I want to take a breath quickly and talk about some practical implications in the missiological framework I’ve been writing about as I think they will set the stage for making a decolonized missiology & theology practical (and what purpose does this all serve if it is not practical?). To start, we have to be clear about the focus of our missiology. It should be centered squarely on God. God is its source and we are on mission to see the knowledge of God’s glory fill the earth like waters fill the seas, alongside of God (rather than the knowledge of ourselves, our cultures or anything else). You might think this goes without saying but all too often people, missionaries, ministry leaders, even the best of us replace God with ourselves, our specific ideologies or even our culture and nationality. I see this trap specifically in the life of Jonah which I will explore in greater detail in a separate newsletter. Suffice it to say though, any time we shift focus away from God, to any degree, we encourage unhealthy expressions of mission (and these unhealthy expressions are probably going to be colonial to some degree). Coupled with this understanding of God at the center is building a deeper understanding and awareness of what God’s glory actually is. It is not really the simple idea we might want it to be but rather this beautifully complex and intricate woven tapestry made from different threads of God and God’s movement throughout history. If we tug at one of the threads especially to the point of unraveling or removing it, we create big problems. I like this scene from Avengers Endgame as I think it illustrates it well (you’ll need to click the link unfortunately as most mail clients won’t automatically load YouTube videos - it’s free of all churchy language though and really is just a clip from a superhero movie so should be viewable anywhere):
If you don’t have access to YouTube, this scene is where the Hulk confronts the Ancient One and asks for the time stone (which is a part of a set of stones called infinity stones that hold the marvel cinematic universe together). She declines by explaining if one stone is removed, it unravels the balance in the universe created by the stones, creating a dark timeline. I think this visual is a helpful analogue here. Removing or replacing a thread of what comprises God’s glory affects deeply what we do. In my mind, this is why colonial missiology exists and is so prevalent - we tug at or unravel or remove or swap different aspects of God’s glory from the greater picture. To make it practical, let’s consider the aspect of God’s glory wrapped up in God’s image imprinted on every man and woman. Let’s say, as an American, I start assuming some of my American traits are a part of this image. It then becomes really easy to write other national identies out of the picture. Let’s make this really tangible with an example. Recently an American politician was speaking to a group of people sharing about how the United States of America was founded on “Judeo-Christian values” of the Bible and Jesus. He then followed it up with this: We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture” He equated American identity with the image of God imprinted on us all and at best he precludes the possibility of God’s image in the Native American population that inhabited the land (and at worst justifies genocide with this equation). Yes I know this is an example from a political sphere rather than faith sphere. But people follow politicians as leaders (sometimes as much or moreso than “faith” leaders) and he specifically justifies his claims by invoking the Bible and Jesus. Sadly, I have been in the room when Christians have made similar comments and justifications pointing to words such as this. I should add here that I am being harsh on the USA specifically because it is my country of birth and the lens from which I can honestly critique; in Biblical terms, it’s examining the log protruding from my own eye before attacking the speck in another culture’s “eye”. I want to explore in brief one other thread that gets tugged on often in relationship to this, and that’s the reality that God’s glory is expressed in the intimacy of God seen in Kingdom communities. There has been a common tendency throughout history to extract people and send them off somewhere for training, development or a myriad of other reasons rather than developing or working with them within the context of their local community (no matter how big or small said community might be). While their are certainly exceptions to every rule, I think a mistake is made in common missiological practice to extract. For one, leaders often decide not to come back (and when they do they often carry the foreign cultural practices they learned with them). For another, it leaves local community work to be lead by outsiders rather than insiders (and creates problems like the handful of churches I previously mentioned that would only baptize if missionaries where there to do it). This is one of the big reasons we have worked so hard to localize our training and have pushed to see it happen in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique and elsewhere. Rather than remove leaders we want to see them developed and released within the context of their local communities! So, as a concluding summary, we have to build any missiological practice with the understanding that God is clearly at the center (rather than ourselves or anything we’d choose to bring). If God isn’t, the practice should at the very least be questioned and likely thrown out. Alongside of this, we have to be intentional to holistically view God’s glory (as much as we are able) to not unravel, replace or remove any of the intricate threading in the tapestry. This is much harder as it steps deeper than simply keeping God at center. It forces us to approach our practice with humility and self-awareness and always be willing to engage what we are doing in a healthy manner.