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March - April 1998 The Editorial MF Behind the Scenes
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Six Spheres of Mission Overseas What are all those thousands of missionares doing? What would you do as a missionary? Do they try to change peoples’ behavior? Their homes? Their drinking water? Teeth? Understanding of science? Of God? Knowledge of English? Yes, yes, yes—and their income, too. But, do missionaries try to change people? Do they try to change peoples’ hearts? (Who else is in that business?) OK, but how do they do this? Yeah, how in the world do they do all this? What comes first? Second? Etc? Christian missions is the single most powerful movement in history. What do 100,000 missionaries from 2,000 agencies (from most all countries) do? Each of these Six Spheres of activity (see chart below) has its advantages and disadvantages, its pioneering leaders, strengths and weaknesses. Here we present the bare bones of contrasts and comparisons—a delicate job! Within each sphere is great diversity but also great vitality and enthusiasm. Standard Missions and Service Missions work closely on the field. But each local church ought not to have to puzzle out all the differences between these Six Spheres. Why are they generally so independent of each other? Do the last four tend to go it alone, to ignore, or even to disparage the first two? And vice versa? Is there anything all these missions are missing? Do secular critiques of mission work have any validity? No “industry” is as complex as the mysterious, and increasingly potent, phenomenon of missions!
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