Missions, cultural influence, and the Bible

The latest edition of Scientific American Mind describes new research that points out the powerful and frequently hidden influence that culture has on the way our brains perceive the world around us. The study of culture and cross-cultural communication/interaction, especially as it relates to missions, is a topic I have long been interested in.

Certainly it's nothing new to learn that culture impacts the way we interact with the people around us, but I have been thinking more on this topic lately with a new book that I recently finished, recommended to me, titled "Postmission." The book is a collection of essays written by Gen-Xers who are leaders in various mission organizations. And, through their essays, the book attempts to provide a vision or perspective of what missions could look like in a postmodern world.

It's the central premise of the book that I find so interesting, and compelling at times, even if I'm not sold completely on their perspective. But, the central premise of the book is that missions today has been heavily influenced by Modernism and that many of the "classic" values (even central tenets) of missions today are more cultural than Biblical. This certainly is not the first book on the subject, but it's the first that I have read specifically authored by Xers, and it's the first I have read to cast such a wide culturally-influenced net over missions. (Not a great sentence, but hoping you understand it). The book also spends many pages describing the differences between Gen-Xers, Boomers, etc, and how the two can learn to work better with each other, specifically in the context of missions--there are some helpful and very practical examples.

Overall, the book is a useful read, although my one negative critique of it is that the authors tend to focus heavily on the positive aspects that Postmodernism can lend to missions and conversely, a negative outlook on what Modernism has done for missions. They do not provide much of a balanced and thoughtful response on the strengths and weaknesses of the two and their contributions and limitations to missions-thinking.

Nonetheless, asking how Modernism has affected missions is a valid and intriguing question. A few observations made by the authors (actually, points they take from other missiologists, but find compelling to what they are also arguing):

"Reason supplanted faith as a beginning point for Christians and for missionaries."

"Christians came to believe that all problems were solvable, pushing God to the margin."

"Missionary outlook and practice has become infused with rationalism--pragmatic thinking...and reasoning through which methods and techniques have come to drive mission theology and strategy."

"The church and mission became captive to the philosophy of progress--to the idea of the imminent global triumph of Christianity."

Most people would agree that our own culture affects the way we interact with others, but that fact takes on a whole new, deeper, and personal meaning when I begin to more closely examine how what I think and how I think has been affected by Modernism and by the culture in which I live. The book even describes that how I understand and interpret the Bible is affected by my culture (read "Honor and Shame" by Roland Muller for an excellent and more academic treatment of that subject--a book I highly recommend), which I, in the past several years, have only begun to consider.

I'm not sure the best way to end this. I suppose I simply wanted to write these thoughts down because, as one who has been and remains personally involved in missions work, they are things that intrigue and challenge me. The more I consider it, the more I realize how my cultures (the secular American culture and the Christian culture) affect, even in nearly imperceptible ways, how I view and think about the world around me. Yet, those nearly invisible influences can have a profound affect on my own faith, on my ability to connect with others, and on the lives and faith of those I meet.