ALL - The Great Co-Mission (Sermon on 5-19-2013 at Centennial Baptist Church, Rutledge, GA)

Economic Profiling: Missionary Toolbox #7

Now that I'm back in from the SBC in Houston, I wanted to pick back up with the 7th tool in the Missionary Toolbox, as adapted from IMB's Profile Method that strategy coordinators are taught: Economic Profiling. Here are some questions that might help:

1. What are the most common jobs among your people group?
2. Is the economy based on agriculture or industry, or both?
3. Where do people get their money?
4. What is an average monthly wage?
5. What products do your people produce? What determines their price?
6. Who does business with your people?
7. Who controls the financial institutions, public institutions?
8. What is the influence of free market economy, capitalism, socialism, communism?
9. What is their current health care status?
10. Describe their homes, their neighborhoods/villages, their cities.
11. What do your people eat regularly?
12. How costly are utilities?
13. What constitutes proper clothes? Who has "wealthy" clothes?

The biggest insight here might be this: once you answer the questions above, describe your own economic lifestyle. How different is the way you live from the way they live? Is this a barrier to the gospel & planting new churches?

Technological Profiling: Missionary Toolbox Part 5

Whenever you start to consider evangelistic access to an unreached people group, it helps to think in terms of current technological platforms. When IMB's Dr. Bob Brown (name changed for security purposes) taught us to study people groups, he used the analogy of the "visible invisible envelope." These questions are helpful in constructing an accurate picture of the current technological status of your people:

1. What technologies are accessible?
2. Who has which technologies: (rich or poor)
     a.  electricity
     b.  telecommunications
     c.  media
     d.  dvd, cd, etc.
     e.  cell phone coverage
     f.  computer/internet

After you have determined which categories the varied technologies apply to your people group, look at your own usage of technology.

1. How does your use of technology differ from theirs? Is yours reproducible for 2nd generation believers?
2. How would varied technologies be useful for: access to the gospel, gathering believers, planting churches, leadership development?
3. What bridges or barriers exist from what you've seen in varied technologies?
4. How would this affect the way a New Testament church looks among your people group?

Social Profiling: Missionary Toolbox Part 4

Socially, people can be studied within two subcategories: family units and preferred affinities. To understand the culture's valued family unit, there are several questions that should be asked.

1. What constitutes a family? Is it biological or by choice?
2. What are the individual roles within the family? Are there different roles that each gender plays? How does age affect these roles?
3. Describe death, marriage & separation within the family unit. How do these events change the family?
4. Who gives permission in the family? Who forgives? Who defends?
5. How is information passed through the family on to future generations? Is it written or oral?
6. Describe inheritance in the family unit.
7. What defines marriage rites and sexual guidelines within a family?
8. What laws exist that govern families?
9. What special traditions or holidays do families observe?

To understand the culture's social structure, there are also these questions:

1. Describe the rite of passage to become an adult.
2. What social rights do males or females have within the community?
3. How is leadership gained or lost?
4. What is valued? What is taboo? What is traditional? What is considered beautiful?
5. How are individuals educated about the culture?
6. What is the expected dress code?
7. What are the social stigmas on dating or courtship, engagement or promise, marriage and divorce?
8. Describe the responsibilities of the youth in your poeple group.
9. What problems do youth encounter?
10. How does your UPG view itself?
11. Are they corporate or individual in their decision making processes?
12. How do they define time? What do they do to honor chronological events on the calendar? what about life happenings (births, deaths, marriages)?

How does this information help you to understand what a New Testament church would look like within your people group?

Moscow: Missions in the Context of Urban Need

An Article from Evangelical Missions Quarterly, April 2013

Many evangelicals are beginning to engage a cultural strategy (A-E-I-O-U) that touches five cultural issues in Moscow. Buck Burch talks about how Evangelical Christians in Russia's capital have crafted a strategy for meeting needs as a part of their emerging urban missiology. 

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So How Does Russia's ECMU compare to Baptist Ecclesiology? Part 2

Ed Stetzer believes many churches “have neglected some of the ecclesiology described in Scripture by de-emphasizing New Testament patterns of leadership, misunderstanding the role of covenant and related church discipline, and failure to practice the biblically prescribed ordinances.”[1] John Hammett identifies the positions of elders/pastors/overseers and deacons as two offices in Baptist ecclesiology. He lists the qualifications for elders as those coming from 1 Timothy 3:2–7 and Titus 1:6–9. The list includes morality, marital status, giftedness, maturity, gender, and a divine calling. Of those qualifications, the overwhelming majority of the Evangelical Christian Missionary Union (ECMU) concurs.[2] Hammett also encourages a plurality of elders in his Baptist ecclesiology,[3] the very thing that ECMU also encourages.[4] After one hundred years of deacon rule, Hammett has issued a call back to congregational rule wherein a plurality of elders “would force churches to think through the relationship of the two offices and would result in a renewal of the servant aspect of diaconal ministry, with leadership left to the elders.”[5] The way that Frolov has established the ministries of elder and deacon in his church is reflective of that renewal.

The ECMU church in St. Petersburg recognizes pastoral ordination, but it does not practice deacon ordination. According to Hammett, the issue of ordination is a historical one.

Over the course of church history, ordination grew in importance. It eventually became viewed as a sacrament, conferring grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit on the recipient…This understanding of ordination came under sharp attack in the Reformation, because it contradicted the idea of the priesthood of all believers, it created a false dichotomy between clergy and laity, and it lacked biblical warrant.[6]

Frolov does not see a need to unnecessarily “burden” lay servants with cultural and historical baggage.[7]

Hammett outlines five ecclesial functions in Baptist ecclesiology, the very same functions or ministries that Frolov and ECMU outlines as their own. Hammett argues that “in Baptist life, the ministry of the Word has been central.”[8] ECMU calls the ministry of the Word “the only true source of knowing God (John 5:39).”[9] Hammett said the ministry of fellowship “explains how otherwise diverse believers can experience oneness in Christ; what they have in common outweighs their differences.”[10] ECMU says that “fellowship with other Christians (Hebrews 10:25) is what leads a Christian to readiness to serve God with power and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:11–13).”[11] Hammett says that in the Baptist ministry of worship “evangelism was a byproduct of worship, not the design of worship.”[12] ECMU reflects this as well in its identification with the evangelical movement even in its worship practices.[13] Hammett identifies service as a Baptist ideal, even though “this is an area in which Baptists… need to improve.”[14] Frolov says that “ECMU is including an aspect of service to the community and to each other as an integral part of its church life.”[15] Hammett also includes evangelism that extends “to the ends of the earth, or what is usually called international missions.”[16] EMCU is also careful to include an evangelism aspect that extends “to all generations and to all people groups.”[17]

Interestingly, the substance of Baptist ecclesiology as presented by Hammett is reflective of the very practice of ECMU in Russia. Almost item by item, each element of historical Baptist theology as it relates to the doctrine of the church is present in ECMU’s praxis. Perhaps it is for this reason that Frolov makes the claim that “we are really Baptists; we just don’t have the title Russian Baptists. We are a different denomination, but we are just like Baptists.”[18]

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[1]Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church That’s Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 2006), 177.

[2] The only sticking point would be Hammett’s insistence on the elder role as limited to males. ECMU has one female serving as pastor in the Buddhist region of Russia. See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Церкви Калмыцкой Епархии,” (2009). http://www.exmc.ru/churches/kalmykyia (accessed August 18, 2009). However, even though the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 defines male leadership of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention still has about 30 women pastors. See Executive Committee of the SBC, “Southern Baptists and Women Pastors,” The Truth about the SBC & Texas (2009). http://www.baptist2baptist.net/printfriendly.asp?ID=58 (accessed August 18, 2009).

[3] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 166-177.

[4] Frolov, interview by author.

[5] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 197.

[6] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 205–206.

[7] Frolov, interview by author.

[8] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 228.

[9] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[10] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 233.

[11] Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[12] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 248.

[13] See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[14] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 252.

[15] Frolov, interview by author.

[16] Hammett, Biblical Foundations, 255.

[17] See Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, “Символ Веры.”

[18] Dmitry A. Frolov, interview by author, written notes, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 15, 2004.

Why It's Still Important To Be Involved in Russian Missions

Georgia Baptists are still involved in a 5 year partnership with Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia

A little memory

As a change, I thought I'd share a little memory from our life in Russia a few years ago. I'll get back to the ongoing discussion about urbanism & ECMU next week. This excerpt is from one of my later journals in 2010. Have you ever felt tired? Feeling a little tired & cold today, I thought about this one:

 The kids are tired. These long working weekends after a hard week are beginning to take their toll on them. At 7AM, I watch as Amielle rests her little head peacefully on the back of the metro seat. She has her hair covered with her LLBean coat hat so as to not pick up the smell or grease from others who have done the same. In her delicate hands, she holds a printed sheet of study guide questions from Physical Science, her last hope before taking the test later tonight after church.
            Ashlyn sits next to her also studying some handwritten notes from her Northstar copy book. Today is Sunday, and the trek to Golgotha Baptist Church this morning will begin a long day of worship services, preaching, then teaching English classes, and then leadership meetings until 6 PM. We'll get back home around 7:30 or 8:00 PM tonight. 
           Leslie, not feeling well this morning, is coming a little later with Luke, who upon hearing about his mother's decision to arrive late, gallantly agreed to accompany her and then crawled back into his warm bed.
           The girls have to be at church early for choir. They practice on Saturday nights, but they also must meet early on Sunday mornings.
           Amielle stirs with the rocking of the train car and places her head into her hand as a makeshift pillow. The automated announcer informs us that the next stop is Altufeyevo, our stop, so we all shuffle papers and bags to prepare for disembarking.

Missiological Implications from Latourette

Several of Latourette’s emphases are outstanding especially when considering the time period that this book was published. At a time when disciplines observed strict boundaries, Latourette was radical in his interdisciplinary approach. Using his training both in history and missions, he integrated secular history into missiology in such a way as to not merely restate church history. Ed Rommen in Missiology and the Social Sciences once said that true missiology utilizes history as a tool to analyze historic missionary activity as a context for understanding the spread of Christianity. Andrew Walls in “Modern Pioneers: Kenneth Scott Latourette,” in the Nov. 2001 edition of Christian History, said that Latourette “redirected Christian scholarship by presenting missions as the history of Christianity itself, not as an appendix to ‘church’ history” (45). This integration has impact on missiology as a true science, because without it we are left with a reductionistic isolation devoid of the fuller picture.

            His emphasis on the interaction between Christianity and the historical or social environment was also revolutionary for his time. Even up until Paul Hiebert began to identify anthropological aspects of missiology, there was arguably very little missiological work being done within a larger socio-economic context. Latourette was innovative in presenting this in a duo-directional mode, how Christianity was impacting secular development and how secular life was impacting Christianity’s development. This has impact in the discipline of missiology, because it raises the validity of missiology to a higher disciplinary level.

            Andrew Walls notes Latourette’s failure to include data from non-western Christian sources, but he quickly forgives his failure on the basis of lack of availability of such data. This failure can also be forgiven as he was a man of his times, and it was truly in vogue to think of the west as leading Christianity’s development. Today’s David Boschs of the missions world are helping to facilitate a broader range of study for world Christianity and especially provide supplemental emphases on non-western Christianity. Latourette can truly be hailed as a pioneer in preparing the Christian history “readers for the situation of the early twenty-first century” (Walls, 45).

Latourette Continued

I'm continuing to talk about what Latourette called "The Great Century" in Christian history. Within the Russian Orthodox Church during that time period (1800-1914), a small movement to reform was developed as well. The Church made extensive efforts to evangelize unreached people groups within Russia, like the Laps and the Chuvash, by employing indigenous methods. Led by Nicholai Ilminski, the Russian Bible was retranslated into the vernacular. However, a nationalistic emphasis on russification caused the Orthodox Church is begin to look inwardly, and the Church set itself against any new western currents. There were “earnest efforts to strengthen the Orthodox Church. Yet ground was lost rather than gained” (147).            

In the latter part of his book, Latourette turns his attention more specifically toward the United States. The United States grew in population on a massive scale only surpassed by Russia and India, and these numbers were met by increases in church membership. During this time great revival broke out as settlers came from the Old World to pioneer this new land. The Methodist Episcopal Church was very aggressive on the frontier and became very attractive through its charismatic preaching and its Arminian theology founded upon individualism and free will.

The two denominations that benefited most were Baptists and Methodists. The jump in their membership was largely due to circuit riding preachers and camp meetings. Some of the more extreme meetings were known for bizarre groans and screams, falling or being slain in the Spirit, jerking, barking, running, jumping and falling into trances. Still, despite the excesses of some of the more fringe groups, the growth among mainline denominations was not deterred. Charles Finney, focusing strongly on the new American spirit of individualism, helped to push conversion growth. Moreover, new denominations like the Cumberland Presbyterians, the Christians and the Disciples of Christ, were born as well as new sects like the Mormons.

Congregationalism became the widely accepted mode of Protestant church polity. Regardless of how secular revisionists want to rewrite history, bands from schools like Yale Divinity School and Illinois College went out as missionaries, and churches began to become all the more interested in missions. Even entire Baptist associations began to take responsibility for missions, and this associational work led to a greater sense of cooperation. Sunday schools were seen as a means of empowering future missionaries, and denominational colleges were formed to expand that base of training.

            Latourette also highlights the impact of immigration. Between 1820 and 1860, about five million immigrants patriated the United States. Mostly from western and northern Europe, the great majority of those who came from the Old World were not members of any church. Therefore, Protestants and Catholics seized upon this opportunity.     

            The Roman Catholic Church expanded school systems to reach these new settlers. Their efforts were organized through an episcopate and supervised by Rome. Protestants, however, focused their efforts specifically through the Germans and the Swedes to increase Lutheranism in the north. The Russian Orthodox Church made an effort to evangelize Alaska, but it withdrew its missionaries when the local government there was sold to the United States.

            Latourette highlights several of the problems associated with evangelizing immigrants. They were initially reluctant to abandon their Old World loyalties, even in terms of religion. There were more Protestant adherents gained than Roman Catholics, largely due to the zealous Protestant preaching to the uneducated, the unsophisticated and lower classes of society. Most Baptist growth was from Scandinavians. Across the board, there was an insignificant effort to reach Jewish immigrants. All in all though, the church was center of immigrant social life, so the growth that occurred was a natural effect of seeking out social stability in a strange new world.  

            Reaching the American Indians proved to be a unique challenge fraught with political implications. Latourette mentions that the Indian population was small and scattered. They were won more as individuals or families instead of being converted as entire tribes. Although the Russian Orthodox Church tried to begin a tribal work among Alaskan natives, they abandoned their attempt because they said the US government would not allow them to “make Russians of their pupils” (312). Russification trumped mission as the Russian Orthodox Church became more nationalistic.

            Latourette explains how the negro slaves in America discarded their tribal solidarity and communal customs. With the large numerical increase in the African-American population in America during this century, this created a great evangelistic opportunity for the Christian church.  After the emancipation proclamation, Methodists and Baptists accepted more negro members. Moreover, the black community became very active in starting their own organizations and exclusive denominations.  

Several socio-political movements were fostered against this backdrop. Many non-Christians led in an antislavery movement. The abolitionists became very violent, and a rift between north and south widened. The Southern Baptist Convention was formed specifically over the issue of slavery within the context of missions. Yet black protestant Christianity grew. More black clergy, particularly Baptist, gained prominence. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was founded as a first day school for freedmen, and schools like Howard University gained recognition in black history.

Latourette gives special attention to the change in US demographics. The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy both concentrated heavily on urban populations in America. Therefore, the cities in America became largely more Catholic than Protestant. Protestants concentrated on rural at first, but interestingly their revivals were centered on cities. Because of the decline of bible teaching in homes, Sunday Schools were founded to fill in that gap and empower a new generation to enter into foreign missions with a strong bible foundation.

            Latourette cites the growing trend in environmental responsibility and efforts to create global awareness. Predominantly led by Protestantism, the Christian movement directly impacted secular thought. Among the greatest influences Latourette sees the church had upon society was the idealism of a Christian nation; the courage and initiative to dream; personal imagination, individualism and social activism; social reform; celebration of diversity; moderation in conduct and attitudes; a prominent role of clergy in society; moral order; governmental reform movements; the peace movement; anti-secret societies; women’s equality; better care for insane; prison reform; and labor reform.        

However, the environment also had an impact on Christianity. Latourette identifies several religious ideologies that developed as a direct result of the spirit of the day. Most notably, the idea of the separation of church and state, religious toleration, volunteerism, democracy, lay involvement, activism, revivalism, humanism, evolution, cooperation, new denominations, immigrant community life and less speculative theologies were among those that he sees as being directly influenced by outer stimuli.

            In my next post, I'll highlight some missiological implications of Latourette's documented history.

Interesting Read- Latourette- Europe Part 1

The Great Century in Europe and the United States: A.D. 1800 – A.D. 1914 by Kenneth Scott Latourette is volume 4 of  The History of the Expansion of Christianity and deals with Christian history up to the end of World War II. It is a worthy read, so I'll only briefly highlight some of the content in these posts. Although the other volumes cover Christianity’s expansion in Europe, his fourth volume entails the expansion of Christianity during "the Great Century in Europe and the United States of America," as the subtitle suggests. Optimistically, he begins his survey of nineteenth century Christianity as a “burst of religious life” (4). Due to western European’s “denial and rejection of Christianity” (6), this burst was primarily in Protestantism. However, Latourette’s examination of the great century also incorporates the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy.

            Latourette establishes the inquiry for his fourth volume by asking qualitative questions. He seeks to identify “what was the Christianity that was spread” and why it spread. He is interested in discovering the process by which it spread and why it failed in some places. He is also interested in establishing some key indicators that show the effect Christianity had on the secular atmosphere as well as what effect that environment had on Christianity’s development. Latourettes questions provide a good framework for studying church growth and trends in Christianity still today.

            He immediately lays the secular backdrop against which Christian expansion is highlighted. During the nineteenth century, there was an explosive growth of man’s knowledge about the physical universe. Mankind began to master his environment and took broad steps to eliminate poverty. With an increased trust in the scientific method and an emphasis on objectivity and the individual, Latourette believes there was a dulling effect on the Christian faith. The entire structure of man’s life changed as did the ideology of society as a whole. The intellectual emphasis of rationalism seemed to hurt Christianity, while Latourette believes romanticism had helped. Moreover, world peace helped missions efforts as did a greater sense of optimism that the world could actually be reached for Christ. As western & northern people groups expanded in Europe, there was a transformation of non-European cultures. Consequently, there developed a world culture with English serving as the major global language.

            These socio-economic and political/idealogical elements either worked for or against Christianity’s evangelistic thrust, but without judging them Latourette sees them as role players in the larger scene. He identifies new movements which expanded Christianity. These movements had the cumulative effect of helping nineteenth century Protestantism to become “more purely religious than ever before” (330).

            Amidst an underlying religious skepticism of the day, several new revivals or organizations were formed in the west. The Salvation Army began its work at this time. The YMCA was formed. Sunday School became a staple of church education. The individualist spirit of the west filtered through the western church and several new denominations were formed as a result. Disciples of Christ, Free Baptists, Mormons and Christian Science were among those who enjoyed this newfound religious expression, as did the Pietists and Wesleyans.

In the same way, the western church began to deal with a growing criticism from European Christian thinkers. In Germany a critical historical study of the Bible gained popularity as men like Schleiermacher and Hegel made their mark on society. And although there was a revival in the Russian Orthodox Church, the overwhelming growth in the nineteenth century in Europe was still within Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church.

            Latourette identifies several methods of expansion. Because there was an “absence of action assistance by governments” (47), churches began to take a greater responsibility for missions. Average lay Christians saw their involvement in missions as extremely important. Women began to see their own role expand in missions. Because missionaries raised a high standard for church membership, salvation was celebrated as the result of an individual personal decision.

Specifically within the Roman Catholic Church, missionary work expanded. Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, for example, rose in the ranks of those Catholics who actively involved themselves in mission. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Holy Childhood became leaders in collecting funds for Catholic missions. This led to mission stations, a prefecture apostolic, a vicariate apostolic and revamped diocese structures specifically geared toward missions. There was an unprecedented support of Roman Catholic missions.

Protestant missions took on a whole new dimension as well. The Baptist Missionary Society and individual mission leaders like William Carey, David Brainerd and Zinzendorf led in the pursuit of active missions engagement. The Religious Tract Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts also created new opportunities for Protestant missions. This increase in missions emphasis led to Evangelicalism as a movement where conversion of the individual, greater education of church members and healing the sick was stressed. American missionaries sought to transform society as a whole and not just convert individuals. Missionaries like Samuel Mills, Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice became heroes of the faith.

As Protestantism spread other missions organizations were founded. As mission societies multiplied, the United States emerged as a leader in protestant missions. College students and women developed their own missions organizations. Laymen like D.L. Moody raised the bar in average church members’ engaging the lost. There was an exponential rise in nondenominational societies, and universities themselves sent out missionary bands. As a result, more Christian colleges were formed, and a greater cooperation in Protestant missions efforts was forged.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, there was also an increase in missions emphasis with the main difference being the financial support of the state. The Orthodox Missionary Society began to raise additional funds for missions which led to new churches in Siberia. With the combined efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church, “the total of all the organizations, local, regional, and national, must have mounted into the thousands” (94).

In chapter five Latourette turns his attention to the people groups being reached. Protestants began to actively target Jews, the most prominent organization being the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. Britain accounted for ore than half of all Protestant organizations in Europe that were actively engaging Jews, and the largest number of Jewish conversions to Protestant Christianity was in the British Isles. Germany held second place, and together these two countries accounted for three out of every four Jewish baptisms for the years between 1815 and 1914. Latourette points out that nineteenth century Christianity saw the largest number of Jews converted since first century. Most Jews of the world lived in European Russia where they experienced what Latourette calls “conversion by coercion” (117). Unfortunately in Southern Europe, little headway was made to advance the gospel to Jews.

Russia had its own rich Protestant history. While German Mennonites went to southern Russia to advance the gospel among Russian peasants, Lord Radstock began to reach the upper class who consequently reached the common people of northern Russia. Shtundists and others who emphasized ecstatic manifestations of the Spirit marked a Protestant awakening in Russia. Nonetheless, “scores of zealous missionaries laboured, and yet, except in few rare cases where they took advantage of non-religious factors and in Russia, where the state gave determined support to Orthodox missions, only a relatively few thousands of converts were made" (143). Mark Edworthy, in his book The Wall that Remains: A Fascinating Account of God's Faithfulness, gives another good backdrop to the Eastern European and Russian protestant movement.

In other places in Europe, missionary evangelists like Florence Nightingale and George Mueller who emphasized the humanitarian aspect of the gospel also made headway. Consequently, social involvement of missionaries led to reform movements and the temperance movement. This in turn moved toward total abstinence in places where alcoholism was rampant.

Latourette also discusses the cultural impact of these reforms and their opponents. With the concept of revolution, Karl Marx made his mark on the world. There was a progressive Liberalism growing. Interestingly, Latourette identifies modern democracy as a direct result of Protestant Christianity. Nineteenth century culture was impacted greatly by a strong Christian influence on nationalism, architecture, art and sculpture. Writers like Tennyson, Browning, Dostoevski and Dickens included elements of Christian influence in their own writings.

I'll continue in the next post with Latourette's some specifics about the Russian Christian movement during this century.

THE GREAT CENTURY IN EUROPE AND AMERICA- A REVIEW

It always fascinates me when people are creative in their blending disciplines, like missions and science or missions and business. Kenneth Scott Latourette was a pioneer in integrating the fields of missiology and history to deliver a global history from a Christian perspective.[1] He studied science in Oregon and history at Yale University. These two fields became a passion for him that he shared with his missions and history students at Yale from 1921 to 1957. He also held a professorship at Reed College and Dennison University. Before he became a professor, he served briefly as a missionary in China through an initiative out of Yale University. He was also an ordained Baptist preacher.

            Latourette was a true missions historian. He is most remembered for his multi-volume works, including A History of the Expansion of Christianity, Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, and A History of Christianity. Andrew Walls calls these works “the most comprehensive attempt to cover Christian history in all parts of the world and in all its traditions.”[2]

            For my next few posts, I will review Latourette's volume on Europe and America that he uniquely identified as great. I wonder how many others are out there that are using a variety of tools from the toolbox in the workshop known as missions.

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[1] Most of this biographical information about Kenneth Scott Latourette has been adapted from  information provided by Andrew Walls in his article, “Modern Pioneers: Kenneth Scott Latourette,” Christian History 20. (November 2001): 44–45.

[2] Andrew F. Walls, “Modern Pioneers: Kenneth Scott Latourette,” 44. 

The Problem of Pastoral Training in Russia

The issue of the best place to train pastors came to my attention first when I was a missionary in Russia. There are some common complaints voiced in Russia regarding the lack of Russian leadership, such as the lack of young men in church in general, the expense related to receiving education, the lack of opportunity for seminary training, the western leaning of modern theological institutes, or the overall rejection of formal academic training by local churches. In the US in the previous decade, there was an upward trend in enrollment in seminaries and bible colleges (especially considering the bachelor's level). “After 20 years without a net increase, enrollment at 118 Bible colleges climbed 1 percent in 2008 and 3 percent in 2009.” [1] But in Russia, the trend is reversed. Over the past decade, student enrollment in both bible colleges and seminaries has fallen drastically.[2] This could be perhaps because of the strong dependence on western financial support that has tapered off in recent years. At Moscow Baptist Theological Seminary, for example, “Since 2004 the seminary has been run in collaboration with Russian Leadership Ministries (RLM) in the United States, which provides 90 percent of the support for its needs.”[3] Moreover this financial issue is exacerbated by the fact that the average Russian student may expect to earn a monthly salary equivalent to two hundred dollars[4] while the average cost of seminary is twice that amount.[5] Because of poor economic conditions, most Russian churches could not afford a full-time pastor.[6]

There is a truly disproportionate under-representation of men in Russian Baptist churches. Mark Harris notes,

A great deal of this problem can be traced to WWII, when a major percentage of the

Russian male population died. During communist times, preachers were considered to be "active believers" and therefore dangerous to the regime. Being a preacher was risky, and many spent time in prison for it.[7]

Because of the leftover negative attitudes about non-Orthodox religious expressions, a “minute number of men were supported for ministry, and the vast majority of preachers held full-time jobs elsewhere.”[8] Under the communist regime, each person filled a government-directed vocation whereby she contributed her part back into society. Communists, therefore, “viewed any man receiving his salary from religious work as a parasite on society.”[9] Under communism, even the most basic educational opportunities were often withheld from Baptist adherents.

As a result, “few methods of formal training were thus available to preachers. There was a course offered in an extension school, but apparently few took the course. Therefore, by necessity, informal training was the dominant method.”[10] This problem is further complicated when local Baptist churches in Russia harbor animosity toward seminaries or bible colleges or refuse to re-integrate seminary graduates back into their local church life.[11] This is important, because evangelical institutes have been established. The first Evangelical Bible School was instituted in St. Petersburg in 1913. According to Peter Penner, former rector of St. Petersburg Christian University,

its operation was disrupted in 1914 when the First World War and later the Russian revolution put an abrupt end to most religious activity, irrespective of denominational affiliation. From 1925-1929 the school was able to continue with a one year programme preparing pastors and preachers for the Evangelical Christians and Baptist churches.[12]

Within the Russian mindset, education is necessary. However, many Russian students

“tend to see education as a way to gain prestige, and the receiving of some sort of diploma will become the basic issue for them.”[13]

      It is for this reason that there are some recent initiatives “to seek public recognition for church leaders, and in the opinion of many this is dangerous to the spiritual training of young Russian men and women.”[14] However, this had tended to lead toward the adoption of any western approach most readily available. Harris notes that “Russian training programs have been heavily dependent on Western teachers, and this has had some negative effects on the attitudes of Russian pastors and students.”[15] This is in conflict to Russian Baptist identity as Penner notes, “evangelicals in the [Former Soviet Union] are not a more or less contextualized continuation of western culture and history. They are a reform movement that grew out of the Russian Orthodox Church.”[16]

      Western models and methods for theological education have come under public fire in recent years in Russia. Noting the “lack of systematic teaching in the [Russian Baptist] Church,” Alexander Negrov, current rector of St. Petersburg Christian University, claims that Russian evangelicals have not made adequate progress toward localized theological inquiry.[17] Penner cites persecution as a possible cause, noting that Baptists “were persecuted by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Czarist regime, then persecution came from the side of the Soviet communist ideology.”[18] Under persecution a theology of suffering did indeed develop as did

a Bible oriented theology which helped them to survive as a movement, but which is not explicitly formulated. Cultural and historical elements have caused the Bible to become the foundation of all theological thinking for the evangelicals in the [Former Soviet Union], while the hermeneutic key for the interpretation of Scripture is their experience and the specific context.[19]

Perhaps this is why some Russian Baptists see suffering within their doctrine of the local church as a process through which true disciples are refined.

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[1] G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “Seminary: Not Just for Pastors,” Christian Century 127 (Jan 26, 2010): 12-13. Cited 21 February 2010. Online: http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=8155.

[2]  Hunter Baker, “Is Church Attendance Declining?” Christianity Today (November 2007): n.p. Cited 6 March 2010. Online: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/novemberweb-only/145-42.0.html.

[3] “History of the Moscow Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian-Baptists,” n.p. [cited 12 February 2010]. Online: http://www.moscowseminary.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32

&Itemid=57.

[4] “Average Monthly Earnings Hit All-Time High in Russia,” Pravda, August 4, 2005. n.p. [cited 11 February 2010]. Online: http://english.pravda.ru/russia/04-08-2005/8687-salary-0.

[5] According to Sasha Tsoutserov, Director of the Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary, “The cost of training a student at the Moscow Seminary is an equivalent of US$4,000 per year (full ride).” Quote on “Sponsors,” n.p. [citied 12 February 2010]. Online: http://www.moscowseminary.ru/en/sponsors/sponsors.htm.

[6] Mark Harris, “Toward an Understanding of Russian Baptist Preaching,” Paper Presented to Mission Consulting Group, (Pasadena, Calif.: Mission Consulting Group, 1996), 7.

[7] Ibid.

[8]Ibid.

[9] Ibid.                                  

[10] Ibid, 8.

[11] Throughout the past twelve years, this writer has personally witnessed the refusal of some local Baptist churches to accept or ordain graduates from Moscow Baptist Theological Seminary, even if those graduates were originally from the congregation. Various reasons were cited in associational meetings throughout the years 1998 – 2002, the most frequent of which was the fear that seminary training was dangerously outside the theology of the local church.

[12] Peter Penner, “Contextual Theological Education among Post-Soviet Protestants: Case Study 1: The Development of a Masters Degree at St Petersburg Christian University,” Transformation 18:2 (2001), 124.

[13] Mark Harris, “Proposal,” 2.

[14] Ibid, 9.

[15]Ibid, 10.

[16] Peter Penner, “Contextual Theological Education,” 116.

[17] Alexander I. Negrov and Miriam Charter, “Why is There No Russian ‘Protestant’ Theology in Russia? A Personal Outcry,” Religion in Eastern Europe 17 (1997), 33.

[18] Peter Penner, “Contextual Theological Education,” 121.

[19] Ibid.

Compare/Contrast Garrison & Sinclair

Due to my travel schedule, this post is a little later than I planned. But here is a comparison between two great missiological minds- David Garrison and Dan Sinclair.  Garrison and Sinclair agree on the basics of church planting as the primary vehicle for effective evangelization. Although they disagree on minor points, they both adhere to the primacy of the Word of God and the powerful impact of correct biblical teaching. As such, their differences are more in line with strengths and weaknesses in their respective approaches rather than polarized stances. For example, they both agree on a timely exit for any foreign catalytic influence, but they disagree with how much foreign support is necessary to initiate and maintain a grass-roots movement. However, these small dissimilarities only work to enhance their purpose in writing a book. The very fact that Sinclair disagrees with Garrison’s admonition of unpaid workers shows that Garrison’s didactic approach does not work. Garrison begins by presenting raw data, and then he moves to showing the frequency of certain data. If his data are considered one of his strengths, then Garrison’s argument is lost somehow on the incidental advocate of national support.

            Indeed, Garrison moves quickly from a descriptive list of observations to a prescriptive set of strategies. In contrast to Sinclair, Garrison’s prescriptive strategies somehow fall short of detail and practical tactics. Garrison does attempt to use Scripture at times to defend his conclusions, but he seems to depend more on his current data to support CPM theory. Moreover, the sheer volume of statistical data mixed with the lists of do’s and don’ts might make a potential church planter wary of making mistakes in starting the wrong kind of church.

            Garrison places a strong emphasis on the strategy coordinator as the prime mover in initiating a church planting movement, but Sinclair’s text speaks directly to church planters and missionaries. It is an admonition to join a team and begin the work. It seems to carry a hint of encouragement and possibility in missions. A great strength of the book, the practical details of how to construct certain documents to avoid mistakes and direct vision give the reader hope. Sinclair gives practical advice for missionaries throughout the work, both on macro levels such as directing movement through phases to micro levels of preparation in language and cultural acquisition.

            Sinclair uses Scripture as a rationale for his argument. This is not totally lacking in Garrison’s text, but Sinclair does not promote any extra-biblical support for his teaching. Instead, he defends his choice of biblical texts with personal examples of how it has or has not worked for his teams. Therefore, Sinclair’s text seems more personal, more like a testimonial statement than a persuasive speech. When Sinclair defines apostleship and church, his personal investment can be sensed. Sinclair deals with more practical issues like ecclesiology from a biblical perspective. Consequently, when he incorporates supplemental material like Scoggins’ phases for church planting, they are seen more as a communication model than a prescriptive plan.

            Sinclair does have his limitations as well, some of which may be self-imposed. He quite often presents illustrations from and admonitions to workers in Muslim contexts. Perhaps this is because of his own experience in those areas, but his singularity in attention to that milieu could isolate any reader not involved in missions work in those areas. He addresses this at points throughout the book, but this criticism is nonetheless justified.

            As mentioned earlier, his approach could be considered linear. He attempts to address this when he admits that work in Scoggins’ church planting phases often goes on simultaneously on several levels (p. 60). However, the very fact that even his book is structured in a linear fashion speaks to his preferences. Garrison would argue more for a nonlinear multi-tasking as an effective mode of initiating CPM.

            Sinclair also disagrees with Garrison’s conclusions regarding the desirable level of outside support for national workers. Whereas Garrison would advocate a nonpaid approach as the basis for rapid reproduction, Sinclair believes that being an unpaid worker “often means unable to be much involved in concerted expansion work” (p. 207). He explains that the economy of most Muslim countries lead to polar extremes of unemployment or overwork. In either case, this is not conducive to the expectation that a lay worker be bivocational. At any rate, Sinclair argues with Garrison only “reluctantly” (p. 210), because he does not see this issue as being the central point to CPM theory.

            Sinclair does call CPM theory into the negative spotlight for its insistence that churches are the catalysts for starting other churches. On the contrary, Sinclair admits that “key individual disciples are uniquely called, gifted, and effective in starting new fellowships” (p. 207). This is yet another example of how Garrisons text speaks to churches whereas Sinclair expects individual church planters for his audience.

            Sinclair also broaches some subjects that Garrison does not. For example, the issue of multiplicity of church elders does not appear in detail at all in Garrison’s text, but Sinclair spends an entire chapter discussing the biblical basis for this approach and the best way for the foreign church planter to choose and ordain elders. Garrison briefly highlights house or cell church models as normative in CPMs, but he cites examples of traditional church models for North American growth. On the contrary, Sinclair shows no clear preference for any particular model as more biblical than the rest. He does seem to express a level of comfort with the house church model based on his personal past experience, but he makes a clear statement that no one model is more spiritual than the others.

            Interestingly, both Garrison and Sinclair place specific assignments at the end of their texts. Garrison designed a checklist for churches to discover where their approach does not line up with his CPM theory and a plan for realignment. In the last of his appendices, Sinclair lists the top ten pitfalls teams make when planting churches. Both of these lists are subjective, of course. However, the unique thing about Garrison’s list is the corporate nature of realigning vision with practice. Sinclair’s list is more about realigned practice with mission. So perhaps the overarching theme is the role of the church and individual member in missions. Sinclair’s text should inform Garrison’s by its insistence that church planting is done by individuals, not just by churches.