Transformation
of the Church
~ A Database of Historical and Current Data on the
Strategic Partnerships &
[Editor's
Note: emphasis added]
From:
RickWood@XC.Org
Reply-To:
rickwood@XC.Org
Date:
Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:47:56 EST
To: "Text
of Mission Frontiers, and other USCWM updates"
<brigada-pubs-missionfrontiers@XC.Org>
Subject:
MF2001.03-Perspectives
Mission Frontiers
[a
publication of the U.S. Center for World Mission]
2001.03-Perspectives
Reaching
New Heights and Hearts
Born as a follow-up to Urbana, the Perspectives course continues its world view transformation.
With
graduates from the Perspectives course fast approaching the 50,000 mark, the course is experiencing a new phase
of growth and enthusiasm. A number of the spring classes have been surprised
(but blessed) by attendance that was unexpectedly large. One class in Redlands,
California was prepared for 30 students but gladly went in search of a new
facility when 75 showed up. Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Minneapolis area is
pushing the limits on class size with 225 students attending. Jonathan Dawn
described "awe and God's presence" after his first class. He's
coordinating a class held at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.,
Canada. With over 100 in attendance, the students responded with amazement,
expressing how they weren't expecting such a "phenomenal impact."
"It
looks like our enrollment will exceed 4,200 this semester which would be a 30
percent increase over last spring's numbers," says Steve Halley, Director of Perspectives.
Origins at Urbana
The
precursor to Perspectives originated in 1974 as Ralph Winter
recognized the need to give Urbana-attending students more exhaustive
information
that would aid
them in their decision making process. Co-editor of Perspectives, Steve
Hawthorne recalls one of Winter's oft-repeated refrains: "God cannot lead
you on the basis of facts you do not know."
So,
in an effort get the facts out, the
Summer Institute of International Studies created what is now known as
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.
Hawthorne's personal
involvement came as a result of his attendance of Urbana '76. A fervent admirer of John Stott, Hawthorne actually snuck into the conference
to hear some solid Bible exposition from Evangelicalism's
British statesman. "I had nothing against missions, but I sure knew
that it wasn't anything I would ever do," Hawthorne recalls.
He
has fixed in his memory the details that followed. It was 10:15 on the morning
of December 28, 1976 when Stott took the stage. With his large, deep, British
accent, Stott announced that "the living God is a missionary God."
"I
expected good exposition," Hawthorne recalls, "but I did not expect
an integrated focal point. I found there was purpose, some singular focus of
God's purpose throughout all of Scripture."
Though
25 years have passed, Chapter one of
Perspectives bears witness to that day and theme: "The Living God is a
Missionary God," by John Stott.
Lee Purgason, Executive
Director of the U.S. Center for World Mission saw the centrality of the mission theme come clear as a result of the tandem influences of
Urbana and Perspectives. After attending Urbana '79 Purgason recalls how he "sensed
that mission was not just for a subset of those eager to follow God, but a core
Biblical theme of God's purpose for all His people."
With
107 classes currently operating
throughout the country, Hawthorne sees some similarities with the growth of the Perspectives movement and the
worship he experienced at Urbana. At Urbana, he got a taste of praise with a diverse crowd of believers. "I
said these are my people, I belong here, now I know what church I'm a part
of." In Perspectives, he notes that the classes that are growing are those
classes that are similarly diverse. A class that he had just spoken at had
people from over 15 different churches. The diversity brings energy and a
recognition that "this is really a perspective on the world Christian
movement. It's not a personal, Christian, life significance seminar."
One
seasoned traveler and current student of a southern California class expressed
great pleasure at how the course distilled the core message of truth.
"Never in my days of existence have I heard such profundity concerning the
true essence of the Gospel message," he says.
Having
felt imprisoned to programs and problems, this student (who happens to be
African American) says he's "free at last, free at last, thank God
almighty...."
Check
out latest class listings at: http://www.perspectives.org
To
unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-brigada-pubs-missionfrontiers-87484G@XC.Org
CWC Project
based at Cambridge University [UK] Centre for Advanced Religious and
Theological Studies [CARTS]
“Although
historically the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge originated in a Christian
(and after the Reformation an Anglican) context, membership of the Faculty has
not been restricted to any one faith or denomination since the removal of
religious tests in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The current Faculty includes members of the Church of
England, Roman Catholic and Free Churches, a Jewish Rabbi and a Muslim. As
well as Teaching Officers of the Faculty of Divinity, the teaching staff of the
Cambridge Theological Federation are members of the Faculty and able to
participate in CARTS projects. There are no
religious affiliation requirements for appointment in the Faculty, and the same
principle applies in relation to appointments within CARTS. What is
required is a commitment to the principles of academic integrity and the
pursuit of truth in all research projects.”
CWC Project facilitating transition from Protestant missionary movement [accused of westernizing Third World nations] to globalization [and redefinition] of Christianity via “Evangelicalism” and “Pentecostalism”:
“CWC aims to uncover the historical
processes which lie behind the extraordinary
transformation of Christianity during the twentieth century into a truly global
religion whose centre of gravity now lies in the southern hemisphere. By
means of a series of seminars, conferences, and publications the project will
seek to integrate study of the various missionary traditions (especially those
whose roots were in evangelical Protestantism) with exploration of how these
traditions have been appropriated by indigenous Christians. CWC is a new
initiative which brings together in a common enterprise Cambridge’s previous
North Atlantic Missiology Project (NAMP)
which has promoted scholarly analysis of modern Protestant missions, and the ‘The International Project on Evangelicalism and
Globalisation’ (IPEG), a scholarly network set up to investigate the
relationship of the growth of evangelical forms of Christianity in the
non-western world to theories and trends of globalization. The new project will
help both academics and the general Christian public to develop a more informed
understanding of the nature of Christianity as a
world religion.”
[See: Chronology of Major Movements:
Ecumenism, Zionism & Pentecostalism]**
Associate
Members of CWC Project:
“Professor Mark A. Noll is McManis Professor of Christian Thought and Professor of History at Wheaton College [Billy Graham]. During the spring semester 1998 he inaugurated the McDonald Visiting Professorship in evangelical Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School. As director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton, he has supervised several Pew grants over the years…”
Ecumenical
News International
Daily
News Service
12
July 2001
ENI-01-0259
By Alex Duval
Smith
Pretoria, 12 July
(ENI)--While the northern hemisphere's aid agencies propagate western values in
poor nations, African churches are ready to take the Gospel back to the
industrialized world from where it came, a conference in South Africa heard
last week.
Speaking at the
third and final conference of the Currents in World
Christianity project, Sierra Leonean theologian Jehu Hanciles said that,
of all religions, the Christian faith was the most adaptable to local
conditions. Far from dying out, he said, it was set to be reinvented and
exported to the countries which sent their missionaries to Africa during the
colonial era.
The five-day
meeting (3-7 July) brought together 120 theologians, historians and
sociologists from all over the world to look at the effect
of globalisation on Christians and the extent to which their religion is now
rooted in the southern hemisphere.
In a paper delivered at the conference, Dr
Hanciles, a 36-year-old theologian based at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena, in the United States, said: “The
processes of globalisation have contributed to an explosion in the number of
non-governmental organisations. NGOs - most of which originate in the
industrialised countries - grew from 6000 to 26 000 in the 1990s and provide
more aid than the whole United Nations system. In Africa they ... often wield
more power and influence than emasculated and impoverished governments.”
He
said critics were right to compare the impact of NGOs to that of western
missionaries in the 19th century, “not least because reliance on
external resources allows them to promote western-defined solutions which cause
social disruption on the ground”.
Dr Hanciles, an
Anglican who is assistant professor of mission history and globalisation at
Fuller Seminary, added that Christianity had more than 100 years ago become a
“non-western religion” and that there were now seven times as many Anglicans in
Nigeria as there were Episcopalians [members of the Episcopalian (Anglican)
Church] in the entire United States.
While the definitions of globalisation varied,
he said, it was already clear that the developing world's contribution to the
process would be to re-export Christianity to the
northern hemisphere. “The less well noticed fact,” he added, “is that
the much celebrated shifts in global Christianity have had little impact on the
privileged position of the Western tradition within the theological
curriculum.”
He disagreed with claims that African
Christianity – especially its neo-Pentecostal version - was “made in America”
and exported as part of a new fundamentalism. “Christianity has thrived in
Africa because it lends itself to translation and takes on the garb of
different cultures much more easily than, for instance, Islam, which comes with
its own language, Arabic,” he said.
He added that
Christianity was spreading with far greater success in the third world today
than it had in the days of European missionaries. “Pentecostalism
thrives because it taps into an innate African spirituality. Its phenomenal success on the African continent
raises the question of whether Africa needs American ministries as much as
American ministries need Africa,” he said.
Dr Hanciles said
one of the ways in which the third world would re-export Christianity to Europe
would be through immigrant communities. “Christianity is a migratory religion
and, throughout the centuries, migration movements have been a functional
element in Christian expansion,” he said.
The
Currents in World Christianity director, Dr Brian Stanley of St Edmund's
College, Cambridge, said a book would be produced to mark the end of the
project, begun in 1999 with funding from the Pew Charitable Trust in the
US. [599 words]
All articles (c)
Ecumenical News International
Reproduction
permitted only by media subscribers and
provided ENI is
acknowledged as the source.
Ecumenical News
International
PO Box 2100
CH - 1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: (41-22) 791
6087/6515
Fax: (41-22) 788
7244
Email: eni@eni.ch
Evangelicals
& Catholics Together:
See web site for complete text
of ECT I document.
For background on ATS member see: Association of Theological Schools
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c)
1994 First Things 43 (May 1994): 15-22.
The following statement is the
product of consultation, beginning in September 1992, between Evangelical
Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians. Appended to the text is a list of
participants in the consultation and of others who have given their support to
this declaration.
Introduction
We are Evangelical Protestants
and Roman Catholics who have been led through prayer, study, and discussion
to common convictions about Christian faith and mission. This statement cannot
speak officially for our communities. It does intend to speak responsibly from
our communities and to our communities. In this statement we address what we
have discovered both about our unity and about our differences. We are
aware that our experience reflects the distinctive circumstances and
opportunities of Evangelicals and Catholics living together in North America.
At the same time, we believe that what we have discovered and resolved is
pertinent to the relationship between Evangelicals and Catholics in other parts
of the world. We therefore commend this statement to their prayerful
consideration.
As the Second Millennium draws to
a close, the Christian mission in world history faces a moment of daunting
opportunity and responsibility. If in the merciful and mysterious ways of God
the Second Coming is delayed, we enter upon a Third Millennium that could
be, in the words of John Paul II, "a springtime of world missions." (Redemptoris
Missio) As Christ is one, so the Christian mission is one. … emphasis added
We Affirm Together…
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARTICIPANTS:
Mr. Charles Colson [CNP/Templeton Prize
Recipient] –– Prison Fellowship [NGO of the United Nations]
Fr. Juan Diaz-Vilar, S.J. ––Catholic Hispanic Ministries
Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J. ––Fordham University
Bishop Francis George, OMI ––Diocese of Yakima (Washington)
Dr. Kent Hill ––Eastern Nazarene College
Dr. Richard Land ––Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist
Convention
Dr. Larry Lewis ––Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Jesse Miranda ––Assemblies of God
Msgr. William Murphy ––Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus ––Institute on Religion and Public Life
Mr. Brian O'Connell ––World Evangelical Fellowship
Mr. Herbert Schlossberg ––Fieldstead Foundation [Howard Ahmanson/CNP,
Claremont Institute board of directors]
Archbishop Francis Stafford ––Archdiocese of Denver
Mr. George Weigel [CFR] ––Ethics and Public Policy
Center
Dr. John White–– Geneva College and the National Association of
Evangelicals/NAE [regional body of the World
Evangelical Fellowship/WEF]
ENDORSED BY:
Dr. William Abraham ––Perkins School of Theology [ATS member]
Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier ––Union Theological Seminary (Virginia) [ATS member]
Mr. William Bentley Ball ––Harrisburg, Pennsylvania [Christian
Legal Society; Roman Catholic]
Dr. Bill Bright –– Campus Crusade for Christ [CNP; Mission America/Lighthouse Movement]
Professor Robert Destro ––Catholic University of America [ATS member]
Fr. Augustine DiNoia, O.P. ––Dominican House of Studies [ATS member]
Fr. Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, S.J. ––Fordham University
Mr. Keith Fournier ––American Center for Law and Justice [ACLJ--Jay Sekulow, CNP/Pat Robertson, CNP]
Bishop William Frey ––Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry [ATS member]
Professor Mary Ann Glendon ––Harvard Law School
Dr. Os Guinness ––Trinity Forum [A
framer and signatory of the Williamsburg Charter, 1984; developer of the
related public school curriculum Living With Our Deepest Differences with Ernest
Boyer/Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, CFR]
Dr. Nathan Hatch ––University of Notre Dame [ATS member]
Dr. James Hitchcock ––St. Louis University
Professor Peter Kreeft ––Boston College
Fr. Matthew Lamb ––Boston College
Mr. Ralph Martin ––Renewal Ministries
Dr. Richard Mouw ––Fuller Theological Seminary [ATS member]
Dr. Mark Noll ––Wheaton College [Billy Graham Center]
Mr. Michael Novak [CFR] ––American
Enterprise Institute
John Cardinal O'Connor ––Archdiocese of New York
Dr. Thomas Oden ––Drew University [ATS
member]
Dr. James J. I. Packer ––Regent
College (British Columbia) [ATS member]
The Rev. Pat Robertson ––Regent University [ATS member]
Dr. John Rodgers ––Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry [ATS member]
Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, S.J. ––Archiocese of San Francisco
Evangelicals
& Catholics Together II:
See web site for complete text
of ECT II document
For background on ATS member see: Association of Theological Schools
------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 1998 First Things
79 (January 1998): 20-23.
In the spring of 1994, a
distinguished group of Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants issued a
much-discussed statement, "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The
Christian Mission in the Third Millennium" (FT, May 1994). That statement,
commonly referred to as "ECT," noted a growing "convergence
and cooperation" between Evangelicals and Catholics in many public
tasks, and affirmed agreement in basic articles of Christian faith while also
underscoring the continuing existence of important differences. The signers
promised to engage those differences in continuing conversations, and this
has been done in meetings of noted theologians convened by Mr. Charles
Colson and Father Richard John Neuhaus. At a meeting in the fall of 1996,
it was determined that further progress depended upon firm agreement on the meaning
of salvation, and especially the doctrine of justification. After much
discussion, study, and prayer over the course of a year, the following
statement was agreed to at a meeting in New York City, October 6-7, 1997. The
convenors and participants express their gratitude to Edward Idris Cardinal
Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,
for his very active support throughout this process. In future conversations
they intend to address the outstanding questions noted at the end of this
statement. [emphasis added]
— The Editors
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVANGELICAL
PROTESTANTS
Dr. Gerald L. Bray ––Beeson Divinity School [ATS member]
Dr. Bill Bright ––Campus Crusade for Christ [CNP; Mission America/Lighthouse]
Dr. Harold O. J. Brown ––Trinity Evangelical Divinity School [ATS member]
Mr. Charles Colson [CNP; Templeton Prize recipient]—Prison Fellowship [NGO of the U.N.]
Bishop William C. Frey ––Episcopal Church
Dr. Timothy
George ––Beeson Divinity School [ATS member]
Dr. Os Guinness ––Trinity Forum [A
framer and signatory of the Williamsburg Charter, 1984 and developer of
the related public school curriculum Living With Our Deepest Differences with Ernest Boyer/Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching/CFR]
Dr. Kent R. Hill ––Eastern Nazarene College
Rev. Max Lucado ––Oak Hills Church of Christ, San Antonio, TX [CNP]
Dr. T. M. Moore ––Chesapeake Theological Seminary
Dr. Richard Mouw ––Fuller Theological Seminary [ATS member]
Dr. Mark A. Noll ––Wheaton College [Billy
Graham Center]
Mr. Brian F. O’Connell ––Interdev [World
Evangelical Fellowship]
Dr. Thomas Oden ––Drew University [ATS
member]
Dr.
James J. I. Packer ––Regent College,
British Columbia [ATS member]
Dr. Timothy R. Phillips ––Wheaton
College [Billy Graham Center]
Dr. John Rodgers ––Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Dr. Robert A. Seiple ––World
Vision U.S. [US Commission on International Religious Freedom;
Institute for Global Engagement]
Dr. John Woodbridge ––Trinity
Evangelical Divinity School [ATS member]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROMAN
CATHOLICS
Father James J. Buckley ––Loyola
College in Maryland
Father
J. A. Di Noia, O.P. ––Dominican House of
Studies [ATS member]
Father Avery Dulles, S.J. –– Fordham University
Mr. Keith Fournier ––Catholic
Alliance [Fournier works with ACLJ/Jay
Sekulow & Pat Robertson, CNP]
Father Thomas Guarino ––Seton Hall University [ATS
member]
Dr. Peter Kreeft ––Boston College
Father Matthew L. Lamb ––Boston College
Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.Emmanuel
Father Francis Martin ––John Paul II
Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family
Mr. Ralph Martin ––Renewal Ministries
Father Richard John Neuhaus ––Religion and Public Life
Mr. Michael Novak [CFR]––American
Enterprise Institute
Father
Edward Oakes, S.J. ––Regis University
Father Thomas P. Rausch, S.J. ––Loyola Marymount University
Mr. George Weigel [CFR] ––Ethics and Public Policy Center Dr. Robert Louis
Wilken ––University of Virginia