cultural moment, and human gender is by no means a binary. There will always be a minority of people who genetically, physically, and psychologically do not fit into a simple male or female identity.
We need to work hard on some tough questions.
As Christians, we must navigate this complex world. We may have strong ideas about what is wrong and right, but we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Unless we are willing to see a significant portion of the population alienated from the life of the church, we will need to tackle some difficult issues furiously.
How can we convey peace to someone who feels alienated from themselves and is willing to undergo painful surgery or a complete change of identity?Again, we must also be considerate of women who feel threatened by having to share spaces that were once reserved for women with biological men.
I think some readers may feel frustrated because I have raised some difficult questions without providing solutions. sorry! The problem is, I don’t have an answer. If so, you will write books and make a lot of money.
The answer to all these questions is…a resounding yes.
That being said, I am confident that the answer to all of these questions (and more) is a resounding yes. The Gospels portray Jesus as someone who rejects religious arrogance and is willing to hang out with the wrong kind of people.
But I believe that in the cross we find the key to dealing with today’s difficult problems. When we talk about the cross, we tend to think of it purely in terms of an alternative to punishment. In other words, Jesus took the punishment for our sins in our place so that we could be forgiven. I am not going to discuss the nature of atonement at length, but substitution of punishment is not the only thing the Bible has to say about what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
He defeated his enemies and made a spectacle of them (Colossians 2:15), yes. But what I would like to address is another picture of redemption.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and to reconcile all things to himself through him, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through his blood, which was shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)
How can we exercise this power of reconciliation?
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God reconciles all things in heaven and earth to himself. So what does this actually look like in our divided world? How can we exercise this reconciling power in situations like the ones I listed above?
To answer such questions, we must study theology. When we think of theology, we often think of piles of difficult books. It is equated with dogma or dogma and is presented as a set of beliefs that is passed down from generation to generation without being questioned. In fact, theology is a lived, situated way of approaching life’s big questions. Anselm of Canterbury spoke of faith seeking understanding in the 11th century. And we need to rediscover this approach. we must study theology
Let’s consider the issue of atonement again. The idea of an alternative to punishment had a powerful appeal in societies where people had clear concepts of right and wrong (even if they did not agree on the details) and understood the need for punishment and forgiveness. But we no longer live in that world and are faced with completely different questions. (Please note, I am not denying the reality of sin or the need for forgiveness, but I am wondering if this is the best way to deal with our current problems).
If you have confidence in the Bible, you won’t be afraid to ask difficult questions.
Rather than reading a book with instant answers, we need to dig deeper into the Bible and reconsider how it speaks to our world. If you have confidence in the Bible, you won’t be afraid to ask difficult questions.
Returning to one of the issues I started with. The Bible does not tell us what to do when a pastor’s son announces his conversion. But if we allow it, it shapes our thinking so that we can know how to bring Jesus into the situation and act in accordance with God’s love/mercy and God’s will/justice, just as Jesus did.
Originally published in Dr. Eddie Arthur’s Living in the Venn Diagram Substack. Republished with permission.
Dr. Eddie Arthur has been a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators for over 30 years. He and his wife Sue lived in Ivory Coast for 12 years, working as part of a team translating scriptures for the Kouya people. Currently based in the UK, he researches, writes and lectures on the future of global missions, providing a contextualized perspective on social change. Eddie’s most recent work can be found in his Substack “Living in the Venn Diagram.”
