Lausanne Global Analysis: Mental Health, White Culture, Social Media and Mobilization for Wednesday, 14 November 2018 from The Lausanne Global Analysis
Lausanne Global Analysis: Mental Health, White Culture, Social Media and Mobilization for Wednesday, 14 November 2018 from The Lausanne Global Analysis
The November 2018 issue of the Lausanne Global Analysis is now available!
Welcome to the November issue of Lausanne Global Analysis, which is also available in Portuguese and Spanish, and English in audio format. We look forward to your feedback on it.
‘The global church is beginning to recognise mental health problems . . . as a major ministry priority’, write Gladys Mwiti (Founder and CEO of Oasis Africa Center for Transformational Psychology & Trauma) and Bradford Smith (Dean of Arts and Sciences and the School of Fine Arts at Belhaven University). We often think only of one-on-one counseling as the best approach. However, increasingly community-based approaches are being identified as essential; and churches, as communities of faith where people can find safety and help in times of need, can have a key role. Those with mental health problems comprise one of the largest mission fields for the church worldwide. Probably no segment of society worldwide better fits the description ‘the least of these’. Often a pastor is the first person a family calls when there is a mental health crisis. Yet, pastors often are reluctant or feel ill-equipped to speak about mental illness from the pulpit. A priority issue in global mental health is providing care to those who have experienced traumatic events. A theologically balanced approach acknowledges the reality of trauma and suffering and then embraces unique means of healing and living that enable post-traumatic growth through time. In his abundance, God has strategically placed churches to meet the needs of those with mental health problems including those suffering from the wounds of trauma. It is essential we continue to communicate that mental health is a high priority and work together to address it. ‘Addressing issues of mental health and trauma may be one of the most urgent, emerging priorities within the wholistic mission of the global church’, they conclude.
‘Christianity has seen much growth since it first reached the shores of Taiwan 150 years ago’, writes Ray Peng (chairman of the United Mission of Taiwan). Today there are roughly 4,000 churches around the island, along with numerous established Christian organisations, media and publishing companies, and highly regarded seminaries. However, there is still much work to be done towards fully responding to the Great Commission. While well resourced, the Taiwanese church has an inward-looking and insular mindset. We have faced considerable obstacles in mobilising Taiwanese Christians for mission. Nevertheless, to this end we have successfully connected churches, denominations, para-church organizations, missions organisations and individual Christians, making use of social media and information and communications technology. Furthermore, in Taiwan, we have a special niche to serve as a resource platform for the greater Chinese-speaking world. Over the last 20 years, we have experienced that the wave of cross-cultural missions is no mere slogan but something concrete. The progress that has been made has been a joint effort involving all potential stakeholders. Lecturers in seminaries, mission candidates, veterans on the field, intercessors, and even Sunday school teachers, all play a big part in transforming the church to be missional. We are eager to see an ‘ecosystem’ of missions coming from the global Chinese Church as a whole in the near future. ‘I want to invite you to join hands with us in the greatest endeavour, to wake up the sleeping churches around the world and finish the task ahead of us’, he concludes.
‘I would like to focus specifically on the impact of white culture on mission—on how it shapes the way we bear witness to Christ and his kingdom’, writes Daniel Hill (Founding and Senior Pastor of River City Community Church, Chicago). One of the reasons it can be difficult for those of us who are white to recognise the presence of white culture is that it has become the ‘normal’ by which we judge all other cultures. It is real, and if we do not learn to recognise it, white culture will remain the unchallenged norm by which all other cultures are evaluated in our missional efforts. However, normalising white culture pales in comparison to the deepest problem of all. We are created in the very likeness and image of God. However, the construct of race was built on a narrative that some human beings are more worthy than others, and whiteness is the pinnacle of the racial hierarchy. In order to move on, we need to learn to see white culture, increase our understanding of the intersection between the construct of race and the development of white culture, deepen our theological analysis of the construct of race, and examine the ways whiteness has shaped global mission. ‘We must constantly revisit our assumptions and approaches, and ensure that they are not being held captive by white ideologies. We must learn to break free from that captivity for the sake of bearing authentic and powerful witness to Christ and his kingdom’, he concludes.
‘As digital natives enter overseas ministry and even older generations become more familiar with online activity, the potential to find and impact people for eternity seems to be outweighing the risks’, writes Tim C (media professional). Some ministries leverage Facebook to find ‘people of peace’. While Facebook controls most of the social media market, Snapchat is largely unexplored in the ministry realm. YouTube is used by nearly a third of all internet users globally. By 2019, global consumer internet video traffic will account for 80 percent of all consumer internet traffic. These statistics are staggering when you think about the potential for reaching those who do not yet know about Jesus around the world. Even in remote offline areas, mobile devices have become commonplace. Christians engaged in outreach efforts are beginning to recognise the potential but many simply do not know where or how to start, and it is important to recognise that a social media strategy for outreach that works in one place could easily fail in another. As evangelicals around the world, my hope is that we can work to redeem more of this digital space. Kingdom outcomes are only just beginning to be evident here on earth. ‘We will never know the true impact in this life; and as with the rapid pace of technology, this article will feel dated in short order as followers of Jesus press on to experiment with modern tools at their disposal’, he concludes.
We hope that you find this issue stimulating and useful. Our aim is to deliver strategic and credible analysis, information and insight so that as a leader you will be better equipped for the task of world evangelisation. It’s our desire that the analysis of current and future trends and developments will help you and your team make better decisions about the stewardship of all that God has entrusted to your care.
We want to conclude by giving thanks for, and paying tribute to, Todd Johnson (Associate Professor of Global Christianity and Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) who has stepped down from his roles as an LGA Contributing Editor and a member of the LGA Editorial Advisory Board in order to devote himself more fully to his work on the third edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. Todd played a key role in the shaping and then launch of the LGA in 2012 and since then has been an invaluable source of ideas for articles, leads to authors, general guidance, and wisdom for us.
Please send any questions and comments about this issue to analysis@lausanne.org. The next issue of The Lausanne Global Analysis will be released in January.
David Taylor serves as the Editor of the Lausanne Global Analysis. David is an international affairs analyst with a particular focus on the Middle East. He spent 17 years in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, most of it focused on the Middle East and North Africa. After that he spent 14 years as Middle East Editor and Deputy Editor of the Daily Brief at Oxford Analytica. David now divides his time between consultancy work for Oxford Analytica, the Lausanne Movement and other clients, also working with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Religious Liberty Partnership and other networks on international religious freedom issues.
For the second time the Lausanne Global Analysis is available in an audio format. We would appreciate your feedback about this new way of engaging with the LGA by emailing analysis@lausanne.org.
There is a growing global mental health movement around the world today;[1] and the global church is beginning to recognize mental health problems, which are the leading cause of disability worldwide—more disabling than such conditions as heart disease, stroke, or diabetes[2]—as a major ministry priority.
Mental health problems are usually the result of a combination of many factors, including family environment, biology, personality, spirituality, and challenging community contexts, including poverty and violence. Increasingly, the impacts of traumatic events such as childhood abuse, interpersonal violence, or natural disasters are being recognized as major causes of mental health problems.
Scriptural roots
We often think only of one-on-one counseling as the best approach to addressing needs. However, increasingly community-based approaches are being identified as essential to addressing the need on a global level;[3] and churches, as communities of faith where people can find safety and help in times of need, can have a key role.
Mental health care is rooted in Scripture:
The prophet Isaiah described part of the mission of the coming Messiah ‘to bind up the brokenhearted’ (Isa 61:1).
Jeremiah wrote of the Messiah: ‘I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow’ (Jer 31:13).
In the New Testament, we see that, ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness’ (Matt 9:35).
The Holistic Mission Issue Group of The Lausanne Movement’s 2004 Forum for World Evangelization explicitly included mental health as part of holistic mission, noting thus:
Holistic mission is mission oriented towards the satisfaction of basic human needs, including the need of God, but also the need of food, love, housing, clothes, physical and mental health [our emphasis] and a sense of human dignity.[4]
To address this issue, the Movement created a new Senior Associate role in Care and Counsel as Mission in 2009. In 2016, this focus was more clearly defined as ‘Global Mental Health and Trauma’ (GMHT) with Drs. Gladys Mwiti and Bradford Smith, co-authors of this article and clinical psychologists in Kenya and the US respectively, as Catalysts.
Lack of attention
GMHT may best be understood as an issue that intersects with many issues with which the global church is already engaged such as, health, disabilities, children at risk, refugees, business, community development, and social justice. Yet, because of stigma and lack of consensus in the church about its definition and causes, mental health is often lost in the global dialogue when the focus turns to more obvious dimensions of these problems.
The lack of attention to this important issue both by the church and secular society has left thousands of people with mental health problems stigmatized, judged as spiritually deficient, and sometimes, in the case of major mental illness, locked up and even chained in institutions where they are exposed to poor living conditions, sexual and physical abuse, and neglect.[5]Those with mental health problems have poorer health care, diminished human rights, and higher mortality. They comprise one of the largest mission fields for the church worldwide.
New treatment strategies and the church’s role
The global mental health challenge concerns not just how common and disabling mental health disorders can be but also the ‘treatment gap’. Globally, less than 50 percent of those who need mental health treatment receive it. This gap climbs to over 90 percent in the least-resourced countries in the world.[6]
To address this inequity, new strategies have been developed. They encompass a much broader approach including education, health promotion, prevention and ‘task-shifting’ of treatment approaches. Task-shifting is a strategy of training people who may not have, for example, graduate-level education, to perform specific therapeutic tasks under the supervision of more highly trained clinicians. These new approaches, which create new roles for non-professionals working in mental health, provide an open door for the strategic involvement of churches in offering support, education, and basic people-helping skills.
Research in the US shows that often pastors are the first persons a family calls when there is a mental health crisis.[7]Yet, pastors are often reluctant or feel ill-equipped to speak about mental illness from the pulpit. Dr Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center, urges pastors to speak openly about mental health problems as one would about any other health issue and to educate their congregations. Stetzer has coined the phrase, ‘sermons stop stigma’.[8]
There are additional challenges. For example, the lack of consensus around appropriate terminology—mental health, emotional health, behavioral health, Christian wholeness—and around the relationship of mental health to spiritual causes, has hindered attempts at more collaboration. Another key issue is the role of culture and the critique that much of mental health is understood through the lens of Western assumptions.
Despite these challenges, the belief appears to be growing that the global impact of mental health problems is now too large for the church to ignore:
Saddleback Community Church in California has created a church-wide emphasis on mental health that spans all of their ministry programming. They hold a Gathering on the Church and Mental Health each year.
World Vision, following recommendations by the World Health Organization, is building mental health response into many of its programs.
The German Institute for Medical Mission (DIFAEM) runs projects for traumatized women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, integrates mental health care to address a high and growing rate of depression and suicide partly caused by gender-based violence in India, and is launching a project in Germany entitled ‘Congregations and Depression’.[9]
Mental Health Ministries[10] recommends a five-step program for creating caring congregations in the area of mental health:
1 Education
2 Commitment
3 Welcome
4 Support
5 Advocacy
The urgent need for trauma response
A priority issue in global mental health is providing care to those who have experienced traumatic events—which are becoming increasingly common.[11] A traumatic event is defined as one in which an individual or community experiences or witnesses actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or others.[12] Trauma overwhelms the capacity to cope. Examples of traumatic experiences include sexual abuse, physical maltreatment, exposure to war, terrorism or political violence, kidnapping or abduction, traumatic loss and bereavement, terminal illness in the family, and forced displacement and extreme interpersonal violence.
Most of the time, and depending on factors like nature of trauma, resilience, individual coping skills, social support, and spiritual resources, psychological trauma heals with time.[13] However, for others, the impact of traumatic stress may persist over time and lead to other negative outcomes such as depression, physical illness and relational struggles, making it difficult to cope. Serious symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be debilitating, with the more affected survivors of trauma wearing down family members.[14]
Traumatic exposures may eventually lead to PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, risk-taking behavior, and chronic physical disorders.[15] In addition to mental health stressors, traumatic stress increases the likelihood of social problems such as substance abuse and lowered productivity.[16] Sexual, physical, and psychological abuse frequently occur together, as do child abuse and exposure to domestic violence.[17] The adverse effects on the survivors influence the whole personality leading to shame, fear, guilt, and low self-esteem.[18]
Repeated massive trauma over a period of time causes individual, community, and structural devastation that breeds mistrust, anger, and betrayal between individuals and impedes efforts at peacebuilding and reconciliation. Research indicates that even if war stops, negative interpersonal attitudes often remain and violence may recur.[19]
A study of Rwanda Gacaca courts, where truth-telling was used as a means of reconciliation and healing after the 1994 genocide, indicated that, contrary to claims of psychological health, truth-telling rarely contributes to trauma healing because it fails to underline trauma effects.[20] Trauma healing is a complex process that must be carefully managed to achieve the effects of post-conflict peace building.
Psychological trauma: a Christian integrative perspective
Christians often navigate their understanding of healing from traumatic stress between the extreme of expecting total deliverance from the effects of trauma at the one end of the spectrum or leaving a survivor to nurse their suffering endlessly. A theologically balanced approach acknowledges the reality of trauma and suffering and then embraces unique means of healing and living that enable post-traumatic growth through time.
The ability of the wounded to find peace and the speed of this healing depend on several factors:
The uniqueness of the traumatic experience
Presence of other traumatic events
The individual’s ability to recognize and handle unpredictable trauma triggers
The nature of one’s spirituality
The levels of social support and readiness to take up these amenities as we express our pain to a caring God
The ability of the human heart to cry out unreservedly to God creates the opportunity for a healing relationship between wounded humanity and a caring God.[21] Lament, as described in Psalms, models deep cries of the believer to God in times of despair.[22] Laments are raw, unrefined cries that remind us that we do not have to package our pain into tidy bundles before we ask God to make sense of disaster. He meets us there in our pain and weeps with us.
Willow Creek Church, Chicago, is in partnership with Christians in DR Congo in an intervention labeled Congo Initiative. This nation has been steeped in a crisis that has destabilized the economy and resulted in violence by armed groups against civilians in the eastern region. Congo Initiative is a community of Christ-centered Congolese leaders and global partners united to create a sustainable Congolese society by empowering leaders, and developing initiatives for peace, hope, justice, and trauma healing. Such multidisciplinary, transnational partnerships can bring healing and transformation to traumatized communities.
Churches’ response
In his abundance, God has strategically placed churches to meet the needs of those with mental health problems including those suffering from the wounds of trauma.[23]Churches as Christ-centered communities of faith and healing can bring the resources of Biblical teaching, prayer, fellowship, hospitality and caring, counseling, and advocacy for justice to address the needs of those suffering with mental health problems.
What can churches do? With no additional budget or staff, churches can:
Talk about the issue using language that is appropriate for the church and cultural setting. There is tremendous stigma-breaking power in a pastor addressing mental health and trauma from the pulpit.
Encourage the congregation to offer practical help and hospitality to those who are suffering and their families, as a church body would for any illness or crisis.
Help connect those in need with trustworthy community resources. Have referral resource information available and make sure the congregation is aware of it.
Reach out and extend Christ’s love through friendship. Those who struggle often feel excluded and isolated and may need extra outreach to know that they are welcome as part of the fellowship.
It is essential we continue to communicate that mental health is a high priority and work together to address it. As the World Health Organization states, ‘There is no health without mental health.’[24] Addressing issues of mental health and trauma may be one of the most urgent, emerging priorities within the wholistic mission of the global church.
Endnotes
A. Cohen, V. Patel, & H. Minas, ‘A Brief History of Global Mental Health’ in A. Cohen, V. Patel, H. Minas, & M.J. Prince (Eds)., Global Mental Health: Policies and Practices (London: Oxford University Press, 2014). ↑
N. Mehta & G. Thornicraft, ‘Stigma, Discrimination, and Promoting Human Rights’, in Cohen, et al, Global Mental Health.↑
V. Patel, M. Maj, A.J. Flisher, M.J. De Silva, M. Koschorke, M. Prince, et al, ‘Reducing the treatment gap for mental disorders: a WPA survey’, World Psychiatry, 9 (2010), 3:169-76. ↑
E. Stetzer, ‘Sermons Stop Stigma’, Plenary address via video at the Summit on the Church, Health, and Mental Health (Belhaven University, Jackson, MI, 2016). ↑
B. Jakob, ‘Promoting Mental Health at Congregational Level’, in U. Giesekus, B. Smith, B.M., & J. Schuster (Eds.), Global Mental Health and the Church (Zurich: Lit Verlag, 2017). ↑
American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (Washington, DC, 2013). ↑
L. Kiser& C.R. Figley, Helping Traumatized Families (New York: Routledge, 2013). ↑
S.K. Creech G. & Misca, ‘Parenting with PTSD: A Review of Research on the Influence of PTSD on Parent-Child Functioning in Military and Veteran Families’, Frontiers of Psychology, 8, 1101 (2017), published online 30 June 2017, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01101. Accessed April 17, 2018. ↑
A. McFarlane, ‘The Long-Term Costs of Traumatic Stress: Intertwined Physical and Psychological Consequences, World Psychiatry, 9 (2010), 3-10. ↑
L.M. Najavits, R.D. Weiss, & S.R. Shaw, ‘The Link Between Substance Abuse and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Women. A Research Review’, The American Journal of Addictions (Wiley Online Library, 2010), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1521-0391.1997.tb00408.x. Accessed 17 April 2018. ↑
T.E. Moffitt & A. Caspi, ‘Preventing the Intergenerational Continuity of Antisocial Behavior: Implications of Partner Violence’, in D.P. Farrington & J.W. Coid (Eds.), Early Prevention of Adult Antisocial Behavior (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 109-29. ↑
T.I. Herrenkohl, C. Sousa, E.A. Tajima, R.C. Herrenkohl, & C.A. Moylan, ‘Intersection of Child Abuse and Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence’, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 9 (2008), 84-99, doi: 10.1177/1524838008314797. ↑
E.Cairns, T. Tam, M. Hewstone, & U. Niens, ‘Intergroup Forgiveness and Intergroup Conflict: Northern Ireland, a Case Study’, in J. Everett L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of Forgiveness (New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2005). ↑
K. Brounéus, ‘The Trauma of Truth Telling: Effects of Witnessing in the Rwandan Gacaca Courts on Psychological Health’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 54 (Sage, 2010), 408-37, doi: 10.11*77/0022002709360322, Accessed 20 April, 2018. ↑
W. Brueggemann, ‘The Psalms and the Life of Faith: A Suggested Typology of Function’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 17 (1980), 3-32. ↑
G.K. Mwiti & Al Dueck, Christian Counseling: An Africa Indigenous Perspective (Pasadena, CA: Fuller Seminary Press, 2006). ↑
Gladys Mwiti, a Consulting Clinical Psychologist and author of five books, serves as Founder and CEO of Oasis Africa Center for Transformational Psychology & Trauma, as Chairperson of the Kenya Psychological Association (KPA), and as a Lausanne Catalyst for Mental Health and Trauma. She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.
Bradford Smith is a Licensed Psychologist and serves as the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the School of Fine Arts at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi, and as a Lausanne Catalyst for Mental Health and Trauma. He holds PhD degrees in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts - Boston and in Education from Claremont Graduate University. He received his theological training at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Christianity has seen much growth since it first reached the shores of Taiwan 150 years ago.[1] Today there are roughly 4,000 churches around the island. In addition, we are also blessed with numerous established Christian organizations, media and publishing companies, and highly regarded seminaries. However, there is still much work to be done towards fully responding to the Great Commission.[2]
Insular mindset
Based on the results of a survey we undertook in 2017,[3] it emerges that, of these 4,000 churches, less than 10 percent participate in missions, mostly within the Han Chinese circle (E1),[4] whether near or afar. Although Christians constitute 5 percent or more of Taiwan’s population of 23.55 million, these 4,000 local churches only send around 600 full-time missionaries overseas. Only a handful of these pioneers are currently serving in the cutting-edge Unengaged, Unreached People Group (UUPG) context. While quite well resourced, the Taiwanese church is unfortunately marked by an inward-looking and insular mindset. This mindset, consequently, permeates the church as well.
In the past two decades, the churches in Taiwan have gradually matured from a ‘recipient’ to a ‘giver’ mentality. However, we, as mobilisers, face considerable obstacles in challenging churches to commit to works beyond their own walls:
Taiwan churches need to make progress towards equipping disciples for the nations and not focus solely on increasing the size of their own congregations.
Church leaders need to start allocating resources for the needy, rather than the sound system or buildings.
We must encourage our workers to change the world, rather than just telling them ‘not to be changed by the world’.
Mobilising for mission
However, we recognize this vision and burden must come from God, not from the calling of some specific individuals or the campaign of a church or institution. With this huge task set before us, United Missions of Taiwan (UMOT) has played a role as a platform for mission resources in the last few years as it seeks to fulfil the vision of mobilising Taiwanese Christians for mission.
Photo Credit: Zoe Chen
It seemed like an impossible mission when I walked into the office on my first working day in January, 2012. The ministry was basically just a name, without significant financial resources or any programmes that might connect with the churches or mission agencies. Far from being effective as a mobilisation entity, we struggled to make it through to another day. Worst of all, there was no team, other than Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and me.
However, we had a clear vision to pursue the dream of missions. With a clear vision, we could explain to partners the ‘why’, which is more important than the ‘what’. As the old proverb goes, ‘When the will is ready, the feet are light.’ Once they got the ‘why’, they could in turn communicate the vision to others. The momentum started to build up from there. God brought along new recruits, new partners, ministry opportunities, and more.
Social media focus
When we tackle that challenge of connecting churches, denominations, para-church organizations, missions organizations, and individual Christians, we have to make use of social media and modern-day information and communications technology (ICT). This is especially true in Taiwan where 82.3 percent of the population are heavy users of internet.[5] Adopting an integrated communication strategy, we gradually transformed the traditional written materials (articles on missions, training materials, prayer guides for UUPGs, and more) into new formats.
This process involved more than just the digitalization of content and putting it on a low-traffic website. We established a number of Facebook fan pages, each with their own purposes. With clear segmentation, the emphasis would not be fragmented. We have a page with more than 11,000 members just to focus on prayers – praying regularly, globally, intelligently, continually, and interactively.[6]
There is another group which is literally called ‘I want to be a missionary’,[7] full of testimonies from missionaries, announcements by mission organizations, tips for short-term trips, and information about events, conferences, or prayer meetings. Meanwhile, acknowledging the importance of multimedia resources, we recruited personnel to oversee digital content and engagement, and a media specialist for production. With limited capacity in this small team, we made short videos, cartoons, infographics, and even a whole series on ‘how to be a missional church for dummies’.[8]
In parallel, we continued more traditional mobilisation approaches, such as speaking engagements, operating Kairos and Perspectives courses regularly, and leaving a stack of prayer booklets at entrance of churches. In the process, we found that the combined efforts paid off as ‘all things worked together for good’.
A resource for the Chinese speaking world
By the grace of God, over the last six years, UMOT has grown from a one-man unit to a team of 20 energetic youngsters:
We serve in partnership with more than a dozen mission organizations (both internal and Chinese-oriented).
We run an exceptional Chinese Perspectives study program in five to seven different cities every week.
We publish 12,000 copies of MissionPathway (a global prayer digest in Chinese) quarterly.
We engage with more than 300 churches annually.
Most significantly, we have experienced that the wave of cross-cultural missions is no mere slogan but something concrete and ‘up-close and personal’.
Based in Taiwan, we actually have a special niche to serve as a resource platform for the greater Chinese-speaking world:
Taiwan, due to its open religious environment, probably has the greatest Christian publishing capacity among all Chinese communities globally.
With an increasingly restricted political environment in mainland China (and now in Hong Kong), and the limited number of Chinese-reading Christians in North America or ASEAN nations, Taiwan is probably the last remaining hub for Chinese Christian resources in the immediate future.
Because of what Taiwan can offer—editing quality, translation, graphic designs, and even printing costs—it is elevated to a prime position of influence.
Beyond translating English literature on mission mobilisation or equipping materials into Chinese, our desire is to make these accessible to Chinese-speaking people around the world.
One beautiful example of a win-win scenario is the project PrayerCast, working in partnership with GoodTV and OneWay Ministries. Many may know that OneWay Ministries has produced PrayerCast videos for every nation[9] over the last four to five years. However, less known is the fact these videos are also available in Chinese. Both dubbed and subtitled versions are available, in both simplified and traditional Chinese.
This took long-term working synergy between three parties:
Prayercast began by granting usage rights.
GoodTV, the most influential Christian TV channel in Taiwan (with over five million viewers a day), was kind enough to offer translation and air time for these prayer clips.
Then we took these completed materials and delivered them via various ‘channels’ and ‘connections’ into mainland China and beyond.
Now in all corners of the world, Chinese Christian communities are praying for the nations.
Missions ecosystem
The progress that has been made would not have been nearly as great if it had not been a joint effort involving all potential stakeholders. Lecturers in seminaries, mission candidates, veterans on the field, intercessors, and even Sunday school teachers, all play a big part in transforming the church to be missional. We are really eager to see an ‘ecosystem’ of missions coming from the global Chinese church as a whole in the near future.
Beyond just ‘goers’ or ‘senders’, we need to raise up mobilisers in all kinds. Through initiatives such as compiling information about short-term outreach opportunities, coordinating courses and logistic hubs at gateway cities, and networking with pre-field training initiatives for long-term workers, we have seen some exciting developments taking place ‘for such a time as this’.
My motto has always been, ‘We do what we say; we say what we do.’ Our mission, from its conception in 1998 is to mobilise the church for cross-cultural missions, to encourage the sending of missionaries, and to promote missions education. Over the last 20 years, there have been times when everything has certainly gone silent. During those moments, we have just needed to come back to the ‘why’. Whether it is the one percent standing up front or the 99 percent behind the scenes, the calling from our Lord is still loud and clear. What needs to be done needs to be done in humility and a sense of ‘togetherness’.
Implications
Every context is unique. Even just in the Chinese speaking world, the way you approach a Hakka-speaking, simplified-Chinese-reading, Methodist Malaysian Chinese congregation or a Cantonese-dominated, traditional-Chinese-reading, 1.5 generation[10] immigrant church in North America must be very different. However, there are some general principles about mobilisation in challenging contexts that can be shared:
We need to think ‘outside of the box’ in this era of confusion. We are bombarded with massive amounts of information every day. Too often, we try to use the same old mindset to fix the new problem. Ask God to give us wisdom to be more creative in finding our niche for his work.
‘Glocalisation’ means that we need to speak the heart language of the target audience with sincerity and with a global perspective. ‘Language’ is not just the translation of the message but the interpretation of it.
Communicating the ‘why’ is always more important than the ‘what’. We need to stick to the plan.
Last but not least, ‘togetherness’ is key to what we do.
Knowing all of this, I want to invite you to join hands with us in the greatest endeavour, to wake up the sleeping churches around the world and finish the task ahead of us.
Ray (Sur-rey) Peng was a missionary with Operation Mobilization from 2003 – 2007 and an international Programme Officer of World Vision Taiwan from 2008 – 2010. He currently serves as the chairman of United Mission of Taiwan (UMOT). He is on the Executive Leadership Team of Global Mobilization Network (GMN) as well as the East Asia Lausanne Younger Leaders Network and serves as National Coordinator for Kairos and Perspectives courses in Taiwan.
BREAKING FREE FROM THE LENS OF WHITE CULTURE IN GLOBAL MISSION
DANIEL HILL
One of my good friends asked me to officiate at his wedding. My friend, the groom, was of South Asian/Indian descent, and he was very proud of his cultural heritage. He had promised that the reception would, in particular, take guests on a deep dive into Indian culture. It was indeed a culturally unique experience, and I had a night to remember.
As the event drew to a close, I told him, ‘I’m jealous of you. You have such an amazing culture! It must be such a privilege to be able to reflect that beautiful culture during your wedding weekend. I wish I had a culture too.’
My friend got very serious and said, ‘Daniel, you may be white, but don’t let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins. So it would be a really good idea for you to learn about your culture.’
It would be hard to overstate how caught off guard I was by this comment. I had never even considered the possibility of ‘white’ as a culture. Now he was telling me that not only was whiteness a culture, but that when it came in contact with other cultures, it always won. It felt patently unfair to group me in with every other white person he had ever met; and it felt borderline offensive to claim that my so-called culture operated off an intrinsically superior mindset.
However, I could not shake off the impact of his words. So, I went on a quest. My motives were admittedly mixed—a big part of me wanted to prove him wrong—but I also genuinely wanted to understand this notion of white culture. I wanted to know if it was real—and if it was, to understand what that meant; and I wanted to determine whether white culture really ‘wins’ when it comes in contact with other cultures.
The quest began almost 25 years ago. It has re-shaped the direction of my life over that time, and it has also had profound implications for how I understand the full dimension of Christian living. For the purposes of this article, I would like to focus specifically on the impact of white culture on mission—on how it shapes the way we bear witness to Christ and his kingdom. In Matthew 28:16, Jesus commissions us to go forth and make disciples of all the nations (ethnē); so clearly the relationship between witness and ethnicity is of utmost importance when considering mission.
What my friend told me at his wedding is a helpful framework for approaching the relationship between white culture and mission and how we can better bear witness to Christ and his kingdom:
White culture is real.
When it comes in contact with other cultures, white culture wins.
White Culture is real
One of the reasons it can be difficult for those of us who are white to recognise the presence of white culture is that it has become the ‘normal’ by which we judge all other cultures.
I have found the work of British sociologist Alistair Bonnett to be helpful in bringing greater clarity to this phenomenon. Bonnett conducted extensive research on white culture in both the US and UK. He noted that there was something unique about white culture, especially when observed in relation to nonwhite cultures: in both countries white culture is the ‘norm’ by which all other cultural identities are evaluated. It is an ‘unchanging and unproblematic location, a position from which all other identities come to be marked by their difference.’[1] With white culture serving as the baseline, we evaluate everyone else’s culture based on the norms we associate with white culture.
This tendency to normalise white culture is not just a secular challenge—it has tremendous impact on global mission as well. I took a seminary class with a white, racially conscious professor years ago, and he was convinced of this same hypothesis. He regularly urged his students to engage in self-examination of what we assumed to be culturally ‘normal’ and challenged us to be especially careful in the ways we normalized white theology. This assertion was particularly challenging to one of the white seminary students who was certain that he was culturally neutral in his approach to theology. He dared the professor to illustrate a concrete way in which white culture is normalised in the realm of theology.
The professor put an online catalog of classes offered at the seminary up on the screen. He pointed out there were core, required classes that were just called ‘theology’, but among the electives offered were an array of additional theology classes: black theology, Latin theology, Asian theology, etc. He asked rhetorically where the category of ‘white’ theology was. Of course there was none. He explained that the theology passed on to us from white forefathers is considered to be the normal, default standard for theology. Everyone else’s theology was defined in relation to whiteness.
There are many ways we normalize white culture. It is real, and if we do not learn to recognise it, white culture will remain the unchallenged norm by which all other cultures are evaluated in our missional efforts.
White culture wins
However, normalising white culture pales in comparison to the deepest problem of all. Genesis 1 tells us that the climax of God’s created order is humankind—that we are created in the very likeness and image of God. However, the social construct of race was engineered to communicate a very different agenda: that human value is determined by where a person falls on the racial hierarchy. Certain races in the US have been deemed better than others (read: white), allowing evils such as colonisation and slavery to thrive.[2]
This is partly what makes white culture so challenging to see and to understand. A thoughtful analysis of it is certain to reveal many positive qualities, but it also faces us with the sinful secret of its origin. The construct of race was built on a narrative that some human beings are more worthy than others, and whiteness has been the pinnacle of the racial hierarchy since its inception.
Every aware Christian will openly reject and rebuke this notion of a racial hierarchy, since its existence is a mockery of God. The bigger question is whether we can develop the wisdom to parse out the aspects of white culture that still perpetuate this racial hierarchy, even when we individually denounce its existence.
By way of illustration, as part of my doctoral program, I spent a day visiting diverse churches in a major US city center. I was paired with another pastor for the day, and the assignment was to experience the body of Christ in its many forms, and then to debrief about what we could learn from each visit.
One of the stops was a famous black church that had a mural of a black Jesus. This pastor experienced immense discomfort at the sight of a black Jesus. When we debriefed, I asked him why. He said it was sacrilegious to portray Jesus in a historically inaccurate way, and that he wished we could have avoided visiting this church.
As part of his tradition he had seen literally hundreds of portrayals of Jesus as a white man. For centuries, this is how Jesus has been cast in Western art, often with European features such as blue eyes and light hair. This is obviously inaccurate from a historical standpoint; yet that has not stopped us from accommodating that image.
I asked him if he had felt an analogous level of unease each time he had seen Jesus depicted as white. He had not, and the contradiction between these two experiences was immediately evident. Yet he tried to defend the difference. I reminded him that not only was Jesus a Jewish, Middle Eastern man, but as a carpenter he surely spent a lot of time in the sun. If one had to guess which side of the dark/light spectrum his skin was, it would be reasonable to assume dark. If we were going to take an educated guess as to which portrayal was more historically accurate, the mural of the black Jesus was almost certainly it.
However, historical accuracy was not what this pastor’s unease was ultimately about. The deeper issue was one of cultural superiority. For reasons that this pastor was still not even aware of within himself, it just felt more comfortable to see Jesus as a white man than a black man.
Next Steps
I will never forget the day my friend told me at his wedding that I had a culture, and that I should learn about it. My friend had opened a monumental door and had left me to decide whether or not to step through it. I believe that those of us called to engage with global mission stand at this same moment.
What can we do next once we begin to awaken to this reality? Here are some suggested focus areas as we move forward on this journey:
Learn to see white culture: the metaphor is often used that white people trying to see white culture is like a fish trying to analyse the water it lives in; they are surrounded by it and cannot see it. The water of white culture surrounds us, and it can feel difficult, and even threatening, to step outside it. However, we must learn to see that white culture is real, and learn to analyse and critique it, for the sake of the gospel.
Increase our understanding of the intersection between the construct of race and the development of white culture: the very idea of ‘whiteness’ is a human construction, tied to the sinful creation of our modern, racial hierarchy. It is a helpful, but small step to repudiate the sinfulness that undergirds the racial hierarchy. The deeper work is learning how to spot the ways in which the narratives behind this racial construct continue to influence our approach to global mission.
Deepen our theological analysis of the construct of race:one of the reasons that white missionaries (in particular) have such a difficult time spotting and critiquing the presence of racial narratives is that we were not given strong enough theology to support this work. There is so much rich theology ready to be applied to this work: Imago Dei, Kingdom of God, dividing wall of hostility, renewing of the mind, truth versus lies, etc. We just need to learn to integrate these into our biblical worldview.
Examine the ways whiteness has shaped global mission:as our capacity to see the historical development of race deepens, we are then able to see more clearly the ways in which the fundamentals of mission have been shaped by white culture. As such, we must constantly revisit our assumptions and approaches, and ensure that they are not being held captive by white ideologies. How do we think about evangelism? About discipleship? About the way church should happen? These are all critical questions, but they have been historically asked through a white lens. We must learn to break free from that captivity for the sake of bearing authentic and powerful witness to Christ and his kingdom.
Endnotes
Alistair Bonnett, ‘White Studies: The Problems and Projects of a New Research Agenda’, Theory, Culture & Society 13, no. 2 (1996): 146. ↑
Daniel Hill , author of White Awake and 10:10: Life to the Fullest, is the founding and Senior Pastor of River City Community Church, located in the western Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Prior to starting River City, Daniel was part of a series of dot.com startups in the 1990s before serving five years on the staff of Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago. Daniel has his BS in Business from Purdue University, his MA in Theology from Moody Bible Institute, his certificate in Church-based Community and Economic Development from Harvard Divinity School, and his DMin from Northern Seminary.
Noor (name changed for security reasons) was used to dangerous living after several decades in a highly volatile region he likes to call the ‘Middle Earth’ of Central Asia. Now back in Canada with his wife, he did not want his years of experience and insight to go to waste and fade into retirement. Why not put a new strategy for the kingdom in place using Facebook, something his adopted people group use in great numbers?
Now Noor found himself back on the familiar dusty streets of the bazaar on a short visit, looking to meet up face to face with Ahmad (name changed), a new friend who had contacted him via the Facebook page saying ‘I am like you, let us meet!’
Naturally, suspicions were running high on both sides, but the obvious risks were worth it. There was no doubt Ahmad knew that Noor was a follower of Isa al Masih and was using his online presence to share Jesus and his teachings with members of a people group who are particularly hard to engage with the gospel still in their home country, as well as countless others displaced abroad.
Via Facebook Messenger voice and text chats, the plan had been set in motion for Noor to meet Ahmad at his shop located in one of the busiest markets in the entire nation. Now the time had come, and Noor was barely noticeable, bearded and dressed in the local way, as he looked across the street at the place Ahmad had arranged.
‘Ahmad?’, he asked of the gentleman in the local language as he stepped into the small, poorly lit shop. A young man looked up and replied, ‘No. What can I do for you?’ ‘Just tell Ahmad that the old guy came by to say hi. The guy that does the Facebook.’
With that, Noor took his leave and could not help but notice the assistant’s eyes following his every move. Was he recognized as a foreigner? Did the assistant suspect ill intention against his employer? Was this stranger simply just crazy?
A half hour passed until Ahmad phoned with further instructions. ‘Let us meet in the tea shop; it is not good to meet in my shop.’ A fascinating hour of deep, spiritual discussion ensued, partly from Scripture. Eighteen months later, Ahmad began to testify, ‘I believe what you say about Jesus.’
What joy it is for Noor and Ahmad to be journeying together, as well as with hundreds of others in various stages of exploring the claims of Jesus. Noor sees himself as a simple servant and messenger of God who risks his life and is willing to forego his sleep schedule and comfort to post, engage, and eventually meet those who appear most interested in the Good News in a time zone that could not be more opposite.[1]
Frustrations and mixed messages
However, despite the good success he is seeing with men, efforts to engage women through a page he helped his wife set up are stalled. Facebook policies have bumped up against his desire and need to not be completely public with his identity; and ongoing changes to algorithms and advertising efforts targeted at specific religious adherents lend further confusion to the arena.
To add to Noor’s challenges, the international organisation he belongs to has been encouraging its workers actively to disengage from social media and online presence before heading overseas in order to protect themselves from potential targeting, which could lead to imprisonment, expulsion, or even death. His organisation is not alone in its desire to keep its workers safe, while at the same time encouraging them to pioneer new work and think ‘outside the box’ in order to reach people with the gospel. This presents very mixed messages.
However, it feels as if the tide is now beginning to turn. As digital natives enter overseas ministry and even older generations become more familiar with online activity, the potential to find and impact people for eternity seems to be outweighing the risks.
Training and coaching 101
Another long-term effort situated in an Arab country also leverages Facebook to find ‘people of peace’. Now through the initial testing phases, its refinement has moved it towards a sophisticated tracking and rating system (using Customer Relationship Management software) that has brought in teams of church planters whose sole focus is to follow up on leads brought in through social media channels. They now offer an online training and coaching platform, attempting to document what they have learned and help others formulate a 10-step process toward using media to fuel a Disciple Making Movement.[2]
Snapchat
While Facebook certainly controls most of the social media market, Snapchat offers an enticing profile to those who focus on Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. The kingdom tops the world in Snapchat usage globally. A 2015 study revealed that 26 percent of Saudi teens used the app.[3]Yet it is largely unexplored in the ministry realm, and its reputation originally as a ‘sexting’ app continues to scare the ministry-minded away.
The video revolution
YouTube is used by nearly a third of all internet users globally. It is localised in 88 countries and can be accessed in 76 different languages.[4] The potential influence and reach for anyone with a smartphone and a plan is unprecedented in human history. By 2019, global consumer internet video traffic will account for 80 percent of all consumer internet traffic.[5]
Recognizing this, one forward-thinking media project based in the Caucasus region released a series of short films focusing on the theme of forgiveness. Their strategy leaned heavily on Facebook and YouTube with strategically located ‘forgiveness principles discussion groups’. Coupled with local film showings, over 400 have attended these groups and feel engaged and empowered to talk about the difficulties of forgiving, how to reconcile and how to find peace with each other. From these groups, 40 have moved on to become volunteers for the movement with about a 50/50 split of believers versus seekers, with the seekers moving closer to knowing the Prince of Peace and forgiveness.
These statistics are simply staggering when you think about the sheer potential for reaching those who do not yet know about Jesus around the world.[6] Even in remote offline areas, mobile devices have become commonplace. Yet unaffordable data rates and poor coverage mean that any good strategy must include an offline component, taking into account media sharing strategies including microSD cards, Bluetooth or even wi-fi routers ready to beam gospel-centered content to passersby.
Where to start?
Christians engaged in outreach efforts are certainly beginning to recognise the potential but many simply do not know where or how to start.[7] That is where groups such as the Mobile Ministry Forum[8] can help. This collaboration of ministry practitioners from various mission agencies has put together free downloadable guides and affordable online courses to help; and on-site training opportunities are available if one knows who to ask and where to look.
Many ministries are beginning to take note of an annual media/missions conference that just passed its seventh year. While they prefer to be unknown to the public, word of mouth has certainly been getting around, resulting in 725 participants from 193 organizations and 63 countries in April 2018.
In one southeast Asian nation, a local group of Christians spanning denominations and ministries focuses on finding those who report having dreams of a man dressed in dazzling white, a phenomenon being reported throughout the Muslim world in which Jesus often appears and speaks to Muslims giving them Scripture or instructing them to do certain things that lead them to him. Their campaign has drawn probably over 1,000 seekers through a few combined campaigns.
When another practitioner heard of this while at the media conference mentioned above, an attempt to duplicate something similar was created for a Middle Eastern audience. However, the response (including the promising and the not-so-promising) was so overwhelming that it had to be shut down until a later time when more infrastructure, including working together with local believers, could be put in place.
Foreigners in a host country often struggle to respond in a natural, local way and often have differing views on media style and local taste. In sensitive areas the local populace that can be included in these outreach efforts is also much better at determining who is serious and who may be a threat.
Local media habits
It is important to recognise that a social media strategy for outreach is not one-size-fits-all. What works in one place could easily fail in another. Local media habits must be studied as much as possible. A ‘digital media fact sheet’ or ‘mobile assessment’ outlining factors such as internet usage, top apps downloaded per country, and most popular social media channels and messaging apps will help to narrow down the platforms that are most worth focusing on. That, coupled with plenty of observation from local friends, will help to determine the most advantageous avenues to pursue.
As messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, Line and others continue to blur the lines between social media and messaging, untold numbers of groups are emerging daily that encourage one another in the Word even in places where the gospel cannot legally go. The Persian church is exploding within the borders of Iran thanks in part to Telegram and pervasive use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) intended to shield online activity from prying government eyes. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Christian community there deals with an official government ban on Telegram (the telecommunications minister is quoted as saying 40 million Iranians use Telegram – half of the population). There always seems to be a workaround.
As social media ramp up in the majority world especially, many in the West are finding themselves increasingly disillusioned. Some are convinced that nothing good can possibly come of social media usage based on the fracturing and division it brings, especially amid recent political differences. While Facebook has unprecedented potential to bring people, ideas and groups together, it just as equally can degenerate into a soapbox that rarely changes anyone’s opinions.
However, God is at work, and working through the technology that man invents and sometimes stumbles through. As evangelicals around the world, my hope is that we can work to redeem more of this digital space. Kingdom outcomes are only just beginning to be evident here on earth. We will never know the true impact in this life, and as with the rapid pace of technology, this article will feel dated in short order as followers of Jesus press on to experiment with modern tools at their disposal.
Tim C is the founder of a networking group of independent media professionals with a heart for overseas work. He spent over a decade working in sub-Saharan Africa involved in media production and spiritual and community development with Muslim communities and is now based in the Pacific Northwest, USA
Lausanne Global Analysis seeks to deliver strategic and credible information and insight from an international network of evangelical analysts to equip influencers of global mission. Browse all the past issues at lausanne.org/lga. The publication of the LGA is overseen by its Editorial Advisory Board. Articles represent a diversity of viewpoints within the bounds of our foundational documents. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the personal viewpoints of Lausanne Movement leaders or networks. Inquiries regarding the Lausanne Global Analysis may be addressed to analysis@lausanne.org.
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