by Manik Corea, C4SO’s Global Consultant
Given the current state of Global Christianity, are North American missionaries still needed in the rest of the world? This is a provocative question I tackled in a recent newsletter.
With the growing groundswell of vibrant Christian faith in many parts of the Global South, contrasted with the very rapid and comprehensive decline of formerly “Christian” Western nations (including the United States) toward a post-modern reality that is increasingly post- or even anti-Christian, I ask if the tide has truly turned.
Does the West now need missionaries from the majority world, as we are seeing with the rise of diaspora churches and non-Western and diaspora missionaries planting and leading churches in some Western cities? For sure, God is mixing up the nations and using former mission fields as His new mission force today. Long may that grow and continue. C4SO’s Diaspora Network is seeking to tend, grow, partner and learn from this amazing thing God is doing in our day.
But I think we should also take the word and call of the Spirit-breathed Scriptures to heart. There, we find no church ever being instructed to ignore the wider world or merely be concerned or consumed with its own wellbeing. Jesus enlisted, authorized and commissioned the Apostles and their followers into His world-wide task of making disciples of all peoples until the end of time. The Church has a mission in the world, and God’s mission has incorporated His Church to take it to the ends of the earth, beginning where we are. Indeed, God’s mission for His Church has not changed since the Spirit came at Pentecost. And so, we must be obedient and faithful, in seasons of growth or decline.
As part of encouraging this purpose, we are organizing our second C4SO Diaspora Conference in Austin, Texas, July 28-29, on the theme “Mutuality in Mission / Juntos en Misión.” Preceding the conference, I am hosting a Global Mission Roundtable on Friday, July 28, from 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. CDT, where we will hear and discuss how the rise of a world Christianity affords us new opportunities for participation in global mission beginning where we are, and from everywhere to everywhere. As members of C4SO, you are all invited. Come and be inspired!
If you would like, I invite you to follow my personal newsletter where I explore global Christianity and related topics further.
The Rev. Manik Corea served for 13 years as a church-planter in Bangkok, Thailand with the New Anglican Missionary Society (NAMS). He and his wife are now serving in a new season of mission in his native Singapore—involving coaching, writing and resourcing a new generation of missional workers and leaders in God’s mission among the unreached. He also serves as C4SO’s Global Consultant. Manik writes a weekly newsletter, “The Upward Call” on Substack.