Reverse mission

Reverse mission is a Christian missiological concept focusing on the late-20th-century reversal of early missionizing efforts, whereby Christians from Africa, Asia, and Latin America send missionaries to Europe and North America.^[1]

History

The modern missionary movement has tended to focus on the late-18th-century William Carey, as the "father of modern missions", until the early 20th century finding its peak in Edinburgh 1910. The focus of mission was largely a movement from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The second half of the 20th century has seen the shift of world Christianity, from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. However, African, Asian, and Latin American Christians have migrated to the West, bringing with them their Christianity. This has been termed "reverse mission," as it emphasizes the reversal of the direction of earlier missionary efforts.^[2] Reverse missionaries from African countries have sought to reintroduce Christianity to the United Kingdom,^[3][4] as have Koreans bringing Christianity to the United States.^[5]

In 1989, the Third World Missions Association was established in Portland, Oregon, as a forum to train sending agencies of reverse missionaries from Africa, Asia, and Latin American.^[1]

Criticisms

Some have criticized the terminology as a rhetoric more than reality, given that the success in mission is less in converting Europeans and North Americans, but in leading immigrant church populations in these lands.^[6][7] Others have noted that the language arose alongside the decolonization of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and has been used to emphasize the shift of power from the West to the majority world.^[2]

An alternative paradigm has been suggested in terms of return mission, whereby diasporic Christians in Europe and North America return to evangelize the lands of their ancestral origins, especially in Africa and Asia.^[8]

References

1. Ojo, Matthew (2007). "Reverse Mission". In Bonk, Jonathan J. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Mission and Missionaries. London: Routledge. pp. 380–382.
2. Adogame, Afeosemime U (2013). The African Christian Diaspora: New Currents and Emerging Trends in World Christianity. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 169–189. ISBN 978-1441188588.
3. Fesenmyer, Leslie (17 June 2014). "Reverse missionizing: Migration, Christianity, and civic engagement in London". COMPAS. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
4. Schomberg, Simon Dawson (1 February 2019). "African churches boom in London's backstreets – a picture essay". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
5. Kim, S. Hun (2011). "Migrant Workers and 'Reverse Mission' in the West". In Kim, S. Hun; Ma, Wonsuk (eds.). Korean Diaspora and Christian Mission. Oxford: Regnum. pp. 146–152. ISBN 978-1-870345-89-7.
6. Butticci, Annalisa (2013). "Religion in Motion: A Missionary Narrative of Creativity and Survival from the Pentecostal Nigerian Diaspora in Italy". In Adogame, Afe; Shankar, Shobana (eds.). Religion on the Move! New Dynamics of Religious Expansion in a Globalizing World. Leiden: Brill. pp. 203–221. ISBN 9789004243378.
7. Olofinjana, Israel (19 December 2013). "Reverse Mission: Is It Rhetoric or Reality?". ethicsdaily.com. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
8. Chow, Alexander (9 October 2019). "Jonathan Chao and 'Return Mission': The Case of the Calvinist Revival in China". Mission Studies. 36 (3): 442–457. doi:10.1163/15733831-12341678. hdl:20.500.11820/bbb5abc6-197b-4119-8a38-7ef4849f5f10.