Changing World, Unchanging Mission: Responding to Global Challenges

236 Pages·2015·1.192 MB·English

by  M. David Sills

CHANGING
WORLD,
UNCHANGING
MISSION
RESPONDING TO
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
M. DAVID SILLS
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com
[email protected]
©2015 by M. David Sills
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools
of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship
of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit intervarsity.org.
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been
changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates.
Cover design: Cindy Kiple
Interior design: Beth McGill
Images: open Bible: © Kevin Landwer-Johan/iStockphoto
air travel aerial view: © Harvepino/iStockphoto
old paper background: © Kontrec/iStockphoto
Earth: © Kathy Konkle/iStockphoto
ISBN 978-0-8308-9876-3 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-4430-2 (print)
Printed in the United States of America ♾
As a member of the Green Press Initiative, InterVarsity Press is committed to
protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources. To learn
more, visit greenpressinitiative.org.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sills, Michael David, 1957-
Changing world, unchanging mission : responding to global challenges / M. David Sills.
1 online resource.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN 978-0-8308-9876-3 (eBook)—ISBN 978-0-8308-4430-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Missions. 2. Globalization. I. Title.
BV2061.3
266—dc23
2015018938
P 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Y 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15
To Emma and Mary Elle,
the newest members of my precious family.
You are both a fresh and constant reminder of the future,
and even though the world is constantly changing,
the Lord helps us meet its challenges by
sending fresh blessings to meet it.

Contents
1 Competing and Conflicting Missions / 9
2 Urbanization and Globalization / 23
3 Travel, Communication and the Missionary Life / 45
4 Short-Term Missions / 69
5 Reaching Oral Learners / 87
6 Helping Without Hurting / 107
7 Churches as Sending Agencies / 127
8 Business as Mission / 145
9 Changing Governments / 165
10 The Global South, Southern Church and
Role of Western Missionaries / 189
Conclusion / 209
Acknowledgments / 213
Notes / 217
Recommended Reading / 227
About the Author / 229
Name and Subject Index / 231
Scripture Index / 233
Praise for Changing World, Unchanging Mission / 234
More Titles from InterVarsity Press / 236

- 1 -
Competing and
Conflicting Missions
I arrived on the mission field three months after I grad-
uated from seminary. The Lord had saved me in my mid-twenties
and called me to missions shortly afterward. My wife and I em-
braced that call and went to seminary to prepare for the field. We
were appointed as missionaries as soon as I graduated, and when
we moved to the field we went with two small children and eager
hearts, but very little else. We had virtually no awareness of what a
missionary actually does in everyday work. Seminary had given me
a general overview of the history and theology of missions, along
with some basic knowledge of strategies and methodologies, but on
arrival in our country of service the advice of older missionaries
sometimes drastically conflicted with what I had learned.
What was even more concerning was that developing world
events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the proliferation of the
Internet and a burgeoning Latin American liberation theology were
changing the rules of the game, if not the entire playing field. I re-
alized early on the importance for missionaries to maintain
awareness of world developments. I also realized that sweeping
world changes could easily carry away those who are enamored
10 Changing World, Unchanging Mission
with them unless they stay anchored to the Word of God. How
could I possibly know how to sort out wise guidance from my mis-
sions education, counsel from godly missionaries who had served
faithfully in my new country, and still factor in all the changes
around me along with those just about to happen? How can you?
While the world changes daily and many global developments
are influencing the way the world acts, interacts and reacts, the
gospel is the truth once-for-all delivered to the saints. The question
at hand is how missionaries can move with the times and embrace
the modern realities and innovations while remaining faithful to
God’s Word.
This book is not another textbook or exhaustive treatment of
the history, theology, philosophies, biblical exegesis or strategies of
missions. Many basic evangelical positions and missiological as-
sumptions guide my thinking, and I will point out some of them
along the way, but I will refrain from indulging in biblical exegesis,
rehearsing historical missiology or engaging in theological debate.
I simply want to help missions students, new missionaries, career
field missionaries and their mission agencies ask and answer these
questions: What can we learn from the ways past changes affected
missions? What place should the future have in informing the ways
we currently do missions?
Multinational corporations highly value the information
yielded from well-researched trends and use it to be proactive in
product development, marketing and investment strategies. Mis-
sionaries and missions agencies must anticipate and prepare for
world change just as diligently. Unfortunately, far too often the mis-
sions enterprise is more reactive than proactive.
What place does the future have in informing the ways we do
missions? Many cultures around the world are crisis oriented while
others are not. Those of a crisis orientation tend to look forward
and anticipate the future in front of them. Other cultures consider