Third Wave Mission (Part 2 of 3)
Understanding Third Wave Missions: Missiological Research and the centrality of Contemporary
Anthropology
Dr. Brian Howell
Third wave missions – these contemporary phenomena of decentralized, ad hoc, and informal
relationships between so-called Western churches and those in places traditionally understood to be the
“mission field,” – are unquestionably interesting, perhaps confounding, potentially exciting, and possibly
problematic. In this paper I argue that in order for missiologists to understand these decentralized
practices, and more importantly, to dig beneath the surface of explicit attitudes and ideas to the cultural
forces at work, we need to employ traditional anthropological field work along with sophisticated
contemporary cultural theory. Through an example of a church-based short term missions program, I first
demonstrate how the institutional arrangement and cultural context work together in the practices of the
congregation to shape the mission theology of the participants. This ethnographic argument presented,
however, is primarily for the purpose of demonstrating how this understanding can only be gained
through the kind close-in ethnographic field work of anthropology interpreted through a theoretical
framework that can hold the various influences in view together. In the end I argue that without a robust
anthropology as a component of contemporary missiology, we will not have all the resources necessary to
understand the kinds of dynamic, diverse and decentralized phenomena that comprise third wave
missions.
“A Look at Short-Term Missions through the Lens of the Host Partner"
Dennis Horton
By conservative estimates, more than 1.5 million U.S. Christians annually participate in shortterm international mission work. While a number of studies have examined the effects of these
experiences on the mission team members, little has been written about the impact of short-term missions
on the host partners. This paper provides insights from 100 long-term personnel and nationals who have
hosted short-term mission teams. These host partners had an average of 16 years of missions experience
in an international context. As a group, they had hosted approximately 3,000 short-term teams in 91
different countries. The participants in this study included those from several different denominations
(including theologically conservative, moderate, and progressive branches) as well as those from
nondenominational groups. This paper provides a synopsis of their perspectives on short-term missions
in the following areas: potential pitfalls, setting the agenda, preferred types of activities, optimal group
size, preferred length of stay, and the maximum number of groups to host within a given year. The paper
also offers the host partners' insights about whether or not short-term teams have contributed in a positive
way to the long-term impact on their local communities and/or their ministries within these local
communities.
Short-term Visits and Long-term Victims: Cultural Challenges in Contemporary Indo-American
Missional Partnerships
Dr. PrabhuSIngh Vedhamanickam. South Asia Institute for Advanced Christian Studies,
Bangalore, India Missiological Anthropologist, Professor
Partnership is a buzzword in many sectors in today's world, including contemporary Christianity.
Due to changing global and local realities, short term missions has become one of the chief avenues for
western Christian mission initiatives in India. However, some of the culturally inappropriate practices of
short term mission teams, fueled both by ignorance and arrogance, have seriously jeopardized Christian
missions in India. Short term visitation of global teams can subject the local faith community to local
term victimization, if not done carefully. This article presents two dominant flawed paradigms of
partnerships in contemporary Indo - American missions [Ethnocentric Exclusivity and Subservient
Dependency] and posits a third one [Intentional Interdependency] as the way forward for serving in
biblically compatible and culturally appropriate manner in the contemporary world.
Breaking through the Stained-glass window: Christian women’s grassroots leadership in resourcebrokering and short-term mission travel.
Kersten Bayt Priest. Indiana Wesleyan University, Associate Professor of Sociology
While many congregations and denominations limit women’s involvements at the highest official
church levels, contemporary international carework is a creative alternative practice of leadership.
Fulfilling Scriptural mandates to love one’s neighbor, women travel on short-term mission trips, in
partnership with nationals, bringing special knowledge, resources, and care to individuals and groups they
deem particularly needy – including AIDS affected persons, orphans, sex trafficked youth, and the poor. I
asked two women’s groups if I could accompany them as they organized, raised funds, traveled, and
served. The first group is an NGO founded by nurses and focused on Africa. The second group is
headquartered in Georgia and focuses their effort on sex traffick related issues in India. My method is
global ethnography, grounded in participant/observation, systematic note-taking, interviews, and content
analysis of NGO websites. The story of World Hope International, founded by Dr. Jo Anne Lyon,
provides an additional case by which to examine how service leadership poised her to become the first
woman elected to the highest office of the Wesleyan Church (General Superintendent).
Avance Sacado de onda: Third-wave mission and integrated praxiological andragogy in
missiological practicum requirements as relates to training for contextualization
Kevin Book-Satterlee, William Carey University
The phrase sacado de onda in Mexico, literally “out of the wave,” is the feeling one might have
in a contextual “wipe-out.” This can be applied to the reality that missionaries experience when beginning
the process of inculturation in new contexts as well as understanding contexualization issues pertaining to
Christian mission. This paper intends to analyze missiological practicum requirements of evangelical
seminaries for the training of contextualization in Schreiter’s implications of “third-wave mission”. To do
so, I will review Schreiter’s third-wave mission as well as both his and evangelical missiologist,
Moreau’s, models of contextualization. Then I describe integrated praxiological andragogy (IPA).
Original research utilizes IPA to analyze practicum requirements of ten evangelical seminary master’s
degree programs in missiology (or related programs) to determine overall efficacy in training students for
contextualization in a globalized, third-wave mission. I conclude that in order for students to meet the
complex contextualization needs of third-wave mission, missiological programs should involve more
robust integrated praxiological andragogy.