Is Christian mission outdated?
For some years the very terms ‘mission’ and (particularly) ‘missionary’ have been questioned by more thinking Christian leaders. They are thought to have negative implications in our modern age. There has been much critical propaganda against Christian mission as something linked to imperialism and destructive of national cultures. So it has been suggested that we talk more of ‘Christian workers’, ‘Christian outreach’, or other such non-emotive terms. In recent years the secular world has begun to use the words ‘mission’ and even ‘missionary’. Every organization today has to have its ‘mission statement’, and people with conviction in spreading their particular views are sometimes described as ‘missionary’. No longer are these terms considered pejorative. Still we have to ask: what is our Christian understanding of mission? … To boldly go . . . everywhere The words ‘mission’ and ‘missionary’ are often sadly misunderstood. Many Christians think of evangelism and witness as appropriate
