Call for Papers: Reimagining Mission
Reimagining Mission: Teaching mission for a changing world
The Association of Professor of Missions extends an open call for paper presentation proposals for its annual meeting June 13-14, 2019. Those interested in presenting a paper at APM should submit a proposed tile with a 150-200 word abstract to A. Sue Russell, APM President at sue.russell@asburyseminary.eduby March 30, 2019.
Theme: This year we will consider how we can reimagine mission to teach mission in a changing world. At the close of the 20thcentury, several books were published looking forward to what mission would look like in the 21stcentury. They discussed trends such as supporting national workers, theological drifts, short term mission explosion, tent making, justice, creation care, partnership, international mission movements. We are now two decades into the 21stcentury and it is time to take stock of where mission is headed in the next 20 years.
How do the changes in the world affect how we imagine and teach mission. Specifically, how do we prepare people for what mission will look like in 20 years, 30 years and beyond? What trends that were predicted at the close of the 20thcentury still apply today? What has changed in the landscape of mission for which we need to prepare people? What kinds of skills do people need to encounter the challenges of mission in the next decades? Who will be involved in the next global mission movement?
Papers are encouraged that address a wide range of topics for the teaching of mission in the next two decades. We especially encourage young scholars and future professors of mission to participate in this conversation. There are several areas that papers may address, including:
Looking back:Papers are encouraged to look at predictions that were made regarding trends for 21st century missions, such as diaspora mission, refugees, globalization, urbanization, etc. and discuss how they have shaped and will continue to shape teaching mission in the future. They may also address concepts and theories that need to be revised and/or expanded, or theories that are no longer relevant for mission today.
Looking Forward–Practitioners of Missions. Papers may address who will be the next practitioners of mission. With the rise of the ‘nones’ in North American and Europe, the rise of the global church, and the move of mission to the local church, how do we prepare the next generation of practitioners? What is the role of professors of mission in equipping the church and supporting global partnerships and global mission practitioners?
Looking Forward–New Approaches: Papers may seek to address new approaches to mission in a changing context. What are the possibilities for ecumenical partnerships, missional churches, interreligious dialogue, communal living, missional churches, and social action?
Looking forward–Training and Support: What are new methods to train and support the next generation of practitioners? What will training programs look like, what new delivery systems, educational programs, and training programs will effectively equip the next generation of mission practitioners?
Looking forward– New Challenges: What new challenges will mission practitioners face and how do we prepare them for challenges such as an increase in violence, natural disasters, political instability, persecution, displaced peoples, etc? What new strategies are needed for the changing world? How do these particularly affect women and children?
Other areas: Topics that relate to the teaching of mission in general will be considered.
SUBMISSION AND PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS Paper proposal deadline: March 30, 2019. Notification of accepted papers: April 15, 2019. Submission of completed papers and confirmation of meeting attendance: May 30, 2019. For the purpose of online publication of presentations submitted papers may be up to 5000 words included notes and references (about 20 page double-spaced) and should conform to the style guide of Missiology: An International Review, available at: http://asmweb.org/assets/pdf/Style-Guide-2011.pdg. The full text of all papers approved for the conference will be made available to the members of APM online as The Proceedings of the Association of Professor of Mission, 2019.
Presentation at the meeting will be limited to 15 to 20 minutes plus additional time for discussion depending on number of presentations accepted. Please direct all submissions and questions to A. Sue Russell, APM President at sue.russell@asburyseminary.edu
Call for Papers: Mission to Women Amid Global Crisis
Call for papers
Special track of the 2019 Evangelical Missological Society Meetings on Mission Amid Global Crisis
Mission to Women Amid Global Crisis
Global crisis created by wars, human trafficking, natural disasters, poverty, slavery, and abuse affect all people and lead to human suffering. However they have a greater impact on the lives of those who live on the margins of society. This track is designed to explore how cultural and political constructions of gender and gender inequality affect the economic and social well-being of women and children, and make them particularly vulnerable in global crisis.
Papers and case studies to explore in this track include but are not limited to:
- Specific issues that affect women and children such as migration, transnational families, care work, slavery, war and rape, and forced prostitution in different cultural contexts.
- Inequalities and issues that women face in their communities such as illiteracy, lack of schooling, and limited access to resources, including health care, food, clean water, prenatal care etc.
- Women’s global movements and women’s empowerment. How have global women’s movements and missions to women, particularly as they address human rights and development, empowered women and impacted their status and well-being, and in doing so impacted their families and communities.
- Case studies on how churches and missions have addressed the needs of women and children in global crisis.
- Case studies on women’s empowerment and economic development.
To propose a paper for this track, send a topic title and 200-300 word abstract to Sue Russell, sue.russell@asburyseminary.edu,by May 30, 2019. Notification will be by June 30, 2019. Accepted papers should be 4500-7000 words in length and use Chicago Turbian author-date citation format. Selected papers will be invited to be presented at the annual EMS meetings in Dallas, Sept 13-15 2019.
Mutual Love
At the Global Christian Forum’s third Global Gathering, Christians were called to peace, unity, and costly discipleship. The meetings were held in Bogota, Columbia, and three graduates who were part of the CGCM were speakers at the event (Essamuah, Zurlo, Padilla DeBorst). A full report is available in the WCF’s newsletter.
Call for Papers: Chinese Christian Art and Literature
Dates: May 3-5, 2019 (arriving on the 2nd and departing on the 6th)
Place: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
The Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University invites papers that examine the relationship between Christianity and art or literature in Chinese societies. We welcome scholarly research papers that analyze art or literary works by Christian artists or writers, art criticism or literary criticism from a Christian perspective, or biographical or empirical studies of Christian artists or writers. Both the term art and literature are broadly understood. Art includes all forms of the fine arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, and even performing arts. Literature includes all genres of creative writing: novels, poems, essays, nonfictions, and even playwrights.
We also invite Chinese Christian artists and writers to present personal reflection papers about their faith and creative work. Personal reflection papers should reflect on personal conversion, Christian beliefs, and the impact of faith on their artwork or writing. In addition to the paper, the Chinese Christian artist/writer should also submit three to five samples (digital copies) of their works. Concurrent with this conference will be an art exhibit of Chinese Christian artists.
Based on submitted abstracts, we will select 20 participants to make presentations. Hotel expenses for the presenters will be covered and arranged by us. A limited number of travel funds is available to subside transportation costs for those who apply.
Deadline to submit abstracts: December 14, 2018. The abstract should be between 500 and 1,000 words. Please include a brief c.v., 3-5 samples (copies) of artworks or published writings (for artists), and a note about whether or not applying for a travel subsidy and if so, how much. We will notify the selected participants and travel funds by December 31, 2018.
Deadline to submit draft full paper: March 31, 2019. The paper should be no less than 5,000 words, with proper footnotes and referenced bibliography. We plan to publish a volume of the edited papers.
Please submit your abstract, c.v., note about travel subsidy, and full paper to Lily Szeto lszeto@purdue.edu.
Bartolome de las Casas
For scholars of world Christianity, Bartolome de las Casas is a fascinating figure. A missionary to the New World, he struggled to express a theology that could address the extraordinary conditions that colonial expansion and colonization created. In Bartolome de las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion, prominent scholars from such disciplines as history, Latin American studies, literary criticism, philosophy, and theology come together to think about the man and his message.
Pedagogical Dilemmas in the Global Church
After publishing an article about power and privilege in relation to colonial subsidies and the education of missionary children in the Belgian Congo, Anicka Fast received feedback from people around the world. Their comments spurred her to explain her larger project, and the aims of her research. She also reflects on the complexity of writing history and getting it ‘right.’ Published in Anabaptist Witness, her reflections on the task and challenge of writing mission history are rich food for thought.
Ambivalent about Mission?
The Council of International Anabaptist Ministries held a symposium on “The mission of God and global partnerships.” Anicka Fast shared ideas about “Reclaiming Mission,” for those ambivalent about the very idea.
Anabaptists in Nigeria
In 1958 a group of congregations in southeastern Nigeria solicited affiliation with the North American Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM), declared themselves Mennonite, and sought missionaries and assistance. MBM responded by sending missionaries and by providing assistance to Mennonite Church Nigeria (MCN) and others in the region. The collaboration between MCN and MBM developed during a period when partnership was becoming a primary paradigm in the Protestant missionary movement as well as in the Anabaptist tradition.
In his recent article, R. Bruce Yoder (’16) highlights five themes in the missiological discourse about partnership during the last half of the twentieth century and uses those themes to explicate aspects of the engagement between MCN and MBM during the same period. The themes are (1) collaboration, (2) context, (3) reconfiguration of mission structures, (4) bilateral and multilateral approaches, and (5) ambiguity. The first section examines partnership in the Protestant mission movement. The second shows that these themes also arise in Anabaptist mission discourse. The third section presents the case of Mennonite Church Nigeria and Mennonite Board of Missions, showing the partnership paradigm to be a compelling missionary vision while clarifying challenges that may require consideration of additional mission models.
Mission and Transformation in Burundi
Daewon Moon (PhD ’18) and Joenghwa Park spent an afternoon at Boston University, describing their work in holistic mission in Burundi. Together they showcased how churches, schools, and global connections interact to create a healthy and vibrant community.
Call for Papers: Yale-Edinburgh Group
Diversity and Difference in Custom, Belief, and Practice in the History of Missions and World Christianity
That World Christianity is diverse, goes without saying; and any serious study of the missionary movement from the West, inseparable from the history of World Christianity, reveals not only diversity, but evident, often deeply held and sometimes strongly asserted difference. Sometimes the causes of difference lie in the Christian histories of Europe or America; transported to Africa or Asia, the distinctions, even if losing their original significance, remained sources of organizational division within African or Asian churches. Within missions, differences of age or of social or educational background have sometimes had quite as much influence on events as has theological divergence; and the same has been the case with differences arising from ethnic or cultural factors in churches. In both missions and churches movements seen by some as bringing renewal and revival have been seen by others as vehicles of disruption and confusion.
In both missions and churches, too, policies and priorities have changed over time, sometimes in response to movements of religious activity or theological reflection, sometimes independently of either. Some tensions are built into the nature of Christian mission: the call to daring faith and self-sacrifice goes out along with the call to devout prudence and responsible use of scarce resources, and some hear one sound while others hear the other. And there have always been maximalists and minimalists in mission: those whose vision embraces all creation and all human society, and those whose vision is unwaveringly concentrated on one thing needful. Both forms of vision have had an impact on World Christianity.
The degree of diversity in the interests, specialist knowledge, and perspectives of our members promises a rich and revealing time together as we pursue this theme, and studies are set before us of diversity and difference – whether in the same location at the same time, the same location at different times, or in different locations.
Please direct any questions about the theme essay or the 2019 meeting to my Yale email address (Christopher.j.anderson@yale.edu).