Scattered and Gathered: A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology

It was a tremendous honor to be a part of a truly landmark text on missiology that has just recently been released from Regnum Books and the Global Diaspora Network.  Scattered and Gathered: A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology is a monumental work of some 600 pages that seeks to provide a broad treatment of a subject that is absolutely critical for 21st mission thinkers and leaders.

In my section, I was able to work with a number of authors from around the world to treat the subject of "The Mission of the Church in Global Diaspora."  My co-editor was Grant McClung and joining me as authors were Lachi Adhikari, P. Rajendran, Sam George, Carol Mack-Lacey, Chandler Im, John Oh, Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Ken Baker, T.V. Thomas, and Lawrence Ko.

As a contributor, I am certainly not unbiased in my commendation of this book, but I am very proud of it.  There is no question that I will be referring people to it for years to come.  I'm even beginning to plan some follow up book projects that I think will be very exciting.

You can order it online through Amazon.com.  

"Dullness become God" - Sinclair Lewis, Contextualization, Diaspora, & American Churchianity

Okay, it's not really what Sinclair was writing about in his 1920 masterpiece, Main Street, but, I can't help but draw the parallels.  Of course, you'd have to read all the preceding chapters to really appreciate it, but chapter 22 of his novel is a work of genius. I have included an excerpt below that I believe could just as easily describe the dominant American Evangelical Church culture of today as it described the American prairie town of a century ago.  And read on to the excerpt describing first generation Scandinavians and you will see something so hauntingly similar to what I see occurring in the diaspora churches today. Sadly, it is also what is happening as people from various cultural backgrounds come to Christ and learn, within a generation or so, to forsake and forget all the beauty, uniqueness, and richness of their own cultures in favor of some kind of safe, monotone, legalistic, American Churchianity.  In Lewis's words, it is "dullness become God".

It is an unimaginatively standardized background, a sluggishness of speech and manners, a rigid ruling of the spirit by the desire to appear respectable. It is contentment… the contentment of the quiet dead, who are scornful of the living for their restless walking. It is negation canonized as the one positive virtue. It is the prohibition of happiness. It is slavery self-sought and self-defended. It is dullness made God.

A savorless people, gulping tasteless food, and sitting afterward, coatless and thoughtless, in rocking-chairs prickly with inane decorations, listening to mechanical music, saying mechanical things about the excellence of Ford automobiles, and viewing themselves as the greatest race in the world.

She had inquired as to the effect of this dominating dullness upon foreigners. She remembered the feeble exotic quality to be found in the first-generation Scandinavians; she recalled the Norwegian Fair at the Lutheran Church, to which Bea had taken her. There, in the bondestue, the replica of a Norse farm kitchen, pale women in scarlet jackets embroidered with gold thread and colored beads, in black skirts with a line of blue, green-striped aprons, and ridged caps very pretty to set off a fresh face, had served rommegrod og lefse—sweet cakes and sour milk pudding spiced with cinnamon. For the first time in Gopher Prairie Carol had found novelty. She had reveled in the mild foreignness of it.

But she saw these Scandinavian women zealously exchanging their spiced puddings and red jackets for fried pork chops and congealed white blouses, trading the ancient Christmas hymns of the fjords for “She’s My Jazzland Cutie,” being Americanized into uniformity, and in less than a generation losing in the grayness whatever pleasant new customs they might have added to the life of the town. Their sons finished the process. In ready-made clothes and ready-made high-school phrases they sank into propriety, and the sound American customs had absorbed without one trace of pollution another alien invasion.

And along with these foreigners, she felt herself being ironed into glossy mediocrity, and she rebelled, in fear.

Flatland, Lineland, Spaceland and Cross-cultural Mission

Recently, I completed an old classic novel by Edwin Abbot entitled Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.  I mention it here because (and maybe I see missiology where it is not) I found some interesting insights of missiological significance.  In short, the book is written as a memoir of a "square" that lives in "Flatland" - the world of 2-dimensions.  Most of the book is spent describing this world to those of us in "Spaceland" who exist in three (or four really . . . we'll talk later) dimensions.  This, itself is fascinating -- yes, even to someone like myself who tends to recoil at the mere mention of the word mathematics.  The Square's descriptions of life and society in Flatland bring to mind innumerable issues related to social justice, class and caste, gender roles, government, and much more.

But it was the last chapters of the book that really made me love Flatland.  I will avoid any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the chapter describing communication between the Square in Flatland with the king of "Lineland" is simply full of terrific cross-cultural insights.  This chapter is then followed by concluding chapters which are much more explicitly missiological as the "gospel of three-dimensions" is proclaimed by a sphere entering the home of the Square in Flatland.  But, I'll leave it there.

I would heartily commend to you Abbot's classic regardless of your interest in mission (unless you prefer a moving story which require little reflection).  However, if you are into missiology, I would put Flatland right next to Alice in Wonderland on my list of great, unexpected missiological texts.  Check it out!

[HERE IS A FREE PDF WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF FLATLAND]

The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill

For the second time, I have now prayed through Evelyn Underhill's The Spiritual Life.  Underhill was known as an "Anglo-Catholic" writer and thinker in the early part of the 20th century who wrote chiefly on spirituality and mysticism.  I haven't read anything else by her, but I have really enjoyed this particular book--twice.

This second time through, I feel that I picked up on areas in which I would probably disagree with her if we were to discuss the topic further.  However, Underhill writes with such profundity and insight that it is simply very difficult to point out places where she is wrong.  Besides, it isn't really a theological treatise that Underhill is presenting to us here (though the book is certainly very theological).  It is much more of a meditation, a devotional of sorts.  The book begs to be read in the presence of the Lord and in conversation with Him.  And that conversation isn't supposed to be about Evelyn at all, about whether you and God agree with her doctrinal positions.  It is to be a conversation about your communion with God.  And I think Underhill does a pretty good job of keeping us from wriggling away from that.

So, I recommend The Spiritual Life for mature Christians who just need to sit at the feet of an old saint like Evelyn Underhill and listen to the wisdom she's gotten from the Lord.  Enjoy!

You can purchase the book from Amazon.com by following the link above.  Or, the full text is available online for free here.

J.D. Payne's Leading Your Church in Church Planting

I am a church planter, a trainer and supervisor of church planters, and one who regularly teaches about church planting. However, I read very, very little about church planting. It isn't that I don't read. I do. However, for the most part, when I see books about church planting on the shelf of a book store (or even in my own library), my reflex is either to yawn or sneer. For that matter, though I am an avid writer, I rarely feel tempted to write about church planting. I'm not entirely sure why. Nor am I entirely sure where I'm going with this train of thought.

What I will say is that if you offer me a free book by a noted missiologist on church planting that I can read in about an hour, you will get my attention. Well, J.D. Payne's Leading Your Church in Church Planting is exactly that. I had downloaded it a while back and decided to try reading on my phone. This I accomplished while waiting for a lunch appointment today. J.D.'s book is a simple and stripped down introduction for churches that find themselves interested in church planting. I can definitely see myself recommending the work for potential church planters or potential sponsor churches. In fact, that's kind of what I'm doing right now, isn't it.

I encourage you to download J.D.'s free e-book now and pass it around to any Christian leader who might be considering getting involved in church planting at some level. That is precisely what I plan to do myself.

Missiologically Thinking » Free E-Book: Leading Your Church in Church Planting: "Few churches in North America are involved in church planting. I want to be involved in changing this unfortunate reality. This 62-page work is designed to encourage and provide some guidance for pastors considering such missionary work. While some elements of this book will be of value to pastors who are already leading their churches in church planting, this resource was not written with them in mind. The content is very basic. It is written for those approaching the starting line–not those already in the race."

SALE: Evangelical and Frontier Mission from the William Carey Library

Just wanted to give another "shout out" for the recent Regnum book to which I contributed a chapter. I've just noticed that Evangelical and Frontier Mission is available in the William Carey Library for just $25. That's quite a discount from what you can find on Amazon! I encourage you to buy the book. In addition to my chapter focused on Cape Town 2010, you will find great contributions from Scott Moreau, Rene Padilla, Enoch Wan, Ralph Winter and others. Some accolades for the book include:

"This extraordinary compendium documents and illustrates the movement from what Edinburgh 1910 designated as 'unoccupied fields' to what R. Winter strategically designated as 'unreached people groups' thus repioneering frontier missiology focused on 'finishing the task.'"
-- Peter Kuzmic


"This important volume demonstrates that, 100 years after the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Evangelicalism has become truly global. Twenty-first-century Evangelicalism continues to focus on frontier mission, but significantly, and in the spirit of Edinburgh 1910, it also has re-engaged social action. Pentecostalism exhibits a similar direction, and these characteristics (global reach, frontier focus, social engagement) point to a vibrant future for both movements. At the same time, however, the essays in this volume present a cautionary tale of overstating goals and plans as they relate to proclamation and development."
-- Todd Johnson, Associate Professor of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

You can also read a bit of a review and recommendation by American missiologist, J.D. Payne at http://www.jdpayne.org/2011/12/21/evangelical-and-frontier-mission/.

Evangelical and Frontier Mission :: Snodderly, Beth :: Authors and Editors :: William Carey Library: "The centennial celebrations of the Edinburgh 1910 conference offered Christians of all stripes multiple opportunities to reflect on the past century of mission. Over the course of the twentieth century one of the stories of the church that has moved towards center stage is the growth of evangelicalism around the world. While certainly until the late 1980s this went largely unnoticed among the academic elite of the world, even so by then the vast majority of the missionaries serving to and from every corner of the globe were be framed in some way by this evangelical surge. As we reflect on the past century, then, the stories of the evangelical world church deserve to be heard. This volume is part of the Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Centenary Series."

A Mad, Missiological Tea Party

Of late, I've been trying to consume more classic literature.  I'm working through several pieces now and hope that as I complete them, I will be able to offer at least a little reflection -- hopefully a missiological one, to share with you.  I feel I need to make myself do that for the sake of my own self-discipline.  Plus, it makes me look smart.  Right?

Well, my first test comes as I have just reached the end of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.   The Disney film version had done a pretty good job of keeping me away from the Carroll's original work for most of my life.  It was learning how easily I could read it on my phone (thanks Google Books) that motivated me to dig in.  Overall, I found the book to be silly, funny, and very clever.  But no one needs me to vouch for Carroll's classic in that regard.  The key question of this blog for Wonderland is whether or not we might draw up from the rabbit hole any missiological insights.

In my experience in reading through the book, it was somewhere towards the end of chapter seven, "A Mad Tea Party", that I actually did begin to think about Carroll's work missiologically.  At the end of Alice's rather ridiculous encounter with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, she marches off in disgust at what she has interpreted as unbearable rudeness.  Looking back over her shoulder, hoping they would call her to come back and rejoin the tea party, she catches a final glimpse of them, now trying to cram their friend, the Dormouse into a teapot.  The picture provided in Carroll's original work is quite hilarious.  At this, Alice promises herself:

"At any rate I'll never go there again!  It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life."


Now, I don't think for a minute that Carroll was trying to say anything much about cultural anthropology, but that scene of Alice storming away from a frustrating and confusing tea party with people she deemed to be crazy, stupid and uncivilized is just about one of the best illustrations I've seen of what happens when we cross cultures.  More often than not, we go in with a certain set of unexamined expectations, definitions, presumptions and rarely ever consider that those to whom we go have their own ideas which may be very different. We may think that we are communicating one thing, but it is received as something entirely different.  Let's take a quick look at Alice's introduction to the Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse:

There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it; a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. "Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse," thought Alice; "only as it's asleep, I suppose it doesn't mind."


Immediately upon entering the cross-cultural environment, Alice begins sizing up the scene and interpreting what she sees according to her own worldview.  For example, she sees the Dormouse being used as a cushion and assumes that this is an act of unkindness on the part of the Hatter and Hare.  This process of interpretation, of course, can hardly be avoided.  However, the reflective cross-cultural practioner must be aware that it is happening.  Alice shows signs of this, checking her judgement a bit and granting that since the Dormouse is asleep, he may indeed be plenty comfortable.

The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. "No room! No room!" They cried out when they saw Alice coming.  "There's plenty of room!" said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.


"Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.


Alice looked all around the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. "I don't see any wine," she remarked.


"There isn't any," said the March Hare.


"Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," said Alice angrily.


"It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited," said the March Hare.


I see here a great illustration of cross-cultural conflict.  Alice, by disregarding the cries of "no room", commits a cultural blunder that is interpreted by the hosts as rude and, as we would discover later in the chapter, actually creates a hardship for them.  Alice, completely unaware of her mistake focuses instead on pointing out what they have done wrong.  She gets angry and is the first to openly criticize.  When confronted with her mistake, she dismisses it and essentially blames them for causing the problem:

"I didn't know it was your table," said Alice: "it's laid for a great many more than three".

In Alice's mind, whatever mistake she may have made was the result of the actions of the hosts.  Her actions were only reasonable.  Anyone else would have done the same thing.

Well, it goes on like that for several pages.  Some points of the tea party are very rich indeed from a cross-cultural perspective.  Again, that final, funny scene of the Hatter and Hare stuffing the Dormouse into a teapot says it all.  Alice, the outsider, storming away in a huff. Convinced of her rightness.  Frustrated with the hosts' foreignness.  Looking at their seemingly inexplicable actions with contempt.  "The stupidest tea party!"

I'd encourage any of you that are engaged in training cross-cultural workers to take a look at Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and especially the chapter about the "Mad Tea Party".  And, if you do end up using it in any training exercises or if you have any insights from the chapter you'd like to share, please comment below.