The Practice of Mission in Global Methodism

The anthology The Practice of Mission in Global Methodism: Emerging Trends from Everywhere to Everywhere, edited by David W. Scott and Darryl W. Stephens, seeks to reframe Methodist mission within the context, thought, and praxis of World Christianity. The text primarily focuses on the United Methodist Church, a worldwide denomination with roots in the United States and a history of colonialist missional development.

The editors place Methodist mission in four areas of analysis: creating global relationships, contextualizing mission for local areas, increasing education on missional formation, and prioritizing polylogues for sustaining a diverse missional future together. The anthology focuses on contemporary topics with a goal to decenter Western Christianity. The contributors largely examine on a variety of Methodisms worldwide in this approach.

Scott and Stephens frame this work from multiple perspectives and places, global and local. The collective of practitioners and scholars is diverse, although each speaks to specific contextual way that mission has been shaped by colonization and financial resources, as well as the challenges presented by both. The book makes clear that many scholars are working diligently to decolonize missiology, using a variety of sources and introducing new missional practices based on the methodology of World Christianity. Ultimately, the aim of the book is to assuage mission practitioners that continue to occupy a space of Western privilege, which presents enduring challenges to the study of mission.

In the first section on global relationships, Hendrik Pieterse proposes a new framework for ecumenical theology that is culturally and religiously plural, but comes with contextual limits. Pieterse notes the problematic dominance of US-centric theology within Methodism although suggesting that Methodist vision of a worldwide church gives space for expanding its conversations and communal practices. Taylor Walters Denyer augments this argument, maintaining that Methodism often “perpetuates colonialism while attempting mission work” (28). To build these relationships, Denyer advocates for the type of mutuality and partnership in mission that recognizes the gifts and graces of one another and practices deep listening.

In the second section of the text, the contributors prioritize engagement in contextual spaces. Nelson Kalombo Ngoy emphasizes that practitioners should be aware that “mission is not a handout” (85) and need to acknowledge how inequality perpetuates poverty and dependency in mission. He argues that African churches should be allowed to grow and develop in their own understanding of Methodism, instead of adopting a prescriptive approach shaped by American theological praxis. Jeffrey Conklin-Miller advances Ngoy’s argument in the third section of the volume. Conklin-Miller calls for a more adaptive theological education, one that “integrate[s] studies of the tradition with studies located in the midst of the ongoing work of missional, ecclesial innovation” (185). In the current theological education climate, most sources are Western-based and practices are practitioner-centric, excluding input and contributions from local contexts.

Scott wraps up the anthology with a chapter that discloses the dilemmas that arise when Methodist mission is addressed through the lens of World Christianity: inequities in the church worldwide, uneven scholarship, and the increase of division over issues. These dilemmas raise further questions about Methodism’s ability to build global relationships, increase contextual mission engagements, and improve education around mission. Each task can reinforce colonialist tendencies if they are not handled with care.

Collectively, The Practice of Mission in Global Methodism emphasizes the need for Methodism to engage more across the globe with various contexts in order to shed itself of its colonialist legacy. Methodism’s claim of being a worldwide church may cause further harm to relationships within missional contexts if its practices fail to match its rhetoric.  

Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain is a PhD candidate at Boston University in history of Christianity and Methodist studies.

Emily Nelms Chastain

Date Of Review:

December 13, 2023