World Christianity
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 61, No. 2 – Spring 2019
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By Michael W. Stroope. Downer’s Grover, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2017. xviii + 457 pages. Paperback, $40.00
Sure to provoke controversy, Michael W. Stroope’s latest book challenges many commonly held practices in the church today regarding mission. In Transcending Mission, Stroope confronts how the church talks about mission. He offers a blistering critique of the modern rhetoric surrounding the terms mission, missions, missional, etc. Stroope says that this problem has distorted hermeneutics, obfuscated our view of church history, and damaged the vision and efforts of the local church. As the subtitle indicates, Stroope maintains that the way in which the contemporary church talks about mission is problematic and should be remedied with a more nuanced approach.
In the first major section of the book, Stroope critically analyzes modern attempts to justify mission rhetoric. Instead of shedding light and clarifying, Stroope sees the term mission, and all its related terms, as a confusing mixture of ideas. Illustrating the ambiguity of the term, he identifies as many as seven different ways authors use the word! “The problem with mission is not that there are so many meanings; the problem is the word itself, Mission is the problem” (10). Stroope proposes that we should not attempt to simply revise our language about mission. Rather, we should completely move past this unhelpful terminology and adopt entirely new ways of communicating about the church’s purpose and task in the world. In short, this section identifies the multilayered problem of mission language in the church.
In the second section, Stroope looks at how a concept of mission has been used to reinterpret history. He sees the modern notion of mission, specifically western approaches, anachronistically applied to earlier periods. Here, Stroope interprets how the modern tradition of mission first began and developed as a Roman Catholic movement and evolved into a Protestant phenomenon. He sees its roots in the Crusades and later development in western Christendom. These factors have established socio-political overtones in mission rhetoric.
In his third section, Stroope considers the modern mission movement as the pinnacle of the tradition. He sees this period in history as expanding mission and increasing its prominence in the church at large. Various key events like the Edinburgh Mission Conference in 1910 reinforced old ideas, developed the terminology, and shaped the tradition.
The previous sections primarily focus their criticism of the modern mission tradition’s methodology and terminology. In an epilogue that follows, Stroope puts forth a case for how we should begin to think and talk about the church’s purpose and role in the world. Thus, the majority of the book is spend negatively evaluating the tradition, and the last section of the book is where he positively puts an alternative in place. Stroope proposes that we begin to talk about the church’s task as a “pilgrim witness.” He suggests that we return to a language that highlights divine revelation and eschatological hope. “Rather than preaching mission, advocating for mission, mobilizing for mission, or revising mission, the biblical injunction is to proclaim, promote, and live the kingdom of God” (361). The term pilgrim conveys the idea of transition and dependence. The church should not primarily seek worldly power and success. Stroope insists that terrestrial conquest, occupation, and triumph must not be a part of the church’s mission purpose and vocabulary.
Indeed, Stroope is to be commended in his quest to sharpen and improve the church’s terminology. His efforts to redirect language to reflect biblical concepts and truth should be welcomed. He is particularly wise to point out the problems in the recent tendency to draw a sharp distinction between the words “mission” and “missions” (the former emphasizing divine activity and the latter stressing the role of human agency). He is also particularly strong as he advocates the use of kingdom language. He believes this approach eliminates the problematic issues that come with mission language.
Although Stroope does concede that it would be unwise and nearly impossible to eliminate all mission language (29), he does not provide a way forward in how mission language could continue. Providing a path forward in retaining missional language would have been helpful. This slight concession on mission language causes the reader to question how it might be redeemed. Furthermore, Stroope’s assessment leaves out the possibility that his alternative terminology would be subject to later distortions by others–suffering the same problems as mission language. While the new vocabulary has the potential to sharpen our understanding of the church’s purpose and practice today, why would the new terminology be immune to subsequent problems brought on by others?
A similar argument continues over the term “evangelical” and its subsequent usages. It has been subject to misinterpretation, abuse, and ambiguity. Surely, that term comes with unwelcome connotations. Does that mean we should abandon its use as well? Or should we continue to seek precision and clarity? The church needs to continue its conversations on both fronts. While Stroope’s volume is sure to generate strong opinions, his effort is well-researched, clear, and passionate.
