Introduction to missiology 9780878082063, 0878082069

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TIPPETT

,!7IA8H8-aicagd!:t;K;k;K;k

ISBN 0-87808-206-9

ALAN TIPPETT

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104

William Carey Library 1605 E. Elizabeth St. Pasadena, CA 91104

FIGURES 1 . A Breakdown of the Dimensions Missiology Missiology 2. 3. 4.

xxiv xxv 30 31

44

6. The Florescence of the Koinonia 7 . External Ministries of the Body of 8. Model ..,. hruuu"ln

1

1 0. 1 1. 1 2. 13. 1 4. KeJatlC!llSJ:ltlP

1 67 1 72

15. 1 7. Missionaries and Advocacv 1 8 . Ethnocentric ally condit101l'led Over-Simplification:

1 78 1 295

1 9. Batak Reorientation to

299

20. The Process of Conversion 2 1 . Cumulative Growth Vs. Actual Growth

327 358

vn

FOREWORD It is with great joy backed by our institutions-the Fuller Seminary School of World and the Biola University School of Intercultural Studies-have been able to arrange for the publication of this volume. Alan R. Tippett possesses one of the keenest missiological minds of ""°'"''t- 1 1""" When he from the faculty in 1 977 to return to that he would be able to it was his 1mt>rmre and of the 3 0 plus for manu�;cnpts with a of published and unpublished writing took with him into retirement. various reasons, such publication has been delayed until now. The present volume is, we hope, but the first of several of these manu­ scripts to be formally published. It is accompanied by an effort to Phc:>tocotues of the whole into the libraries of our two ms1t1tut1011s per.napis. into those of other mt5is101om1ca1 voJlllmle portrays a OY111am1c d.11sci1Plil1te faithfully and co1J1ra2:eot:1s1y have how they it and how ministries can be 1m1:>ro1vea just coming into its own. Furthermore, it is coming into its own at a time when the plethora of problems raised by the present Post-colonial Era need to be dealt with. It therefore, not at all adequate for missiologists to with a whole what has on in the We are prc�t>Jetms that in addition to all of the old ones. It is in this kind a context that Tippett taught and wrote. It is the search principles to enable us to deal effectively with the oos1t-cjo101rua1

IX

x

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

situation that underlies the selections from his writing collected ,here. As he himself points out in his preface to the book, an "introduction ' written in a dynamic context can hardly be to the word." Tippet t with All of us who continue to his invaluable. first We want to thank R. 11>nl'•nnroo'1na us to bring this book to PUl)Jlc:anion. L:ollefutuie. we thank into the of thousands servants around the world. Secondly, we thank Mr. Larry CaldwelJ, presently a Ph.D. candidate at the Fuller School of World Mission, for his dedicated labor in getting the manuscript into publishable shape. Without him this book would still be but a dream. Our thanks also to faithful and hard working secretJme:s� :sme.ma Gela and Betty Ann Klebe, to assistants Ian Grant and N1r1rnh:av Mak, and to Fuller for support for all of these and Caldwell as we the William manager, their commitment to this 1.11v11"'"""· use this book as He has for many years May author to bring further glory to His name. Charles H. Kraft Marguerite G. Kraft

PREFACE

From ''Adventures '' to ''Introduction'' Caldwell, Adve11tu1:-es." into an

droooe�d out and setc,ctc� more body mc:1us1,on. to give nec:essary because the whole was not written at one im1,licit in the cnalpters cna.pters are all Preface is called I most included had the planne�d as a whole GEITING FROM "ANALYSIS" TO "SYNTHESIS''

XI

XII

INTRODUCTION TO MIS SI OLOGY

and this is itself a tool of convenience, a survival of the historical process of our developing the components of a post-colonial missiology at Fuller Seminary's School of World Mission over the 1 960s and early 1 970s. These were formative years in missiology ( if they were not indeed years of fighting for survival) and it seems good to retain this terminological trace of those times in the structure of this Introduction: its emerging analysis. 2 However, an analysis of the parts is never the whole. That pre­ supposition was the error of my generation and led to the compart­ mentalization of life into segments for specialized consideration as if they were independent isolates. While I fully recognize the importance of specialization, its danger is that we lose our perception of the whole. Worse still, the specialist loses that perception of wholeness. In no area of thought was this more apparent than in theology, unless it was anthro­ pology. These two avoided each other like plagues. E ach composed its own lifestyle and set of values as if the other did not exist. My school life was wrecked by my being forced into certain areas of study at the complete expense of others. The greatest event in my educa­ tional life came in my middle years of academic experience when I signed up for my first course designated as " interdisciplinary." I moved from ethnolinguistics, to ethnopsychology, to ethnohistory. They were my academic "highs." They took me into liminal areas to discover the linkages between the disciplines. These discoveries, far from downcrying my old specializations, rather increased their value by seeing how they fitted into each other. I was discovering that life is not analysis, but synthesis. What then did this mean for missiology? If missiology was to be worth anything in the new age a Post-colonial Age which was just round the comer --- what had to be discovered? What lay between 4'theology, theory and history of mission" and anthropology ( social, theory and history of mission) and anthropology ( social, theoretical and applied)? What were the hidden linkages? What were the dynamics ( multi­ relational, cross-cultural and methodological) that would have to be mastered to shape an adequate post-colonial missiology? In the 1 950s we were confronted by numerous new, post-war guidebooks and programs for mission, but they offered no answer to these questions. They were utterly colonial. They presumed the survival of colonialism and had bypassed the progressive trends of the 1 9 30s. 3 They heralded no hope, but rather a state of missionary anomie. The missionary world was headed for extinc­ tion - at least as far as the We stern world was concerned. Inspiration came from the interdisciplinary courses in American universities which were shouting aloud th.at analysis and isolation and compartmentalism would get us nowhere. We were challenged to explore the linkages between them, the dynamics of synthesis. I recall an advertisement which used to appear regularly in Time magazine. It comprised a display of the component parts of a telephone system, and had the c aption: "Put them all together and dial anywhere!" I knew, of course, that if I put them together I would not be able to get any sound at all on that telephone. That advertisement implied too many

xm

PREFACE

::all thP

that I had the sr>e�c1a.11st knowledge to know what I was parts together in correct relationships, that I underthat I had the manual skill to behind their if I could rec1ogrit1ze rules to be �omnnnent narts mustriatec:t. and knew their resoec::tf\ire fimc:tions�

�vri1th���·� or a cn11e�tve done on the nAtur.n to discipline. In

ITC>

..

2. the encounters 3. the

of the Church and or2;amzat1on mc•::>rpc:>rat:ion of converts into those co11lgre�gat:ions. relevance of their structures and 1euow.s11110. mtter:naJJty extc;,rmUJy in outreach as the of a of culture patterns.

XIV

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

reqwr1es some me1:>1o'w and on the resources Nevertheless, IIusstolc>� is a discipline in own It not a mere borrower other for these dimensions are related to each other in a unique manner. They interact, each other. is dynamic not static. ......,.,'1•*"• ... scholars like Aldous imlife {its personnel and funding), its oa1anc:e in heavy weighting towards analysis and neglect of synthesis. About the same time Alexis Carrel in Man The Unknown ( 193 8 ) warned us that of others the world some branches had if the would serious was not corrected. The sad of the world since that time reveals how he was at .1..:.ui11.11;;uy. his spe:akltng. When McGavran tenets of his platform principles was Research. urged for its inclusion in the budget of every new mission project. As a result of that the dimensions components of oroJtram we have been able to we how to syi1mies11;e Now it is even more on'i!itl'Uf"ll"G I res;eaJ�cn, The missiological value now ethnopsychology, etc., lies open before us as we search out 11rucag1es and integrating relationships which can hardly be measured or documented, although they give both mission and missiology cohesive SY1lttne:s1s. RESEARCHING SYNTHESIS: A COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY Once we have established the need for researching the character of the process and the manner in which a network of both operations and and have aetemune'a to start our re search with in ethno-

called a new new the interplay. I venture to suggest that one of the great experiences awaiting missiologists of the new after my demise, will be the exploration of new insights born in this kind. But being

xv

PREFACE

cannot are oronerly e:xD11ored. We a man come to us to do Ph.D . He was a and researcher but had " fallen between two stools" at the English urutve1rs1t1es. because the Professor of Theology and the Professor of and neither could come to not interact such a notion as e1:nm:>tllleo1ioav was a period in I ant:nrc,oologtsts r1ra1UT'"'0 anthropol1ogy uncmt1caJ 1m:111m;:r: ; and 0"'.,,'"""" 111'••"'1::! regardless of were contexts. In each case their manifestly wrong. E ach needed the other. They saw ethnohistory as the sum of the and each treated their own field and was kind SltJJIDlllStlC with a me�tllcXlo,10.stv to each. Each and if the interaction draws from all the social and human will born and ger1uu1e sc>methuuur1ett10d1olOJIUCJllJ Y new will expand. ··

COHESIVE COMPLEXES WITHIN THE GREATER WHOLE

Just as the community (meaning people) is composed of smalle r communities within the community, and these provide the sociological structures so too and group base of people have smaller structures them, thes e smaller may be held with siw1mc�ant co11es1lon. element not for and then all the will together. has well demonstrated in anthropology. 6 Sapir demonstrated it in the study ofl inguistic drift 7 It features in the breakdown of the 8 reservoir of tension in tribal conversion the cn .,.riu·o I Of to the ..

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

XVI

tances to church AN "INTR ODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY" MUST BE OPEN-ENDED This book has to be left open-ended. Missiology is not a static thing. world. Yet in every new It relates to the ever It grows. It situation it must also retain its own mtc,mial 1rtteiua1t101ll. new research learning, new of truth, will of communication, new methods, new influence its form, and require a new synthesis. Synthesis is not a "onceto new environand-for-all" fact. That would make it static. It ments, interacts with new to new and meets new felt needs. It never rests. No person can ever know all there is to know about missiology, oec:am>e it is an relating afresh to new forms of other This will continue until the end cultural of the age. Even so, we can never fully understand missiology, it must point in time endeavor at be The nature may the Gospel communicated. The structure the church may must be change through time, and place, and culture, but there must always be a and culture research methods will change, church. In but subdisciplines may emerge but Missiology must to all they must not continuing to all felt needs everywhere in time, place and

PREFACE

XVII

an prepare the the cross-cultural to procedures in the also validates the do it in a manner academic world of the West from which the candidates come. That A doctoral has to be a valid doctoral a1s4=11>Jme in a Westem educaco11tm.umtg v1auc1at1on year after year, a rerc�re1rice to other disciplines. some kind among qualified ..4""'1�· .. W'1Cle:nmt2 of the This is

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INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

in missiology but in other interdiscipinary s0sic•n in Pasadena. and Ho w C hurc hes Gro w

uncier�rta1ra11ia Ch urc h Gro wt h ( 1 970)

exc�n aittg e at the time was the

4. Some critics have to the term because of its aerwaltlon. half Latin and Greek. The English mission came into common a number of ways in the 1 6th and 1 7th centuries-theological, ecclesiastical forth with authoiity poliiticiu. The common element was the act of """'v1.t.11.u. the word itself is not biblical the vu.uQ ..uu.� mission as "in the world" (Jn. or the nations of the world" both are sendings forth under the authority of Christ and thus the m issio n would seem appropriate. from the Greek

xx

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

For further discussion on the term .. mlissiolc:>gy·" Missions in

of Missions 5. For numerous eulmi,tes of this, see my ( l 973c). 6. See Kroeber: A ntn roo101.rv was not advocated idea because later. Relate to my Ch urch Growth and the 7 . See where

reJe�tic>n of an acc:ept:am� a few years

on °Phonetic Law" & k" are discussed as a cohesive Movements in Southern

·

( 1 973a: l 1 7, ........

- ............

and Verdict

9. See Taber and Yamamori (eds.) C..:hJ1stPaJ�anism 1 0. Ecc lesiola in ec clesia: "a little church within a church." prograim of Christian mission there has to res1po111s1b'1e s1:ewarcll stup under God in it. This th""•"•ncrv Growth and the Word

the loss of tog,aritnm1c va11aatea our techniques with many and our more quotable. they were more accurate graphics. it would be for the our very best case studies have come

to be its

INTRODUCTION

The Dim.ensions of Missiological Theory The two basic dimensions of missiological theory and action c:tes:1gn�ltec:t as { I) and (2) anthropological because the H is purpose is a word God proinm;e to anthropological because it has to be communicated within the structure and organization of human This message is of an individual, inner it concerns not theological spiritual but also one's eternal state. It is anthropological because this environment on which humans in an have and where these depend their that are culturally human to be worked out cor1c11t1ontec:t. When of this world, as and yet in the same utterance as being also in world, he was c:te1no1nstratin2 a basic in the Christian mission. Both in ma,klllt.2 and in action in the world these two equilibrium. we cannot say the Church will r11Ar'1'a1n1v the growth is in the last affirm the opposite, namely, that obstructed when these This are in a state of obstruction of church growth due to human policy and action that develops one dimension at the expense of the may be called in The original shortened version of this Vol.

DU''1en n, Sc�pte:mb1er 1

XXI

XXII

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY

biblical phrase, " limiting the Holy One of Israel" or "'Q1lle111 ctttn g of Spirit." Both the Old and New Testament thus r>a ......uu·u'J If we are to be that hinder the work of Great the of which sugges1ts to us until the and is therefore Quc�suon: Do our attitudes as in either our muis1oinmy action help or hinder the in the world and far as is humanly We can also affirm if we are to create ooi�s1t>le J a " climate" which is propitious for and church attcent1on to the in and action. In both my of church history aviriarmc oos11Ucm and in church growth research I observe some ne,rert:heless ae1·m11te n'1at1011tSni:p between balanced policy and action on the one hand, and the of God in the form on the other. of THE THEOLOGICAL DIMENSION of the theological dimension in missiological theory When I and action I am not in denominational terms. Church growth crofss-1ae11lorrun�ltlona1 studies that this can be discounted as a factor in growth. Those critics who church growth as oe11on11m1tional church extension have not read much about church growth. The tneotorgicat dJlm�ms1on concerns the nature and content of the message. If this is to be our norm is the we have a message to proclaim, an experience to share through witness, a individuals to Christ and then into a fellowship of to participate in service and into the witness. whole we call the min istry of the Church. That part which communicates the good news in one way or another we call the mission. to mankind Both this salvation theme and the idea of its run my semantics or not you the Whether if you accept the must accept this theological on its own terms. in its action is When mission basic concept of mu;s1c•n we frequently find one of two the 'tVA1"n.iin in some way, or the church that was planted show with has that warped growth was a real problem from start. I seen some Christian churches that can be cases of Sometraced back to nurture in the planting times a church is means of a service project, but the meo1ogic�a1 dimension is in a time of some crisis and It is it is static for a century. some initial Christian/pagan especially where a church co1np1nse's itself to a coexistence without a mu>s101na1y tribe and has

xxm

INTRODUCTION

res1pansibility to the other may have been Clet:ect1ve aci,roc:1cv or npt·prt·1v"" but it is theological. THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIMENSION The anthropological dimension of missiological theory and action is in this world." We deal with human reminds us that "our needs that have to be with in human oor:sonaJ re:1at:1on:sn11:>s that to live in or cus;torna1v structures and communicate in the language that suits their condition. In many diverse cultural situations the Church at is in that cuitur,al a local which must be s1ttlation. An enclosed a church which contributes to .....,.,.....,..tc- but never has no concern social rt ...t·a.,..•· • .., in the anthropological dimension of mission. It also tends to become static. Faith and function have to be tneo1021c1a1 and the antnrooo110211cai. My cat1ee:o:nes ...

is ao1mntg need to be won for All this takes

The equilibrium of theology and

XXIV

INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOOY

FIGURE 1 A Breakdown of the Dimensions of Missiology

I. Theology 2. An1:nro·po1,ogy 3. History 4. Ethnotheology 5. Eth n ohistory

6. Expansion of the C h urch 7. Theory and Theology of Mission

What follows in Parts II and III of this Introduction to m1.ss1£)IOJ.rv is an of some of different of three ovc,raircttmg the anthropological and missiology: the dimensions historical. Part IV will address the dimension of missiology to one degree or mcorpora�tes all three these another.

FIGURE 2 The Interactin g Elements of Missiology

19

20

7. Historical

I. Theology of Mission

8. Biblical

of Missions

9. Biblical History

3. Research 4. Encounter with Other Religions

IO. C hurch History

5. M ission Method s and Techniques

11. Modem Missions

6. Missions Across Cultures

12. Ecumenical Studies

13. Current Problems 14. Ethnohistory 15. Data Collecting 16 . Evaluation 17. Comparison

23. Communication Techniques

2 4. Missionary Training

32. Consumm ating 33.

25. C hurch Growth

34. Cross�Cultural Communication

26. Church Planting

35.

18.

27. Leadership Training

36. Culture & Personality

19. Data Bank

28. Christian Education

37. Primitive Religion

20. Dissemination

29. C hurch Renewal

38. Applied Anthropology

30. Extension Education

39. Social Anthropology

21.

Religion

22. Theory Communication

31. Conversion

xxv

PART I

The Theological Dimension

PART I

The Theological Dim.ension

3

4

INTRODUCTION TO MIS SIOLOGY

Not all " missiologists" will this final sentence. Some may regard it rather than aei:>critptJ,ve. Nevertheless it comes within the as orbit in which I have ae1meia c:hristiem and John 1 7: 1 4- 1 8. To me any mission in or mu>s1c�011w to line up with these words IDea Lord is ruled out In this sec:uoin. ttterE,tor,e. above structure. are not presented as a PQJ,em1c theologians with some nonbiblical view of mtsismn. spiritual adventures any reader who to share not feel disposed to argue the pro and con of the sen1anncs

interdisciplinary area of theory and research the component C1ernor1str·ate a Either they must fuse together must operate in symbiotic relationship. In this book I have mu;s1CJ11oa:Y is itself a new more than just the sum

'""""''"W••· on which an aac�Quate mu;s1CJ•IOAY Christian theology, and .u.uu'"'""'"• ft"ltr11 c:t1"V of the C hurch. It is that part especially inelivi1:>0sltlcms. As the chapters in this section were prepared or1i�mmv nlt1"t'V'\Q;::llQ some of these basic ideas were first the that this Introductio n to Ml!SSl'Oll)RV

CHAPTER 1

The Faith of a Social Anthropologist more on that a1sic1p11ne in I am at work. is not a sci1entmc an:11 l v � 1 � of data such as one would use to test some hYJ:>ott1e SJ$. It is simply a statement of faith-a testimony, if you like. At same time I hope to put before you a set of which do form a practical of reference which I for life. I do not intend dimensions or prCJ1ou:tg the of this faith. My a a which does not purpose is rather to the psalmist's and claim that " The earili is the Lord's thereor' I BELIEVE JN GOD Either the creation and what is on has come and I see no other This applies also to the human race each individual in it. When I consider these two options I must admit is in the data available to me of ail the small with that which the next will have at its must that I am much more to believe in some and purpose than to believe all this came being by accident I that life life and culture culture, or even if or life or found to because of some I have still to account for the life or into law. How did it come to be there in this is the more I am convinced that capable and purpose set that

6

CHAPTER I

THE FAITH OF A SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST

7

.,"'"'''·"u;;;,.,�

we are able to .-..:. ....,,....... ., behind the forces. a life force from outside which influences me. a certain extent I can develop I can also recognize about me in my environment which bear upon me. But beyond all that I can see and measure, there is still a purposive force which I have not accounted v�ui