Teaching Mission Strategy

A couple of weeks ago I discussed a class I was retro-fitting. The title was mission strategy and as the course had been historically taught, the students would read some church growth books and rely on business models to create a mission strategy for their ministry. I struggled with where to go with it -- could strategy be redeemed, where a strategy would be more influenced by the biblical narrative than by the latest business guru? Ultimately the proof will be with the students, and I will let them decide, but here was my attempt at 'redeeming' strategy.

The students (who were all training to be campus ministers) had already taken two courses (anthropology and worldview) and so I decided to build on their recently attained cultural understanding. Instead of going straight to strategy, I wanted them to investigate how it is the people of God interacted with the nations/cultures of the world throughout history.

First, I had them read Old Testament missional texts and create strategies solely from those sources. Next, I had them investigate the patterns of witness in Matthew and create mission strategies from there. I did the same with Mark, with Luke (Acts), with John (and letters and Rev), with Paul in Ephesians and Colossians, and with Peter. Drawing from these patterns of Old Testament and New Testament witness, i.e. these narratives, I had them create a biblical strategy for their campus. It was quite different than the pragmatic/business strategy they thought they would create.

Second, I had them draw ideas and patterns from church history. They created a strategy only using the pre-Christendom church (100-300). Next, I had them perform a mission/monastic strategy (300-1000) from drawing on early East Syrian missionaries to China and India, from drawing on Benedict, and others. Next (1000-1793) they continued to create strategies based on Francis, on Dominic, on the Jesuits. These contexts included Europe, the Americas and China.

Next, we created strategies based on the great (19th) century of mission (as with all movements it had its pros and cons), looking at this sending era which ended in the early to mid-twentieth century. Our last phase of strategy covered worldwide Pentecostalism, African Independent Churches, the Chinese House Church movement, among others.

At this point we had posters all over the walls featuring these movements combined with similar ideas and stories of their own campuses. The students' task was now to integrate the biblical and the historical with what they knew culturally about their campus group in order to create a comprehensive approach or strategy. They were to look to the past to widen their perspective, for patterns, and for inspiration (but never simply to copy). These were their new tools for improvisation...

It was really fun to teach the course in this way, and the students (who talked to me) seemed to rave about our time together. We had tremendous fun in the process, and needless to say, I learned a ton. Here are a few pix of our time together.

Technorati Tags: Fuller Theological Seminary, Mission_Strategy

Comments

[Ben]

Thanks for posting on the results of the class, Ryan. I'm encouraged that the students seemed to enjoy the time together so much. I like that your approach was intensely biblical and historical, and taught in such a way that students had to grapple with the biblical, historical, and cultural realities in order to write strategies that made sense in all three of those categories. Thanks for letting us know how it went, and I'm glad to hear that students were "raving" about a time of hard work and learning. I think your approach had much to do with that. They were learning by doing, not just listening.

[Jason Clark]

sounds amazing, wish I could have been there.

[John]

A very cool idea. As a campus pastor (and student of church history) I really liked the integration that occured. Thanks for the creative work (though I would really love to see samples of what someone came up with).

[Whis Hays]

This seems like a really exciting approach - no wonder the students raved. I may need to talk to you and steal, uh, borrow your design.

When I've taught on Mission Strategy we've looked at some of the Biblical and historical stuff, but not this way. And when we look at current business management/strategy tools, I make sure students are aware that the only mandate in the Bible for establishing goals, objectives, etc. is the mandate to "become all things to all people" (I Cor. 9:22). In other words, to those living in a coroporation-dominated culture maybe the best mission strategy is to deliver the Kingdom via a corporation-dominated mindset. Or you could argue that prophetic confrontation is God's thing for you to do. But whatever you choose, don't just blunder into it or do it because it's the fad or because we've always done it that way.

I love the way you've gone after this. Wish I could have been there!

[John Draper]

Great blog. I forwarded your link on Strategy to a friend "in charge" of new chuch starts, monthly forums where planters talk shop, etc. My point to him was that struggling with the whole expectation of stratgy may be what they feel, but it's got to be safe to talk about it. My job will be doing Acts 1:8 consultation with churches...so again how much strategy does one teach? Your dissertation topic on engaging powers for missiological advance--some of those concepts might need to be incorporated in whatever training we provide for churches stepping into the cross-cultural. Is tis kind of a take-off on the spiritual mapping approach of Dawson? ...Thanks for posting your thoughts and inviting a conversation.
~John Draper, Baltimore~

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