discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

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245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 148 11 CONTRASTING PHILOSOPHIES AND STRATEGIES OF MISSION Objectives Your study of this chapter should help you to: • Examine various philosophies of mission • Explain why mission must be centered in the character and purposes of God • Delineate key strategies for church growth • Evaluate the merits of whether “reaching the unreached” or “going after the receptive” should have higher priority in a philosophy of mission • Critically weigh the “three selfs” and understand their importance for indigenization Key Words to Understand philosophy of mission holistic truth encounters power encounters unreached people groups receptivity 148 church planting multiplication mentality strategy mass evangelism personal evangelism 10/40 Window JESUS film
245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 149 Contrasting Philosophies and Strategies of Mission 149 Sometimes missionaries struggling to get along with each other do so because they have a different philosophy of mission. That can happen because people motivated by the very same things may have different philosophies about how to respond to those motivations. Motives are what energize people to take action while philosophies are collections of convictions about what is important. One’s philosophy of mission is that set of principles that, consciously or unconsciously, guides decisions concerning strategy and methodology. Therefore, hashing out a philosophy of mission is a good way to get people in an organization on the same page. Philosophy is also different from strategy, with strategy being the specific ways in which a philosophy is put into action or implemented. Without a shared philosophy of mission, a mission team will find it difficult to effectively evaluate what is currently being done or to meaningfully plan for the future. Every movement is undergirded by a basic philosophy whether that philosophy is known and expressed or unknown and unarticulated. 1 —Harold Lindsell, Christianity Today editor emeritus Most philosophies of mission can be broken down into a set of constituent attitudes. These component attitudes may include (1) how holistic one believes mission should be, (2) a conviction about whether the primary target should be unreached peoples or responsive populations, (3) feelings about whether the gospel should be presented primarily in truth encounters or in power encounters, and (4) how much of a work-in-progress concept one should feel comfortable in accepting. While it is tempting to think in either/or terms, the extremes on any of these issues are not the only viewpoints that exist. Most likely, the ingredients of one’s philosophy of mission will be gradations of ideas or positions spread along a continuum. Contrasting Philosophies 1. Holistic Versus Narrow Focus One line or continuum of philosophical positions relates to how much focus should be placed on meeting spiritual needs and how much should be on meeting physical needs. In other words, should missionary work be only about getting people saved or should it also include responses to injustice, illiteracy, and poverty? A recurring vision drawing people to missionary service is one of multitudes of lost people going out into eternity. Those who point to the need for a focus on direct evangelism plead for every penny to be poured into getting
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