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Annual Conference
This blog post first appeared at dr.altizon.com
The 2019 annual meeting of the American Society of Missiology (ASM) recently concluded. Over 240 professors, executives, and practitioners of mission met to explore the theme, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful," essentially asking ourselves the question, "How should the fact of the gap between the rich and the poor impact the way we live and practice mission around the world?"
I had the honor of serving ASM as its President this past year. By that honor, I had the privilege of organizing the meeting, which included choosing the theme, securing speakers, and generally bossing highly efficient people around. Huge thanks to the ASM board-especially conference coordinator Alison Fitchett-as well as my associates of the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT)-especially operations director Tori Greaves-who all made the meeting run quite smoothly.
Issues surrounding wealth and poverty have always been central in my mission thinking. The God whom we encounter in the Scriptures, yes, loves all, but the lost, vulnerable, have-nots, marginalized, and oppressed get God's special attention. How should that fact-God's special concern for the poor-define both our personal lifestyles and the church's mission around the world?
(Photo: Dr. Debra Mumford speaking on prosperity gospel)
Our speakers "brung it!" as we say on the street. Renowned theologian Ronald J. Sider started us off Friday night (June 14) by sharing his own personal journey through six editions of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. On Saturday morning (June 15), Father Benigno Beltran, a Catholic priest-scholar who served the people of Smokey Mountain in Manila for 30 years, brilliantly made the connection between serving the poor and serving the earth. That evening, I confronted classism and proposed ways to overcome it personally and corporately. And then on Sunday morning (June 16), Debra Mumford, a homiletics professor at Louisville Theological Seminary who has done extensive research on the prosperity gospel, gave an informative lecture-sermon on the logic, but ultimately the dangers of prosperity thinking.
I also invited storytellers, that is, people who reminded us that ministry among the poor needs concrete expressions. Maria Surat Schommer described the local ministry of the Catholic Worker. Viv Grigg shared about an innovative master's program in urban missiology for, with, and among the poor. And Ruth Padilla DeBorst described the vision and life of Casa Adobe, an intentional Christian community in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Sandra Maria Van Opstal, author of The Next Worship, and Hallel, a duo made up of Aracely Hernandez Bock and Adri Arango from the Jesus People USA community in Chicago, led us in song. This LatinX, all-girl band had us swaying and clapping to songs in several languages, reminding us that worship entails our whole bodies as we serve the God of all nations.
We gave out several awards. Colin Yuckman received the Graduate Student Paper Award; Brian Stanley earned the Book of the Year award; and J. Samuel Escobar received the Lifetime Achievement Award. I was especially gratified that Dr. Escobar, past President of ASM, received this award during my presidency. He has been a mentor and friend to me and to countless others throughout his remarkable career, which spans over five decades.
(Photo: Dr. J. Samuel Escobar receives the Lifetime Achievement Award with Ruth Padilla DeBorst and Al Tizon)
This summary barely communicates my extreme gratitude for allowing me the privilege of contributing to the life of the American Society of Missiology. My ultimate hope, of course, is that the issues with which we wrestled at the conference will translate into lifestyle changes, paradigm shifts, and powerful mission partnerships between the rich and the poor as God's people strive in the Spirit do on earth as it is in heaven.
"Retirement...counting the days!" How often have you heard those words from people who are looking forward to leaving their work place and enjoying more leisure to travel and play and spend more time with family and friends? But what if your vocation has been so fulfilling and rewarding over many years that the thought of retiring brings more anxiety than anticipation, more dread than delight?
I've had a long and varied vocation as a missiological anthropologist, stretching over nearly five decades. With laser-like focus my passion has been attempting to understand, and perhaps share with others, the relationship between the gospel and culture. "Connecting God's Eternal Word with a Changing World" has been one of the dominant themes of my life. My "career" has not always been smooth sailing, but God has sustained me through the low points and difficult times.
As early as my days in high school, I sensed God inviting me to join God's mission in the world and so I began to pursue becoming a medical missionary. I took all the courses in college I needed to enter medical school, but near the end of my collegiate life I "stumbled" into anthropology. I had never heard of this academic field of study but when I discovered it I realized that here was a discipline that fit me as a person, like hand-in-glove, and I took as many courses as I could.
It was during two years right out of college as a young missionary volunteer in Central Africa that I asked God to guide me in making a vocational decision. Should I become a medical doctor or an anthropologist? Both would take about 10 more years of study and preparation. My missionary colleagues were not happy when I announced to them one day that I was going to return to the United States and enter graduate school to study anthropology instead of going to medical school. They told me I would probably lose my faith if I studied anthropology, and that even if my faith survived the secular onslaught there was nothing in the field of anthropology that would be of value to mission work. So with that kind of "encouragement" off I went, and indeed it was challenging to my Christian faith and very lonely at times because I had little encouragement from anyone, but I felt certain that this was God's call on my life.
With nine years of cross-cultural ministry, mostly in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, as professor of anthropology and later dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary for 21 years, and then as resident missiologist and vice-President for training at The Mission Society (now TMS-Global) for nine years, I have now entered "retirement." From 1985 to the present I've been an active and enthusiastic member of the American Society of Missiology, serving for many years as editor of Missiology, President in 2006-2007, and now publisher. I lovingly refer to the ASM as "my tribe," for over the years I have built some deep and endearing friendships.
Sociologists tell us that the crisis of retirement is not so much a financial crisis as much as it is an identity crisis. I have found this to be true in my situation. I've observed that when Americans meet other Americans anywhere in the world they immediately ask two questions of each other: "What do you do?" and "Where are you from?" Why would those two questions surface immediately? In many other cultures the first question would be "To whom are you related?" not "What do you do?"
The answer to "What do you do?" places one in a social location with a defined status and accompanying role, which we then quickly rank as being more or less important than ourselves. Anthropological studies of social organization and structure focus on the two major building blocks of status (a position in society) and rôle (the accompanying behavior). Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and one man [sic]in his time plays many parts." The part the person plays, to follow Shakespeare's analogy, is the status. And of course we all occupy several different statuses in a society. A given status, a position in the society, is what provides a person with a social identity, a place in social interaction. But what happens when our personal identity becomes too closely aligned with our social identity? We're in for an emotional roller coaster with highs and lows in our career. We measure our self-worth on what we do, on what we accomplish, more than on who we be. "Doing" takes precedent over "Being."
And this is where I have found myself as I have entered retirement, and it hasn't been easy. In fact, there are days when it is really difficult and challenging and I wonder, "What am I going to do with my life?" But then when I reflect on who I am in Christ, I'm reminded that my true, lasting, and eternal identity is that I am a child of the kingdom of God, created in the image of God, loved and treasured for who I am, not for what I do or for what I have done. This shifting of my personal identity away from my social identity takes intentionality. It requires that I become more centered and grounded in Christ, to slow down, be more reflective and not just active. It means working more on a "To Be" list, instead of trying to manage a busy "To Do" list. I resonate with the words of Dag Hammarskjold from his diary Markings (1964:93) "If only I may grow: firmer, simpler-quieter, warmer."
Ironically, I am writing this blog from somewhere in Asia where for security reasons my location must not be disclosed for I have been training a large group of national pastors and missionaries on how insights from missiological anthropology can help them in their cross-cultural ministry to better connect the gospel to the deepest parts of their worldview and culture. As I share from many years of experience and perhaps some wisdom, I plan to keep going, teaching and training around the world for as long as God gives me abundant passion, good health, and a sound mind. But I can now rest assured that my identity in this phase of semi-retirement is in who I am in Christ, not in what I do as a missiological anthropologist.
On January 20, 2021, history was made in the United States as Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice-President, the first woman, and woman of color, to hold this high office. Vice-President Harris has been clear that she did not achieve this position on her own; her grandmother, mother, aunt, sister, and niece are part of her story. So are her husband and her stepson and stepdaughter. As is, of course, President Biden who selected her as his running mate. As she takes up her new responsibilities, they are there for her, encouraging and supporting and believing in her as they've always done.
Christian women also need other women and men to encourage and support us as we take up our responsibilities. And although women may only now be moving into top leadership in US politics, the Christian church has a different history. Women have been central to the mission of the church from the start. Women disciples followed Jesus and supported him financially. Women built and led monastic communities. Women raised and educated their children in the faith. Women left home to preach and evangelize and teach and heal as missionaries. Yet today, their stories are not widely known or told. We wrote this book so that today's Christian women and men could know those stories, and know about the vast array of women who have preceded us and who serve as encouragement and role models for us.
Our experience suggests that women are starved for these kinds of stories. So much history has been written purely from men's perspective that women may think they don't really matter. When Leanne started giving presentations about women throughout Christian history, the most common question was "Where's the book?" Women wanted to read these stories for themselves. Women who read drafts of the book as we were writing it called it balm for the soul and food for starving people. One was even angry that she'd been deceived because she never knew how much women have contributed to the global church.
We had a lot of fun writing it, too. We learned about women we'd never heard of before. We learned to view some women in a whole new way, different from howmen had represented them to us. Aimee Semple McPherson is a good example. Leanne remembers hearing her characterized in seminary as "flighty," "hysterical," and a "floozy," while Anneke recalls hearing her characterized as sexually immoral. Part of the characterization seems to have developed because Aimee was married three times. Digging into her story, we learned that her first husband died while they were on the mission field. Her second divorced her because she wouldn't abandon her call to ministry. At that point she decided never to marry again. But her third husband swept her off her feet and persuaded her to elope and get married. Two days later he was sued by another woman for breach of promise, and he lost! A little later he too divorced Aimee for the same reason as husband number two. Yet despite all these personal tragedies, Aimee developed an incredible ministry that reached thousands of people in Los Angeles. She developed dramatic sermons, embraced racial equality in her church, and fed more people during the Depression than the City of Los Angeles did. She even pioneered Christian radio.
Aimee also encountered powerful men who tried to hinder her ministry. H.L. Mencken, a well-known journalist of her day, was not at all a fan of the church. Yet he wrote favorably about Aimee. He said that local clergy were jealous of her because she had so many converts, and that political leaders were mad because she supported Prohibition. Both sets of men tried to discredit her, but God just continued blessing her ministry.
Reading the story of how Aimee persevered and how God blessed her work might really encourage women and men today who've encountered personal or ministry obstacles. People who've experienced failed marriages may find her story redemptive. Women who've encountered obstacles in ministry may find her story sounds all too familiar. But that means we're not alone. She's an example of how women throughout history have turned constraints into assets-a theme we show repeatedly throughout the book. For example, Aimee turned her marriage experience into a way to talk about the church as the bride of Christ, a relationship far better than any human marriage. Her illustrated sermons allowed her to capitalize on her own natural dramatic flair. These sermons were appealing to the people of Los Angeles who were used to having Hollywood on their doorstep. And her church grew and became a denomination with more than 86,000 churches today.
It helps women to know that we're not alone. Other women have modeled the way, walked the path, maintained the faith, and can now be mentors and examples for us. They can surround and encourage us as we read their stories, just like Vice-President Harris's family members surround and encourage her in her new role. But that can't happen if we don't know the stories. So read our book! Think about assigning it in your class. Consider using it in a small group at church. And tell us what you think! ([email protected], [email protected]). May the Lord use you for his glory even as he used the women in this book.
Dzubinski, L. M., & Stasson, A. H. (2021). Women in the mission of the church: Their opportunities and obstacles throughout Christian history. Baker Academic.
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/women-in-the-mission-of-the-church/393020
In less than six months we will gather for our ASM annual meeting to consider "interfaith friendship as incarnational mission practice." The past two Sundays three serendipitous events occurred which resonate for me with our ASM theme and make me anticipate our gathering even more! To be clear, the stories I relate here are not about interfaith friendships, but they are about friendship in the midst of difference and thus illustrate the generative nature of the theme ASM President Dr. Bonnie Sue Lewis has chosen.
First, this past Sunday I preached at two congregations near my home. This is not particularly unusual in itself. It is something I do every month or two. I preached on Mark 1:14-20; a few months ago I had written a short commentary on this text for the ASM "missional preacher" website. But the day before I was to preach, I saw something new in the text that I hadn't even mentioned in that commentary. In Mark's account of Jesus calling disciples by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus calls for three actions on the part of his disciples / eventual friends: Repent, believe, and follow. I closed my message by lingering with my congregations on the priority Jesus placed on repentance. Repentance is how our believing and following begins. Perhaps that is especially the case in our interfaith friendships. But surely not only there.
With my congregations I also spoke about another event that had occurred the previous week. I had visited a Coptic Orthodox Church in Portland, Oregon (the only Coptic church in Oregon) with my class of undergraduate students studying the history of African Christianity. In their ancient liturgy we heard the simple prayer, "Lord have mercy," well over a dozen times. I was reminded of the multiple layers of that simple prayer that simultaneously reminds us of our need to repent and the abundant grace and mercy that is poured out for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. While worshiping with these Coptic Christians I was also reminded of how little I pray for Christian sisters and brothers facing persecution in Egypt and elsewhere. Lord have mercy, indeed!
My third serendipitous event occurred the evening after I had preached on the Gospel of Mark. I went with a new friend to an evening service at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in a nearby town. I am still somewhat new to the American West, so I decided several months ago that I needed to better understand the Mormon tradition in my new home. As I climbed into my friend's car that rainy evening, I asked again what this service was going to be about. He said that he thought it was going to be "A kind of revival service." He is always generous to find words within my own Protestant and Methodist tradition that make sense. At the end of the service which was indeed "A kind of revival service," one of the priests from the regional ministry area or "stake" came up to me and asked, with tears in his eyes, if he could give me a hug. We had met just once before, but we had a meaningful conversation. As we embraced he said, "Thank you for being so kind to us." I recall that I mumbled something along the lines of "But, of course, we're supposed to love one another." He had previously told me of some hurtful encounters he had with evangelical Christians many years ago in our area. I don't yet know the history or current reality of Latter Day Saints - evangelical relations in my new home, but I know I need to learn. I also don't know what repentance would look like in this case, but if I am to follow Jesus more closely in my new home I need to open my heart in prayer about this. My friend's tears and words of gratitude, it seems to me, can serve as a kind of icon for my prayers in the months to come.
"Repent, believe, follow." "Lord have mercy." "Thank you for being so kind to us." May these phrases resonate for you too in the days to come as we all look forward to our ASM meeting on "interfaith friendships" at St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana. I'm looking forward to seeing you there!
To be clear, I don't see my relationships with LDS friends as an interfaith friendship. The evangelical - LDS dialogue that has taken place for the past 20 years seems to mostly use the language of "heterodox Christian sect" as a descriptor of the Mormon tradition that LDS Christians themselves are comfortable with. For now, so am I.