World mission is changing. New travel and communication technologies, new and emerging churches in the southern hemisphere mobilising their own mission force, etc. The impact of the new epidemics of AIDS and SARS and re-emergent TB and malaria on healthcare mission, on top of the political and social instability in many regions where Christians seek to minister, are all issues that have to be dealt with by health professionals in the field on a day-to-day basis. But arguably even more profound for mission from the Western nations, is the impact of postmodern culture, and the new generations who have grown up with it. What impact will this culture have on the future of mission?
Rather than write about Generation X (the age group that grew up in the eighties and nineties and who have been heavily influenced by postmodern values), this book is written by leaders of that generation themselves – men and women with a heart for mission, for taking the gospel of Christ to all the earth, but whose approaches and understandings may differ somewhat from those who have gone before. The book is the result of a meeting in 2001 on Lindisfarne of many young mission leaders from around the world. The aim of this ‘Holy Island Roundtable’ was to explore what mission might look like in the coming decades, and how to respond to this creatively and positively.
At one level, this book is a plea for understanding and communication. That room has been left for an afterward by Bill Taylor of the WEA Commission on Mission – an older leader with many year’s mission experience – is a good sign that this is not a book written out of a sense of confrontation or hurt, but rather out of a desire to reach out across the generations.
It is also an attempt to find out what God is saying to the church and mission agencies in these times. One of the challenges is to recognise how much of what we think of as the gospel is actually culture, and to separate that out from the core of Biblical Christianity. At the same time, what is readily dismissed in postmodern culture is not always unbiblical or against God. All culture is fallen, but God can redeem any culture. Each culture reflects something of God that can only be ignited by the Word and the Spirit being brought to bear. This no more or less true for postmodern culture than it is for the culture that preceded it. With this in mind, the book also looks at the strengths and weaknesses that Generation X brings to world mission.
If you are mission leader of an older generation that finds young people frustrating, hard to work with or just plain incomprehensible most of time, this book may give you a fresh insight. If you are part of Generation X, it will help you reflect on where you are coming from and be a bit more willing to work with those who have gone before in a more constructive, and open hearted manner. I count myself as part of ‘Generation X’, and like me, you may not agree with all the authors say, but you will recognise aspects of yourself here.
If we wish to see mission go on into the twenty-first century with new blood and fresh vision, books like this cannot but help us start to work out ways of working that will ensure we are being faithful to God and relevant to the culture from which many of our missionaries are being drawn. How that affects how we remain relevant to the cultures to which we are outreaching in Christ’s name is another subject.
Steven Fouch
‘Postmission - World Mission by a Postmodern Generation’, Edited by Richard Tiplady, is published by Paternoster Press at £8.99. It is available for most Christian bookshops, or on-line at www.postmission.com Lindisfarne
Buy this book from Amazon using the link below and MMA HealthServe will get a commission:
Rather than write about Generation X (the age group that grew up in the eighties and nineties and who have been heavily influenced by postmodern values), this book is written by leaders of that generation themselves – men and women with a heart for mission, for taking the gospel of Christ to all the earth, but whose approaches and understandings may differ somewhat from those who have gone before. The book is the result of a meeting in 2001 on Lindisfarne of many young mission leaders from around the world. The aim of this ‘Holy Island Roundtable’ was to explore what mission might look like in the coming decades, and how to respond to this creatively and positively.
At one level, this book is a plea for understanding and communication. That room has been left for an afterward by Bill Taylor of the WEA Commission on Mission – an older leader with many year’s mission experience – is a good sign that this is not a book written out of a sense of confrontation or hurt, but rather out of a desire to reach out across the generations.
It is also an attempt to find out what God is saying to the church and mission agencies in these times. One of the challenges is to recognise how much of what we think of as the gospel is actually culture, and to separate that out from the core of Biblical Christianity. At the same time, what is readily dismissed in postmodern culture is not always unbiblical or against God. All culture is fallen, but God can redeem any culture. Each culture reflects something of God that can only be ignited by the Word and the Spirit being brought to bear. This no more or less true for postmodern culture than it is for the culture that preceded it. With this in mind, the book also looks at the strengths and weaknesses that Generation X brings to world mission.
If you are mission leader of an older generation that finds young people frustrating, hard to work with or just plain incomprehensible most of time, this book may give you a fresh insight. If you are part of Generation X, it will help you reflect on where you are coming from and be a bit more willing to work with those who have gone before in a more constructive, and open hearted manner. I count myself as part of ‘Generation X’, and like me, you may not agree with all the authors say, but you will recognise aspects of yourself here.
If we wish to see mission go on into the twenty-first century with new blood and fresh vision, books like this cannot but help us start to work out ways of working that will ensure we are being faithful to God and relevant to the culture from which many of our missionaries are being drawn. How that affects how we remain relevant to the cultures to which we are outreaching in Christ’s name is another subject.
Steven Fouch
‘Postmission - World Mission by a Postmodern Generation’, Edited by Richard Tiplady, is published by Paternoster Press at £8.99. It is available for most Christian bookshops, or on-line at www.postmission.com Lindisfarne
Buy this book from Amazon using the link below and MMA HealthServe will get a commission:
