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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012
criticism of an individualistic slant within insider movements reflects
a misunderstanding of the “proponents of the so-called insider
movement,” then to appeal only to (undocumented) personal experience
to repudiate the claim (Higgins 2010a: 132n13). Brown
(2006d: 133n19) suggests the use of control groups and more exploratory
questions, but control groups might well be nearly impossible
to implement. Instead, carefully designed longitudinal
(through-time) studies, which will become easier with the passing of
time, will help address concerns regarding the effectiveness of intergenerational
discipleship and transmission of faith within insider
movements (questioned by Nikides 2009), and the extent to which
they foster an individualised and privatised faith (a matter raised by
Phil 2009). Some initial steps in this direction are very interesting
(e.g. J. Kim 2010), but will benefit from more rigorous method
and/or disclosure of method. In all likelihood, the time-scale needed
for this kind of assessment might well be decades (Asad 2009b:
140). In the meantime, there is certainly a need for maximal disclosure
regarding methods and claims, by both proponents and critics
of insider movements. 30 In turn, this will help develop better practices
within local lived experience (for which see, helpfully, Hoefer
2009; Gray and Gray 2009; cf. the insightful comments made by
Schlorff 2006: 87-89). It will, doubtlessly, require humble ethics
and Christ-like power relations within research (Travis, in Corwin
et al. 2007: 14-15; cf. Korkmuz 2009). Helpful, too, are historical
studies, where these are possible (see, e.g., Wolfe 2011: 238-306 regarding
Sadrach Surapranata’s community of faith in Central Java).
For some recent moves towards better field studies, see Brown et
al. (2009); Gray and Gray (2009); Gray et al. (2010). In some instances,
insider strategies might be rejected as “a western,
hegemonistic construct,” (Madany 2009: 56) but the reasons why
this happens need to be uncovered. Likewise, better fieldwork will
30 The frequently cited and debated percentage figures drawn from the ‘Islampur’
study, for instance, are somewhat limited in usefulness if the research was based on
interviews with only 72 people, which appears to be the case according to Parshall
(2003: 69).
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