Beyond Borders: Rethinking mission for a changing world

Borders and Boundaries

In Ephesians 2&3 Paul turns everything the Ephesian listeners have ever understood about religion on its head. Christ, separated from God on the cross, united mankind into a new community. Paul, a law-abiding Hebrew, taught Gentiles about freedom from the law. From behind prison bars, he wrote of Christ breaking down walls. Strangers are called citizens; foreigners are called God's holy people. Even the church, with all its brokenness and divisions, is called to display God's wisdom.

I believe the paradigm shift we are experiencing in the 21st century is equal to, if not even more confusing and chaotic than the world into which Paul was speaking in the 1st century. Long-held assumptions are being challenged.

We see the growth of the Pentecostal church in the Global South, the decline of the traditional church in the West, the rise of missionaries coming from Asia, and the decline of British missionary societies. But is that really the true picture? Is it really all East and West, rise and decline, us and them? I don't believe so. Instead, we need to look carefully at what has changed, what remains the same, what is uncertain and what is rock solid and what this means for mission in the 21st century.

When Borders Were Clearly Defined

There was a time when, through Western eyes, the world was viewed through clear and simple categories: home and field, West and East, reached and unreached. British missionaries served faithfully, but largely in one direction, from here to there.

It is estimated that around 10,000 British missionaries were living overseas in 1900, with Britain providing more than half of all missionaries serving in Asia and Africa. Mission agencies such as China Inland Mission, now OMF, emerged during this period, under the shadow of British colonial expansion. These agencies reflected the confidence and optimism of their age. Borders and boundaries appeared clear, and mission structures were built around those assumptions.

God used those missionaries to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to people who may never otherwise have heard it. Schools and hospitals were established alongside evangelism, caring for the whole person, what today we would call integral mission. Mistakes were undoubtedly made, and mission was at times too closely aligned with the colonial enterprise. Yet many people from Nigeria, Ghana, India and the Philippines still speak with gratitude about those who brought the gospel to their communities. We served well, but we served unidirectionally. From here to there.

Sending, Receiving and Diaspora

In more recent years, growing globalisation has made mission more dynamic. More akin to a tennis game of mixed doubles with multiple players constantly moving back and forward. Communication and travel have become easier, and increased migration has made the distinction between East and West, home and field, and reached and unreached less clear. Borders and boundaries have become more fluid and porous.

The authority of churches, mission organisations and governments has diminished, while technology, finance and migration have created new channels of connection and communication that are difficult to control. Ethnicity and nationality are no longer as clearly defined as they once were, and increasing numbers of people live across multiple cultures and identities.

The last fifty years also saw the emergence of majority-world mission agencies, churches sending people to engage in cross-cultural mission within their own nations, and the rise of missional business. Mission became more dynamic, but the borders and boundaries, were still discernible.

Polycentric Communities and Collaborative Partnerships

Today, however, the game we need to learn to play is altogether different. More akin to tennis dodgeball with ever revolving teams, constantly moving players and a complex set of rules. There are still some discernible boundaries, and we remain committed to sharing the gospel with those who have never heard. OMF are still a gospel focused missionary fellowship. We continue to exist to bring hope to East Asia's billions by serving East Asian communities and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in all its fullness. Our passion remains to see local communities of believers worship God in their own heart language and reach out in mission to their own people through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our values have not changed, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify who the missionaries are.

The context, however, has changed dramatically. The majority of evangelical believers now live in Africa, Asia and South America. The centre of gravity of the global church is no longer in the West. At the same time, migration is taking place on an unprecedented scale through economic migration, forced migration and international education. We know people are often more open to the gospel when they are away from home, creating significant opportunities among diaspora communities and international students.

Our world is also deeply interconnected through international business, employment and global mobility. Workers routinely cross cultures and borders - the Filipino workforce may be one of the largest undocumented missionary movements of this century. This raises important questions about how we equip self-supporting workers for mission.

There is a narrative that traditional churches in the UK are declining, but that is not the whole story. A study in Glasgow conducted by Dr Sheila Akomiah-Conteh, found that 94% of churches planted between 2000 and 2016 were diaspora or majority-world churches. Many are eager to join hands in reaching unreached people, both on our doorstep and within constantly moving communities across the world. Consider the 5000 Mongolians living in Ireland. – who will return to Mongolia to places we never could; the vast Asian workforce in our health care services who will move on to the next employment centre; the Chinese students who will return, potentially to government jobs in China after studying in the UK.

So what does mission look like in the 21^st century and what should the church look like in the 21^st century?

Churches as a Missional Hub

It was in this context, under Peter Rowan's leadership, that OMF UK began exploring what an appropriate strategy for the future might look like. The conclusion was that, by God's grace, OMF UK should serve as a catalyst for the church in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ among East Asia's peoples through all aspects of life, working collaboratively with churches, OMF fields, agencies and East Asian diaspora communities both locally and globally.

Hubs are connected to a server and send the signal to others. A hub does not generate the signal; it receives and passes it on. I believe churches always have been, and even more so now are, connectors because we sit in a liminal space. I believe mission agencies have become multidirectional hubs, sending signals in all directions, connecting people from multiple places and sending the message of the gospel to multiple destinations.

Christians are, and always have been, hyphenated people – two things joined together. The church has always been polycentric, with multiple centres of leadership (look at Acts), and it has always been multilingual. We cannot be unidirectional anymore.

Christians are, and always have been, liminal people, living in liminal spaces. We live between the 'now' and the 'not yet' of God's kingdom and therefore occupy a unique position as connectors, bridge-builders and peacemakers. The church is the guardian, theologically and missiologically of that liminal space. Christ himself is the ultimate bridge-builder, connecting heaven and humanity. We are called to follow his example.

We, with our understanding of East and West and our place within the worldwide body of Christ, are natural bridge-builders in our nation. We must demonstrate how to live with our eyes fixed on Christ and eternity while our feet remain firmly planted on earth.

Putting the Church Back at the Heart

We must put the church back at the heart of all we do. As Paul reminds us:

God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in all its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:10

Ultimately, the church is God's chosen instrument. The flawed and complex communities of faith to which we belong, and those we seek to connect with across Asia, participate in something far greater than we often realise. When churches gather to worship, pray, forgive one another, welcome strangers and live according to God's word, something significant occurs in the heavenly realms. We have an opportunity to participate in what God is already doing.

Closing prayer: Ephesians 3

Paul was want to burst into praise for this reason:

That we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing

That we have been called and chosen before the foundation of the earth

That we have been adopted into the family of God

That we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ

That we have been forgiven

That we have been sealed by the Spirit

That His love has been lavished upon us

That He has made known to us the mystery of His will

And some day He will gather us all together under His rule

All for the praise of His glory

For this we stand in awe of our glorious Father and the unique community of faith that He continues to create for His Son by His Spirit.

But most of us are too busy to see this, too tired to reflect on it and too spiritually blind to understand it, so I am asking God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better and become like Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened: that you may know His incomparably great power: The power that raised Christ from the dead; the power that seated Christ at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come, to live as liminal, hyphenated people – bridging cultures, bringing peace for the glory of Christ.

This article has been edited by Global Connections staff from the original presentation of Irene McMahon and a summary generated by Microsoft's Co-pilot.