Hard questions about mission in a plural world
by James R. Krabill

Nana Lee sings praises to God at Grace Mennonite Church in Hong Kong. Photos: David Fisher Fast/Mennonite Mission Network

Why mission? It’s a question many people are asking, both within the broader society and increasingly within the church itself.

Though it sounds like a simple question, beneath it are other questions that challenge the church to re-examine not only its mission commitments but the foundational tenets of the Christian faith itself.

This reality became clear to me several years ago when I conducted a survey with a group of 37 mostly Mennonite university students to identify questions they had about mission. In 20 minutes of discussion in small groups, 144 questions surfaced. Many of these questions appeared multiple times; still no fewer than 63 distinct issues emerged.

I have repeated this exercise in other settings and with a wider age range with similar results — a torrent of questions: So what is so unique about Christianity anyway? How can we be sure that all paths to God aren’t the same? What happens to people who have never heard of Jesus? Who are we to say what is right and wrong? And the list goes on and on.

In my recent book, Is it insensitive to share your faith? (Good Books, 2005), I have identified what I see as a cluster of intersecting questions that the church will need to reflect upon and come to terms with as it lives into the pluralistic reality of the 21st century.

Related resource

Is it insensitive to share your faith? Read the second chapter of Krabill's new book. You can also borrow or purchase a copy online.

I have found it helpful to organize these questions under the following rubrics:

1. God. Does God, in fact, have a plan to save the world? And if so, does that plan apply to all peoples of the earth or is it limited in scope, designed and intended only for certain individuals, families, tribes or nations?

2. Jesus. What role does Jesus play in God’s plan? Is Jesus who and what he claimed to be? Did he say what he meant? And did he mean what he said? Is he simply "one among the many"? Or is he, in fact, "the One among many"?

3. Scripture. Is the biblical text a trustworthy source for our understanding of God’s saving plan? Or have science, the Jesus Seminar and The Da Vinci Code destroyed its reliability? And what about the Qur’an, the Gospel of Judas, Native American spiritual sources and our own experiences? How does the Bible stand up to these?

4. Church. Wouldn’t it be better if the church simply faced head-on its own internal conflicts and brokenness and cleaned up its act before proclaiming “good news” to others? Shouldn’t the church be a model of the gospel before attempting to be its messenger?

5. History. What about all the horrible things — Crusades, slavery, colonialism — that have been done in the name of Christianity over so many years? What about evils like racism that continue in the present? Aren’t these reasons enough for the church to take a break from missions for a while?

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Return to Beyond Ourselves—Fall 2006