We are excited to launch a series of posts that spotlight INFEMIT community members and how they help shape the way we live Mission as Transformation. One of our main goals is to serve our global community by curating resources on holistic, contextual theology from around the world. This series seeks to shine a spotlight on the life and work of those in the INFEMIT community who have significantly contributed to this movement. Before we launch, let’s explore together why it is important to learn from people around the globe and do theology together.
Theology from Below
Theology literally means “the study of God” and has typically referred to religious beliefs and a systematically developed theory. But for most of us, theology isn’t some neat package we acquire, but rather an unending journey. So, how do we do theology? Through a list of books to be read? Or by listening to stories from those who accompany us and offer us new perspectives about who God is and who we are? Is it about analyzing and ratifying doctrine? Or is it about the biblical narrative unfolding in the midst of the realities we face? Is theology formed solely from the way we as individuals encounter God? Or is theology also formed in community with those like and unlike ourselves? Is it found only in copyrighted material and powerful pulpits? Or is theology shared over a table where everyone is invited to partake? We, as INFEMIT, believe that theology is not something that can be written and prescribed by a few, but rather it is a living narrative that emerges when we ask questions and share and listen to stories that are deeply rooted in context.
Bruce Bradshaw defines narratives as, “The basic and essential genre for the characterization of human actions… the stories that govern our lives.”1 Stories help us relate to others by giving us a taste of what their lives are like; they are also one of the main ways we make sense of our own identities and create meaning for our lives, communities, and societies. It is important to recognize this when we come to the Biblical story so that we understand the power of its story and the lenses through which it is interpreted when it comes to ordering our lives. We must challenge ourselves to examine the interpretations favored by our churches and our societies.
In African Theology Today, Emmanuel Katongole speaks about the challenge of authorship: the fact that few, prominent individuals and establishments are the ones who define our stories. Those with education, money, publication rights, and connections typically make decisions about the perspectives included in our histories, determine global priorities, set research goals and indicators, and give sermons and lectures on theology. Where are the voices and the stories of the rest? The result is called a meta-narrative: in which the full story is never uncovered, and what is told is dictated by high-placed institutions and bodies.
He continues:
It is a challenge as to what sort of theology we develop, and from which vantage point. It is a challenge to write theology in such a way that an ordinary African may be able to locate herself within it. It is an invitation for the theologian to be a story-teller – not in a naive sense, but to develop a narrative theology of the ordinary Christian’s ordinary struggles and aspirations in the face of such overpowering and totalizing stories… to be able to write a theology not from the top, but from below, from the ordinary experience of the believer. Critically, the task of theology is to challenge the various meta-narratives that claim validity simply because they come from the top, but which fail to take people’s life histories seriously…2
Are we conscientiously expanding the list of voices that we listen to as the Church? Are we taking steps to develop a narrative theology not from the top, but from below?
Mission in Context
The way we live in light of our faith, our understanding of mission, emerges from our theologies. In Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel, Vinay Samuel highlights the importance of Mission in Context. It is about participating in God’s mission in a way that is not foreign and imposing, but rather “discovering where God is already at work and who God is using already. God is already ahead of me. Who is God working with? Where is the evidence of God’s work?”3 Samuel also emphasizes the need to seek voices and stories from different contexts, because these deepen our understanding of the gospel and invite our participation to fellowship within a global community of faith. As such, mission becomes less of an event or proclamation, but more of a journey in which all participants together discover the gospel in and through their contexts and their relationships with one another.
Since its inception, INFEMIT has sought out diverse voices who narrate their theology and live out God’s mission in and for their particular contexts. While most histories of Christian mission tend to focus on missionaries who traveled from the North Atlantic to establish churches and ministries in the Global South, alongside them arose many generations of local Christians who developed theologies and practices that were deeply rooted in their own contexts. Feeling the dire need to grow in the integration of evangelism and social justice, to promote theology as a practice of the Whole Church that emerges from and informs daily life, as well as to give voice to churches in the majority world, an international group of evangelical theologians organized together to form INFEMIT. Together, they sought to advance holistic, contextual mission theology not only for the worldwide evangelical community, but for the whole church. The pioneers of this community were all deeply invested in initiatives at local and regional levels. In many ways, INFEMIT grew naturally out of their relationships and their desire to share and learn from the theologies emerging in their particular contexts.
Curating Stories for Mission Today
Today, INFEMIT is committed to championing diverse voices in the global church as we are united by 1) our passion for contextual theologies that emerge from and transform every area of life; 2) our love for the gospel, gratitude for those who came before us, and excitement for those who will follow; 3) our agitation against a shallow gospel and theologies that colonize, restrict, and exclude; and 4) our joy in learning and growing together as a lifelong process.
It is against this backdrop that we introduce our Spotlight series. One of our main goals is to serve our global community by curating resources on holistic, contextual theology from around the world. We want to continue to share and learn from the stories and work of different people who are faithfully narrating and living out their theology in a way that responds to the realities of their contexts. We hope to shine a spotlight on those whose contributions can deeply enrich and challenge the faith and practice of the global Church.
This series is a tribute to those who invited us and continue to accompany us on this communal journey as we seek the transformation of our world. Each Spotlight piece shares elements of the life and work of someone who lived or is living mission “from below,” as told by someone who has shared life with them. We invite you to join us in an enduring INFEMIT practice of listening to and learning from these stories.
Bibliography
Bradshaw, Bruce. “Narrative: The Media of Ethical Inquiry.” In Change Across Cultures, A Narrative Approach to Social Transformation, 15-37.Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic Press, 2002. https://www.amazon.com/Change-across-Cultures-Narrative-Transformation/dp/0801022894?language=en_US
Katongole, Emmanuel. “‘African Renaissance’ and the Challenge of Narrative Theology in Africa.” In African Theology Today, edited by Emmanuel Katongole, 207-219. Scranton, University of Scranton Press, 2002. https://www.amazon.com/African-Theology-Today-Emmanuel-Katongole/dp/1532631790
Samuel, Vinay. “Mission as Transformation.” In Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel, edited by Vinay Samuel and Sugden, Chris, 227-235. Harrisonburg: Regnum Press, 1999. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1ddcqgd Also in: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Transformation-Theology-Whole-Gospel/dp/160608402X
- Bradshaw, Bruce. “Narrative: The Media of Ethical Inquiry.” in Change Across Cultures, A Narrative Approach to Social Transformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic Press, 2002), 20.
- Katongole, Emmanuel. “‘African Renaissance’ and the Challenge of Narrative Theology in Africa,” in African Theology Today, ed. Emmanuel Katongole (Scranton:University of Scranton Press, 2002), 211.
- Samuel, Vinay. “Mission as Transformation,” in Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel, ed. Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden (Harrisonburg: Regnum Press, 1999), 232.