Changing the Mind of Missions [Paperback]

Very few Americans are intellectually or spiritually, capable of profitting from this book.

I, too, found the fictional case study presented to be of little value, but did not find it significantly distracting.

However, in the few pages in which the authors described and praised the "mega-ministry" of Perimeter Church in Atlanta, Georgia, I thought I could not help but wonder if the story did not get inserted by mistake from the word processor of the Public Relations or Fund Raising Departments of Perimeter Church itself. How they could present Perimeter Church as anything but an another example of American excess, that makes anything vaguely reminiscent of the Gospel a travesty, I do not know. Within that example, they again praise a sister 17,000 member congregation in Guatamala City, which cannot be anything other than another example of the ineffective Christianity that the book is warning against. A "gospel" with has no "good news" for anybody, let alone somebody in trouble. I think they could have safely used these 2 churches as examples of what they were speaking against rather than their fictional account.

So puzzled am I by this lapse, that I'd like to hear from the authors themselves as to whether they are serious about the rest of the content of the book in view of their praise for this church in Atlanta.

Missions therefore need to „h break free of the mindset of modernity and espouse certain recovered values found in post-modernism and the "postmodern consciousness" (p48) „h validate the role of the local church and enter into strategic partnerships with them „h discover an holistic Gospel which includes both social transformation and personal discipleship.

The authors present their thesis in a post-modern format, through an introductory narrative. This narrative is in the form of a hypothetical case study, which is both irritating and unconvincing. This ineffectiveness is partly because the contrived story leaves the reader feeling manipulated ¡V "set up" for some application that will follow! The story functions as an argument for the case presented, but there is no fair argument inherent in the story. While this approach has its post-modern merit, it obscures or fails to disclose adequately the ramifications of the issues being addressed. It is this lack of significant analysis of the issues rather than the issues themselves which caused me concern.

Issues raised, needs exposed Despite allusions to several significant historical events, the authors tend to lump everything under the reproach of modernity. Our ecclesiastical and philosophical heritage is much more complex and much older than the Enlightenment. While it is true that modernity has invaded Christianity (pp. 61ff), it is not the only virus that has infected our theology and ecclesiastical life and practice over the centuries.

There is almost an uncritical acceptance of the value and benefits of post-modernism. "Postmodernism, at least in its relatively early stages represents a swing that McLaren and others view as one of the greatest opportunities of history for the Christian faith" (See p.58 and the outcomes outlined on pp. 60-61). While there are benefits and new opportunities in post-modernism they are not to be welcomed uncritically and without adequate theological reflection. Engel and Dyrness state that modernity was "a positive and liberating influence in some ways, [but] also proved to be dangerous to the health of the church" (p.61). Likewise with regard to post-modernism.

This book also lacks an adequate analytical critique of the western church. The authors' do give some helpful insights into a "fresh vision for missions has grown out of a renewed understanding of what God has called the church to be and to do" (p. 134), but it is too general and optimistic. There are individuals and churches, which are in the process of rediscovery of the essential character and life of the church. There are people and communities of believers who are struggling to take that discovery of the nature and functions of the church and contextualize these in 21st century North America.

There are a few prophetic voices crying out in the infertile or polluted wilderness of traditional "Christianism". There are those asking, "Where has the gospel not touched or adequately transformed North American culture?" There are the ones and twos who ¡V like a native Canadian ¡V ask, "What did you give up of your culture when you became a Christian?"

It is the North American church (still modern, but becoming post-modern) which is expressed in and through the missions which Engels and Dyrness criticize. And missions will never be able to make the right changes at the fundamental mindset level, unless those changes take place in a church renewed and transformed according to Biblical rather than cultural or philosophical norms. "The changed world situation... suggests a new metaphor for understanding missions. It is no longer appropriate to send missionaries and even resources from a dominant center of political or economic influence to some distant and exotic place. Indeed world structures have come to reflect much more a network of relationships that defy a fixed sense of place... As a result, a better metaphor... is a network ¡V conceived as mutual exchange between multiple centers of missionary influence." (p49)