1. Foundations for Mission
John Clark, Martin Lee, Philip Knights, Janice Price, Paul Rolph,
Anne Richards, Nigel Rooms
A study of language, theology and praxis from the UK and Ireland perspective
A research group, convened by CTBI was commissioned to work on Study theme one of the Edinburgh 2010 World Mission Conference in June this year. The Conference has 9 study themes. Study Theme one is called ‘Foundations for Mission’. The idea is that various groups around the world would work on the themes and pool their findings at the conference. Study theme one has two such groups, ours and a group convened by the World Council of Churches looking at the experience of Indian Dalits.
Foundations for Mission

2. The Task
The task of this study group is to explore how a Trinitarian understanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit relates to the theory and practice of mission; how the confession that God has a missionary identity impacts Christian witness; how a discernment of the Trinitarian God´s inner relationships and love impacts ecclesiology, community life and society.
This slide shows the task set to the research groups for study theme one.

3. Hypothesis Academic and theological task
Hypothesis is that what is said publicly about the theology of mission by UK and Ireland churches, agencies and institutions does not necessarily match up with the mission practice, understanding and outworking of those same bodies.
The task was clearly academic in nature and theological in content. However, we wanted to ask a broader question about the praxis of mission as well as its underlying theology. So we formed a hypothesis that the kind of public and theological language envisioned by the task would not match the actual praxis of mission on the ground. We designed our study to test that hypothesis.

4. Research in Three phases
Website search for public language about mission; NVIVO analysis of that language and semiotic analysis of sites
Survey using theological statements
In depth interviews with participants about their responses
National churches and agencies (GMN/GC/BIAMS)
Local churches in Nottinghamshire
BIAMS conference members
The study was designed in 3 parts: a study of the kind of mission language used on websites designed by churches, mission agencies and other mission bodies. A survey composed of theological statements of the kind envisioned by the task but also including some broader categories addressing mission praxis. We would follow up the survey with in depth interviews to tease out further information about language, theology and praxis. The range of the sample was churches and agencies from Global Mission Network, Global Connections (evangelical) and the British and Irish Association of Mission studies through CTBI. This national survey would be contrasted with a local survey of churches in Nottinghamshire and would also include a survey of BIAMS members (mission practitioners and theologians) at their conference in July 2009

5. Websites – NVIVO analysis
‘Transformation’
‘Sharing’
‘Equipping’
‘Community’
‘Fellowship’
‘Supporting’
‘Creation’ .
46 websites were sampled and analysed by NVIVO. This kind of language was the most popular and interestingly demonstrate an emphasis on relational language: human beings in relationship with one another as a foundational aspect of mission. Another interesting point was about the word ‘community’. Catholics saw it as the source of mission activity. Everyone else used this word as the focus of mission activity. This shows that public language about mission can have different nuances which need investigation.

6. Some Website straplines
Sharing Jesus, Changing Lives Christian Care for Families A Community Centred on Christ for the New Evangelisation For People and Community Informing, promoting and inviting all Christians to respond to today’s mission Where a little goes a long way Growing leaders, growing churches
Here are some examples of public language about mission intention. Both community and relational language are present, but the question is whether these public statements and summaries match what is actually done on the ground.

7. Websites (Semiotic analysis)
We undertook a semiotic analysis of 7 websites. We were looking for signs and symbols about mission (eg ship); images (powerful but churchy?); mission messages and portals (all over the CMS site), social networking, podcasts, webinars, interactivity. We discovered some powerful sign systems at work which many sites don’t consider strongly enough in the way mission is presented. Eg images of people being ‘done to’, out of date messages, powerful stories hidden away, promises of action undercut by static groups of clergy standing around.

8. Websites Theological language not so important
Pictures, stories, welcome, portal devices send important messages
More attention needed concerning underlying meanings of images and web constituents
Some emphasis on the committed rather than the casual visitor
Can public language about mission be upheld in practice?
We took forward these outcomes from the website analysis.

9. Survey Statements about mission Mission and Proclamation
Origin and Purpose of God’s Mission
Kingdom, Mission and Church
Who best does mission?
Evangelism and Mission
Mission and Development
Mission and Improving Lives
Mission and Other Faiths
God at work through….
Mission and Proclamation
Mission and Sin
Mission and Salvation (two statements)
Mission and Church (essence of the Church)
Mission and Church (function of the Church)
Mission and Partnership
Mission Outcomes
Mission Priorities page
Phase 2 of the research composed a survey of 44 theological statements, arranged in groups of three around these categories. The statements were randomly distributed through the survey. We used language derived from the website search and used positive relational words and negative separating words like ‘confront’ and ‘condemnation’. Some pairs of statements were worded as opposites, some worded the same but in different categories. We deliberately used ranking language ‘primarily’, ‘best’ and respondents had the opportunity to comment.

10. Survey Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree
Strongly disagree
Challenging process but fruitful because the statements had to be addressed.
Participants had to respond by choosing a category. The online survey had no opt out so people had to choose one, which they found extremely difficult. Comments showed that mission theological language is slippery and means different things in different contexts, even commonplace language about God. Respondents commented that it made them think deeply about the kinds of things we say we’re about everyday, realising how difficult it is to pin down. Many wanted to explain their choices in terms of stories and experiences.

11. Survey results– emerging themes
Desire to agree with ‘mission’; resist disagree
‘Good’ language (transformation, reconciliation, hospitality, love) strongly affirmed
Negative language (confront, condemn) resisted
‘Justice’ – deeply problematic
Reflection on complex issues causes some shift
Theology is weak driver
The Church is missionary, but mission is not ‘to’ or ‘into’ church
The ‘strongly disagree’ option was the least used across the survey. People felt a strong desire to agree to a survey ‘about’ mission. Strong affirmation for relational language, resistance to any language which involve separation and loss of relationship even when that accorded with that person or agency’s theological tradition. Justice emerged as a very difficult word to deal with. Peopl showed a tendency to revise their responses as they went through the survey when they encountered similar statements. A lot of problems with how God works and who exactly is best placed to do mission. Theology per se was not the main driver. Very strong assent for a missionary church but not for building up churches or recovering drifting Christians.

12. ‘positive’language
Agree responses are red and blue. These were the most strongly assented to kinds of words

13. ‘Negative’ language
Problematic language was signalled by higher purple and cyan and larger green responses which people also used as a ‘don’t know’

14. Theologically difficult statements
Statements about how God works and who should undertake mission drew large green responses

15. Justice
Biggest spread of response in justice/social action and development statements. The BIAMS mission practitioners had stronger assent for the word justice and a clearer idea of what was meant by it. The issue of mission in relation to social justice has always been thorny and this confirmed that there is still a difficulty.

16. Survey process- emerging themes
Process helps people start to think about the complexity and messiness of mission
Need to contextualise, root ideas in story
‘It depends what you mean…’
Is and ought
Struggle to respond
Leadership questions – does the team think?
In addition to straightforward results, there was strong feeling from the respondents that the process of doing the survey was the most helpful thing about it – it enabled reflection, challenge, even struggle to clarify ideas, purpose and intention and highlighted areas of tension between personal conviction and leadership role of others or an agency. Most ‘solved’ issues by rooting them in stories and experiences. One of the most perplexing questions was whether the survey was about mission as it is now, or as it ought to be in some perfect world. The tension between these two perspectives was very interesting.

17. BIAMS Mission as missio dei Mission as transformation
Mission as proclamation
Another issue for us in answering the theological task was to see if one of these perspectives on mission was stronger than others.

18. Interview process Exploring: 13 Questions overall
Experience of filling in the survey:
agreement and disagreement
‘Don’t know’
Problem of Justice
Authority, Trinity, Understanding of God
Theological ‘position’: (Bevans and Schroeder)
Proclamation
Missio Dei
Justice
Comparison of theology and mission priorities
The survey results were fed into the design of in-depth interviews. We wanted to tease out the respondents’ feelings about tackling theological statements, about why and how they opted for agreement or don’t know responses. We focused on the issue of justice. We asked about their understanding of God and God’s work in the world, what theological ‘position’ they would opt for and whether this was reflected in their mission priorities.

19. The Interviewees Local
9 Anglicans, 2 Baptists, 1 each of Methodist, URC, Salvation Army, RC and Pentecostal.
13M 3F – 1 non-white British
Local Clergy in the main with some with denominational roles.
National
11 in total – 3 Churches, 8 Mission Agencies
4 Mission agencies in Global Connections Network
Rest from GMN network
Some issues with interviewee not being the survey respondent

20. In-depth interviews –local headlines
Clergy universally convinced of the local missionary task as core purpose of the church
Some evidence of receptivity of Missio Dei, but only some – an “adoption distribution curve”?
Many want to hold to a holistic approach while a majority when pressed will prioritise proclamation of Christ

21. In-depth interviews: national headlines
Leadership tensions & representation: difference between churches and agencies
Awareness of Missio Dei (esp. agencies) but not foremost driver
Desire to root things in theological reflections and story
‘justice’ as problematic word
‘holistic’ emerges again

22. Further Analysis –mission drivers
Wide range of understandings of mission
Congregations lag behind
Authority for mission – Mt. 28:19-20
Institution as a drag as well as driver
Interviews showed a wide range of mission understandings. Locally, a gap between clergy and congregations with some congregations still seeing mission as ‘foreign’ mission. Biblical drivers were typically founded on Matthew The institution was seen as a driver, but also as a drag on mission

23. Further Analysis: Justice
In local churches not much enthusiasm
part of the whole
Justice as simple charity
In national interviews Justice as a means to an end
‘’holistic’ – a “get out jail free” card?
Locally, not much enthusiasm for mission as changing unjust structures, political intervention and certainly not direct action, generally a part of the whole, but only a part. Sometimes seen locally as simple charity. Nationally leaders sometimes saw justice as a means to furthering proclamation, not as an end in itself. In both sets of data, the term ‘holistic’ could be used to cover the entire messy baggage of mission or to cover the gap between clergy and congregation.

24. Further Analysis: God of Mission
In Local Churches one third very clear
only two give a fully Trinitarian answer
one third thrown by the question – silenced for some time and then talk about mission in general
spirituality of mission is missing here
Nationally little evidence of spirituality in mission
Little evidence of a full understanding of mission theology as envisaged by the original task. Some respondents were clear but only two gave a fully Trinitarian answer. Others thrown by the question. Little evidence of a spirituality of mission driving responses.

25. Conclusions Public mission language does not match mission reality
Websites have hidden potential that is probably not realised
‘Mission’ has common assent but prioritising action in mission is difficult
Most response to relational language and themes
Resistance to negative, separating language
Theology is a weak driver, mostly Matthew 28.19
‘Justice’ is a problem
Need to contextualise what mission is in experience
Gap between leadership and ordinary Christians
The three phases of the research influenced and interrogated each other. Our hypothesis that talk about mission is not upheld by praxis and that mission theology is not reflected clearly in practice was shown to be true. For example ‘sharing Jesus, changing lives’ is one thing, but who and how Jesus is shared and lives changed is a more complex business. Websites, as an essential technology, have a mission potential for exploring those issues which remains unexploited. Mission is a feel good word which everybody is on board with but matching theological imperative to priorities in mission is difficult. We can follow the God of mission into the world, but what then? Despite theological tradition, mission leaders want to see relationships and not separation or condemnation, not much enthusiasm for confrontation evangelism. Mission tends to be located in ‘make disciples of all the nations, but this is not the main driver – experience is the driver.’ The relationship between mission and justice remains a problem. No matter what their public language about mission, people want to tell stories about experiences and say THAT is mission. Respondents also present as genuinely wrestling with mission issues with integrity, aware of a gap between their own vision and those they seek to inspire, lead, accompany and equip.

26. Outcomes
Process just as important as results and felt to be useful so production of:
Tool for web analysis and thinking about design for mission messages
Adaptations of the survey for different constituencies to do mission audit
Template of questions for discussion or interview for mission reflection
As a direct result of doing this research, we have produced three tools so that it can be carried on in the future and we hope thereby to add more data as results are fed back to us through CTBI.