New Missional Avenue for Asian Churches

Byung Yoon Kim, GMP

With the rapid growth of Churches and missionaries in the Global South, the Asian Church has begun to assume a greater responsibility for world missions   and the contemporary missions is from everywhere to everywhere. Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor, therefore, have predicted that ‘as we move into the third millennium, the church of Jesus Christ had become truly globalized, and missions is now from all nations to all nations’  while Paul Pierson notes the rapid growth of the non-Western Christian missionary movement as ‘the greatest new fact of our time’.  In this brief article, I would like to discuss the role of Asian churches in missions and my personal involvement in it through Asia Vision Short-term Missions Project (AVSTM), and the Global Connections for Advancement project which I have recently launched to multiplying missions for Asian churches. 

The Importance of Missions Planting in the Fields

As a missionary, I have struggled with the chronic problem of ‘dependency’ in national Christian leaders which leads Asian churches weak and thus missions is being considered as ‘high costs with low efficiency’ enterprise. Evangelical missionaries and local pastors in the Philippines, for instance, planted a great number of churches between 1975 and 2000, but most of these churches are still weak and even dying. They struggle with both financial shortages and leadership problems. With 51,625 evangelical churches in the Philippines as the result of the Disciple A Whole Nation (DAWN) 2000 project, not many pastors are being paid enough to survive.  Furthermore, the average attendance of each church is only about thirty-five people. I also have planted several churches among the Igorots in northern Philippines and see those churches struggle in similar ways to survive. Therefore, it was obvious that Filipino churches could not send missionaries out to the world because of their financial shortages and the mind-set of dependency.

Reflecting on this gloomy picture of national churches in places like the Philippines, I have re-read the Bible and tried to find reasons why the Asian churches (especially Filipino Churches) remain ‘so dependent’ for long years. In the past, the Western churches and agencies were seen as the torch bearers who led and funded missions. Non-Western churches were considered ‘dependent’ entities, not adequately developed or resourced for the task of cross-cultural missions. It became obvious to me, though, that church planting is not the end goal of missions but mission planting is. I believe that the local Church will be healthier when she takes ownership of the Gospel and share the good news to the world. In reality, it is not a shortage of money or strategies because even early Churches took the initiative of missions though they were not affluent in finance.

A Missions Planting Model: The Asia Vision Short-Term Missions Project 

In 2002, after visiting the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and one of the Cambodian ‘killing fields’, I wanted to move my mission station from the Philippines to Cambodia. Somehow, my missions field became my comfort zone and I was thinking that the Lord is challenging me to re-dedicate myself to Him in a new field. So I decided to move to Cambodia to plant churches among the poor so brought my family there to see the country prior to move into the country. However we could not find a school where we could send our second child. It bordered me because it meant that I am not quite committed to the Lord. One day when I shared this in one of my mission classes, some of my students said, ‘If you cannot go there, can you not send us instead?’ At first, I laughed by myself because that is impossible since the economic situation of the Philippines is weak, and many churches struggle with lack of finances. 

As a teaching missionary, I was thinking that I just need to train Filipinos as good Christian workers but never thought of sending them as missionaries. The Lord, however, continuously touched my heart whenever I prayed to Him. Without confidence, therefore, I asked students, ‘Who would love to go to Cambodia?’ and some raised their hands. I asked them to submit application forms if they are willing to serve as short-term missionaries (STMers), and thirty-four applications were turned in! With these on my hands, I had to make a trip to Cambodia and other countries in Indochina in order to arrange fields for those applicants. I spent a month there for the line up work. 

Many seminarians, in reality, were not able eat three times a day due to lack of financial supports. Just as I thought, only nine out of the thirty-four applicants could pay 10 dollars on time as application fee when we launched the AVSTM Project for the year 2003. Some Filipino faculty members said that not more than half of the STM applicants could join the mission trip due to financial shortages. It was troublesome for me because I already completed the line up travel to Cambodia and other countries in Indochina where we could assign all thirty-four STMers to work, and if they could not raise enough support, what would happen to the hosts in Cambodia and countries in Indochina? 

I have challenged the STM applicants to proactively attempt great things for God, rather than passively waiting great things from God. I also encouraged them to put their faith in God and prove that our God is a living God. The STM applicants, mostly Filipinos, started to form a dawn prayer meeting and cried out to God. As prime the pump, I invited Ms. Ched Arzadon, a Filipina who has over 20 years of supporting raising ministry, to share how to develop partners in missions for the STM applicants. Indeed, it was a big challenge for STM applicants but the Lord graciously and faithfully answered their prayers. They experienced God’s miraculous provisions for their plane tickets and expenses for their missions. All thirty-four STM applicants were able to leave for Cambodia and countries in Indochina, and served the Lord with great joy. There was a breakthrough for their lives and ministries. Dr. Kevin Daugherty, a faculty member of the seminary, described the AVSTM project as a blessing to the seminary and brought ‘transformation of the seminary’.

The STMers successfully served the people in the mission fields with the Word of God and some evangelistic tools because they identified with their hosts. The Lord blessed and used Filipino STMers when they eagerly offered their tears and sweats for His people. It has been said that ‘it is not great men who change the world, but weak men in the hands of a great God!’ and the Lord greatly used Filipinos as effective missionaries. It was not in the seminary classrooms but in the missions fields and among the locals, STMers have changed their perspectives on Christianity and their role in missions. Since then, I have served as a missions catalyst to encourage not only seminarians but local church members to join the Great Commission. By sending these Filipino and Asian STMers out to missions fields, we could correct their long time ‘dependency’ and foster a new ‘ownership of the Gospel’ among Filipino and Asian Christians. 

From these humble beginnings has emerged the Asia Vision Short-term Missions Project (AVSTM). From thirty-four STMers in 2003, the AVSTM (with its missions partners) grew to about 1,200 STMers in 2010. The project has a vision of sending 3,000 STMers from Asia to Asia by the year 2015, so that more people in Asia can hear the Good news and enjoy salvation through the work of committed Asian missionaries. In addition to that, all STMers and their mission partners could have ownership of the Gospel and make new image of Christianity among Asian countries.

Though leaders have tended to view Filipino Christians as weak and dependent, I have found that they possess some strategic strengths for missions through sending them as STMers. Filipinos are:

1) Multi-lingual: Most Filipinos speak Tagalog, English, and 1 or 2 additional languages. Thus, they can easily learn a new language or teach a language (such as English) to others. 

2) Multi-cultural: Centuries of colonial rule and their country’s multi-racial composition helps them to adapt easily to a new culture.

3) Versatile: They easily blend in other Asian cultures without being noticed. One of the most important values in Filipino culture is SIR (Smooth Interpersonal Relationships).

4) Resilient. They have been made strong by hardship and are able to adjust without complaint to contexts without electricity or sufficient water.

5) Highly educated: Most have an opportunity to study in colleges and they can teach effectively in various mission fields.

6) Non-threatening. Since the Philippines has no history of aggression, they are welcomed in many Asian countries. Even visas are waived, especially among ASEAN countries in Southeast Asia, and 

7) They have experienced rapid church growth in the last 35 yeas. The evangelical churches grown from 5,000 in 1975 to 51,625 churches in 2000 and even try to double the numbers of the Church by this year 2010. This sort of church growth experience could be shared and applied in many Asian countries.

These particular advantages do not make Filipino Christians better suited to missions than members of other Asian churches. What they illustrate, however, is that the supposedly ‘weak’ members of the Global South churches are often equipped with unique strengths of their own.

I also have challenged the underground Chinese churches to give their people and finance for missions. The Chinese church started to send their missionary candidates to me and deployed them to various countries in Asia as missionaries after a year of missionary trainings. The Chinese church formed their own mission agency and do fully support their own missionaries. The Chinese church is new in missions so I am helping them in the areas of line up in missions fields, select and supply selected missionary trainers, and do missions consulting. I also am closely working with Churches in Nagaland (India), Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and among others in the area of missions.

Paradigm Shift I: New Missional Avenue for Asian Churches

The right relationship with the local people has to be anchored in identification with them (cf. 1 Cor. 9:20-22). A genuine love for the local people is what makes this identification possible.  This kind of deep relationship with the people can be called ‘incarnational ministry’.  Just as ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14), so missionaries must identify themselves with the people they serve. Jesus’ own missionary work included entering into the culture of the Galilean people. He lived with the inconveniences they experienced, even traveling all over the land of Israel on foot to preach the Gospel. As a good shepherd, he even lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). Jesus’ incarnational model (Phil. 2:4-8) has to be the basic principle of cross-cultural missions. Modern missions, however, omitted the incarnational missional approach in the fields. Throughout missions history, most missionaries tried to identify with the locals but still there are big gaps between the missionary and the locals. They must fully bond with the people in the target culture, experiencing a sense of belonging with the local people.  

The AVSTM’s little success was possible because of her workers’ incarnational approach among the people in their respective fields. One challenge facing the AVSTM, however, has been poor financial support. Since Asian churches are still financially weak, it is hard to support their missionaries on the high-cost Western missions system. It was obvious to me that Filipino churches could not afford $1,000 to $2,000 a month to support their missionaries. On the other hand, the affluence of such financing might be a hindrance in the missionaries’ relationships with the local people too. 

To meet that standard, I developed a new approach to funding missions. I line up work for each STMer in the host country. I also arrange for the STMers to stay in the houses of local people and encourage the hosts to cover board and lodging for the STMers while they work. In most areas of Asia, this allows STMers to serve for no more than $100 a month. Besides lowering costs, though, this system is very effective in helping the STMers to identify with the host people in the fields. Almost all of our STMers enjoy life-changing experiences through living with the local people, and on their return STMers find themselves missing the people whom they served. Many decide to return to serve as long-term missionaries. Many churches have been planted across Asia through the incarnational ministry of these STMers, and they have helped to create a new image of Christianity as a religion of all not just of the Westerners.

Since the STMers live in the areas where the people are, I have challenged them to do ministries at least 8 hours a day. Most laborers work 8 hours a day but it seems that average evangelical missionaries do not work that much in the fields while the Mormon missionaries work 8 hours or more a day. Hence, the Mormons experienced 173 times of remarkable growth between 1960 and 1990 while the evangelicals enjoyed only 11 to 25 times of church growth in the Philippines. Mormons were known and characterized by their zeal and an admirable missionary spirit. Mormons’ tens of thousands missionaries (mostly, short-termers) actively work today. For instance, they visit every prospect (and church members) at least twice a week, and meet about 20 people a day and thus they have very strong relationship with the locals. 

Paradigm Shift II: New Missional Partnership between the Global North and South

If we are to foster ownership of the Gospel among the churches in Global South, the role played by missionaries from the West in these partnerships also has to change. Since most non-Western missionaries are in need of proper training and care, Western missionaries can often contribute best by equipping them as trainers, coaches, consultants, and encouragers in their fields. Western missionaries also need to prepare for multi-cultural and multi-lingual teamwork. The individualistic missionary of the colonial era is no longer viable. An ability to work with, and under, leadership of other nationalities is essential.  The ideas of interdependency (in contrast to independency) and accountability must be central to the emerging paradigm for contemporary missions. 

Mission agencies are already responding by becoming more pragmatic about whom they will accept as missionaries from the Global South. Many show an increasing interest in the actual competencies of their candidates rather than in their formal credentials or degrees. The key question asked is: ‘Can they do the ministry they will be assigned to do?’ This means in some cases requiring less formal theological education before the first term and providing more practical, mentored, on-the-job training.  Individuals previously excluded from missions can then be valued for the unique life experiences which may prepare them for reaching out to growing segments of the population. 

Missiology is responding with several trends that promise to re-shape the discipline. An attempt is being made to capture a more global perspective, acknowledging the dynamic and potential of the churches in the Global South. An increasing emphasis is also being placed in theological and missions training on a more holistic approach to ministry, one that highlights the interlocking causes of poverty, oppression, and hopelessness. Perhaps most significant is the emergence of Global South missiology and the willingness of Western thinkers to take seriously the perspective of their non-Western brothers and sisters.

There may still be a role to be played at times for financial support from Western churches, provided it is re-thought in ways that are less paternalistic and do not foster dependence. Steve Murdock, for example, suggests that ‘if the support is seen as ‘seed money’ and not as a perpetual lifeline, and there is an exit strategy that is viable and realistic, then monetary support can be healthy’.  He then exhorts Western missionaries: ‘[D]o not create a ministry or structure that is not duplicable within the cultural or social context in which you are working; do not begin funding a work with no growth strategy plan or exit plan; and do not do all the work yourself. 

Most important, though, is the basic shift that is taking place in the way Western missions agencies understand their relationship with their Global South counterparts. The buzzword in missions today is ‘partnership’, as opposed to ‘sponsorship’ which suggests an unequal relationship. Western churches and mission agencies are recognizing how, if they are willing to work closely with their non-Western counterparts, resources can flow in both directions. Sponsorship and paternalism can be replaced by mutual recognition of selfhood and cooperation as equals. 

Conclusion

We are facing increasing challenges and hostility from Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and many other groups in the various mission fields thus we need to find new avenues in missions and bring more missions forces into the fields. The AVSTM proved that Asian churches could spread the Gospel throughout Asia with their own people and finances. The Asian churches’ humble involvement in missions create new image of Christianity and bring transformation even to their own churches but this does not mean an end to Western involvement in cross-cultural missions. Instead, we need to maximize our missions forces for the sake of the world because the remaining task is too great. 

Whenever I meet and share the missions with Asian church leaders, I have learned that they also would like to involve in missions but their role model or mind-set in missions is of the Western churches so they could not able to partake the Great Commission. Through AVSTM project ministry, I have developed new avenues in missions which fit to the context of Asian churches and even dying European Churches so I am trying to multiply missions through ‘low costs with high efficiency’ principle in both the Global North and South.