From Crisis to Creation

Lesslie Newbigin and the Reinvention of Christian Mission

Laing

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781621899785
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was one of the seminal theologians of mission in the twentieth century, and perhaps the most important in the English-speaking world. His thinking was anchored in the practice of mission: he was a missionary in India, a bishop of the Indian church, and a leader in emerging international mission structures. In his late years, he pioneered research on how the gospel could engage with Western culture. For many he is the founding father of the missional church movement. This book is the first to address the crucial role Newbigin played in shaping ecumenical thinking on mission during the twentieth century, filling an important gap in our knowledge of the development of twentieth-century missional theology. It does so by seeking to answer a central question in Newbigin's thinking: How does mission relate to church?Taking the integration of the International Missionary Council with the World Council of Churches as its central focus, this book provides a unique history of crucial events in the ecumenical movement. But more importantly, through a study of Newbigin's role in the theological debate, this book demonstrates how missional theology evolved during the postwar period when there was a sea change in understandings both of mission and church.

1

The Making of an IMC General Secretary

By the time of the Ghana conference of the IMC (1957–58), Newbigin was the candidate of choice to lead the IMC, as the last general secretary, into integration with the WCC. What made Newbigin the unique and unanimous choice of the IMC? This chapter identifies three formative elements which shaped Newbigin’s ecclesiology, the Student Christian Movement (SCM), the Indian church, and the formation of the Church of South India (CSI). Through the SCM Newbigin was introduced to Christianity and inducted into a form of Christianity which rather than being narrow and defensive was dynamic, experimental and ecumenical, having the world as its horizon.

As a young Church of Scotland missionary in South India, Newbigin experienced the dramatic growth of the village churches in rural Tamil Nadu. And, as a missionary, he was exposed to the dichotomous relationship that existed between mission and church expressed in the problematic relationship between the Church of Scotland’s mission and the Indian church. Newbigin saw in the Indian church a church which was both missionary and profoundly concerned to regain its unity.

This was expressed in the negotiations for church union which concluded successfully with the formation of the Church of South India in 1947. Newbigin entered late in the negotiation process but rapidly assumed prominent responsibility, first in India and then internationally. Newbigin’s theological reflections and apologetic for the South Indian union scheme enabled him to develop an ecclesiology in which the eschatological dimension was prominent. This gave credence to his claim that his experience of the Indian church was of relevance beyond the confines of South Asia.

Although Newbigin’s experience of the SCM, the Indian church and the formation of the CSI are uniquely personal, his experience was not unparalleled in the lives of others. This chapter does not seek to provide an exhaustive list of the early factors which shaped Newbigin’s theological outlook. Undoubtedly during his time of theological study at Westminster College he was particularly indebted to the influence of the college’s principal, John Oman, and his successor Herbert Farmer.1 However, at this early milestone on Newbigin’s theological journey it can be acknowledged that whilst Newbigin’s faith was “Christ-centered as to content, origin and effect” his ecclesiology was still incipient, “awaiting further development.”2

What is being claimed in this chapter is that, besides Newbigin’s general theological development, the SCM, his early Indian experience, and his role in the formation of the CSI, were critical in determining Newbigin’s ecclesiology. Paul Löffler, who worked under Newbigin in the IMC, recalled how Newbigin would repeatedly refer to his Indian experiences “to an extent that I would judge them to be fundamental for his orientation.”3 This chapter seeks to show how these formative experiences prepared Newbigin for his future role in integration. As Newbigin reflected on the Indian church and sought to provide a rigorous theological defense for it he quickly rose, above his peers, to international prominence, making him the obvious choice as general secretary, who was prescient in the theological foundation he provided for integration.

The Influence of the Student Christian Movement

“Newbigin is most essentially an SCM man, he owes his Christianity . . . to the SCM.”4

Newbigin’s Involvement with the Student Christian Movement

From Newbigin’s earliest publications it is evident that he understood his faith as a world faith, which, although of immense personal importance, must also engage in the issues and concerns of the world.5 Newbigin gained this perspective as an undergraduate at Cambridge University (1928–31) through the Student Christian Movement (SCM); and through his involvement with the SCM he was introduced to a wider network of Christian leaders with worldwide horizons.

The historian of the British evangelical movement, David Bebbington, notes that evangelicalism in Britain during the 1920s was marked by severe division. Although “[p]olarisation was by no means total, for co-operation between the wings, liberal and conservative, continued in a number of organizations. Yet division was sufficiently acute to cause schism in several Evangelical institutions.”6 Bebbington highlights several reasons for this division, chief being “conflicting estimates of the Bible,” i.e. debate over the infallibility of scripture. It was over this issue that the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) disaffiliated from the SCM in 1910.7 Other issues driving division included the emergence of premillenialism, the holiness movement, responses to high Anglicanism, the ongoing debate on the relation between science and religion, the use of leisure—for some there was a need for “utter separation from everything that was questionable,” and attitudes to the social dimension of the gospel—with many evangelicals repudiating their earlier engagement with social issues.8 However, in contrast to the American situation the British response to these controversies was more tempered. “Fundamentalist controversies did exist in Britain, but they were storms in a teacup when compared with the blizzards of invective that swept contemporary America.”9 Unlike the stark polarization across the Atlantic, in Britain, “[t]he cleavage between conservative and liberals was far from absolute . . . There was therefore a broadening continuum of Evangelical opinion . . . rather than a simple separation into two camps.”10 But as the twentieth century progressed British evangelicalism became increasingly fragmented, and polarized between liberal and conservative wings as the influence of those able to hold a mediating position wan...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: The Making of an IMC General Secretary
• Chapter 2: The Path Towards Integration
• Chapter 3: Rolle and Willingen
• Chapter 4: The IMC at Ghana
• Chapter 5: Newbigin’s Tenure as General Secretary of the International Missionary Council
• Chapter 6: Mission and Service
• Chapter 7: Newbigin’s Theology of Integration
• Chapter 8: Integration and Secularization
• Chapter 9: Secularization and the Missionary Structure of the Church
• Chapter 10: Conclusion
• Appendix 1: A Chronology of Newbigin’s Life with Other Key Events
• Appendix 2: Methodology
• Appendix 3: Interviews
• Bibliography