Discussion with Glen Marshall, Missions Tutor, Northern Baptist College

Glen read through my initial discussion document (here). He observed that my main interest seemed to be in cultural shifts.On the subject of cultural shifts he suggested that as well as cultural and religious shifts there were also political shifts. The aspect of being conquered (as in the exile) reflected on the cultural and religious shift.

Reflecting on my observations on the 19th Century missionaries he suggested a couple of things:

1. Modernity was settled in the 19th Century.
2. Different dynamics were at work, the missionaries left a culture to engage with a different culture.

I’m not entirely sure that the dynamics were as different to our contemporary situation as Glen marked out. The 19th Century missionaries on the whole did not leave their cultures to engage those they wished to convert. On the whole they sought to convert them to their culture and the gospel, seemingly unable to separate the two. It was pioneer missionaries like J Hudson Taylor who left the missionary compound to discover how the people he wished to reach lived, then adopted their culture, living like them and dressing like them who bore similarities to our situation today. My contention is that we need to leave the safety of our religious compounds to engage with the culture. We would be following their lead.

Glen is right in saying that our cultures are transforming, so the step is not so radical. Perhaps it is because the step is not so radical that it is harder to make.

Reflecting on my study focus, Glen agreed that I need to narrow it down (which is exactly what Keith said). However he said that it would be helpful to broaden my reading in order to find a narrower focus!

He suggested:

• Free Chruch, Free State by Nigel Wright, in which Nigel makes reference to a missionary Journal article about culturation.
• Transforming Mission by Bosch
• A Bosh reader by Nussban
• The complex Christ by Kester Brewin
• The next reformation by Karl Rasker
• Translating the gospel from culture by Sammer
• Mission implausible by McLaren
• The spirituality of people who don’t go to church by hay and hunt.
• The last couple of titles by Stuart Murray.