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Langham Creative Projects - Oddvar Sten Ronsen

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78 pages

English

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The Lausanne congress of 1974 marked the widespread adoption of integral mission as essential to the evangelical witness of Christ in our world. Ever since there has been ongoing debate as to the roles of evangelism and social action. In this book Oddvar Sten Ronsen argues that instead of the priority of evangelism over social action there should be the anticipation of evangelism as a result of social action. Although evangelism and social action may not occur at the same time, the author warns of the possibility of “mission drift,” where projects begin with the intention of meeting the social and spiritual needs of the people, but fail to proceed to evangelism. In succumbing to this mission drift, projects cease to be true to the principles of integral mission.
Combining theological reflection with case studies of microfinance enterprises in the Philippines and Thailand, Ronsen evaluates the sustainability of, and social good delivered by, these Christian projects to the communities they serve. The research sheds light on the causes of a drift from integral mission, how these can be managed and whether microfinance can be a bridge for the gospel.

Informations

Publié par	Langham Creative Projects
Date de parution	14 février 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783680894
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0022€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

This fine and important study provides readers with a first-class treatment of the role of microfinance in Christian mission. Ronsen is very well placed to write this, as someone with long experience and strong expertise in microfinance. He has given us a thoughtful and engaging book which locates microfinance within a holistic view of Christian mission, rooted in the Lausanne Movement’s concern for integral mission. He also provides two excellent in-depth case studies of the strengths and challenges of Christian microfinance in developing world contexts. This book will inform, engage, provoke and inspire readers: I commend it most warmly.
Steve Walton
Professor of New Testament,
St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, UK

Mission Drift?
Exploring a Paradigm Shift in Evangelical Mission with Particular Reference to Microfinance
Oddvar Sten Ronsen
Global Perspectives Series

© 2016 by Oddvar Sten Ronsen
Published 2016 by Langham Global Library
an imprint of Langham Creative Projects
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-78368-095-5 Print
978-1-78368-090-0 Mobi
978-1-78368-089-4 ePub
978-1-78368-091-7 PDF
Oddvar Sten Ronsen has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1952, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-78368-095-5
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and a scholar’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth, and works referenced within this publication or guarantee its technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

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Contents

Cover

Abstract

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 A Theological Perspective

2.1 Brief Background to the Development of the Integral Mission Concept

2.2 The Process toward a Concept of Integral Mission in Evangelical Theology

2.3 Issues Related to Proclamation in Integral Mission

2.4 Some Effects of the Lausanne Process

2.5 The Need for a Final Clarification of the Integral Mission Concept

2.6 Conclusion

3 Microfinance in Christian Mission and Perceived Effects on the Poor

3.1 Microfinance

3.2 A Biblical Context for “the Poor” in Microfinance

3.3 The Nature of Poverty

3.4 Targeting Material Poverty Reduction in Microfinance

3.5 Microfinance: Does It Help the Poor?

3.6 Christian Microfinance

3.7 Conclusion

4 The Viability of Microfinance as a Platform for Christian Integral Mission

4.1 The Philippine Microfinance Industry and the Issue of Mission Drift

4.2 Thailand and “Step Ahead”

4.3 Summary of Case Studies

5 Summary and Conclusions

Bibliography

About Langham Partnership

Endnotes
Abstract
Many Christian missions have included microfinance in their integral mission work as a tool to help poor people break out of the poverty cycle. This study analyses the extent to which Christian microfinance organizations are able to serve the poor materially and spiritually by employing microfinance as a platform for Christian integral mission. I argue that although a basic theological consensus that social action and evangelism are inextricably linked to each other has emerged in the evangelical church, the perennial debate as to whether evangelism should have “priority” over social action has led to a lack of conceptual clarity and loss of direction in integral mission. I propose that the concept of “anticipated” evangelism should replace that of the “priority” of evangelism to reflect the fact that social action and evangelism do not necessarily coincide in time but that the interlinkage between them should be carefully planned. The concept of “mission drift” is introduced to indicate how Christian microfinance that originally intended to serve the social and spiritual needs of the poor may over time become relatively unrelated to the proclamation of the gospel. The viability of microfinance as a platform for Christian integral mission is appraised in a field study in the Philippines and Thailand. The case study relates to the two standard bottom lines of microfinance – that is, whether the operations are financially sustainable and whether they can deliver a social good to the poor. In addition the study relates to a third bottom line which is whether Christian microfinance can also be integral mission and a bridge for the gospel. The field study also sheds light on risk factors that can produce mission drift in relation to the objectives of integral mission and indicates how these may be handled. The case studies demonstrate that the ability of Christian microfinance to deliver a social good to the poor through microfinance is not incompatible with using microfinance as a platform for evangelism, provided the microfinance organizations are aware of and willing to handle the mechanisms that produce mission drift.
Abbreviations
APPEND Alliance of Philippine Partners in Enterprise Development CCT Centre for Community Transformation CFI Common Interest Foundation CGAP Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest CMED Christian microenterprise development CRESR International Consultation on the Relationship between Evangelism and Social Responsibility CRS Catholic Relief Services ICOWE International Congress on World Evangelization MCP Microfinance Council of the Philippines MED Microenterprise development MEDA Mennonite Economic Development Association MFO Microfinance organization MIX Microfinance Information Exchange NGO Non-governmental organization NMA Norwegian Mission Alliance NT New Testament OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OI Opportunity International OT Old Testament PHP Philippine Peso SA Step Ahead TDF Transformational Development Framework THB Thai Baht WEF World Evangelical Fellowship
1
Introduction
In the course of the last three decades the concept of integral mission, [1] also called holistic mission, [2] has become the dominating basis for most Christian mission agencies. As a part of this trend microfinance found its way into Christian mission activities. Previously missions had incorporated health services, hospital operations, orphanages, and so on, into their activities, but up to then not traditional instruments of finance aimed at helping people to break out of the poverty cycle by extending to them small loans for micro-enterprises. When microcredit was launched with the promise of changing the lives of millions of poor people around the world by giving them access to capital from which they had hitherto been precluded, many Christian NGOs, [3] agencies and missions adopted it. This tended to fit well into their focus on poor and impoverished groups in the countries in which they worked. The age of microfinance came with the introduction of other financial products, such as voluntary savings and insurance, that were offered to the clients.
Microfinance was conceptually new and caught the interest of younger donor generations that embraced it as a way to impact the lives of the borrowers and their families directly through help to self-help, thereby creating self-sustaining community structures that could permanently improve their life conditions. However, measuring the effects of microfinance has turned out to be a controversial issue in the microfinance industry, and some observers contend that the gap between microcredit rhetoric and reality is widening. [4]
The decisions by Christian agencies to launch microcredit were, however, generally made on a rather rudimentary basis. At the time little was known about the effects of microfinance on the poor client groups that were included in the operations, or about the implications of introducing microfinance into their mission work on the maintenance of commitment to the core values of the mission and the cohesion in the organization as the work expanded. [5] As some time has passed since then it is now possible to take a closer look at microfinance and consider whether it is justified to include microfinance in Christian mission work. If it is, how should it be structured and operated in relation to the overall mission work and the work of the church at large in order to satisfy basic conceptual requirements of integral mission theology?
In this study microfinance as a part of Christian mission work is considered in three dimensions. In the ra