The West with the rest? Exploring the role of UFM Worldwide in the sending of overseas cross-cultural missionaries from the Indonesian church

Prest, Michael Stephen (2022) The West with the rest? Exploring the role of UFM Worldwide in the sending of overseas cross-cultural missionaries from the Indonesian church. MTh(R) thesis, Edinburgh Theological Seminary. University of Glasgow.

Abstract

With more cross-cultural missionaries being sent from the majority world than the Western world, it is something of an anomaly that the number of such workers being sent by the Indonesian church remains relatively low.

This study considers the place of a Western mission agency such as UFM Worldwide in the sending of mission workers from the Indonesian church, examining the case for the West working with the rest to this end.

The theological and biblical analysis of this study emphasises the fundamental place of the local church in mission sending and highlights the breadth of mission sending practice that is described in the New Testament church.

This work provides the background to the literature study which seeks to highlight the main strategies adopted by other Western agencies as they have pursued internationalisation agendas, namely expanding international structures into the majority world, as well as financing or taking over emerging mission movements. In highlighting the many dangers of such approaches, it is made clear that at times such practice has hindered the very work it set out to do.

Empirical research was then undertaken with 3 Indonesian mission agency leaders in order to contribute to the data available about the Indonesian mission movement, as well as to test the assumptions of the theological, biblical and praxeological work. The clear sense from this part of the research was that Indonesian agency leaders wanted to work with, not for, Western mission agencies, particularly in the areas of training and finance.

In discussing the place of Western mission agencies in the sending of mission workers from the majority world, this study promotes a relational, rather than structural, answer to the debate. Western organisations must recognise the mission structures that are already in place in the majority world, namely local churches and their leaders. Consequently, the study concludes that any Western involvement in mission sending should be marked by mutuality, humility and shared learning, and must be exercised at the request of the national church to partner, not the desire of the Western organisation to grow.

• Item Type: Thesis (MTh(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity; B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BV Practical Theology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Wilson, Dr. Alistair I. and Gay, Reverend Doug
• Date of Award: 2022
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2022-82809
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 20 Apr 2022 07:20
• Last Modified: 20 Apr 2022 07:27
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.82809
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/82809