Missions Methods and Principles
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 57, No. 1 – Fall 2014
Managing Editor: Terry L. Wilder
By Zane Pratt, M. David Sills, and Jeff Walters. Nashville: B&H, 2014. 280 pages. Hardcover, $22.16.
Pratt is the director of Global Theological Education for the International Mission Board (IMB), and he formerly was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Sills is the A.P. and Faye Stone Chair of Christian Missions and Cultural Anthropology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Walters is an assistant missions professor and director of the Dehoney Center for Urban Ministry Training at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The authors’ purpose for the book is “to provide an introductory survey of the most important subjects for any missionary” (vii). They achieved this purpose by dividing the book into four sections that discuss the four areas usually addressed by missiologists: “biblical and theological foundations, history of missions, cultural studies, and practical strategies” (vii). Parts of the introduction are excerpts and adaptations from The Missionary Call by Sills, and several references in the book are made to Reaching and Teaching by Sills.
A theological divide still exists among missiologists in regard to search theology versus harvest theology. The authors propose a proper balance between the two priorities, but they note that discipleship is sometimes ignored when financial resources are lacking (28). The influence of Sills is evident here: “We are to reach and teach them, not one or the other When we do one to the exclusion of the other, we are only doing half of the Great Commission” (28).
The authors also deal with a second serious problem in missions today; they discuss the commonly-held view that Scripture is authoritative but insufficient for mission work: “Under the influence of contemporary culture, however, many professing evangelicals can affirm the inerrancy and authority of Scripture and yet fail to make any connection between what Scripture actually says and how they go about the missions enterprise” (75). The authors admit that “we can make use of knowledge from secular sources” (75), but they also state that “we need not let secular marketing techniques or the latest social science fads dictate our method” (76). This section serves as a cogent warning to those people who try to separate their theology from their missiology. Indeed, as the authors state, “Missiology is applied theology” (67).
Sills criticized parts of David Garrison’s church planting movement (CPM) model in Reaching and Teaching, but no direct criticism is evident in Introduction to Global Missions. The authors simply list Garrison’s ten factors “present in most CPMs” and then state, “While these factors present healthy guidelines for church- planting models, they are best understood with context in mind”(214). In response to Garrison’s ninth factor (“rapid reproduction”), they warn that “church planting that is too rapid may lead to churches led by pastors/elders unprepared (or unqualified) for leadership” (214).
Interestingly, the authors place significant emphasis on original/imputed guilt (38, 71, 76). They state that in Adam’s fall “all subsequent humanity descended into both actual guilt and a corrupted nature” (71) and that “his rebellion bequeathed to all his posterity both real moral guilt and all-pervasive corruption (Rom 5:12-21)” (76). Original/imputed guilt does not necessarily imply that infants dying in infancy will go to hell, but the authors missed a good opportunity to state their position on the fate of infants dying in infancy in a section with a subheading that asks a question (“Does everyone have to hear and believe the gospel to be saved?”) (83). The infant mortality issue is relevant in a missions book in regard to the motivation of seeing all people groups represented before God’s throne (Rev 7:9). For example, John Piper (Let the Nations Be Glad!) described his belief that infants dying in infancy would be in heaven, but he said that God would be honored more by Christian converts than by dead infants representing all people groups before His throne.
The authors’ belief about original/imputed guilt is consistent with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Abstract of Principles, which states that Adam’s “posterity inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.” The current Southern Baptist confession of faith (2000 Baptist Faith and Message), however, takes a different view of Adam’s descendants. It states that “as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation,” and thus it describes condemnation as coming after the capacity for moral action rather than before that ability.
The huge short-term missions trend was discussed in a balanced fashion. The authors warn that the “‘amateurization’ of missions is not necessarily an advance” (249). In a positive note, the authors mention that short-term missionaries can “provide much-needed support that multiplies the ministry of career missionaries” and can “free others for tasks that only long-term missionaries can perform” (249).
Another hot topic for missionaries is the insider movement, and the authors correctly argue against the movement. They state, “It is dishonest for someone who believes in the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and substitutionary atonement to claim the label ‘Muslim’” (263). They provide a concise look at the insider issue and warn readers about its syncretism.
Overall, Introduction to Global Missions achieved its stated purpose. In a calvinistic institution, it will serve well as a basic text in an introductory missions course. In most Southern Baptist institutions, however, a combination of The Missionary Call and Reaching and Teaching will be preferred in introductory missions courses because of general applicability and direct references to Southern Baptist and IMB issues.
