Theology: The Foundation of Missions

All missiological decisions must be rooted, either implicitly or explicitly, in theology in order to mirror the purposes and mind of God. Theology provides the purpose, the focus, the life of missiology and is, therefore, the very foundation of the discipline. It produces the message proclaimed in missions--a message not of human origin but revealed by God. Theology also furnishes the motivation of mission, which is rooted in the attributes of God, who sends and saves. It gives "the work of ministry its heart and fire" (Wells 1992, 186). Finally, theology provides the ethical lenses through which missionaries evaluate human cultures and determine practical strategies of ministry. The study of theology thus enables Christian missionaries to perceive the social contexts through the eyes of God and develop strategies shaped by the touch of the divine.

Too often, however, we take the theological foundation of missions for granted. Paul Hiebert writes,

Too often we choose a few themes and from there build a simplistic theology rather than look at the profound theological motifs that flow throughout the whole of Scripture. Equally disturbing to the foundations of mission is the dangerous potential of shifting from God and his work to the emphasis of what we can do for God by our own knowledge and efforts. We become captive to a modern secular worldview in which human control and technique replace divine leading and human obedience as the basis of mission.

                                                                                (Hiebert 1993, 4)

Hesselgrave confirmed the absence of theological foundations in contemporary missiology when he made a thematic content analysis of book reviews and articles published in major mission journals (Missiology, International Review of Missions, and Evangelical Missions Quarterly) between 1973 and 1986. He concluded that the social sciences and history have been given more attention in the study of missiology than has theology (1988, 139-144) and asks, "Of what lasting significance is the evangelical commitment to the authority of the Bible if biblical teachings do not explicitly inform our missiology?" (1988, 142). Without a theological foundation missions quickly becomes merely another human endeavor.

Christian strategists who prioritize God's role in missions do not begin with the pragmatic question "Does it work?" They rather begin by asking fundamental theological questions: "How does God desire that we minister within this cultural context? Do these plans enact the rule of God and challenge ungodly allegiances? Do these strategies reflect the nature of God?" A Christian leader thus makes plans based upon Christian presuppositions. Missions reduced to methodology is as empty as spiritual gifts without love--like "a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1). Strategy must be a servant, never a master, to the mission of God.