A Historian’s Hunches: Eight Future Trends in Mission, #7

Last updated on: March 3, 2016 at 10:40 am by Guest Contributor

A Historian’s Hunches: Eight Future Trends in Mission, #7 2016-03-03T10:40:23-07:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the eighth installment of a ten part series by Dr. Scott Sunquist on what trends in missiology we can expect in the coming years.

Trend #7: Poverty and Promise
Scott W. Sunquist

Jesus said that it was as hard for a wealthy person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This is becoming more evident in the 21st century as the Christian movement grows more and more among the displaced and the poor. Christianity has developed most rapidly among Africans (living in the poorest continent), Chinese villagers, and recently, in countries like Cambodia, Nepal, Mongolia, and among migrants. In contrast, Christianity continues to decline in wealthy western nations. There is a strong and growing missionary movement within the Indian subcontinent where Indians migrate to unevangelized regions. Closely related is the growing missionary movement among Chinese from China, moving out across Asia and even to Africa.

Slums at San Dionisio. By Ingo Vogelmann. Flickr Commons.

But the place of poverty in mission is not just that the poor are being reached and are reaching out. Poverty has now become the place of missiological reflection and missionary integrity. Christian development work requires partnership, prayer, reflection and long term commitments to communities. The history of Protestant missions has been a history of the powerful and the wealthy reaching out to the weak (often oppressed) and poor. What has changed is that the poor are once again the subjects and leaders of mission, and of the church, in ways that have not been true for over a millennium. Poverty has become a place of blessedness. “Blessed are the poor” has taken on new meaning for the Church in mission. It is a promise being fulfilled. This theme for the future must be studied closely with the previous theme of Pneumatic Christianity, for the poor are much more aware of the Holy Spirit, and more aware of other spirits. Poverty, blessedness, and power are three strands of a single cord for mission in the future.

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist is the dean of the School of Intercultural Studies and professor of World Christianity at Fuller Theological Seminary.

This blog post was taken from The State of Missiology Today by Charles E. Van Engen. Copyright (c) 2016 by Charles E. Van Engen. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426.www.ivpress.com. Pre-order the full book here (expected October 2016).

Follow Fuller Seminary on Twitter: @fullerseminary

Follow Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies on Twitter: @fuller_sis

Previous Post

February 25, 2016

A Historian’s Hunches: Eight Future Trends in Mission, #6

Next Post

March 7, 2016 A Historian’s Hunches: Eight Future Trends in Mission, #8

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abuse and Recovery Art and Faith Biblical Interpretation Church History Community Life Cultural Engagement Fuller Forum Interfaith Dialogue Leadership Ministry Missiology Psychology Spirituality Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Paul's original name?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Simon Saul Levi Matthias