Marketing mission: the divergence in missiological thought between pastors and missionary leadership.

Reeb, Charity ; Hermans, Charles M. ; Simmers, Christina S. 等

Abstract

This qualitative study examines paradigms of the definition of mission as held by high-level Assembly of God pastors and missionary leaders. The study reveals that the two groups differ in their definition of mission. In the church, pastors generally feel that "mission" encompasses outreach to all people groups; missionaries, however, consider that mission is specific to the apostolic function, namely, reaching out with the Gospel where no one has gone before--to unreached people groups (UPGs). Implications for missionary leadership suggest a targeted marketing approach; using niche strategies directed to the mission-funding churches may be needed.

Keywords

mission theology, paradigms, mission, missionaries, marketing missions, apostolic function, unreached people groups, niche strategy

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From a missiological perspective, there is desperate need for Christians to bring access to the Gospel to unreached people groups (UPGs). The Joshua Project, a research organization that specializes in UPGs, defines unreached or least-reached people as ethnic groups with less than 2 percent evangelical believers and less than 5 percent Christ-adherents. (1) It identifies 6,916 people groups that are currently UPGs. In total, these groups represent 2.77 billion people without a Gospel witness. Johnson suggests that UPGs make up 40 percent of the world population that is living in a situation where there is neither church nor Christian in the sociocultural setting. (2)

Although reaching all nations is a central value of the Bible, the majority of Christians live uninformed of the many people groups who have no opportunity to hear the message of Jesus in their sociocultural context. One may argue that there is a lack of awareness between a world where church movements exist and where they do not. (3) Yet, only from an existing church movement can help be expected to support those who are willing to go where there currently is no church. It takes willingness in the heart of missionaries to step into uncharted territory, but it also requires the commitment and support through funding efforts of the current church movement to launch them over the great divide. For the two groups to work together effectively, it is imperative that they understand each other's paradigm of mission. Anglican missionary Stephen Neill is quoted as saying, "If everything is mission, then nothing is mission." (4) The term "mission" is used so often and so broadly in the church community that perhaps its true meaning has been diluted.

History of mission

David Bosch acknowledged that the understanding of mission has morphed and now has a great variety of meanings. In his book Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Missions, Bosch addresses Christian mission paradigms and perspectives through the ages, starting with Jesus and the early church and ending in 1992, the year of Bosch's death. (5)

For a period following Jesus' death, Christian missions revolutionized the early church. The apostle Paul defined the mission paradigm for that day. Even from the very beginning, however, the church struggled to understand its mission. The paradigm shift in this time period involved mission changing from a movement to an organized institution. Christianity evolved into a religious entity, rather than remaining an ideology shared by neighbors and friends. This struggle between movement and institution continued through the ages and remains strong today.

In modern times the West has become increasingly dechristianized, very obviously so in Western Europe. Walking through its streets, one notices thousands of former Protestant and Catholic churches already converted to secular uses or newly up for sale. The political leaders of the European Union recently refused to mention the Christian roots of Western Europe in their constitution for the Union. The failure of governments to recognize the Christian religion in Europe has perhaps made it easier for those of other religions to enter. Between 1990 and 2010, for example, the number of Muslims living in Western Europe increased from less than 10 million to approximately 17 million. (6)

Past failures and external opposition have led Christians to a quieter faith, with a wariness about not giving offense and a commitment to political correctness, both coming at the expense of sharing Christian truth. Korean Anglican missiologist Guen Seok Yang studied this phenomenon in Korea and recognizes it as a deep-seated problem. (7) Christians are not reaching out to non-Christians in the way that Paul did, thereby permitting the mind-set of anti-institutionalism and secularism to grow. A study conducted in 2007 by the Lausanne World Pulse shows that over 90 percent of all Christian evangelism is aimed at people otherwise surrounded by Christians and does not reach UPGs at all. (8)

Certainly, the paradigm of traditional missions is shifting. In some denominational circles, proclamation of Jesus is not mandated as part of each Christian's personal mission. Instead, they focus on giving selflessly to the needy and developing social programs. These groups may emphasize James 2:15-17: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (NIV).

Is mission about reaching everyone, or is it specific to reaching UPGs, as suggested by Johnson? (9) Missiologists may find the fervent passion is failing for reaching UPGs. In his article "Isn't Every Christian a Missionary?" Gordon Olson favored the more specific definition of mission of pursuing the unreached. (10) J. Herbert Kane also includes in his definition crossing geographic and/or cultural boundaries to reach non-Christians. (11) In his book Acts of the Apostles Charles Ryrie suggests that being a missionary is a spiritual gift that should be distinguished from evangelism within the church. (12)

Pastors who fund the missionaries reaching UPGs, however, have the ever-growing challenge of inspiring Christians in their own congregations to reach out into their local communities as missionaries. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, by Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, the popularity of Christianity remained fairly steady until 1990, when 86 percent of Americans self-identified as Christians. By 2008, however, that figure had dropped to 76 percent. This change may in fact be a driving force behind a "need for local outreach" mind-set among pastoral leaders. While loss of clarity is apparent, the understanding of mission has only broadened over the years, especially since 1990, with the significant drop in self-identification with Christianity. (13)

The present study examines current paradigms in mission for pastors and missionaries. Understanding how missionary leadership views mission differently from the views of their financial supporters (i.e., churches, parishioners, and pastoral leaders) is critical to the success of Christian mission organizations.

Research methodology

This study employed a focused expert sample of Assemblies of God leadership that included the most influential pastors within the Assemblies of God church in the United States, as well as the top leadership of Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM). Pastors who participated were chosen from the 100 churches within the US Assemblies of God with the highest level of giving. Missionary leaders who participated were chosen from the very top of the AGWM organizational chart. They included corporate officers, as well as field moderators who supervise missionaries on the ground.

The pastors and missionary leaders identified for the sample were first contacted by telephone and asked to participate in online questioning about their perspective of mission. Each participant was then contacted by email with a link to a website containing the questions. Participation was voluntary and was conducted independent of the participants' relationship with AGWM and of the AGWM organization itself. In total, 100 pastors and 50 missionary leaders were asked to participate in the study. Responses were received from 35 pastors and 21 missionary leaders, a respective response rate of 35 and 42 percent. The total sample of 56 expert participants in this study is consistent in number with other expert samples across multiple disciplines. (14) The pastors surveyed were all male, and the large majority of them were between the ages of 40 and 60. They represented 21 U.S. states. The missionary leaders were primarily male; however, there were two female leaders who completed the survey. Collectively, the missionaries represented five continents where missionaries are active. They were all between the ages of 40 and 60.

Two researchers used three data-analysis approaches drawn from phenomenological human science to analyze the survey data. (15) First, the holistic, or sententious, approach was used. Both researchers read the question sets to gain a sense of the whole and then identified statements that reflected that whole. Second, using the selective reading approach, they identified statements that expressed the sentiments of the respondents. Third, they conducted a detailed reading that focused on each statement and the sentiments expressed. A number of themes related to the concept of mission were identified.

Results

The objective of this study was to define the concept of mission; therefore, a majority of the questions were open-ended, allowing respondents to freely express their opinions about a personal mission concept. Two questions, however, were not open-ended. These questions resulted in not just a paradigmatic split on the definition of mission between the two groups surveyed, but rather two completely different paradigms. When asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement "As Christians, we are all missionaries," missionary leadership unanimously disagreed. In contrast, 81 percent of pastors agreed. When asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement "A local outreach endeavor conducted by a church such as a 'Reach out to Your Neighbor' campaign is a missionary activity," more than 90 percent of missionary leadership disagreed. Pastors differed, with more than 85 percent strongly agreeing with the statement. For pastors, mission is reaching all people everywhere. For missionaries, mission is a more specific calling. Clearly, the pastoral paradigm of mission does not fit within the missionary paradigm. In Table 1, chi-square tests reveal significantly different results for the two groups on both of the measures.

When asked to define mission, pastors described it as being any outreach in which the Gospel is being communicated in an effective way, anywhere, and to anyone. For the missionary leadership a much more specific terminology emerged. Many of the missionary leaders described mission in terms of "apostolic function" or "reaching people cross-culturally who have never heard the Gospel before." Only one pastor specifically mentioned the apostolic function. Table 2 gives direct quotes from those surveyed and categorizes them by group. Duplicate responses have been removed from the chart, though some responses are still similar in nature.

Within these definitional statements of mission, numerous terms may need to be clarified. Table 3 provides a noteworthy thematic summary and insights into the missiological paradigm of each group.

Many of the definitions match up in terms of complementary themes. In the contrasted themes, however, there are three main areas of distinction between the definitions emerging for the two groups.

1. "reaching all people" versus "reaching people who have not heard";

2. simply "equipping people" to go share the Gospel versus actually "bringing access" to the Gospel for people who have no access;

3. "everyone is a missionary" versus mission being "a particular calling."

Below, in Table 4, we have compiled the pastors' and missionary leaders' statements into a single definition representing the divergent paradigm for each of the groups.

It is important to note that pastors see the world focus of mission as critical to accomplishing the Great Commission. While they do not devalue the work of crosscultural ministry, they simply do not see it as the defining factor of mission. In contrast, missionary leadership also values the role of pastors and their congregations as critical to their vision. They simply do not see everyone as missionaries.

In Alan Johnson's article "Apostolic Function and Mission," he expressed a concern that grassroots-level Pentecostals were losing their understanding of the nature of missions. (16) We have attempted to specifically identify and delineate the nature of the divergence in the missiological paradigms between pastors and missionary leadership. As pastors reflect on what is changing locally, there is a draw toward a focus on local efforts, perhaps to the detriment of the traditional world-mission view.

Marketing applications of apostolic function for missionaries

Although many evangelists shrink from using the word "marketing" in the church, evangelism at its core is essentially communicating--even marketing--an awareness of Jesus Christ. There are several important similarities and useful theories that can be applied in the case of missionaries seeking church support. For missionaries, attention to theories rooted in basic concepts of consumer awareness, market orientation, and, more specifically, niche marketing may provide further opportunity to narrow the Christian community's focus, within the larger domain of mission, specifically to the enormous task of reaching the more than 6,000 UPGs.

So, what will it take for the average Christian, and more specifically funding pastors, to respond to the concept of apostolic function? As in most things, there is a process to awakening a need or creating awareness. Before the awareness of the church can be captured, it is important to understand how UPGs represent value to the American church. What is the value proposition missionaries extend to supporters by going to UPGs and engaging in apostolic function? Based on Acts 1:8, the value proposition is taking the Gospel to the "ends of the earth." Jesus told the Christian community directly not to let one dark corner go unnoticed, but to selflessly go and share him. Christians need to be reminded that fulfilling the Great Commission is a balance. It includes everyone, and the church needs to fulfill the needs of local mission without forsaking the duty to reach beyond our immediate surroundings.

Marketing apostolic function within the pastoral missions paradigm

The mission of reaching those who have never heard the Gospel message is far from the everyday life of the average Christian. As consumers, Christians are literally bombarded with thousands of brands and sophisticated marketing messages every day as they drive to and from work, watch television, read the newspaper, and even attend church itself. Because the average person can digest only so much information in a day, many of those messages go unnoticed.

Missionaries must first create awareness, interest, and understanding regarding apostolic function among their parishioner and pastoral target markets if they are to succeed in garnering financial support. Then, in order to achieve behavioral actions, attitudes of the relative importance of apostolic function among the many other outreach activities must be changed. Behavior follows attitude, and thus the attitude of giving to apostolic function must be held in the same regard as giving to local needs. Through repeated reinforcement, the value of apostolic function can be maintained by missionary leaders as an important part of overall missionary efforts.

If we do not place this issue of reaching UPGs at the forefront of the Christian community, the challenge of reaching them will remain "out of sight" and "out of mind" as churches, rightfully, continue to focus on evangelization of their own corner of the world. The quality of promotion and uniqueness of messaging have to be sophisticated and targeted for them to make a lasting impact. Christian marketers must be creative and committed long term in order to awaken the church to the remaining more than 6,000 people groups yet to be reached.

Conclusion

Powerful, streamlined campaigns for reaching UPGs should lead Christian communities toward new paradigms that uphold the value of the apostolic function. Jesus said, "Go ... and make disciples of all nations." A balance must therefore be found between meeting local needs and going to the distant lost of the world. Missionaries must understand that the church sees apostolic function only as a niche portion of their broad-based mission paradigm, and thus the effort needs to be directed toward helping pastors and congregations understand the urgency of UPGs as part of that paradigm.

DOI: 10.1177/2396939316649185

Charity Reeb

Do Good Business, Springfield, MO, USA

Charles M. Hermans, and Christina S. Simmers

Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA

Notes

(1.) Joshua Project, "Unreached or Least-Reached People," (2010), www.joshuaproject.net/1040-window.php

(2.) Alan R. Johnson, Apostolic Function in Twenty-First Century Missions (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009).

(3.) Alan R. Johnson, "Apostolic Function and Mission," Journal of Pentecostal Theology 17, no. 2 (2008): 256-66.

(4.) Stephen Neill, Creative Tension: The Duff Lectures, 1958 (London: Edinburgh House Press, 1959), 81.

(5.) David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991).

(6.) Pew Research Center Publications, "Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe," (2010), http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1731/muslim-networks-movements-western-europe

(7.) Guen Seok Yang, "The Crisis of Authority and Theological Education," Anglican Theological Review 90, no. 2 (Spring 2008): 297-306.

(8.) Todd Johnson, "World Christian Trends, Update 2007," (2011), www.lausanneworldpulse. com/research-php/766/08-2007

(9.) Johnson, Apostolic Function in Twenty-First Century Missions.

(10.) Gordon Olson, "Biblical Foundations: Is Everyone a Missionary?" (1988), http://www. thetravelingteam.org/articles/is-everyone-a-missionary

(11.) J. Herbert Kane, Understanding Christian Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974).

(12.) Charles C. Ryrie, The Acts of the Apostles (Chicago: Moody Press, 1961, 1967).

(13.) Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification Survey (ARTS 2008): Summary Report (Hartford, CT: Trinity College, 2009).

(14.) Dmitry Khodyakov et al., "Conducting Online Expert Panels: A Feasibility and Experimental Replicability Study," BMC Medical Research Methodology 11:174 (2011): 1-8; D. E. Mancini, "The 'CSI Effect' in an Actual Juror Sample: Why Crime Show Genre May Matter," North American Journal of Psychology 15, no. 3 (December 2013): 543-64; Luke Beck, "Jack Balkin's Constitutionalism and the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians," UNSW Law Journal 37, no. 2 (2014): 407-33.

(15.) Max Van Manen, Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy (London, ON: Althouse Press, 1990)

(16.) Johnson, "Apostolic Function and Mission."

Author biographies

Charity Reeb is a social entrepreneur for the next generation of Christ followers and founder of Do Good Business, Springfield, MO.

Charles M. Hermans is Professor of Marketing at Missouri State University, Springfield, MO.

Christina S. Simmers is a Professor of Marketing at Missouri State University, Springfield, MO.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Corresponding author:

Christina S. Simmers, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 6481 16, USA. Email: ChristinaSimmers@MissouriState.edu

Table 1. Chi-Square Comparison of Missionary and
Pastor Response.

              Missionaries   Pastors    Total      Chi-Square
Ql. As Christians, we are all missionaries.

  Agree        0 (0%)        21 (55%)   21 (55%)   [X.sup.2] = 21.665
  Disagree    12 (32%)        5 (13%)   17 (45%)    p < .001

Q2. A local outreach endeavor conducted by a church such as
a "Reach out to Your Neighbor" campaign is a missionary activity.

  Agree        1 (3%)        21 (55%)   22 (58%)   [X.sup.2] = 17.673
  Disagree    11 (29%)        5 (13%)   16 (42%)   p < .001

Table 2. Reported Missions Definitions.

                                  Missionary leadership defines
Pastors define mission as ...     mission as ...

Reaching out to the least and     Fulfilling the apostolic call to
the lost of our world ... at      preach, teach, and make disciples
home and abroad. A divine         of Jesus Christ in all nations.
mandate.

Fulfilling the Great              Being sent to reach the lost.
Commission.

Anywhere that the Gospel is       A Pauline passion to take the
being communicated in an          Gospel to those who have never
effective way.                    heard, plant a culturally relevant
                                  church, and partner with them to
                                  continue to reach their own people
                                  and beyond.

Anywhere that the Gospel is       Crossing cultural, ethnic, and
being communicated in an          geographic boundaries in order to
effective way.                    communicate the Gospel message to
                                  those who have not been told, or
                                  have been inadequately told, the
                                  message of God's love and
                                  salvation--with the intention of
                                  winning them to Christ and
                                  establishing faith communities.

Sharing the Gospel with anyone    Ministry that has the component of
who hasn't received Christ by     crossing cultural boundaries.
faith.

Sharing the Gospel with anyone    Proclaiming Jesus where he is not
who hasn't received Christ by     known and planting the church where
faith.                            it does not exist.

The "apostolic function" of       Proclaiming Jesus where he is not
taking the gospel of Jesus        known and planting the church where
Christ to those without access    it does not exist.
to it.

The "apostolic function" of       Heart of the gospel. Every believer
taking the gospel of Jesus        reaching to unreached people
Christ to those without access    everywhere. Missions is not home or
to it.                            foreign. It is both.

Heart of the gospel. Every        Heart of the gospel. Every believer
believer reaching to unreached    reaching to unreached people
people everywhere. Missions is    everywhere. Missions is not home or
not home or foreign. It Is        foreign. It is both.
both.

Table 3. Summary of Reported Definitions.

Pastors                          Missionary leadership

Complementary themes:

                     Cross-cultural ministry
               A calling to share Jesus with people
                  Fulfilling the Great Commission
                        Reaching lost people
                Crossing a divide to share the Gospel
                         A mandate from God
           Proclaiming Jesus to people who do not know him

Contrasting themes:
Broad approach to "mission."    Narrower approach to "mission."
Taking the Gospel to            Taking the Gospel to those who have
ALL people.                     not heard it in other countries and
                                cultures.

Equipping people to reach       Bringing access to those who do not
lost people, who have never     have access to the Gospel.
heard the Gospel.               Being a missionary is a particular
Everyone is a missionary.       calling to preach, teach, and make
Some are just called to go to   disciples of Jesus Christ in all
areas other than their homes.   nations.

Table 4. The Missions Paradigm.

Pastors                              Missionary Leadership

All Christians, everywhere, are      All Christians, everywhere, are
to be missionaries by reaching       to be missionaries by reaching
their local and world communities    their local and world communities
through teaching, prayer, giving     through teaching, prayer, giving
and, sometimes going.                and, sometimes going.